She was. She had no reason to believe in him. He hadn’t given her a reason to trust him. He’d given her the opportunity to leave, yet she’d stayed. He wanted her to stay for him. Not for Marigold. Or Lily. He was that selfish. He wanted her to stay for him and yet he was pushing her away.
I don’t want you to leave, Camellia, I don’t. I just don’t trust what I am anymore. If you really can see inside of me, you can see what a fucked-up mess I am. I can barely control myself in certain situations. I never want to put you in danger, and that could happen.
She laughed softly, the sound that mysteriously cleared out more of the deep aggression in him. He wasn’t sure how she did it, but those clear notes danced along his nerve endings, sparkling in tune to her humor. He could see the notes playing in her neurons just as they were in his.
Jonas, think about it for a minute. What am I made up of? What do I do? What can I do? To be a true partnership, we both have to bring something of equal value to the table, right? When we were outnumbered by these enhanced soldiers, I could set the traps, and you could take them down. That meant we both contributed something of equal value.
She was right. She had set the ultimate in traps. Her rolling fog was extraordinary, especially in the way she could plant subtle suggestions that preyed on the unwary.
We have a continuing partnership in the field, Jonas. Clearly, we can use our network for aiding our soldiers in a battle. We can bridge communication and help run operations. We can aid in healing. We can develop weapons using toxic plant materials.
He hadn’t considered the ability to communicate with not only their team but all the teams if they needed to do so. She was right. They could, using the mycelium network. As for developing weapons, he would need to talk to her about that.
A personal relationship is even more of a partnership, Jonas. We have to be compatible. Whitney may be a complete ass, but he was also a genius. He had to have known you had a certain personality when he enhanced you, the same way he knew I did. The idea was that two people worked well together. We made up for each other’s shortcomings, so to speak.
That was true. Whitney’s original plan had been that exactly, before he threw that out the window and decided he was going to produce superbeings. He didn’t care about the pairings after that. He just wanted babies. In the beginning, though, he had created couples he thought would work well together.
Crawley’s pace was a ground-eating jog. They were covering distance at a good clip. The man had long legs, and he was making good use of his ability to move. The pace didn’t seem to bother Camellia with her shorter legs. She kept up without even breathing hard. So, aside from being compatible in the field and the obvious physical chemistry between them, what did she bring to him and he to her in the relationship department?
Camellia had created what had amounted to a rain forest at a high elevation where there should be snow. It was a little slice of paradise. When Jonas had entered, he had expected the enemy to be there. He should have been coiled like a snake, ready to strike. Instead, he’d felt peace and serenity, as he’d never experienced it before. She’d brought that to him. Just the way she had come to him, so confident when he was a snarling, brutal beast, ready to rip and tear anything in his path, managing to somehow find a way to soothe him when nothing or no one else could have. Could she be right?
Was it possible Camellia held the key to taming the violent mix of animal and reptile genetics in him? He couldn’t conceive of anything doing that, yet in a short time she had managed to turn those neurons from moving in the wrong direction. Observing them through her eyes, he could see they were like a river flowing in the opposite way it was meant to go. With gentle brushes, she had coaxed the tide to reverse itself. Within a short period of time, the adrenaline was diluting and he could feel himself settling.
We’re getting closer to the compound, Jonas. Jeff’s voice startled Jonas, breaking into his introspection. Jeff used the pathway that included Kyle and Camellia as well. It’s now or never for Camellia. If she goes in with us, do you two have a plan if Ryland gets insistent about her? He could. He’s going to be really upset that anyone is coming after Lily and Daniel. Kyle and I talked it over. We’ll back your play. Camellia is no threat to Lily or Daniel, but Ryland may not see it that way. Or he may feel the need to talk to General Ranier about her and her abilities. That wouldn’t be a good thing in our opinion, Jonas.