Heartbroken, Chloe stares at her ceiling. How could she have been so careless? Even in the disoriented half alive state she'd been in, there was no excuse for her unforgiveable slip. A moment that seemed to last forever but in reality had probably only been a few moments and now Brian was dead. Not only that, her father had either betrayed her to the Order or been tortured or killed for his connection to her. She wasn't sure which possibility was worse.
She was tired of being the Uniter, she felt as if the naïve days of her happy past before her sixteenth birthday were light years in the past. Chloe hardly felt like the same person anymore. Pre-Mai Chloe was young and carefree and her biggest worry was whether Amy would get her fired for chatting on the job. Uniter Chloe was burdened with the responsibility of the salvation of an entire race and had acquired a new bitter resignation about the seemingly endless threats on her remaining lives.
The nearly soundless landing of Alek in her bedroom from the tree in the yard broke her from her reverie but her expression never shifted. Outwardly, she had shut down. She had hardly spoken to anyone in the three days since the latest attack. Her mother thought she was ill and left her alone to rest in her room. She tugged her comforter closer to her chin as Alek approached her bed. Although she knew her mother kept the house at a constant 74 degrees, she couldn't seem to get warm.
"How are you?" asked Alek in an uncharacteristically awkward but sincere tone.
"I'm so cold," she answered, addressing her physical discomfort instead of the emotional agony he was more probably referring to.
"Scoot over," Alek ordered, slipping off his sneakers. He slid under the covers and lay on his back beside her, just close enough for her to feel his body warmth. "Maybe with two of us under here you'll be warmer…and I can't stand how quiet and empty my new apartment is," he confessed quietly. Although Chloe knew he was trying to give her space, the tempting heat that was practically radiating from his body was so tempting and she was too tired and hurting too badly to deny herself the little bit of comfort. She slid closer to Alek, throwing a leg over his thighs, putting her head on his chest, and tucking her hand under his opposite side. Wordlessly Alek accepted her cuddling and wrapped his arms around her pulling her closer. She looked up at his face and realized that, if anything, he looked worse than her. Alek had dark circles under his eyes and his eyes appeared bloodshot. Discreetly she glanced at the hand nearest her face and noticed mostly healed bruises and abrasions. It didn't surprise her that Alek preferred to deal with the physical pain rather than his emotions.
"How are you?" Chloe asked, wondering if he'd bother telling her the truth. He had to be hurting, Valentina was dead and Jasmine had been moved to a top security safe house for injured tribe leaders a few states over. Alek would get news when she either recovered enough to contact him or died.
"I'm fine, but you better not do anything stupid to get yourself hurt and leave me too," he whispered hoarsely. After a few minutes she realized that she was finally warm and closed her eyes. Before she knew it she was waking up with the light of dawn barely illuminating her room. For a moment she was confused then realized she had been awoken by Alek getting out of bed.
