She shrugged. “It’s not that nobody cares,” she explained carefully. “Obviously I’m here and not still at the hospital, where I was attacked. Since I’m not a part of the team, like you are, I’m just not sure that the end goal is one that’s in my best interests.”

  “And that’s what’s really important, isn’t it?” Terk asked quietly, studying her, an odd look in his eyes.

  She frowned. “No, not necessarily. But having survived two attempts on my life, I would like to keep surviving.”

  He nodded. “Of course you would. It’s just interesting to find out that you believe that I would somehow rank your survival not as important as somebody else’s.”

  She smiled. “I think when you love, you love deeply. And when you hate, you hate equally deeply. As for the space in between, you feel ambivalence.”

  Terk’s eyes widened. “Interesting. You could be right.” He shrugged. “There are only so many things in this world I can completely drive myself crazy over.” He shook his head. “And that may not be a bad assessment of it.”

  Naira sighed. “Right or wrong, even if you guys survive this and do well, I would like a life again,” she stated. “There’s no guarantee that I’ll get out of this alive at all, and, the longer we sit and wait, it all becomes more difficult. The worse the tension will get, the worse supplying a group this size will get, the harder to disguise our existence here will be. It just seems to me like things need to be brought to a head, one way or another.”

  “Absolutely,” Terk admitted. “I agree, but it has to be done safely.”

  “Of course. Obviously we want to maximize the odds of however many people survive.”

  “No,” Terk stated adamantly, “we ensure that everyone survives.”

  She raised an eyebrow, as she heard his tone and the truth in it. Then she settled back. “Maybe, but that’s really the first time I’ve heard that sentiment from you, that conviction for what the goal is here.”

  He smiled. “And you and I haven’t talked very much, so I can understand how you wouldn’t know who I am on the inside.”

  She frowned, as she looked at him. “Oh, I think I know who you are,” she declared boldly. “At least I understand what kind of a man you are, and that says a lot. I have absolutely no doubt that every person in this room, outside of me, is incredibly important to you. If for no other reason than the health of your own friends, I think the guilt of anything happening to them would tear you apart.”

  He nodded. “That’s quite true,” he murmured, “particularly if I put together an operation with too much haste, and it ultimately fails.”

  “Got it,” she noted. “And if you keep Scott alive, then, as you well know, that’s a large part of my battle.”

  “Hey, enough of that,” Scott protested beside her. “I told you that I don’t need any help from you. It’s just put a target on your back.”

  “Yeah, well, you’re full of BS too,” she exclaimed, looking at him. “Terk’s right. I came over to help you.”

  *

  Scott found it odd to hear Naira speak of herself like that. It was also even odder to hear her speak about him. Scott hadn’t had anything to do with the decision to bring her here. It would have been his last choice, if he’d had the opportunity to be asked about it, but Terk had gone ahead and spoken to Naira, knowing that it would have been for the one reason she had stated, and that was to keep Scott alive.

  Maybe it was well past time that he stopped fooling himself about what he and Naira meant to each other. It might help her find some peace with the situation she was in too. He looked over at Terk. “I think she has a point though.”

  Terk nodded. “She does, indeed, but it has to be something that we set up properly. And we can’t have Brody being a victim of it all.”

  “Can someone explain how it would put Brody at risk when he’s not even here and isn’t even conscious?” Naira asked. She was obviously still upset, and likely stunned, by the news that Tasha had shared.

  “Because Terk’s helping him,” Scott added.

  “Not just Terk but Cara as well,” Mariana noted.

  And, with that, Scott looked over at Cara. “I’m not sure that we’ve formally met before, although I remember you from my time in the coma,” Scott said, “but thank you for helping Brody.”

  “You’re welcome,” she murmured, “although I’m not sure how much help I’ve been. I was initially brought on board to help Rick.” She shrugged when Scott stared at her in surprise. “Terk tried to recruit me a long time ago, and I declined.”

  “Sounds like that’s been our loss,” Scott murmured.

  She smiled. “Well, I’m here for the team for now. The future remains to be seen.”

  Scott nodded. “Sounds like you and Rick have worked out some kind of a relationship.”

  “I’m not sure worked out is quite the right answer,” Cara shared. “Let’s just say that we’re connected, and it’s a work in progress.”

  Rick laughed. “That’s one way to put it. When Cara saved me, she did so by going to a very deep energy-level work to keep me alive. I can’t say I really appreciated it once I learned, but she did. I didn’t necessarily understand either, and I certainly didn’t know that, when I came back out of my coma, a bond had been forged, something I couldn’t break in a million years.”

  Cara looked over at him and smiled. “I told you to disconnect further if you wanted to.”

  “Only if you promise to chase me down again,” he replied.

  Scott realized that Cara’s and Rick’s energy bond had gone so much deeper than even Scott knew was possible. He frowned and looked down at his hands. It was almost embarrassing to see something so intimate and clearly so special. As Scott turned to Damon, Scott noted Damon looking at Tasha too, acknowledging their own energy bond.

  What had happened to this team? They’d all become paired up while Scott had been unconscious, and it just made his current situation with Naira all the more pointless. He’d always loved her, so was it finally time to revisit that whole scenario and see if being together was what they wanted? He faced her. “I suggest we go have a talk.”

  “Well, you can talk.” She yawned. “However, it’s time for my medicine, and I need to crash.”

  He watched in concern as she slowly got up, her movements awkward, knowing that sitting for too long was taxing her system. Plus he realized how much being around all these couples who had worked out all their own problems was having an effect on her emotions too. He rose and said, “Come on. Let’s get you back to bed.”

  She moved out with a goodbye wave to the rest of the group and headed toward her room. Once inside, she stated, “Don’t worry about me. Go on back to your friends. I’m sure I’ll be just fine.”

  “I’m sure you would be,” Scott replied, “but I’m staying.” When she frowned at him, he shooed her to the bed and added, “Don’t even bother arguing. Go take your painkillers and crash.”

  The fact that she walked to the bed without a word, reached for her pills and the water on her bedside table, swallowing them in one gulp, revealed the level of fatigue she felt. When she carefully lay down, he watched as shudders rippled through her body. “You know you didn’t have to stay that whole time.”

  “But I wanted to,” she murmured. “It seems like everybody here is so capable, so in control of who they are, and, despite the current obstacles before them, they know where they are going. I felt like a fish out of water, but it was so fascinating that I didn’t want to leave. I was probably way too harsh on your friends. I’m sorry about that.” With a shrug, she tried unsuccessfully to pull the covers over her shoulders.

  He quickly walked over, grabbed the blanket, and gently wrapped it high around her. “Here,” he murmured. “Let somebody help you for once.”

  She didn’t say anything and just closed her eyes. Yet her words had already relayed a lot. As a matter of fact, they spoke volumes about her own insecurities.

  But why wouldn’t she feel insecure? It’s not like any of this was easy on her. It wasn’t easy on any of them, but she’d come into it without knowing anybody; plus she was already hurt, frightened, and under emotional strain. So, of course, she wasn’t feeling very well overall.

  He sighed, as he sat down beside her. “We can work this out, you know?”

  “You’ve already worked it out,” she murmured. “Just go take care of your life. I’ll be just fine.”

  “You are my life,” he declared in a harsh voice, getting pissed off at her attempt to send him away.

  She smirked. “Yeah, sure. Tell me another one. I’m too tired to argue with you. Just go.”

  “Maybe if you’re too tired to argue,” he quipped, “you’ll listen for once.”

  She opened her eyes and glared at him. “This really isn’t good for my attempt at healing.”

  The thing was, she was right, and that just pissed him off even more. “Well, you already hate me,” he snapped, “so you might as well hate me some more.”

  She frowned at him. “You’re not making any sense.”

  “Maybe not,” he admitted, “but neither are you.”

  “Fine, you can go ahead and talk, but that doesn’t mean I’ll listen.”

  “You’ll listen,” he said in a hard, tight voice, “because I’ve had enough of this.” She just shrugged and then shuddered. Immediately he felt like a heel. “And why are you fighting me? You should be here trying to heal us.”

  “We’re trying to heal?” she cried out. “I don’t want to be here. I wanted to go to a hotel, where I was on my own, in my own space, on my own turf.”

  “Nobody would consider being in a hotel as your own turf,” he argued in frustration.

  She glared at him. “Yet I wouldn’t be sitting here with all these people who are your friends,” she snapped. “People who seem to be in the know about things I can’t even begin to understand.”

  Scott nodded. “I get that it’s probably frustrating that you were out of the loop, but it’s not as if I was in any position to bring you in. We haven’t even had a loop between us in a very long time.”

  “So you say,” she murmured.

  “Why did you come when Terk contacted you?”

  “You know why I came.” And then the tears started. “And for the dumbest reason of all.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Because I love you,” she snapped. “Because I always have loved you. Because I was sorry I did what I did, and I hated myself for it, but I felt like I had to go through with it. I’ve been miserable every damn day of my life since then, and I’m sure you are thrilled to hear that too.” And then the hot tears fell, unabated.

  And he felt even worse; yet, at the same time, her words had the effect of something like a chain releasing within him. “Why the hell didn’t you say that when you first got here?” he roared, as he glared at her.

  She stared at him. “Say what?”

  “That you still love me.”

  “I never stopped loving you, you idiot,” she cried out. “Why would I have even come if I didn’t?”

  And he realized just how much he’d been so determined to not see that. That he’d been blinded to that. Rather than giving her a chance to argue, he gently lay beside her and pulled her into his arms.

  She protested, “Just leave me alone.”

  “I’m afraid the window for that has passed,” he murmured against her hair.

  When she broke into deep heavy ugly sobs, his heart broke, and he felt terrible that he’d been a part of this sorrow in any way. He just held her for a long moment, rocking her gently back and forth. “God, I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry.” It seemed like nothing would stop her sobbing, and he started to worry about her getting even more ill from it.

  He held her close, rubbing her back, stroking her hair, smoothing her hair off her face, murmuring, “Calm down. Please just stop crying,” he whispered. “You’ll make yourself sicker.” Finally she wore down and was brokenly sobbing in his arms. He held her close and whispered, “I promise that it’ll get better.”

  She gave a broken sob. “It’ll never get better. I never should have come here.”

  “If you hadn’t come,” Scott replied, “I might not even be here right now.”

  “And, as I now know, that’s just bullshit,” she murmured. “I’m sure Terk could have brought you back out alive without any problem.”

  The crux of the matter was that she felt used. As if everybody else knew what was going on, but she didn’t. She’d come over in good faith and was the only one who wasn’t part of the team.

  He held her close and said, “What you don’t understand is that Terk is already helping Brody on an energy level. Terk’s energy is already keeping security on this place, and his energy has been supporting the rest of us for weeks, while unconscious and now conscious. Terk’s energy has been stretched very thin for a long time. He never would have had you come, except he needed your help,” Scott murmured. “And so did I.”

  She calmed down and was still tucked up against him, although she wasn’t saying anything. He would give her a little bit longer to calm down, and then he wanted to have a heart-to-heart over this whole thing. Yet, when he looked down at her, she was almost asleep again. “Go to sleep now,” he murmured. “It’s fine. You’re safe, and I’ll be here when you wake up.”

  “No, you won’t,” she disagreed, her tone soft and so sad that it broke his heart. “You’ll be off in whatever life you’ve chosen for yourself with your friends, and it doesn’t include me.”

  “Well, it could,” he noted, “if you’re prepared for the life of an energy worker. I can’t guarantee our safety, especially not right now. But this is my life, and I can’t really change it.”

  “You mean, you don’t want to change it.”

  “I don’t think I can anymore,” he murmured. “I don’t think you realize just how much my abilities make this the proper place for me.”

  “I still don’t even understand these abilities you all speak of.” She shifted her head, so she could look up at him. “I never heard about them before.”

  “And I get that,” he replied. “I really do, and I’m sorry because maybe we should have talked about it.”

  “You think?” she asked in jest.

  “But I didn’t think you’d believe me. And honestly, at that point in time, I hadn’t really developed enough to really understand it myself. We haven’t seen each other in a very long time.”

  “I know,” she said, “and I guess that’s why I thought maybe you would have forgotten me or at least forgiven me in the meantime.”

  “I should have,” he admitted. “Terk has told me that I needed to deal with issues in my life in order for my abilities to really come on stronger, and that this avoidance was holding me back, but I kept telling him to butt out, to get out of my life, and to stay out.”

  She snorted. “I owe him more than I realize then because obviously he was right.”

  “And he is right. Unfortunately that’s something about Terk. He’s nearly always right.”

  “That must get damn irritating.”

  “It does. And now he has his own problems, but he knows we all love and support him.”

  “And he’s trying to get to Texas?”

  “Yes, he’s trying to get to Texas but doesn’t dare go until we get this situation resolved. I can only tell you the little bit I know, but what I tell you, you must keep in confidence. Please.” And he explained about Celia.

  By the time he was done, Naira was sitting on his lap, staring at him in shock. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “Why would somebody do that to her?”

  “We don’t know, and Terk doesn’t even know who she is.”

  She shook her head at that. “Wow, he really does have problems.”

  “More than you can imagine,” Scott stated, “but his first priorities are right here with us and with the team.”

  “And with Brody,” she added, with a nod. “I’m understanding that a little bit more.”

  “Terk won’t leave Brody alone, and he’s the only one still out in the ethers, and he hasn’t had the benefit of everybody’s help to get back on his feet. Terk is desperate to make sure that Brody comes back too.”

  “Of course,” Naira agreed, with a heavy sigh. “He’s part of the team. For the first time, I realize what it’s like to have a team. Honestly I’m kind of jealous.”

  “And that’s where you need to stop because, of all those women out there, the only one who worked directly with us was Tasha. We had two other admins—Wilson and Mera—who worked with Tasha initially but were killed in this entire mess, and Tasha nearly was,” Scott explained. “They were taken out almost at the very beginning of the attacks on our team.”

  Naira grimaced and shook her head. “You really need to get these assholes.”

  “We really do,” he agreed, with a nod, “and I’m glad you understand that because you’re right. Life won’t be the same until we can get this situation stopped.”

  “Not just stopping it.” She frowned, looking at him. “You have to go beyond stopping it. You have to make sure that nobody ever gets a chance to do this again.”

  “Which is why we also need Brody back—to ensure he doesn’t get hurt in the process. So Terk has to stay safe and apparently Cara too,” he added darkly, “because it sounds like she can do some serious energy work too.” He shrugged. “I really don’t know because I’ve never even heard of her before now.”

  “All these talented women,” Naira murmured, “make me feel like shit.”

  “Well, it shouldn’t,” he disagreed, “because that’s absolutely not what we’re all about here.”

  She smiled. “Maybe not, but that doesn’t help much with my self-esteem.”