He turned his head and for the first time deliberately looked away from Jonas. It was a move that made him vulnerable to attack, and they both knew it.
“Camellia, I’m sorry if our coming here upset or hurt you in any way. We don’t know what happened between you and Marigold. We don’t even know what occurred between you and Kaden Montague. Our teams have been desperate for a healer, not just for Mari but for all of us. I’m going to tell you straight up, I’m the worst spokesman our team could possibly send to you, but Briony needed to come here. She was desperate and I couldn’t say no to her, even though I felt it wasn’t the best idea for either of you.”
Camellia’s fingers tightened in Jonas’s. “I don’t make any claims to be a psychic healer, not in the way I’ve heard all of you, including Jonas, describe. Briony, if you ask your sister, she’ll tell you, I couldn’t have healed a cut when we were children. Sadly, I don’t have that type of broad talent. I wish I did.”
“But you did help Kaden,” Logan persisted.
Camellia inclined her head. Her fingers inside Jonas’s hand curled into a tight fist. “His problem was very specific.”
“His problem was life-threatening and would have killed him,” Logan stated. “Will you at least take a look at Mari for us and tell us if you think you can help her? She has a clotting disorder that is extreme. We believe it was brought on by too much exposure to first-generation Zenith. If you can’t help her, it’s no different than every doctor who has assessed her condition so far.”
It’s up to you, Camellia. I can get you out of it. Tell them you’ll do it when we get back from going up the mountain. Anything at all. You tell me what you want to do.
Jonas waited. He hated that she was put in this position. He felt as though almost from the moment they’d met, he’d put her in one precarious situation after another.
You haven’t put me in any situation I didn’t choose to be in, Jonas.
He knew the moment she’d made up her mind to go to the other compound. The silky brilliant pink liquid raced through his veins, soothing the dark purple and turning the ruffled edges back the correct way so that the fluid flowed in the direction it was meant to, easing the tension from his body.
Camellia sighed. “I don’t know how much time I have or if I can actually help you, but it won’t hurt to take a look.” I prefer that you’re with me, but if you have to leave now, I’ll catch up.
Like hell I’m going to leave you. “We can run up the mountain later if we have to, Camellia. I know you’re nearly as fast as I am. Let’s get this done if we’re going to do it.”
Briony gave a little hiccup as her husband and Logan instantly came to their feet, clearly not wanting to give Camellia or Jonas time to back out of her decision.
I don’t feel any animosity or danger coming from these people, Jonas. They feel nothing but friendship toward you.
Jonas sent Kyle a look that meant he’d better make the right choice. “You coming?”
Kyle nodded. “Jeff and I brought a truck. Room for you and Camellia. We can follow Logan, but we’ve got to move. We don’t want to get too far behind schedule.”
Jonas followed him down the stairs, signaling to Nicolas and Ian they were good and were going with Team Two willingly.
“Honey, you really didn’t have to do this,” Jonas said as they traveled along the rocky trail. The roads never held up for long. Every winter, the snow tore up every road they’d created, so there were bumps and holes until they fixed them.
“She has children.” Camellia leaned her head against Jonas’s shoulder and closed her eyes.
Jonas was okay with that. “Camellia brought up a very good point. Our team is willing to send our women and children to Team Two to guard for us, and yet we’re acting like they’re the enemy. We’ve got snipers on them, and every time I’m near them, I want to rip into them.”
Kyle tapped the steering wheel and glanced at Jeff. “Yeah, she’s got a point. I can’t help but get a little tense around them too, but I don’t have any idea why or when it started happening.”
“Gotta agree,” Jeff said. “Weird acting like we trust them, but not really trusting them. As far as I know, they haven’t done anything to earn our distrust.”
Jonas slid his palm over Camellia’s thigh. “And this thing with Ryland and Lily. Rye said things to Lily that one of us might say because we’re idiots with women, but Ryland isn’t. He not only compared her to Whitney once, but he did it twice.”