Lance frowned as his gaze slid over my expression. “Everything okay?”
I snorted, taking a gulp of water in an attempt to disguise the tears that welled in my eyes. No, everything was not okay. I shrugged again as I lowered the bottle, my gaze downcast and my bottom lip trembling. Ah shit, suck it up.
“Morgan?” Lance sat down next to me.
I curled my legs up to my chest and rested my chin on my knees, my gaze still riveted to the ground in front of me. “I’m just feeling a little drained.”
“Drained in what way?”
His concerned tone had me trying to force a smile. I failed miserably and instead focused on staring straight ahead, fighting against the tears that threatened to burst free.
I shrugged. “It’s just so much to take in all at once, you know?”
“Yeah, I’m sure it doesn’t help that your Hunter is being a total jackass, either.”
I snapped my gaze to meet Lance’s. “What?”
He smirked. “Cal’s being a total shit. I don’t think it’s right. What he’s doing to you, that is.”
Fresh tears welled. “You don’t?”
Lance’s smile faded and he shook his head. “No. And as much as I respect Cal for his loyalty and his sense of duty, I think you should come first. His Huntress should be his first priority. At the moment, he’s putting the needs of the Order in front of you.”
My bottom lip trembled. “He is?”
Lance laid his hand on my knee and smiled. “What’s really shitty is that if you succeed in killing Lazarus, you’ve got an eternity of dealing with this shit from him. I mean, maybe if you do succeed, he’ll stop acting like such a prick but—”
“What?” I pushed my legs down and straightened my spine, my heart kicking up. “What do you mean I have an eternity?”
Lance’s eyes widened. “He didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
Lance ran his fingers over his mouth and briefly closed his eyes, murmuring a few curse words under his breath as he did. When he opened his eyes again, they were filled with pity. “Ah shit, Morgan, he didn’t explain that the bonding process was for an eternity? You become immortal in the sense of halting the aging process. You can die as a result of violence, but you’ll never get sick, you’ll never get a terminal illness, you will heal faster and most importantly, you simply will not age or change while your Hunter lives.”
My mouth gaped as each of Lance’s words rolled over me. When he finished talking and laid his hand on my back, I totally lost control. The tears I’d been fighting burst out of me like a torrent. I sucked in gasping breaths of air as my body shook. An eternity of this? An eternity of wanting, of craving, of feeling like shit? Lance pulled me toward him, wrapping me in his big arms and bringing my face to rest against his chest while I blubbered like an idiot. How could Cal do this to me when he knew that he wouldn’t be able to give me what I wanted, what I needed from him? How could he be so cruel?
Lance’s soothing whispers and gentle hand running down my back brought on a fresh batch of wrenching sobs. Why did I get stuck with such a heartless Hunter when Lance was so nice to me? Why did I have such shitty luck?
In the middle of another bout of wracking sobs, I found myself abruptly torn from Lance’s grasp. Huge hands encircled my waist and brought me to my feet, yanking me away from Lance and almost halfway across the room before letting me go again.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Cal bellowed.
Lance stood to confront Cal, both men’s hands clenched in tight fists, both wearing equally pissed-off expressions. I looked on, my whole body still shaking with my emotional breakdown as cascading waves of fear rolled over me. I’d never seen Cal this angry.
“Did I ask you to comfort her?” Cal demanded as he shoved an angry finger into Lance’s shoulder with enough force to cause him to sway back.
“I wouldn’t have to comfort her if you weren’t acting like such a dickhead,” Lance spat.
Cal’s already red face seemed to take on a brighter glow as he raised his fist. “I asked you to train her, not to maul her.”
“She was crying, man, because of you. I was doing what you should be doing—I was giving her what she needed, just as a Hunter should do. If you weren’t such a total idiot, you’d know what she needed and take care of it instead of focusing on what the Order wants.”
Cal reeled back and punched Lance squarely in the jaw, sending him sprawling to the ground. I cried out as Lance hit the mat and Cal climbed on top of him, pummeling his chest and face as Lance raised his arms in defense.
“Stop!” I screamed as I raced toward them and swiped at one of Cal’s arms.