Unleashing the Storm (43 page)

“The
doctor is sure of what?” she asked, a knot of unease forming in her gut,
replacing the hunger there.

Haley
chewed her bottom lip and stared at the hardwood floor, but Remy turned to her,
those beautiful eyes brimming with concern. “How do you feel about Ender?”

“What
do you mean?”

“Do
you love him?”

“Of
course I do. But that’s not—”

“Are
you willing to fight for him?”

“What’s
this about?”

Remy
scrubbed a hand over his face. “He loves you.” She snorted, but before she
could say anything, he held up his hand. “He does. He’s got this crazy idea
that he’s too screwed up and dangerous for family life, but with you out of his
life…”

“With
me out of his life, what? What’s happened?”

“He’s
sick, and he just doesn’t care.”

Ender
had suspected what was happening, but Dr. Brown confirmed it quickly enough
after that damned SEAL had carried him in and set him down on the hard metal
table.

“He’s
all kinds of fucked up, Doc. You’d better help him quickly,” Remy had said,
then insisted on staying until the tests came back.

When
the doc told them the prognosis, that Ender’s health was being severely
compromised, Remy had cursed softly in Cajun French under his breath and left
the room, and
dammit,
Ender knew where he was going and couldn’t do
anything to stop him.

He
felt slightly stronger than before, wondered what the doctor was feeding into
his vein via the IV.

He
tugged at it, and the doc said, “It’s just glucose. The energy you’re going to
get from it will be temporary. I also dosed you with taurine and arginine, as
well as some other amino acids your body is missing because of your diet.
Again, a temporary fix.”

He
didn’t want it, temporary or otherwise. He reached down and yanked the needle
out of his arm.

“Dammit,
Ender!” the doctor yelled. “You need to eat your normal diet.”

“Protein
bars,” Ender managed as the doctor bandaged his arm to stop the bleeding.

“Protein
bars are meant to get you through in a pinch, Ender. But your unique body
chemistry won’t allow you to survive on those alone. You need to go back to
being a carnivore.”

“No.”

“You’re
killing yourself, Tom. And not slowly either.”

In a
sudden burst of strength, Ender reached out and grabbed the doc by the throat.
“You don’t get to call me Tom. Only Kira gets to call me—”

“Tommy!”

Of
course Kira had to show up right now, when he had a death grip on the doctor’s
windpipe. At least his growl had come back.

Until
he realized that the low, menacing growl wasn’t coming from his throat, but
rather, was emanating from Kira’s as she held Dr. Brown’s forearm in her teeth.

“Shit.
Kira, honey, you shouldn’t bite the doctor,” he said, and opened his own hand
as Kira moved away from Dr. Brown. Ender laid his head back on the pillow as
the doc wheezed a breath and rubbed the bite mark on his arm.

“Then
the doctor shouldn’t be touching you,” Kira said to him, and told the doctor,
“He’s mine.”

“He
attacked
me,
” Dr. Brown protested, but finally backed off—and out of the
room, as Kira moved next to the bed.

“Tommy,”
she said.

“Go
away.”

“I’m
not going anywhere.”

“You
should. I’m not safe for you to be around. A killer.”

“For
the good of this agency. For the good of the world,” she said quietly, and he
stared at her.

“How
could killing you have been good?”

“You
didn’t kill me. You saved me—from Itor and from myself,” she said. “And you
gave me a child. Something I never thought—”

“You’ll
be a great mom,” he said.

“Oh,
no, Tom Knight, don’t you even act like you won’t be here.”

“I’m
not meant to be a father,” he said. “How would I explain what I do to a kid?”

“We’d
do it together. We’d explain that you save the world from the bad guys. And
you’re not one of the bad guys. You never were.”

“No,
he never was,” Dev’s voice rang out in the tiny room from behind Kira. “Are you
going to tell her, Tom, or should I?”

“Dev,
don’t do this.”

“He
saved my life, you know,” Dev told Kira. “Saved my life and then took a
punishment that was meant for me.”

“Is
that true, Tommy?” she asked quietly.

“It
didn’t matter. I was going to spend the rest of my life in jail anyway. For
killing my Delta team,” he said—didn’t feel as satisfied as he thought he would
when he saw the look of shock on her face.

“Jesus
Christ, Tom, do you want to explain that one a little more, before you start
taking the damned weight of the world on your shoulders again?”

“Look
who’s talking,” he muttered, but Dev was already explaining to Kira about the
hurt pyrokinetic.

“His
men were dying—horrible, terrible deaths. It was just a matter of time, excruciating
time, before they died. There was no way to help them,” Dev said, and Ender saw
Kira swallow hard.

“He
killed them to help them,” she said.

“They
were begging him,” Dev said softly.

“Who
are you again?” Kira finally asked the man who was doling out Tom’s violent
history a piece at a time.

“Dev.
Devlin O’Malley.”

The
man responsible for the order to kill her. She’d wondered what he would look
like, had prepared herself for an ugly, Jimmy Hoffa–ish brute, but the
attractive man with unseeing brown eyes and spiky, dark hair caught her
completely off guard.

She
cleared her throat. “Mr. O’Malley, would you mind waiting outside for a
moment?”

He
inclined his head and then moved silently and unerringly out of the room.

“Tom,”
she said, taking his hand, which was too cool in hers. “The teammate thing…is
that what your nightmares have been about?”

His
jaw tightened, and he turned his head away. Smoothing her other hand over his
jaw, rough with stubble, she tipped his face toward her. He looked at her, his normally
bright, blue-eyed gaze washed out, and it hit her just how miserable he was.

“No
more secrets. Not now. Not after everything.” She pushed his hair off his
forehead. “The nightmares are about what happened to your team, right?”

“Yes.”

“Have
you always had them as frequently as you’ve been having them lately?”

Again,
he looked like he didn’t want to answer, but she kept stroking his face, his
cheek, his forehead, and finally he said, “No. I’d have them sometimes when Dev
dreams of it, but I think…I think these started up because of you. I let you
in. And then there was the guilt…”

“Because
you were supposed to kill me?”

What
little color he had in his face flushed out. “God, Kira, I’m so sorry.”

She
had no idea what to say, because she hadn’t completely worked out her feelings
on the subject yet, but his anguish was genuine, especially if the situation
had stirred up nightmares.

Finally,
she settled on a simple “I know.”

“I
don’t think you do.” He nuzzled her hand, pressed a kiss into her palm. “I love
you. Did you know that?”

“Yes,”
she said, smiling. “And that’s why you’re going to do what it takes to get
better. Tommy Junior and I need you to keep us safe.”

“I’m
the danger, Kira. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. The nightmares—”

“May
very well be over. You don’t need to feel guilty anymore. I forgive you,” she
said fiercely, because she did. The idea that he would let himself be so
miserable that he’d waste away rather than hurt her or their child was enough
to break through any barrier that remained. “You were doing your job, and you
have nothing to feel guilty about. You had the opportunity to follow orders a
hundred times over, and instead, you protected me and kept me alive.”

“I’m
a killer,” he said.

Dammit,
why was he fighting her on this? “Yes, you are. But you know what? I can’t
judge you for that. I’ve lived with animals for so many years, and not all of
them are gentle sheep and ducks. Tigers are killers, but they have to be in
order to eat and to protect their young. And Tommy, if someone was threatening
you or this baby, I’d turn into a tiger real fast.”

A
weak smile turned up his mouth. “Yeah, I know you would.”

“Good.
Don’t make me turn into one now. You need to get better.”

“That’s
not the only issue.”

“I
know. Remy filled me in on the way over here.”

“I
can’t eat meat, Kira. Not knowing what it does to you.”

God,
she loved him. “What were we just talking about? Big cats. You’re a big cat,
Tommy, a cheetah. And cheetahs, like all cats, are true carnivores. Which means
that unlike dogs or bears or people, they will die without meat.
Die.
Apparently, your excedosapien gift comes from the same type of genetic makeup.
So for you, it’s not a matter of choice. It’s a matter of necessity. I get
that. I don’t want you to die.” She ran her palm over his chest, trying to
ignore that it felt caved in. “I need you, Tommy.
We
need you.”

He
drew the back of his hand over her abdomen, and she felt a wonderful fluttering
inside. “I need you too.”

Grinning,
she moved to the door. Outside, Haley, Remy, the doctor, and Mr. O’Malley were
talking. “Would someone please get Tom a burger?”

“It’s
about freakin’ time,” Remy said, and headed down the hall.

Kira
went back inside to wait. Tom promised to do his carnivore thing while at lunch
and away from the house so she wouldn’t have it near her, and he even swore he
didn’t mind her vegan meals for dinner. He was lying, of course, but she loved
him that much more for it.

When
Remy returned with a foul-smelling bag of food, she left Tom to eat and slipped
out of the room to talk with the head of ACRO, who paced in the hall. The
doctor had gone, and Haley was pouring coffee at the machine near the end of
the corridor.

“Mr.
O’Malley,” she said, being careful not to get too close. She was still on edge
with men, men who
hadn’t
ordered her execution, so she wasn’t ready to
trust herself with him yet.

“It’s
Devlin. And thank you for getting Tom to eat.”

“It
wasn’t much, considering he saved my life, Mr. O’Malley. More than once.”

His
eyebrows shot up half an inch before his expression settled into one of
acceptance, and yeah, he might be physically blind, but that was as far as it
went—he got why she wasn’t ready to call him by his first name. “You understand
the reason behind the orders that brought you here.”

It
wasn’t a question. “I do. And I wouldn’t want your job and the decisions you
have to make. You’ve obviously done a great thing here…everyone I’ve talked to
seems happy, including the animals. This is an amazing agency. But given my
hormonal state and everything that’s happened, don’t expect me to be your
number one fan right away.”

One
corner of his mouth turned up in amusement. “What if I told you that if you
sign on, we’ll make generous contributions to the animal charity of your
choice? And I’ll let you head up an animal rescue program that will allow you
to travel to disaster zones and gather animals that need help?”

Her
breath lodged in her lungs. She’d already decided to sign on with ACRO, but
what he was offering…she could help animals on a global scale, something she’d
dreamed about. “Why? Why would you do this for me?”

“A
happy agent is a good agent.” He shrugged. “Besides, everyone asks for
something special when they sign on.”

Haley
walked up behind Devlin. “I got the house of my dreams.” She sipped her coffee.
“And a bike.”

“We’ll
have to alter our training program because of your pregnancy. Light
day-training only, and we’ll give you an apartment on base instead of making
you stay in the dorm—”

“Fuck
that,” came Tom’s voice from behind her. “She comes home with me.”

Devlin
rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I figured that’s the way it would go.”

“Tom!
Get back in bed.” Kira hurried to where he was propped against the door frame.

Remy
stood behind Tom, muttering something about
“stubborn fucking Deltas,”
but he backed out of the way as she wrapped her arm around Tom’s waist and
guided him back to bed.

“What
were you thinking?” she said, as she pulled the sheet up over him.

“I
was thinking I didn’t want you to be that far away.”

“I
was standing in the hallway.”

“Too
far.”

Her
heart flipped, and not caring if anyone else was in the room, she kissed him.
He’d brushed his teeth—Remy must have brought toiletries with the
hamburgers—and he tasted like mint and man, and before she knew it, she was
stretched out beside him on the bed, his face framed in her hands, his tongue
sucking gently on hers.