Unabashed, Wen took a drink from his cup. “It’ll stunt your growth,” he said. “Really, I’m doing you a favor.”
Lucas stood, holding out his hand. “Gimme your cup; I’ll make you something else.”
Joss looked at him and smiled. “Thanks, Lucas.” She held the mug out in front of Morgan. Morgan took it and passed it to Lucas, their fingers brushing for the briefest of seconds.
As Lucas stood and made his way for the kitchen, Joss started up with her dream again. Morgan tried to look at her cousin, but her eyes kept straying to the kitchen, following Lucas’s form as he went from cupboard to cupboard.
Corbin snorted. “Shocker,” he grumbled under his breath.
Lia glanced at him. “Hm?”
Morgan looked at him, too, as he rolled his eyes. “Come on. It’s obvious,” he said. “And the pretending is a little insulting.”
Lia’s eyes flicked around the table, confused. Joss seemed lost as well. But the set of Wen’s mouth told Morgan he’d figured out what Corbin was upset about. He glanced at his sister and Ellie rubbed the space above her right eyebrow, sighing.
Kellen was smiling.
“You can’t Feel it?” Corbin asked, looking from Lia to Joss.
Lia crossed her arms over her chest. Though she’d been having success Feeling during training, Morgan knew it still wasn’t second nature to her. Taking a breath and releasing it slowly, Lia scanned the room with her eyes and, Morgan knew, her mind. After a few moments, her eyes flicked between Morgan and Lucas.
“What?” Joss asked, clearly still lost.
With a dramatic sigh, Lia pushed the information into Joss’s mind. Joss’s eyes widened as they landed on Morgan.
“What’s with the look?” Morgan demanded.
Joss shook her head vaguely. “Wow. The connection… it’s crazy-strong.”
“For now,” Corbin muttered darkly.
“Wait—what is that supposed to mean?” Joss asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
But Corbin was looking at Lucas. “Have fun while it lasts, buddy, because as soon as you piss her off, I’m sure she’ll move on to the next one.” He glanced toward Kellen. “My money’s on him. Maybe Wen. Greg’s a little old, but I’m sure—”
Corbin’s chair upended abruptly, sending him flying back into the nearest couch. A general outcry of surprise sounded around the table, and Lia and Ellie jumped out of their chairs, as if afraid they might be next.
“You will not talk about her like that,” Lucas said, his voice low, still standing in the kitchen.
Corbin laughed hollowly as he used the back of the couch to pull himself to standing. “Is that right?” The lamp on the end table nearest to him lifted into the air and zoomed across the room toward Lucas.
About halfway to the kitchen, the lamp came to a stop in midair before crashing to the ground. Then Corbin tumbled backward over the couch, landing in the middle of the living room area. Lucas took off at a run and leapt impossibly high, clearing half the kitchen and a couch, before landing in front of Corbin. Before anyone else could react, the two of them were little more than a blur of fists and bodies as they began to physically attack each other.
Wen vaulted the couch Corbin had been thrown against and stood in front of the brawling pair, looking for a space to insert himself to break the two apart. “Joss!” He turned back to the table and held his hand out to her.
Without hesitation, Joss ran to him, reaching over the couch to touch his outstretched hand. No sooner did their fingers connect than it seemed a small explosion pushed Corbin and Lucas away from each other, each landing on a couch on opposite sides of the room from the other. Though they both struggled to stand again, they were held down by an invisible force.
“Lia, help me,” Ellie said, making her way toward Lucas.
Lia followed immediately and the two of them managed to pull Lucas off his couch and drag his resisting body down the hallway toward his bedroom.
Still holding onto Joss’s hand, Wen made his way toward Corbin’s couch. Morgan just stared at the scene. She couldn’t believe what she’d just witnessed. When Joss and Wen made it to Corbin, Morgan averted her eyes. She didn’t want to see any more. Her gaze fell on Kellen. He was still seated at the table as if nothing had happened. But as he brought his coffee mug to his lips, Morgan couldn’t help noticing the distinct shadow of a grin.
She considered asking him what he thought was so funny, but Greg chose that moment to make his entrance. He watched as Wen and Joss half carried, half dragged Corbin toward his bedroom before fixing his eyes on Morgan. He said nothing, but the tight line of his lips told Morgan he’d surmised the general idea of what had occurred.
She looked back at Kellen. “Whatever you’re itching to say, can you just say it already?”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” Kellen’s mouth twitched slightly as if he were biting back more words.
She glared at him. “Out with it.”
An incredulous bark escaped his lips. “Boy Wonder? Seriously?” He laughed again.
She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. She waited for his fit to subside before speaking again. “Are you done?”
He snorted. “I’m sorry. I’m done now, I promise.” A smile lingered at the corner of his lips and he was silent for a moment. “It’s just… are you serious? I mean, I could see why you were with the Rock Star—the whole musician thing is apparently big with you girls. But Boy Wonder? What is it? It’s the hair, right? You wanna just put some glasses on his face and a scar on his forehead or something? Honestly, besides the hair, what could he possibly have that I don’t?”
In response, Morgan rolled her eyes.
“Kellen, I think you should make your way back to your room now,” Greg said firmly.
Kellen remained stationary for a beat, and when he finally did start moving, the look on his face told Morgan it wasn’t of his own volition.
“Come on,” he protested as his body walked stiffly toward the far hallway. “This is a violation of my civil rights!”
When Kellen was safely down the hall, Greg approached Morgan. “I was wondering when this was going to happen,” he said, nodding down the opposite hallway, toward Lucas’s and Corbin’s rooms.
“You knew.” It wasn’t a question.
Greg closed his eyes as he exhaled. “Add it to the list of things I’ve kept from you.”
Ellie and Lia made their reappearance in the living room at that moment, sparing Morgan from figuring out how to respond.
“Can I go in to see him?” Not really expecting a response, Morgan headed down the hallway. She knocked tentatively at Lucas’s door. “Can I come in?”
There was a pause. “Okay.”
She pushed the door open to reveal Lucas sitting cross-legged on his bed, the left side of his face puffy and red. She closed the door behind her and crossed the room to sit beside him. “Does it hurt?”
“A bit.”
“You think we could try to Heal it?”
He shook his head. “I mean, I’m sure we could, but… I deserve this.”
Morgan searched his eyes. “Why’d you do it, Lucas?”
He looked at her incredulously. “Did you not hear what he was saying about you?”
“Of course I heard.”
“Well then, why—”
“I didn’t care he was saying those things. I mean, he’s mad. Of course he’s gonna say some ugly things.”
Lucas shook his head. “I don’t know how you can be okay with it.”
“Because they’re not true, for one. And because… because he didn’t mean it.”
He ran a hand through his already rumpled hair and sighed. “I’ve never been in a fight before, you know that?”
Morgan shook her head. “But I’m not surprised. You don’t strike me as the fighting type.”
“I’m totally not. But when Corbin was saying those things…” He pursed his lips. “I don’t think I’ve ever been that mad.”
He shrugged. “Look, I know you can, but—I don’t know—given that we could end up together… It seemed the thing to do.”
He leaned in for a kiss, but Morgan pulled back. Something about the way he’d spoken didn’t sit well with her. “ ‘Could end up together’?”
Lucas looked at her and smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Well, yeah. Haven’t you listened to what, like, Ellie has said about Knowing? It’s not always a hundred percent—”
“But that’s not how you meant it.” She knew she must have caught Lucas off guard, because his mind was more open to hers than usual. She pushed forward, meeting little resistance for a moment. But as soon as he realized what she was doing, he put up his wall, shoving her out of his head.
“No—that’s not fair, Morgan.”
“No, what’s not fair is you keeping things from me!” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Lucas, if it has to do with me, don’t I have a right to know?
His expression softened. “You said last night that some kinds of knowledge can be dangerous. I just… There’s already so much weight on you. I don’t want to add more.”
Morgan uncrossed her arms. “Lucas, please.”
He sighed and she knew she’d won. He pushed himself back on the bed and leaned against the wall. When he spoke, his gaze was on the ceiling. “I didn’t just have one vision about the future. I’ve had several, and not all of them have been the same.” He glanced at her briefly before continuing. “I mean, at first, they were all the same. It was you and me in all of them. But since Christmas… I’ve had some visions where you’re with… a Veneret guy, and I’m…”
She waited for him to continue, but after a moment, it was clear he wasn’t going to. “I’m with a Veneret guy? Does that mean I go all Dark Side and… and fight for Orrick?”
“I don’t know—”
“And you? You’re what? With Joss? Lia?” She felt her agitation rising. Was he being vague on purpose? “Are you shacking up with Ellie? In a lovely civil partnership with Wen?”
“Dead!” Lucas turned so he was facing her directly and looked into her eyes. “I’m… I’m dead.”
Morgan felt as though she’d been dealt a physical blow. Her hand went involuntarily to cover her heart. “No,” she said, her voice a whisper. Tears stung her eyes and she made no effort to rub them away. “How?”
“In a bad-ass blaze of glory, I hope, but…” He shook his head. “I don’t know. I just know that in some of the visions, I’m gone and you’re with—” He pursed his lips, averting his eyes.
Morgan was about to press for who Lucas had seen her with in his vision, but suddenly she didn’t have to. Unbidden, she was sure, a face floated to the surface of Lucas’s thoughts so quickly he couldn’t hide it from her. She looked at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. “Kellen?”
Lucas closed his eyes briefly, looking disappointed in himself. “Yes, Kellen.”
She shook her head slowly. “No… I can’t… I can’t end up with Kellen.”
“I hope it’s not the case. Clearly.”
Morgan snorted. “Yeah, so you don’t die.”
Lucas grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Morgan, no. Everyone dies. It’s a fact of life. I don’t want you to be with Kellen—with anyone else—because I wanna be with you.” With his free hand, he reached forward and tucked her hair behind her ear. “If we’re not together, I might as well go out in my blaze of glory.”
Morgan recoiled slightly. “Don’t talk like that.”
He shrugged. “You wanted truth? Well, there it is.”
She studied him. His face was open and earnest, the way she always pictured it in her mind. And she realized his mind was open to her as well. It was evident that he meant what he was saying, and the emotions he felt toward her were genuine. She leaned forward planted a gentle kiss on his mouth. Lucas’s injuries prohibited him from kissing back, though Morgan could tell he wanted to. “I do want truth. But I don’t want you to be that boyfriend who insists he’d be nothing without his girlfriend.”
Lucas grinned. “Boyfriend, eh?”
A slight smile touched Morgan’s lips as she weighed the word. It had never felt right as a description of Corbin, but it somehow seemed to fit Lucas. “Well, yeah. I mean, that’s accurate, right?”
He shrugged. “I dunno. How about ‘pre-fiancé’?” He made a face. “Too pretentious?”
She held her thumb and pointer finger a millimeter apart from each other. “Little bit.”
“Lover?” He waggled his eyebrows.
She gave his shoulder a gentle shove. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Mr. Kenrick.”
He laughed, catching her hand with his. When he looked at her, his expression turned serious. “How about just love? Because, Morgan, I do—I love you.”
A knot tightened in her stomach. She forced a smile, twisting her fingers against his. “You know, Lucas, I’m not mad at you about the fight. You don’t have to lay it on quite so thick.”
Lucas extricated his hand from hers, placing it on his lap. “I’m sorry. I keep forgetting how new this is to you. I mean, I’ve been having these visions since—since we got here, almost. Months.” He offered a small, sad smile. “I don’t expect you to be able to say it back right now. And—and I won’t say it again until you’re ready to hear it.”
Morgan stared at him, not sure how to respond. Not even twelve hours had elapsed since their first kiss. While Morgan felt good about being with Lucas—felt it was somehow right, destined even—she couldn’t bring herself to so boldly pronounce love. The gift of the three little words Lucas had just uttered was too precious for her to give just yet. She attempted to push these impressions to Lucas, to make him understand, but he wouldn’t allow it.
“It’s okay,” he said, a more content smile gracing his lips. “No explanations necessary.”
She scooted toward him on the bed and embraced him, enjoying the sensation of his arms wrapping around her. She pressed her ear against his chest and listened to the steady metronome of his heartbeat. Tilting her face toward him, she feathered a kiss on his jaw.
They sat like that for several minutes before Lucas stiffened, one of his arms removing itself from Morgan’s back. “Morgan…?”
She pushed herself away from him. “What?”
Lucas’s hand was on his left cheek. When Morgan had snuggled against him, it had been puffy and in the process of bruising. Now, it looked the way it always did. “What’d you do?”
She reached her hand out and touched the unblemished skin tentatively. “I—”
“I wanted you to leave it. I deserved the pain of bruises for attacking Corbin like that.”
Morgan snorted. “You wanted a black eye to look bad-ass,” she accused. “I’m the one who has to look at you.”
He laughed. “Fair point.”
“Besides, I didn’t do it—not on purpose.”
Lucas looked at her, skepticism in his eyes, but said nothing.
“Plus,” she said softly, leaning toward him again, “you being Healed has other advantages, too…”
He met her half way, the exuberance of his kiss making up for the one he hadn’t been able to give her earlier. Lucas’s enthusiasm was contagious; Morgan felt her heart racing as he wrapped his arms around her. As her fingers found their way to the hair on the nape of his neck, a knock sounded at Lucas’s bedroom door.
“You two’d better be decent, or so help me…”
Morgan and Lucas pulled away from each other just as the door opened to reveal Wen. He looked only slightly irritated by the fact that he had clearly interrupted a make-out session.
“Yeah, sure, Wen,” Lucas said, running a hand through his hair in a futile attempt to straighten it out, “come right in. Thanks for waiting to be invited.”
Wen did not look amused when he gl
anced at Lucas. “I’ve gotta talk to Morgan. Why don’t you go take a shower?” Though his inflection indicated a question, it was clear that it wasn’t a suggestion that was up for discussion.
Lucas glanced at Morgan, who could only shrug. With a sigh, Lucas walked toward the door.
“Try a cold one,” Wen said as Lucas passed.
Lucas turned when he reached the door, making eye contact with Morgan and pursing his lips. She shooed him with her hand.
Wen closed the door and crossed to where Morgan sat. After a brief hesitation, he took a seat on the side of the bed Lucas had been occupying. “We’ve gotta talk,” he said, turning to face her.
She nodded. “I gathered.”
“And I’d appreciate it if you cut the smart-ass crap for right now.”
Morgan held her hands up innocently, biting back the urge to tell him she’d appreciate being able to kiss Lucas without him barging in. “What’s up, Wen?”
“You remember the first time you came to my apartment? Lia called me because she was worried about you—”
She nodded. “I remember. Your couch smelled like dog.”
“Smart ass,” he warned.
“Sorry.”
He sighed, rolling his shoulders. “I asked you that day if things between you and Corbin were gonna do damage, you remember that?”
Morgan thought back to the conversation. “Um… yeah. You didn’t want things with me and Corbin to cause—” She employed air quotes. “—a ‘stupid teenage rift’ or something like that.”
“Yeah. And you promised me they weren’t going to.”
“Yeah…?”
“So?” He gestured around Lucas’s room. “You don’t think this is going to complicate things with Corbin just a little?”
Morgan stared at him, incredulous. “Wait—you want me to be with Corbin?”
“What? No.” Wen shook his head. “I could give a crap who you’re dating. What I care about is the Prophecy. It says that the One has her four Naturals. Four. Not three because one of them’s pissed at her.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“I don’t care. Look, I just wanna make sure you know you’ve gotta make sure things are square with Corbin. Things were awkward after the two of your split, but there was no reason for him to turn against you. I didn’t think you’d be jumping into things with someone else so soon. I mean, there’s only so many people in the cabin.”
The Naturals Trilogy Page 57