Marked By Pain (The Marked #2)(8)

“Come here.” He opens his arms, and then flinches in pain, moving his hand to hold his ribs as he coughs. I run over, sliding onto the bed and putting my hand on his face. There’s dried blood on the side of his head, and I reach up to see the deep cut.

“I’m okay,” he says, coughing, even as he lies to me.

“That’s a load of shit, East. I’m not blind,” I mutter, wiping a tear away that I didn’t notice had fallen. I’m guessing East doesn’t have the healing mark, so he can’t fix himself, but I know I can try. Even if I’m not as good as Kelly at this. Where’s Kelly when I need her?

“I can heal you,” I say, already calling my healing mark. I feel my power flow through my hand in a crashing wave of energy, as I feel how badly he’s hurt. My hand burns hotter and hotter, as I feel all the pain he is in, the way it hurts him to breathe, and it makes tears fall down from my eyes harder. I can’t believe that anyone would hurt him this bad. It takes a while to heal all the marks on his face and the deep cut on his head, before I can gently push him back on the bed and slide his shirt up. I have to hold in a flinch when I see the shape his chest is in from the damage. I can actually see two of his ribs, pushing against his skin, and there are actually shaped bruises where someone must have kicked and punched him. They didn’t just use marked powers, this was more than that. They wanted him in pain and alive, but why?

“You aren’t strong enough to heal all of me, I’m just glad to see you’re okay Kenz,” East murmurs, and I shake my head disbelievingly. “I was so worried,” he adds.

“I’m going to heal you, and then I’m going to have a chat with my father. I have a feeling he won’t like our chat, because the bastard must have had something to do with this. Now stay still,” I tell East, who laughs.

“When did you get so bossy? I remember when you couldn’t speak to me without bright red cheeks and looking at the ground,” he chuckles as I press my hands on his ribs and calling my healing mark again. We sit silently, sweat dripping off my forehead as I struggle to heal the four broken ribs, and flinching every time one of them clicks back into place.

“I was shy around you, because every time you spoke I couldn’t focus. You’re sexy East, with the panty-melting voice,” I tell him honestly, while avoiding looking at his face, making him laugh as my cheeks flush.

“I always thought you were beautiful, even when I knew I shouldn’t have been looking. But you were so shy, I never realised how smart, kind and brilliant you are,” he says, and I look up.

“Really?” I ask in a whisper, not believing he really saw me as anything other than the annoying sister of his best friend.

“Really,” he smirks and I look down with a smile, concentrating on healing the last one of his ribs.

“Stop,” East says, pulling my hands away suddenly, and reaching up to wipe a finger under my nose. His hand moves away, and I see the blood that must be dripping from my nose smudged across his finger. East passes me a tissue as he looks at me with concern.

“Who did this?” I ask, placing my hand on his cheek.

“I don’t know who they were, three of them came into my cell this morning wearing masks. They were all marked, but they didn’t use their powers,” he spits out, “I didn’t stand a chance against them all, and my powers wouldn’t work. I tried to call every one of my seven marks and they wouldn’t respond,” he says.

“I’m going to kill them for it,” I promise and he leans forward, lightly brushing his lips against my own.

“Have you seen Ryan?” East asks as he leans back on the bed.

“Yes, have you?”

“No. I knew he had a slight problem with us being together, but I thought I knew him. He was my best friend and he hid this from me,” East says.

“He’s my brother, and I didn’t have a clue,” I say commiseratively.

“We can’t have that much time left and I wanted to tell you something—” East goes to say, but the door is banged three times before we hear the sound of a key unlocking.

“Don’t do anything I can’t protect you from. Please don’t be reckless here, they need you alive, but they will lock you up if you do anything. But trust Mr Daniels. Promise me you will trust him,” East pleads with me and I lean back, processing his words over and over in my mind. Did he just ask me to trust Mr Daniels? The man he hates, the one who did this to us?

“What? Are you crazy? He’s one of the leaders here!” I whisper harshly, just as the doors are opened. I turn to see a guard pushing the door open and waiting.

“Trust him,” East tells me once more, and I look back at him with confusion. East leans forward, sliding his hand roughly into my hair and pulling me to him. He kisses me harshly, demanding, and utterly irresistible as his lips devour my own.

“What was that for?” I ask breathlessly, as he pulls away and keeps our forehead pressed together.

“I’m done wasting a single second with you, Kenz,” he says, kissing my forehead as I lean into him.

“Come, Mackenzie,” I hear Alaric say from the door and I stand up, turning away from East to look at my father. He looks just like me, the same tanned skin and the same dark hair. I even notice that we have the same shaped eyes, but none of the similarities we share mean that we are anything alike. All I feel is a burning anger as I walk out the room, following him. My father walks away, towards the other door we came in, like he hasn’t got a care in the world. Like he didn’t let some of his people beat up East. I call my air power, pulling my hand back and slamming a wave of air at my father’s back. He flies across the room, slamming into the wall by the door with a loud grunt.