Wanted: Fevered or Alive

by Long, Heather

  She was a part of his family and she’d accepted her place in it, it was long past time that Jason did the same. She belongs to us, too. That was what Micah and Sam had both said. In that manner, she belonged to Kid and he to her.

  “That is a very long story.” It took him a moment to begin, two more drinks to continue, but he found that the telling grew easier. Night passed and the sun had begun to rise before he finished. Sometime during the night, he and Kid had walked outside to stand on the porch. His brother, it turned out, was an excellent listener.

  Jason carefully avoided looking at him when he brought up the work for the colonel, and he remained circumspect on the specifics—but Kid wasn’t a fool. He’d understood. When Jason finished, he found his brother studying him with open speculation.

  “What?”

  “I guess—I don’t know.” Kid rubbed a hand against his face. “I never imagined that I was that selfish before.”

  “You weren’t,” Jason shrugged. “I didn’t want you to see it.”

  “But I should have,” Kid insisted.

  “Why?” He was honestly curious. “I didn’t see how much what I did hurt you until it was nearly too late to do anything about it. I believed that your disdain of me was better than your death. I could live with one, but not the other. That isn’t true anymore. I don’t want you to hate me.”

  “But you don’t mind if I die?” Only the quirk of amusement in his voice told Jason he’d understood.

  Sometimes people needed to hear it, because they weren’t privy to the conversations in is head. “Yes, I would mind. Particularly since you’ve only just come home. Do you know how hard it is to look after every single person on this ranch?”

  “I have an idea.” Kid laughed and leaned against the rail. Sobering, he stared toward the east. “We’re a long way from being safe, aren’t we?”

  Jason nodded. “There’s a war coming. I don’t think anything we do will stop it, but we might be able to contain the fall out.”

  “The barrier can help us here. I can strengthen it and I feel it, I can sense it to its furthest extremes with almost no stretching.” That, too, made a certain amount of sense. Kid was far more open to the world, and people. If Jason concentrated, he had a sense of the barrier, but nothing more than its existence.

  Those within it, however…

  “We can do it together.” He wouldn’t shut him out. Not again.

  “Not going to be easy.” But he didn’t deny that they couldn’t work on it together. “And that thing we did with Evelyn? Any ideas?”

  Jason shook his head. “None. I’ve never tried to combine my ability with another, wouldn’t have thought it was possible.” Except, he had with Olivia, hadn’t he? Frowning, Jason followed the thought. From the moment he’d met her, he’d wrapped his mind around hers and protected it. The knowledge of her loss had cut through him, not because he’d felt her absence—but because he’d been told. Knowing what he knew now, though—he’d always had a sense of her.

  “What?”

  “A moment.” Jason held up his hand. He mulled over the information, the puzzle pieces didn’t fit into a neat pattern. What he’d done with her, allowing her to see through his eyes—shielding her mind—not hearing her thoughts, because he wanted to protect her. He’d— “Kid, when you were training with Quanto, what did he tell you about how your gift worked?”

  “Not much, honestly. I feed off others emotions—positive and negative. I need a certain amount of the feedback, and because of some of my experiences, it changed me. I’m still learning to adapt to those changes, but I don’t have to interfere with another’s emotions. I can hold them off, but I will always want to help. The true gift lies in knowing when to use my gift and when not to.” The straightforward answer struck a match inside Jason.

  He’d bonded with Olivia that day in the shop. Her scoopahs, and need for vibration. The urge to protect her. The knowledge of how unsavory the world was and…

  “I have to go.” Jason straightened.

  Kid frowned and took a step toward him. “Are you all right?”

  “I don’t know.” Was it possible? Had he…? “I need to go see Olivia. I’m glad you’re home.” Jason faced his brother. “Truly glad.”

  “I’m here if you need me.” Worry coated the hidden question under his words, but Jason didn’t have an answer for him. Not yet.

  “And I for you. I won’t leave you out there alone again.” It was the right thing to say, and something that had been out of joint for too long, fit back into place.

  A whistle from the direction of the barn caught both of their attention. Sam and Micah strolled toward them. Giving them a once over, Sam nodded. “No blood.”

  “No tears either,” Micah mused. “Think they kissed and made up yet?”

  “You know, Jason,” Kid mused with a half-grin. “There were some parts I didn’t miss.”

  Jason snorted a half laugh and shook his head. “Nothing we can do to change it. But don’t let them fool you, they were wringing their hands about you the whole time you were gone.”

  The twin scowls on their elder brothers’ faces made Kid laugh and Jason smiled. It was good to have his brother home, but…

  “You had to go,” Kid jerked his chin toward the house. “Go. I’ll be here.”

  “Thanks.” He held out his hand and Kid accepted it, then Jason surprised them both by giving him a quick hug. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there before. I am now, and I’ll have your back.”

  Kid squeezed his hand and when Jason let him go, he nodded. “I have yours, too.”

  “I guess we made it in time for the kiss and make up part,” Micah commented, but the width of his grin was matched only by the smile on Sam’s face.

  “Go,” Kid turned and started down the steps. Jason saw what was coming before Micah did. Plowing into his older brother, Kid took Micah down as Sam sidestepped the wrestling pair.

  Sam raised his eyebrows in question to Jason. But Jason waved him off. He was all right and what he needed to know next, his brothers couldn’t help him with. Leaving the three to talk—or fight—he headed inside and straight up the stairs, not stopping until he was in his room.

  * * *

  Revelation

  * * *

  Olivia slept, curved around his pillow and he stopped just inside the door, drinking in the innocence and the trust. She’d gone to sleep, believing long before he did that he could make peace with Kid. Her faith never failed to stagger him.

  Even though he was loathe to wake her, he didn’t let that stop him from sitting on the edge of the bed and stroking her cheek. Awareness flooded through her and roused her from slumber. She stretched and smiled under his touch. “You woke me.” Delight colored her words and belatedly he remembered it was what she’d asked him to do.

  “Yes, I did sweet one.” He kept his voice low and tried to keep it light, but she knew him too well.

  “What’s wrong?” She began to sit up, but he urged her to lie again.

  “Nothing, but I want to try something and I need you to trust me.”

  Confusion danced across her face, but she shifted to lay on her back and touched a hand to his leg. “Of course I trust you.” No hesitation.

  “Be still,” he told her, and he looked inside and eased the curtain open between their minds. A smile turned up the corners of her mouth and her mind enfolded his. She’d called their contact a kiss, and she wasn’t far wrong. He’d never seen how deeply intertwined his mind had become with hers, not until he’d allowed himself to see.

  And that was the key, he’d blinded himself to his need for her and buried it as safely and securely as he could. In the mind of the boy he’d been, he’d seen something precious and he’d wanted to protect it at all costs. But children, as he’d realized over the last several months, did not make the best decisions nor understand the ramifications of their actions.

  Opening the channel between them to its widest, he dropped all the pretenses and he slid int
o her mind as though he belonged there and it wasn’t an intrusion. Her thoughts ribboned around him—curious and waiting. He willed with every part of his being to be right, to stop closeting her away. Noah had said nothing was wrong with her eyes, that they were healthy with no sign of illness or injury. If that were true—and if Jason were right—he almost didn’t dare breathe. “Open your eyes,” he whispered and when she did, he looked.

  Olivia gasped. “J-jason?”

  Meeting her silvery gaze, he smiled. “Hello there.”

  Tears shimmered across the surface of her eyes and she lifted her hand to touch his cheek. Shock and disbelief raced across her face, her mouth opened and then closed again. Inside, he heard the riot of her thoughts as she tried to understand and he waited, staring into those beautiful eyes as she accepted what he’d always known, what he’d known from the very beginning but hadn’t been able to take it to the fullest extent of what it meant.

  She’d always seen him and she hadn’t needed her eyes for it, but what she did need was his and his mind could process those images and feed them back to hers. But instead of using his eyes as the lens, she could use her own—her very healthy and normal eyes.

  “How?” It was the only sound she managed and his grin widened.

  “Because you can see me.” He told her and it would take a while to regulate it fully, but he was already studying the connection and how it had fused into her mind. With time, and practice, he could make it automatic.

  “You’re beautiful.” She sat up and he pulled her into his lap, drinking in the wonder in her gaze. “I can really see you. I don’t—I don’t understand.”

  It would take time because he didn’t understand it either, but he’d known the first time he stared into those silvery depths that they looked right into his soul. He’d closed the window—not to hurt, but to protect. As with Kid, he’d not understood that in protecting her, he kept her in the dark.

  “Oh.” Understanding filled her face. “But I was born blind?”

  It was his turn to be confused, then he realized that in opening himself to her fully—she followed his thoughts and the information raced across her mind within seconds of coming together in his. “That will take some getting used to.”

  “Yes.” She nodded, but she didn’t look away. Instead she traced the divot of an old scar high on his cheekbone. “But I still don’t understand, I was born blind—how could anything you did keep me blind?”

  “I have no idea. It was—I protected you out of instinct. The shield around your mind, the silence I found in you. It was a theory that if I did that, and because you could see through my eyes…” He really had no idea, it defied all rational logic and yet it made perfect sense to him.

  “Maybe I was born for you.” Within the lighthearted teasing of her words he heard an odd ringing noise and it came from all around them and then quieted again.

  “What was that?” Olivia frowned.

  “The barrier,” Jason rested his forehead to hers, but she pulled back a little.

  “I’m not done looking at you,” she chided him. “Why would I hear the barrier?”

  Deep inside him, Jason understood or maybe it was Kid, because he could feel his brother’s amusement wash over him and then retreat again. Sparing a section of his mind, he tapped Kid’s shields and felt them part a fraction. She’s a part of me, right?

  Yes, big brother. She is very much a part of you. If you could see what I see right now… A moment of disorientation flooded him and then Jason found himself gazing through Kid’s eyes and he saw the colors of all the souls on the ranch, the edges, and the shapes, and signatures and when his gaze focused on himself and Olivia, he didn’t see two people.

  He saw one.

  Another moment of disorientation and a gentle shove from his brother and he was back in his own mind and Olivia blinked rapidly. “Tell him thank you,” she ordered.

  Thank you. He managed belatedly and Kid’s laughter echoed through him before Jason and his brother retreated behind their own shields.

  “This really changes things, doesn’t it?” Olivia trembled, but it wasn’t with fear, it was eagerness. Jason stopped worrying about the whys and wherefores for now.

  “Yes it does.” Change didn’t have to mean bad.

  Olivia shifted on his lap and then began to unbutton his shirt and when he tilted his head to get her attention, she gave him a perfectly sinful smile. “I have never seen my husband and I want to see all of you. Right now.”

  Testing his shields and reinforcing them around her as well, he nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Let me help you with that.”

  With a careful flip, he set her back on the bed and stared down at the laughter in her eyes. Maybe he didn’t deserve her, maybe he never had, but he would be worthy of her now and he’d work toward it with every fiber of his being.

  “Jason, stop thinking,” she ordered and tugged his shirt open. “You can think later.” Spreading her fingers against his chest, she met his gaze. I see you…

  She always had.

  Epilogue

  Jimmy, Haven

  It had taken Jimmy no time to saddle the horse and less time to stow his gear. He planned to travel light and live off the land. Jason had mapped out the route Stanley had given to Ryan, labeling way stations where the doppelganger could stay along the way.

  Jimmy would have to push the ride, it was already late summer and the further north he traveled, the more chances for bad weather he would encounter. The stable doors opened and Shane entered. The younger man carried two bulging saddlebags over his shoulder.

  “I told you, you weren’t coming. Get your ass back to the house.” He didn’t spare Shane a second look.

  “And I decided to take a leaf from Miss Olivia’s book.” Shane dropped his bags on a tack box and moved further into the stable to get his own horse.

  Intrigued, Jimmy glanced sideways. He liked Olivia Kane. She was a sweetheart and perfectly reasonable most of the time. “By doing what exactly?”

  Under Jimmy’s steady gaze, Shane squirmed briefly, then squared his shoulders. “You need someone to back you up. No one goes alone. So we can fight about it on the road if you want, but I’m going. Make me stay, and I’ll simply follow.”

  A muscle in his jaw flexed, but Jimmy didn’t discount the boy’s statement immediately. Shane had more than proven himself over the last several months. He’d learned to watch his temper and he’d worked on listening. Young as he was, he’d also been reliable even when he didn’t understand why they wouldn’t let him do more.

  Decided, he nodded once. “Fine. I’m leaving in ten minutes. Be ready.” Returning his attention to his own gear, he was aware of the ripple of shock passing over Shane’s face. The kid had actually expected more of a fight. When Shane continued to stand there, Jimmy gave him a sidelong look. “Unless you changed your mind already?”

  The verbal kick got him moving. “No, sir.” He went for his saddle and Jimmy hid a smile and finished attaching the last of his bags. The tingle on the back of his neck warned him of the next arrival and his smile evaporated.

  Pivoting, he pointed a finger a Shane. “When you’re ready, bring the horses out.” Leaving him to the task, Jimmy walked to the stable doors and stepped out into the darkness. Sunrise was still a couple of hours away. Cody stood in his path, arms folded and a stubborn set to his jaw.

  “You’re leaving.” It wasn’t a question, and the growl beneath the words promised swift violence if Jimmy tried to dispute the charge.

  “Yes,” he nodded. “Someone has to go after Ryan and he got free on my watch, so it’s going to be me.” What he didn’t add was Quanto’s visit or the warning he’d received. “Keep the eagle alive. No matter what else you must give up, the eagle must survive.”

  War loomed on the horizon and would come swifter if they didn’t stop the doppelganger. Their father had layered the information in a cryptic warning, but Jimmy would worry about the last few words later.

  “Alone?
” Challenge reverberated in Cody’s hostile tone.

  Dragging his hat off and pushing a hand through his hair, Jimmy shook his head. “You can’t go with me on this one, brother.” When Cody opened his mouth to argue, Jimmy raised his hand. “You need to be here to watch over the kids and Scarlett and Jo. They’re both pregnant. Scarlett’s one of our heaviest hitters, but we don’t want her fighting while she’s with child.” It was playing dirty, but the wolf couldn’t help himself when it came to protecting their family. “We know MacPherson knows exactly where we are. On my own, I can move faster and I am not one of the targets they named.”

  Though none of the Morning Stars had commented on it, the fact that MacPherson specifically targeted Cody and Scarlett for capture and Buck for death meant he knew something of their abilities. If he knew nothing of Jimmy’s, all the better. They knew that Ryan hadn’t been aware, because if he had…well, better not to think on that.

  But if all of that wasn’t enough, Jimmy had one last blow to deliver in his argument. “You can’t leave afford to have your focus split. You won’t want Mariska to go with us and you can’t leave her here either.”

  “You’re a real a son of a bitch.” Cody scowled, but his arms dropped and the hostility drained out of his posture. “You shouldn’t have to do this alone.”

  “Noah wanted to go.”

  Cody snorted. “You told him no, right?”

  “I’m not taking our only healer into the fire, no.” Their younger brothers, Ike and Rudy, were somewhere in Old Mexico. If necessary, they could be at the ranch in a few weeks, but neither could replace Noah. Everyone else was partnered and had something to lose. “It has to be me, Cody.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  Jimmy shrugged. “You don’t have to. We do what we need to in order to keep our family safe.” They always had. It was why they’d gone hunting gold in the first place, to protect Quanto’s claim on the mountain. The Kanes had long since taken care of that issue, and the Morning Stars had left the mountain for the ranch. “There’s change coming…”