Chapter 18

-Chase-

I took Dante back to the hotel. He didn’t say a word while I drove, but neither did I. The news we just heard… I refused to believe it. We didn’t drive all the way here just to hear he was going to die! That was not an option! I was not letting him die. No way in hell was I going to let him die…

Once we were back in our small room, Dante went to sit down on his bed, looking out of the window. I just stood there in the middle of the room, staring at him. He had gained a little weight already… He was getting better already… No. There was no way he could die.

We would find the cure, no matter what it took.

I sat down next to the small desk there was in the room and grabbed my laptop. Dante needed time to process the news, but I didn’t have any time to waste. I had to find the cure. While the laptop was starting up, I thought about the lab Mr. Heist had mentioned. I would call the man later and find out where the lab located. I would blast every single troll out of existence to get into the lab. And those trolls better hope they had left something useful for me… I needed to know what Mr. Heist had already discovered. Even one page of scribbled-down notes would suffice. I just needed something, anything to start with.

But first, I needed to know everything about woodland trolls.

Dante didn’t move a muscle in a long time. I wanted to comfort him but he had locked himself away. I let him have his time while I did my hasty research, but by the time I had gathered enough information about those fucking trolls to fulfill my plan to invade the lab, I knew I had to try to get through to him. I couldn’t stand to see him so… lifeless.

“Dante?” I spoke his name quietly and walked in front of him. He was staring at his hands. He had balled them into tight fists. I kneeled down in front of him, trying to touch his face, but he pulled away. “I am not letting you die, you hear me?”

He looked at me shortly but then turned away again.

“I’m going to find that lab he mentioned,” I told him. “There has to be something left for us to use. My friends and I are strong enough to drive them away.”

“Don’t,” he said. “Nothing can help me anymore. It’s just a waste of time.”

“It’s not! You can’t let this get to you! I don’t know what kind of half-assed work that old grunt has done with his research, so I need to see his lab! I need to see what he has discovered so far, and then I do his work ten times better,” I spoke, trying to keep my voice calm but obviously failing at it. “Do not give up on me!”

“No,” he said, looking at me with a cold gleam in his eyes that I had never seen in them before. “We need to find those sons of bitches who did this to me.”

I was stunned by his words. I could only stare at him. “Come again?”

“My days are numbered, but I’m not dead yet,” he said, standing up. “They did this to me and so many others, but I’m not letting them get away with it! I’m going to put a stop to it once and for all.”

“Uhmm…” I mumbled while getting up from the floor. “We should really just focus on getting to Mr. Heist’s lab,” I said, hoping he would forget about Lena and the others for now.

“No – you don’t get it,” he almost growled at me. “I can hear him laugh at me in my head. All the time. I’m not letting that bastard or Lena or anyone else continue their sick experiments any longer!”

“Who’s he?” I asked.

“Killian!”

“All right,” I sighed, stepping in front of him. “There’s just one problem…”

“What?”

I took a deep breath and told him about our trip to the place where Lena’s lab once was. He listened in silence, and when I stopped speaking, he turned his back on me in frustration.

“It’s gone?” he asked angrily.

“Yeah…” I breathed out. “We have tried to find their new location – they must have one – but we haven’t found anything yet.”

“Then we need to focus on finding it,” he said. “Forget about me – we need to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

“We need to find the cure,” I told him, but he was too angry to listen. “Don’t do this to me, Dante…”

“Do what?” he asked, facing me.

I placed my hand on his cheek, wishing he could feel how I felt about him. “We need to cure you first. I care too much about you to watch you die.”

“They already killed me,” pushing my hand away.

I had never felt so rejected in my entire life, and I had been rejected plenty of times. I still wasn’t going to give up on finding the cure, but now I was the one who needed time. With a bleeding heart, I returned to my laptop, trying to get my head back together so I could focus on coming up with a plan to get rid of the woodland trolls.

“You said you don’t want to die,” I said quietly.

“I don’t want to, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m going to,” he replied coldly.

I didn’t reply to him. I stared at the screen of my laptop, holding my hands on the keys, ready to type, but I was too emotional to actually do anything. Before I knew it, I had tears burning in my eyes, and no matter how hard I tried to ignore the pain, I failed.

This was not how things were supposed to go…

“I’m sorry…” he suddenly muttered, stepping behind me. “I know you’re trying to help.”

“I don’t want you to die,” I whispered. “We came all the way here… If only I could see his lab…”

He let out a deep breath and placed his hand on my shoulder. “You care too much – you shouldn’t bother for someone like me.”

I stood up and hugged him before he could stop me. I rested my head on his shoulder, trying to calm myself down. “Don’t say that,” I muttered. “Just stop saying that…”

He didn’t move a muscle at first, but then, after a moment, he wrapped his arms around me. “You are too good for me…” he muttered in my ear.

“We have no idea where they are, so the best thing for us to do is find the cure. You will have your revenge, but now we need to focus on saving your life,” I told him quietly.

“Fine…” he said, his anger now completely gone. I smiled against his shoulder, feeling relieved and much stronger – I could do this. I just needed to see the lab…

His hot breath tickled my neck and all of a sudden it was the only thing I could focus on. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry to let me go, so I enjoyed every second of being held by him.

“I don’t want to die,” he breathed out. “I really don’t, but…”

“You are not going to – I’ll make sure of that,” I replied, and he nodded shortly.

I pulled back to see his face, but his hold of me grew tighter like he thought I was going to let go. He wasn’t looking at me, and the expression on his face broke my heart. Now that his anger was gone, he was miserable, scared and without hope once again. I placed my hand on the back of his neck and caressed his skin with my fingertips, waiting for him… waiting for something.

Then, he leaned his head against mine, taking in a deep breath. “I’d be so lost without you…” he whispered.

“That’s why I’m not letting you go,” I replied.

Something changed in him. He took another deep breath and even smiled a little, and I hoped it meant he was regaining his strength. He looked at me, removing his hand from my back to brush his fingers through my hair.

“You have golden earrings now,” he muttered, touching the row of small decorated hoops I was wearing.

“I changed them a while back, but thanks for noticing,” I told him with a chuckle. “I packed away all the silver I own – my place is werewolf-friendly now.”

“I see…” he murmured, resting his hand on my cheek.

I smiled at him, and after a very short moment of hesitation, I got up on my toes and planted a kiss on his cheek. “We’ll get through this. I’ll call Mr. Heist and ask how to get to his lab,” I said, reluctantly letting go of him so I could get my phone.

I didn’t get far.

“Chase…”

He grabbed my arm gently and pulled me back to him. His hand was back on my cheek and my mind drew blank when he pulled me closer by my waist… I guess my own body was more prepared than I was since when he leaned in without saying a word, and his lips were suddenly on mine, I kissed him back without missing a beat like we had done this a million times.

The second I recovered from the surprise, I got up on my toes to wrap my arms around his shoulders, pressing myself tightly against him. The kiss turned deeper when I parted my lips and turned my head a little, giving him the room and freedom to do whatever he wanted. He did whatever he wanted, in his gentle way, making me feel happy and fuzzy while he was at it.

Was it just me or did this kiss feel a thousand times better than back when we were dating? His breath on my face, the warmth of his body, his scent all around me, his strong, but gentle hold on my hair and hips… His wonderful lips and tongue… I don’t think I noticed how good it felt before… I couldn’t remember having these feelings last time.

When he tried to pull back, I held onto him to make that moment last for a little bit longer. When it became clear I was losing that battle, I stole a few, short kisses before he could get out of my reach. Why did he have to be so tall…?

“That was…” he muttered, giving me a warm smile.

“That sure was,” I smiled back at him, finding comfort in the fact that he was still holding me tightly.

He stared at me for a while, keeping his hand on my cheek and caressing my skin with his thumb. Then, he cleared his throat and looked away. “So… Uhm… the lab?”

I chuckled at his spooked smile and pushed a lock of his hair behind his ear. “So now you want to talk about the lab?”

His cheeks turned red and he peered at me timidly. “I… I… No?”

“No?”

“…yes?”

I laughed lightly and hugged him, leaning my head against his shoulder and taking in his scent. “I’ll call him. I think you should rest for a bit.”

“I can’t rest,” he muttered. “I need to do something.”

“I can handle this. I’ll make a portal so I can bring in a few friends and you get back home to–”

“No. I’m coming with you to the lab,” he said sternly, pushing me back to see my face. “I’m not letting you do it alone.”

“I’m not alone – I have friends who can help me,” I told him, but he shook his head.

“I am not hiding under the bed while you’re risking your life for me. I’m coming with you. That’s final,” he spoke with a tone that didn’t leave room for arguments.

But I tried anyway. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I have a beast in me that’s more than capable to fight. Some trolls can’t do a thing against it,” he said, and I had to admit that he was probably right.

“Just… Fine, but I will be so mad at you if you get hurt,” I said.

“Unless they carry silver with them, I’ll be fine,” he said placing his hands on my arms. “I’m more worried about you.”

“Thankfully, trolls aren’t that smart, but they are strong, so we need a good plan before we attack,” I said, turning my head to look for my phone. “Let me call Mr. Heist – there’s no time to waste.”

I tried to take a step away from him, but he didn’t let me. I turned to look at him and saw a serious expression on his face.

“I have grown fond of you as well, Chase Cooper,” he said quietly. “I hate myself for pulling you into this mess, but without you…” he trailed off, shaking his head and letting out a sigh.

I didn’t know what to tell him, so I got up on my toes and kissed him instead. When I pulled back, his eyes had more strength in them again. I smiled. “We’ll find the cure, and then we’ll find those sons of bitches and make them regret ruining your life. We’ll make them suffer for what they did to you.”

“I’d like that,” he said, hugging me tightly. “I’d like that very much.”

He finally let me go make the call. I could feel his eyes on my back the entire time I spoke on the phone. I forced myself to focus on what Mr. Heist was telling me about the lab and its location. He was being surprisingly helpful, but I had the feeling he didn’t do it for us – he just wanted his lab back. I agreed to meet him the next morning and hung up. After that, I called Zane and then Aaliyah. They both were ready to help, as always, so I told them I’d be picking them up at my store the next morning.

Once I was done with the phone calls, I turned my attention back to Dante, who was sitting on his bed.

“All set,” I said, tossing my phone on my bed. “All we need is a plan, but we’ll come up with one tomorrow once we’re all here.”

“How are you picking them up?” Dante asked.

“I’ll just make a portal,” I said and went to sit next to him.

“Why did we have to drive all the way here if you could’ve just made a portal for us?”

“I need exact coordinates,” I explained. “Or else we may end up in the void or something.”

“Isn’t map good enough?” he asked.

“Not that kind of coordinates,” I smirked. “There are seven runes in one portal. One is to turn it on and off, but the rest are coordinates – I need to visit the place to reveal the coordinates and carefully draw them in my notebook. I could get the coordinates from someone else, but I don’t trust strangers. Portals are very tricky and not everyone can draw the coordinates. I really don’t want to end up in a volcano or something…”

“You must be really good at it since you opened that one portal in a hurry when I… when I attacked you…” he muttered, looking down at his hands.

“That’s why I chose the desert in Njizrski – as long as I get the vertical runes correct, it doesn’t matter if the horizontal ones are a bit off since there’s plenty of room.”

He nodded slowly, but I wasn’t sure if he was listening. He was peering at my hand that was resting right next to his between us. I smiled and took his in mine, intertwining our fingers before I looked up to see his face.

He kept looking our joined hands for a moment before he gently squeezed mine and finally looked up at me.

“We kissed,” he breathed out, looking a bit surprised.

“We did,” I said, feeling ridiculously happy about it.

“How did that happen?” he chuckled.

“You tell me.”

He looked away again, laughing lightly, but it quickly turned into a sad sigh. “I probably shouldn’t have…”

“Don’t say that,” I begged him. “I quickly learned that I still had feelings for you. I wished so hard that you still had feelings for me, and…” I trailed off, trying to put my thoughts into words. I rested my head against his shoulder, taking a deep breath. “We will get through this. I promise. I will go to the end of the world to find the cure if I have to. But I need you to stay strong. You can’t give up.”

“I won’t give up,” he said, looking at me in the eyes. “I never should’ve left you. I regret that so fucking much…”

I gave him a smile and leaned in to kiss his lips softly, enjoying the little butterflies in my stomach.

If only the threat of his death wasn’t looming above us…