“Go where?” he asks when Ryanne stops in front of him.
“You’re not going anywhere,” I tell her. Still ignoring me, she puts a hand out to help Larkin up. Larkin grabs onto her extended hand and stands. She leans up and whispers the location in Larkin’s ear. He looks over her head at me, but grabs onto her arm and transports them out of the room.
“He does it because he knows it annoys you, Colton,” Emma says.
“Wouldn’t you get annoyed if you just saw your soulmate die? Claire told me not to let her out of my sight because she’s in danger, and I can’t even do that.”
“She’s not in danger, Colton. She knows what she is doing…usually. She didn’t look like she was hiding anything too serious. I think she didn’t tell you because she knows you’ll make her stay here. I know she doesn’t like upsetting you, so she wouldn’t do it on purpose,” Emma says.
“We weren’t given the visions. She’s the only one that sees what’s going on outside of this room. She’s the only one that can change anything,” Kyril says, “and Larkin just likes making you mad, so he goes along with it.”
“Well he needs to stop doing that,” I say. Leaning back against the bed, I try to remain calm while I wait for my soulmate to come back.
Larkin transports back into the room holding an unconscious girl in his arms. She has bruises all over her body and her head is wrapped up in gauze. “Lily?”
“Ryanne said she needed our help,” Larkin explains as he places her down on the bed and transports back out of the room. We all turn and look at the girl who’s completely out lying on the bed. Logan tentatively stands up and walks over to her.
“Am I supposed to heal her?”
“Yes,” Ryanne says when she and Larkin reappear. “We’ll need her.”
“She’s a human.”
“Not completely,” Ryanne says as Logan begins to heal her.
“What do you mean?” I ask her.
“Like me, Lily’s real dad left when she was a baby, so she never knew him. However, her real dad was a mage, so Lily is half mage. She has magic in her.”
“How do you know that?” I ask her.
“She’s right,” Incendia confirms. “She does have some magic in her. I don’t think she’s come into her powers though. It’s not very dominant yet.”
Logan reaches down and places his hands on either side of Lily’s face, focusing on her head injury. I walk over to Ryanne and pull her away from Larkin. “I need to talk to you,” I whisper to her.
She grimaces and shakes her head. “I’m good. I think I’ll just stay here.” I start pulling her toward the door, “Colton, you know I can stop you.”
“But you’re not going to,” I tell her as I open the door and pull her into the hallway.
“How do you know that?” she asks as she leans back against the door.
“Why do you do that?” I ask her instead of answering. “Why won’t you just talk to me? Tell me what’s going on instead of leaving like that? I just lost you, Ryanne. You were dead! I can’t watch you just leave like that without knowing where you’re going. Do you know what it does to me?”
Ryanne bites her lip and looks up at me. “Because…” Because? That’s all she can give me. No explanation. No reason. Just because?
“Because why?”
“Because I want to protect you,” she whispers.
This girl. Shaking my head, I step forward and place my hands on her cheeks, framing her face. “I need to be able to protect you too, Ryanne. Claire told me to stay with you because you’re in danger. I have to protect you. Don’t you understand? My mind wanders every time you disappear. I can’t stop the images that flood through my head. I watch you die over and over again. Thousands of different ways. I don’t know if I’ll ever see you again. I’ve watched the life drain from your eyes twice. I’ve seen come close to death countless times.” She bites her lip harder, trying to stop the quivering. I brush my thumb across her bottom lip. She sighs and looks back up at me. “What’s going on, Ry? What are you not telling me?”
Ryanne opens her mouth to speak, but a teenage boy exits his hotel room and walks down the hallway. She watches the guy as he moves past. “Get a room,” he mutters.
“We already have one, but thanks for the suggestion,” Ryanne politely tells him. I lean forward to hide my smile in her neck. When I can’t hear his footsteps anymore, I lean back and look at Ryanne again. “Please Colton, give me some time.”