Captivate (Manipulate, Book 2)

Chapter 25

After nearly two weeks of serving the high-end aliens that came to Francois’s restaurant, Claire woke in a cold sweat. She’d dreamed of Faal, and she stumbled from her bed in a panic. Where was she? She knew Faal was in the dream, but it was so dark, and where was she now?

Claire stumbled into a wall and fell to her knees. She felt an open door to her left and scrambled through it on her hands and knees. There was a pale light and she pushed herself up and tripped toward it. She collided with a waist high cabinet and a light automatically turned on. Claire saw her wild reflection in the mirror and was half-surprised that it was not Jenelle.

But now she could see her surroundings, and she remembered where she was. The restaurant, the bedrooms, the bathroom.

Sage came to the open door, blinking in the light and looking concerned. “Claire, are you alright? I thought I heard someone fall.”

Claire laughed, somewhat hysterically. “No, I’m fine... just a bad dream.”

She touched the plate to turn off the light and Sage stepped back to let her come out.

He put his hand on her forehead. “Do you think you might be sick again?”

“No, I - ” Claire broke off into a sob. The soft feel of a human hand, from someone who knew her name and cared whether she lived or died was too much. “I just...”

Claire stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Sage, hugging him tightly. She was crying in earnest now, and she muffled her sobs against his shoulder.

He rubbed her back and murmured something about it being okay. Claire nodded, choking down her tears.

“No, it’s probably good to cry,” Sage said. “Your body is finally releasing some of the stress.”

After a while, Sage stroked her hair and said, “You should get back to bed, though.” He led her by the hand back into the ‘girls’ room and Claire sat on the edge of her bed.

“Thanks, Sage.”

He nodded and turned to go, but then looked back at her. “Do you want me to stay?” he whispered.

Claire knew she should probably say no. She’d already clung to him and cried, she knew she was not keeping the kind of emotional barriers up that she should. But... Claire thought of Faal and shivered. Damn emotional barriers.

“Yes... while I go to sleep?”

She couldn’t quite see Sage’s face in the darkness, but she thought he smiled slightly. “Sure, move over.”

Claire woke in the morning to the sound of an argument. She was alone in the bed, facing the wall.

“ – doing with her?” Old Twin said in a low voice.

“That’s none of your business,” Sage said.

They were in the small common room between the ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ sleeping rooms, and the door was open a few inches.

“I know you want to be human, but you can’t do that and keep experimenting,” Old Twin said.

“I’m not experimenting. I really like her.”

Old Twin snorted.

“You would have let that guard kill her,” Sage retorted. “You lost your right to interfere.”

“That would have been cleaner.”

Claire heard Sage start down the stairs, his feet on the creaking steps. “She likes me too. You’ll see.”