When I make myself pull away, I tip my head back so I can meet his eyes. I worried he wouldn’t come back to me and I’d never be able to remember exactly what shade of amber-flecked sage his eyes are. But there they are; I can breathe easy again.
“Want a cinnamon roll?” he asks me.
Not even a little bit. After a week apart, I can’t believe he’s not carrying me to our room right now.
“Maybe later,” I say. “How did it go? Can we go talk somewhere?”
“It went great. I have a lot to do now that I’m back, so I’ll need to talk later.”
Something’s wrong. I can’t figure out what it is.
“Hello.” A woman who looks fortyish, with short brown hair and beady eyes, holds her hand out to me. “I’m Commander Ingrid Voss. And you are?”
I don’t want to answer, but I don’t have much choice. “Briar.”
“Ah, Briar. Of course. Marcus talked about you a lot.”
She looks at him and he grins.
Niran rushes up to us, putting his arms around Marcus in a back-slapping bro hug.
“Finally, man. Shit hit the fan right after you left.”
Marcus looks at Ingrid, who’s frowning.
“What happened?” she asks.
“The volcano exploded. We lost around half the people on the island. Rising Tide’s camp was destroyed. That’s why they’re here.”
Marcus nods, looking thoughtful. “That’s smart. Everyone can work together now.”
A wave of lightheadedness hits me. Marcus is right here, just a few feet away, but something’s off.
I think he’s their prisoner, and acting differently than he normally would is his only way of communicating with us. He can’t tell us something’s not right, so he’s showing us.
“Hello, I’m Commander Ingrid Voss.” She holds her hand out to Niran. “And you are?”
“Niran Merced.”
“Pleased to meet you. Do you want?—”
“What in the fuck aretheydoing here?” Nova cuts off Ingrid’s question, her dark, accusatory gaze locked onto Marcus.
“There’s a lot to talk about,” Marcus says. “I want to call everyone together for a meeting.”
Nova scoffs. “Summarize it for me. You brought a bunch of New America pricks here because ...?”
“We’re here to help,” Ingrid says. “We have food and supplies. Marcus will fill everyone in. Is there a place we can all gather?”
Behind Nova, Adele, Chance, and Breck stand in a line, all of them pointing weapons at the uniformed New Americans. The chatter over the cinnamon rolls has quieted.
“Not you guys,” Nova says. “Only Marcus.”
Marcus draws his brows together. “There’s so much we didn’t know before. Commander Voss generously offered to bring help and supplies to our island. They’re staying. I want to get everyone together for a meeting, and that includes them.”
Nova’s gaze flicks to mine. I don’t know what to do or say. All I can think about is getting Marcus alone so I can at least get some clues about what’s going on.
“Only Marcus,” Nova repeats.
