Hunter

Chapter Thirty Three

Lucian's POV

I walk through the bunker door completely exhausted. I haven't spoken to Kenji or Mel in a week. Ximena had led us to the base and we had gathered as much information as we could. Thanks to what she was, she was able to sneak into the house at night and at some points during the day. She could move in the shadows.

Blend in with them. So every conversation was relayed back to Adonis and me. We took note of how many men they had there. But in the time we spent there, we didn't see much of Alistair. He had only shown up once. And even then he never spoke on what we didn't already know.

The second I see Mel standing in the kitchen, I rush towards her wrapping my arms around her. She sinks into me letting out a sigh. I squeeze her tighter. This hug is more for me than it is for her. I pull away and look at her. She looks better than I thought she would. She looks tired. But the sadness I thought I'd find isn't there. The grief I thought I'd see isn't present.

"Love the bags." I smile looking at her eyes.

"Thanks, they're designer." She says back. I chuckle silently letting go of her. Relief. That's what I'm feeling. I'm relieved that she's okay. She's okay.

"So...is he?"

"Downstairs. In the basement. Titus is down there with him right now. They go down there to spar every morning."

"Titus? Why is Titus with him?" I ask confused.

"Because neither Kenji nor I have been able to face him again yet. We were kind of waiting for you." She says sheepishly, "Titus has been the one taking his meals to his new room, seeing how much he remembers now on his own. Talking to him."

"Titus? You've been trusting him to be on his own with Xander. How sure are you he's not poisoning his mind more?" I ask. I know why I don't trust Titus. He's already proven himself to be loyal to us so far. But I don't want to trust him. I can't trust him. Especially now that Xander's back.

"Seriously Lucian now is not the time," she says rolling her eyes, "Look. I know you still don't trust him but he's been a big help of late. Can you maybe ease off him so we can focus on helping Xander?"

"Fine." I grumble, knowing she's right.

"So, do you want to settle in first or do you want to go see him."

"I need to see him." I sigh. I need to see him to actually squash the little bit of doubt telling me it's not Xander and everyone else has been tricked.

"I'll lead you to the basement." A voice says behind me making me turn and face Kenji. I give her one last squeeze before turning to follow him out.

"So, Titus?" I say once we're out of earshot.

"I know you're trying to distract yourself from overthinking what's about to happen, so I'll allow your obsession with him." I scoff at his words folding my arms over my chest.

"I'm not obsessed with him. I'm just wondering why you trust him to handle Xander."

"Because none of have been able to. Mel and I have been avoiding seeing him. Like Mel said he's been a big help. He convinced me to tell Mel the truth and he was right. He knows what it's like to forget who you are and be manipulated by Dardanos. To believe you're fighting for the right cause. Fighting to save humanity when in fact you're working for a madman.

He's the one that convinced Xander to attempt to get his memories back. So far he's been seeing how much progress he's made on his own without us using your magic yet."

"And how's that been working?"

"Good but slow. He barely remembers anything concrete. Just moments. A lot of them with Mel." Kenji says stopping. I look at the door for a few seconds before turning my head to look at him.

"I'm still stuck on one thing. I thought he liked her."

"He does."

"Then why help Xander? Isn't he just lowering his chances?" I ask. Why isn't he being selfish? He'd be easier to hate if he acted selfishly.

"He's helping because Xander's important to Mel. And she's important to him. I guess it also doesn't hurt that the bastard isn't insecure about losing to Xander." Kenji says chuckling.

"He should be," I mumble before turning to the door and twisting it open.

"I'm going to kill you." I pause at the voice floating up the stairs. It's him. It's really him. I let out a shaky breath and felt Kenji's hand on my shoulder.

"You don't have to do this now," Kenji says softly. I shake my head and take a breath.

"No, I need to. The sooner I heal him, the sooner we can end this." I mumble.

"Well then I might as well come with you so the two of you don't kill Titus," Kenji says with a forced chuckle. He's just as nervous as I am. Xander was, is, like a brother to both of us.

"You know I can hear you right?" Titus calls from downstairs. "And I hate to break it to you Luc but I'm kind of indestructible."

Rolling my eyes I stomp my way down the stairs with Kenji right behind me. The minute I reach the bottom I pause at the scene in front of me. Xander tilts his head at me and Kenji. From his stance, I can see that he's a little tense. Weary of the both of us, and it pisses me off.

"Hey Xee," I mumble.

"Hello." He grumbles out politely. "You're the other phoenix right?"

"Best friend." I say in offence before I remember that he doesn't remember me.

"I thought he was my best friend." Xander frowns pointing at Kenji.

"You have more than one best friend." I huff crossing my arms.

"No one should have more than one best friend, it's in the name. Best meaning top, friend as in singular." Titus says butting in.

"I still don't like you." I glare at Titus.

"Can we not do this," Kenji speaks for the first time sounding tired. "Alexander, this is Lucian, Melaine's brother and your best friend. Yes, he's the other phoenix and right now, he wants to recover your memory."

"Right now?" Xander asks in slight panic taking the smallest step back.

"We talked about this yesterday." Titus sighs in an almost reassuring way. I frown at that.

"I didn't think it would happen so soon."

"Look this war, we're barely on the brink of it. We need to stop it before it starts and gets bad. And the only way we can do that is with you fully aware of what's happening. You're not gonna be alone. You won't deal with your emotions alone. We're here to help you." Kenji says taking a small step towards Xander.

Xander looks down. His mind seemed to be going a mile a minute. He finally sighs and looks at me.

"What do I need to do?"

........................

Super short update that's been sitting in my drafts. Xander's about to be back are we ready? Did we miss him?