Awakening (29 page)

He paused, placing a soft kiss on her forehead. “We will talk about all of this later.”

And with that he was gone. And Caitlyn was left alone, in the field, with her thoughts. She shook her head, desperately trying to clear her mind, closed her eyes and transported to the hospital.

D
eclan had kissed Caitlyn. It had been unequivocally the best moment of his life, wrapped inside one of the worst moments of his life. He had not wanted it to be; he could not afford to be emotionally attached; could not afford to be in love. But yet, that was exactly what he was. He was in love with Caitlyn and there was no point fighting it.

Caitlyn had returned his kiss with equal fervor, and he did not question her want or need of him. He did not understand how he could be so blind; so ignorant of the feelings he felt for her. When she kissed him, it was as if he was hit by a bolt of lightning; restarting his long unused heart. But it did not matter. There were too many things going on with the Trust that he needed to focus on. With the betrayal of Lionel, his father had already contacted him about damage control; it would be a very busy few months. Lionel knew all their secrets; he was his father’s closest confidant. So he would be too distracted with important items to fight for Caitlyn; at least that is what he tried to convince himself of.

The truth was, while it was apparent Caitlyn had deep feelings for him, she cared for Garrett as well. He tried to wrap his head around that fact, accepting the truth. She was currently involved with him. He could not even attempt to be involved with her while she chose to be with him. Declan had never been one to condone cheaters; as it was, he already felt that he was the biggest hypocrite in the world with what happened with Caitlyn yesterday. Because if he knew if the chance presented itself, morals be damned, he would give in to the temptation that was Caitlyn Young. So he had decided that the easiest thing to do was to remove himself from the temptation.

But today would not be that day. He knew that Caitlyn would be here, waiting to see his rival. Garrett was by all accounts a good man from his previous dealings with him; but the knowledge that his father was the head of the Cine Tofa made him very uneasy, more so was the three years Garrett spent under his father’s tutelage. When he came to his father with this information, frustratingly he found out that the Tribunal had always known this. Garrett had given them full disclosure, and had been more than stellar in this role as an Inquisitor, with words of praise falling from the Tribunal’s lips at the things Garrett had uncovered.

Unfortunately for Garrett, Lionel may have been privy to this information, which could have caused Lionel’s ire towards Garrett in the first place. They would not know for certain until Garrett awoke. Upon the Council’s insistence, they still wanted the information about Garrett’s true identity kept quiet. They insisted that Garrett was not a threat to the Trust, and to make his identity known would only cause problems. Declan was not pleased with this and certainly did not agree, but he would accept the determination of the Council as he always had. The Council had put a gag order on Caitlyn, Caleb, and himself regarding this matter. However, while he agreed to keep his identity a secret, it would be irresponsible of him not to ferret out as much information on him as possible. Where Garrett was otherwise incapacitated, he needed to go to Caitlyn to see if Garrett had perhaps unknowingly provided her some information.

He walked into the Healer’s Center on the other side of the campus. He never liked this building, they kept it stark white and it seemed so cold and unfeeling; the exact opposite of what the Healer’s really were. He passed room after room before reaching the white desk at the end of the hall.

A young healer looked up from her paperwork, smiling at him. “Is there something I can help you with? Declan, isn’t it?”

He hated being so well known within the organization. It always seemed to make his job so much harder. Yet, Garrett, who is the son of Nathaniel, enjoyed the perks of anonymity. He by all accounts should be more famous than Declan, and yet, people just thought him Garrett Stevens, son of Mary, not Garrett Livingston. He turned his thoughts back to the young woman. “Yes, Declan McPherson. Is Garrett Stevens awake?”

The girl pursed her lips. “I’m sorry, I can’t disclose any person information about a person who may or may not be in here. Only immediate family may get updates on the status of a patient.”

Declan expected that response. Caitlyn must be going out of her mind at this point if she was not allowed to see Garrett. “I understand. Do you know if Caitlyn Young is around? She would have been here to see Mr. Stevens and I am sure she is very upset. They are… very close.”

The girl nodded, and pointed her hand down the hall on the right. He passed through a set of double doors and saw Caitlyn sitting on a bench. Her face was buried in her hands, and he could tell she had been crying. Declan sat down next to her, wrapping his left arm around her in comfort.
“I heard they are not letting anyone see Garrett. Are you okay?”
He thought to her.

She responded by burying her face now in his shoulder. Sobs racked her tiny frame and her arms clung to Declan in desperation.
“They won’t even tell me if he is here, never mind if he is alright. They are stating… for security reasons. I would have been better off taking him to a regular hospital!”

“They would have just transported him back here. Trust me when I say that he is in much better hands here. These are the strongest healers in the entire Trust. I think that sometimes the policy they have in place is stupid, but in his case, he is better off. He has some people that are most likely after him. To be honest, Caitlyn, they probably have Garrett at an undisclosed location for his treatment. They do that for their high profile members, and as you and I both know now, he is very high profile.”

Caitlyn’s tears began to subside. Rubbing her eyes, she lifted her head to look at him.
“I know. You know, I am not even sure what to make of all of this. I never thought Garrett would hide anything from me, and yet, this information…”

Declan pressed his lips together, gently caressing her hair to soothe her.
“Caitlyn, I need to talk to you about all of that and what you know. In private. After my research on my own, I was just made privy to information by the Council and in order to do my job, I need to know as much information as possible about him. Would you be okay with this?”

“Yes.”

Declan thought for a moment on where to take her to talk. He would have suggested the forest clearing, but after yesterday, that would be too emotional for both him and her. The last thing he needed was for her to feel guilt ridden on top of all the uncertainty that she was already saddled with. It would be best if they went somewhere neutral. He thought that one of his apartments he had been setting up over the years would be a good location. He knew that several of them would be compromised; but there were a couple that he knew the Trust and Lionel were not aware of. At this point, he needed some place that was completely safe for the two of them. If Lionel was still alive, he doubted Lionel had time to recover and regroup, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
“I want to take some precautions and go to a secure location. I have an apartment in London that should be safe to go to.”

She scrunched her head in thought.
“Okay. Should we go separately or together?”

“Together. Otherwise, you would have no idea if you reached the right location.”

She agreed.
“Hold on to me and then begin thinking of the destination in as much detail as possible. I will mimic those thoughts and hopefully we will end up there. You and I have always gone to places I’ve known before.”

“Do you think you can do it?”

“I think so. Let’s try it. Worst case scenario, we end up in the middle of the Atlantic ocean or something like that.”

Declan laughed lightly. Declan grabbed her hand, focusing in on his London flat, sending her the thoughts of the location such as the street address, the description of the apartment, where it was in relation to major tourist attractions. Her face was twisted up in concentration. A moment later, they were in a tiny London apartment that he used sparingly when on international assignment.

“Is this your apartment?” Caitlyn asked, taking in her surroundings. When Declan affirmed that it was, Caitlyn wore a subdued look of accomplishment. “I did it!”

He couldn’t help but smile broadly at the achievement. Lionel had been right about one thing, she really was impressive. Declan admired her as she walked around the flat. He liked watching Caitlyn in his apartment. He envisioned her living here with him, laughing, cooking, and making love in the bed in the other room. It took every ounce of his willpower not to walk over to her now and kiss her. She commented that she liked the place, and it felt cozy. It pleased him that she thought that. The place was decorated sparingly, but still held a few comforts from home, as it was his favorite. He was last here two months ago, just for a day to talk to some of the European faction of the Trust. Europe was not faring as well with the fight against the Cine Tofa. Their numbers were increasing and the Trust was losing valuable members to their recruitment. Declan knew that something would need to be done quickly about that. Unfortunately, he now had bigger issues to focus on.

He reached out to her, touching her arm lightly. “Caitlyn…”

He felt her relax at the touch. “Yes, Declan?”

“Before we begin, why don’t we start some tea?” He wasn’t here enough to have much else, but he did have tea. What sort of proper London flat did not have tea?

“I would like that. I need something to soothe me at the moment.”

He wrestled through the kitchen cabinets, to the tin of chamomile tea. He prepared two cups, one for himself and one for her. She gratefully accepted it when he handed her the mug. She took a sip, her eyes rolling back a little with pleasure. “Thank you. This is what I needed.”

“Good.” He sat down next to her on his loveseat. He took a sip himself. Caitlyn was finally becoming relaxed; you could see the past twenty-four hours had taken its toll on her. Her eyes were blood shot from the tears and her usually straight hair was frizzled. She was still stunningly beautiful to him however. The last thing he wanted to do was have her recount her time with Garrett and Lionel, but he knew he must. “Caitlyn… I need to talk to you about Garrett.”

Her body began to tense but he continued. “I met with the Council late last night. After briefing them on what I knew, they wanted to bring you in for questioning to be on the safe side, even though they appeared to know more than either you or I did. I convinced my father that it was not the best idea at this time. The full Council’s sessions are intense to state the least.”

She eyed Declan appreciatively. “Thank you. I don’t know that I could handle that today or the next few days.”

“But I still need to ask you questions. The Council… well, as you and I discussed yesterday morning, Garrett is not who everyone thinks he is.”

She sighed, and placed down the tea after taking a small sip. Weariness surrounded her body. “No, he is not.”

“Did Garrett ever talk at all of Nathaniel Livingston?”

Caitlyn clenched her fists lightly at the mention of Nathaniel. So he was not surprised when she answered softly, “No. I’ve only known as long as you have. A little over twenty-four hours ago? Until yesterday, I knew him as Garrett Stevens and there was definitely no mention of Nathaniel Livingston. In fact, he talked very rarely of any specifics regarding the Cine Tofa. When you came to me with that information, I was as shocked as you were.”

“He never mentioned anything?” He could not believe that. He knew that Garrett treasured Caitlyn more than life itself. That was a major secret he kept from her. Declan knew he needed to ask more, but she looked so hurt, he couldn’t bear it. Declan wrapped his arms around her, comforting her. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, Declan. How is anything at the moment okay?” She leaned into his touch. He could not ignore that electricity that moved between them at the contact. Declan’s heart began to race and hers did as well. He tipped up her chin to look at her. Before he did anything foolish, he pulled away abruptly. She needed comforting not more confusion. And he needed answers. That is what he was here for. Answers.

“I guess it wouldn’t be. What do you know about Garrett’s affiliation with the Cine Tofa?” He knew the Council trusted Garrett, but he had yet to be convinced. If his mentor could be a traitor, he found it difficult to place his trust in a man whose father was the head of the Cine Tofa.

Caitlyn sighed and said with confidence, “I know that he is not associated with them. Garrett has severe disdain with what the Cine Tofa represents, Declan. I’ve always known that with absolute certainty. And believe me, when I saw him with Lionel yesterday before he got hit, I saw the loathing in his eyes. Look-” Caitlyn’s hand touched his shoulder, “I know that Lionel betrayed you. I know it must have destroyed you the way it would have me if I found out you betrayed the Trust and lied to me. I understand your suspicion of Garrett, but trust me when I say it is unfounded. Am I hurt that he left such an important detail of his life out of our relationship? More than you could know. Despite that, I still trust him, and he is severely injured due to his loyalty of the Trust.”

Declan shook his head. He was going to break her. The little information the Council made him privy to was going to assure that. “How can you know that Caitlyn? What if Lionel just hates him?”

Caitlyn never broke eye contact. “Because I just know. I know him, Declan. Just the way that I know you. And I know you would never betray this organization.”

Declan sighed. “Caitlyn, you don’t. God, I don’t want to do this…”

Caitlyn stood up straighter. “What is it?”

“Garrett left his mother when he was sixteen to live and learn underneath his father for the Cine Tofa.”