Page 157 of The ARC Unit: Breach

His hand moved across the blanket as though reaching for something that was not there.

“Move. M-move please,” he whimpered.

I pushed the blanket off my legs and sat on the edge of the bed, keeping my feet tucked beneath me. Touching him while he was trapped inside whatever he was seeing seemed like the kind of decision that ended with both of us on the floor.

“You’re at the compound,” I said quietly. “Stuttgart. You’re in your room.”

His breathing did not change.

“Wolf, wake up.”

His shoulders jerked.

“Br- Brad-,” he whispered.

Was that someone’s name?

In the thin strip of light from the window, I could make out only pieces of his profile: the line of his forehead, the side of his nose and the heavier shape of his jaw. It was more than I had ever seen and still not enough to become a face I could carry into daylight.

He said something else I could not understand.

Then, clearer, “Go.”

I lowered one foot to the floor.

“I-I’m going to turn on the lamp, okay?”

No response.

“Wolf, I’m turning it on.”

I reached toward the switch.

His hand closed around my wrist before my fingers got there. The movement was so fast that I sucked in a breath.

His eyes were open.

Or close enough to open that they fixed on me through the dark while his grip stayed hard around my wrist. Every tendon in his forearm stood out beneath my other hand where I had braced against him on instinct.

“It’s me Wolf,” I whispered.

“Mercer.” My name sounded rough and uncertain in his uncovered voice.

“Yes, it’s me. Mia.”

His fingers loosened immediately.

I pulled my wrist back without moving away.

Wolf sat up. One hand came toward his face and stopped halfway when he remembered the mask was gone. He turned his head from me so quickly that the movement told me exactly how awake he was now.

“Just give me a second,” he muttered.

I looked at the wall instead of him. “Of course.”

He found the mask somewhere beside the blanket. Fabric moved in the dark, followed by the soft scrape as he pulled it into place.

Only then did he turn back but his breathing was still too fast.