“Fuck, Araya. I was worried something happened. Are you okay?” Brazen asks sincerely.
“I’m fine, but we’ve made a discovery you need to hear about,” I answer, and I hear his disappointment through his tone.
“Oh. What is it?”
“I’ll let Clay tell you,” I mumble, and Clay takes the phone out of my hand on cue.
He moves to the far corner, and Hale pulls me into his arms while his lips caress mine.
“When are you going to tell him?” he whispers.
“I don’t know. It’s going to be hard for him to hear, and I sure as hell don’t want to tell him right now. He could be in real danger if he’s distracted. He could be in danger even if he isn’t.”
“He’ll be fine. This is reconnaissance, not a battle proclamation. He’s just going to observe if there is anything worth checking out, and study it if there is,” he soothes.
Clay walks back over to hand the phone to me again, and I look up at him with puzzled emotion on my face.
“He wants to speak to you before he hangs up,” Clay says to answer the question only asked by my expression.
I take the phone, and then I move away as I murmur gently into it, “Hey again.”
“I just needed to hear your voice before I hung up. I miss you,” he utters, and tears of betrayal sting my eyes.
“I’m sorry I had to call, and I’m sorry you worried. Please be careful, and please stay focused. Don’t make me come save your ass again,” I half joke, and I hear him chuckle lightly on the other side.
“I would welcome another blood transfer from your mouth to be mine, so injury doesn’t seem so bleak right now with that thought,” he sizzles out.
I can tell by Hale’s flinching that I’m not out of range, and Brazen isn’t whispering like I am.
“Just be careful, please,” I murmur into the phone.
“Does that mean you still care about me?” he asks so pitifully.
“Of course I still care. Just because I left doesn’t mean I want to see you hurt.”
“I’m hurting pretty badly, baby. I miss you so fucking much, and I just want the chance to make it up to you. I promise that’s not the way I feel, and I regret ever getting drunk enough to say such a blasphemous thing. Will you please just sit down and talk to me when I get back?” he almost begs.
I look back to Hale, and his jaw is terribly clenched as he pretends to listen to Clay running theories.
“Just get back safely, and we’ll discuss the rest later,” I say with a noncommittal answer, and he sighs over the phone.
“I’ll talk to you soon. I love you, Araya,” he mutters, and I almost feel a tear trying to tug against my eye.
“Be careful,” I say back, and then I put the phone away before returning to a frenzied Clay and a worried Hale.
“As soon as the results get back, we can start testing blood types against this mutated virus along with everything else,” Clay rambles to finish the conversation I had tuned out while on the phone.
“Sounds good,” Hale says to acknowledge Clay, but his eyes burn into mine for reassurance that I haven’t changed my mind.
“I love you,” I whisper when I reach his tense body, and my arms wrap around his waist as I push my head into his chest.
I feel him relaxing, and he quickly returns the embrace while kissing the top of my head.
“I love you,” he coos, and then he starts leading me out of the cold room full of death.
“Hale, what time do you want to leave tomorrow?” Clay asks, and my mouth goes dry when I hear it.
“We can leave around ten or so,” he murmurs vaguely, and his eyes begin gauging my reaction.
