Page 39 of Blue Arrow Island (Blue Arrow Island #1)

Ever had a roommate who was always short on rent?

This week we’ll be talking about parasitic plants like mistletoe, that can tap into the vascular systems of other plants to steal water and nutrients.

So give that freeloading roomie a mistletoe plant for the holidays and only you’ll know the true meaning behind it.

- Excerpt from the Introduction to Plant Biology course taught by Dr. Lucinda Hollis

Marcus is met with stunned silence. After a few seconds, Niran laughs.

“I’m still in, brother. Go big or go home, right? And I guess going big is our only choice by default, because we sure as hell aren’t going home.”

Adele speaks up next, her shirt stained with blood from the fight with the Tiders earlier. “Yeah, me too. Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.”

One by one, everyone in the room tells Marcus they’re with him. I’m last, and I smile when his eyes land on mine..

“You know it’s a yes from me.”

He scrubs a hand down his face, looking tense. “This is dangerous shit, you guys.”

“Hey, we’ll have a better chance of killing those fuckers with our aromium on,” Chance says.

“The aromium is what’s dangerous,” Marcus says.

“The effects are ...” He furrows his brow.

“You don’t start back at zero when it’s reactivated; you pick up right where you left off.

So if you were ninety percent of the way to bonding, which makes it impossible to turn off the aromium, every day it’s on brings you closer to that.

And if you were feeling volatile when it was turned off, you’ll be right back there. You’ll only want to fuck and fight.”

Niran scoffs. “Don’t threaten me with a good time. We said we’re in, so let’s fucking do it.”

Marcus looks up at the ceiling.

“What should we do if we find him?” Adele asks.

“Call me on the radio. We’ll use the code word eagle for him.

So radio the team that you’ve located the eagle and then stay with him.

Do not radio location or coordinates.” He pinches the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

“Fuck it, I might as well just tell you guys the rest. Aromium is made from a flower that grows on this island. The flowers are huge and shaped like bells. They’re bright blue—very distinctive.

McClain said he thinks he can make an aromium stabilizer with a component of the plant, probably the root.

I’ve been low-key searching this entire island for it for a long-ass time.

If you run across a plant with a flower that looks like that, dig up a bunch of them and bring them back to camp.

Radio that you located...I don’t even know, just call it a pot of gold.

And for fuck’s sake, don’t forget the location. ”

I’m staring at him, open-mouthed, because that was a lot . It looks like everyone else, other than Nova, is doing the same. I can tell by his expression that even Niran didn’t know about this flower.

“Oh ... I get it,” Amira says. “That’s why it’s Blue Arrow Island. It’s not actual arrows, it’s blue aromium.”

Marcus nods slowly. “The compound retains the blue color from the flower.”

“How do you know all of this?” I ask him, unable to wait until we’re alone.

He exhales through his nose, meeting my gaze.

“Long story, but the short version is when I was a Tider, McClain found me in the woods and turned off my aromium. He told me everything he knew because the team of scientists fled the island and he was alone. If something had happened to him, no one would’ve been left to communicate with Whitman about the aromium project.

He showed me how to do everything. Order supplies, send emails as him?—”

“Email?!” Adele cries. “We have email here?”

“Not really,” Marcus says. “It’s only a connection with Whitman; there’s no access to anything else.”

I put a hand up. “Wait. If the other scientists left the island, why didn’t Whitman do anything? Does he think his experiment is still rolling along as planned?”

Marcus pinches his brows together in a pained expression. “McClain knew that would happen if they made it back, so ... they didn’t.”

“What?” Amira whispers next to me.

“He sank their boat,” Marcus says. “It was a submarine, and he was able to sabotage it from here. Look, you guys, we could spend all day in here on this stuff, but we need to be out there finding McClain. The life of every person in this camp depends on it.”

Niran’s usually playful expression is serious. “The shield can’t stay up without the solar array, can it?”

Marcus hesitates. “I honestly don’t know.

We’ve never been in this position before.

But I think we should assume we’re on borrowed time.

” He scans the faces of everyone in the room.

“I can’t say this strongly enough—everything I’ve shared with you in here is for this team’s ears only.

Do not fucking repeat it. I don’t want panic breaking out. ”

“We should divide into pairs to cover more ground,” Nova says. “I’ll take Amira, you take Briar?”

He nods. “Niran and Adele, you two pair up, and then Wyatt and Chance.”

Chance holds a fist out to Wyatt. “Let’s go cowboy the shit out of this.”

Wyatt bumps his fist, his expression stoic.

Marcus exhales heavily. “Okay, let’s all get changed and gear up. We’ll meet up at the front entrance and take Stella with us so she can turn our aromium on when we’re out of shield range.”

I squeeze Amira’s hand, exchanging a glance with her. “Good luck. Be careful.”

“You too.”

Marcus is silent on our walk to my former room in the Sub. Or maybe it’s still my room, I don’t know. He opens the door with his thumbprint and I gather the few clothes I have there.

We start the walk to his quarters then, and I search for the right thing to say the entire way there. I want to tell him it’s going to be okay, but I can’t, because it might not be. False reassurances annoy me, and I have a feeling he’s the same.

Once we get to his rooms, I go into the bedroom and close the door, changing into a clean Rising Tide uniform of canvas pants and a T-shirt. Marcus changes into a clean pair of the same pants and a gray T-shirt, his arms and shoulders filling every inch of the worn soft fabric.

“Have you ever turned your aromium back on?” I ask him.

“No.” His brow is lined with worry.

He passes me the shoulder and waist holsters he got for me from the Sub. We both sneak glances at each other as we get our holsters and weapons on. I’ve got a handgun in the shoulder holster and a machete and McClain’s knife on my waist.

Marcus is strapped with two machetes and a handgun. He also has a high-powered rifle attached to his pack. His pack is loaded with extra ammo, food, our canteens and other supplies.

“Where’s my pack?” I ask.

“You don’t need one.”

“I can carry supplies.”

He lowers his brows. “I want you traveling light. This is nothing for me.”

I decide not to fight him on it. There’s so much tension thickening the air in the room that I wouldn’t believe we’re the same two people who recently played Would You Rather in here and laughed about it.

We stand a couple of feet from each other, my chin tipped up so I can see his face. I can tell he wants to say something, but he’s just brooding silently, scratching his jaw.

“What is it?” I finally ask.

He sighs softly. “I don’t like who I am with the aromium on.” He looks away. “I guess I don’t want you to know that version of me.”

Something inside me softens at his admission. I offer him a small, reassuring smile. “I know that’s not really you, Marcus. And I know you’re using the aromium for a good reason.”

He shakes his head, agitated. “Fuck, this is hard.” He runs a hand through his hair, then meets my eyes. “Aromium amplifies attraction. That’s gonna be an issue.”

I can’t help it—my smile widens. This massive, muscled, scowling man is wrecked over this conversation, of all things.

“What can we do about that, though?”

He huffs out a groan. “I was able to control it before. I never felt like I had to have any of the women at Rising Tide.”

I shrug. “Maybe you’ll feel that way about me, too.”

He glares at me. “You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?”

My heart takes flight because even though I shouldn’t be letting this happen, it feels incredible.

For a few moments, I’m not a prisoner in a tropical hellscape, racing against time to save myself and those around me.

I’m just a woman, feeling light and giddy because a man I want feels the same way about me.

He grunts, clearly annoyed. “I think about you constantly. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

Sometimes I forget to breathe when I’m looking at you.

And it’s not just that.” He rubs his jaw, looking away.

“You’re also strong and smart and ... fuck .

You’re so blindly brave I want to tie you up sometimes to keep you out of trouble. ”

My hands tremble and my breath stutters at his admission. I knew he liked me, but I didn’t know it was like this .

“I ... wouldn’t mind being tied up by you.”

That’s all I can get out. I’m afraid to tell him I feel the same way because it’s too dangerous. If we both give in, the spark of attraction between us will soon become an all-consuming inferno.

I’m a weapon. A sharply honed spear, my tip pointed directly at Whitman, Lochlan, and the regime they’ve forced on so many innocent people. But if I let myself completely fall for Marcus, I won’t care about that anymore. I’ll crave him instead of payback and destruction.

“I’m fucked either way.” His note of laughter carries a bitter edge. “I can switch with Nova and take Amira, but I’ll be thinking about you every fucking second. Worried about you. Or I can keep you with me and fight my urges.”

There’s nothing I want more than to hear more about his urges. But it’s only going to make things worse for both of us. I look at the floor, and then up at him.

“I feel it too, but we have to focus on finding McClain. We can’t just think of ourselves.”

He nods. “I know. I just wanted you to know what you’re getting into.”

Closing the distance between us with a step, he brushes a curl away from my face and cups my cheek in his huge hand, the brush of his thumb over my cheekbone sending a spark of awareness dancing down my spine.

“You sure you want to do this?” he asks, his voice gruff.

I put my hand on his waist, nodding because I don’t trust my voice. Even now, I’m not as close to him as I want to be. My body practically hums with the urge to climb him. Even on aromium, I’ve never wanted someone like this.

“If I get out of control, you know what you need to do.” His voice is earnest, the pad of his thumb still stroking my cheekbone.

“I won’t need to do that.”

“But if you do need to, can you?”

My brows drop with worry. Could I kill him? If it came down to it, I don’t know if I could. But there’s only one acceptable answer to give him.

“Yes. To save my life or the lives of other Dust Walkers, I could.”

Some of the concern slides away from his expression. “Good. And before we go out there ... this might be the only chance I get to do this.”

He leans in, my pulse quickening as his warm breath caresses my lips. He slides his free arm around my waist, melding our bodies together as he kisses me, my lips parting eagerly for him.

His tongue brushes over mine, the kiss lighting my body up from the tips of my toes to my scalp. It’s like I was dying of thirst and I’m drinking fresh, cold water. I wrap my arms around his back, moaning softly into his mouth.

It’s not just a kiss—it’s an awakening. His mouth plunders mine until I have to pull away, breathless. My eyes find his, the hunger and need I find there matching my own.

He rests his forehead against mine, speaking softly. “I know we’re still getting to know each other, but ... this is who I really am. Remember that.”

“I will.”

He steps back, a smile tugging on his lips. “I haven’t kissed anyone since before the virus. That was worth the wait.”

My heart somersaults wildly. I love being the only one who gets to see this soft, sweet side of him. I just wish I could have more. Somehow, though, I know he’d be like a drug for me. No matter how much I had, it would never be enough.

I’d never be able to quit him, so no matter how much I want to, I can’t give in to anything physical between us. There’s too much at stake.