“Yeah, but I wonder how much of that time is gonna be for us.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she reached for his hand and looked up at him. “They have enough people down there trying to catch a glimpse of us that we’ll have plenty of time together.”
He didn’t say anything, but she felt a surge of energy and could tell that he was trying to contain it and calm himself. He was getting stronger, so it was getting harder for him to pull in the reins.
It didn’t help that he was still consumed with anger over her being pulled from their team. Or that he was still grieving over David. And that he was now fuming over what Elder Jay had just confirmed for him, that he wasn’t ever going to work another mission. That had been his only outlet for everything else he had to deal with. But it had now been ripped from his grasp.
When the thought ran through her mind, it somehow created a type of energy within her that sent those images his way. The energy level that was coming off of Jason increased exponentially, which caused the car to swerve dramatically as a tire blew out. Jason swore as he held onto her, the energy that flowed into her enough to make her jaw clench shut and leave her breathless. The car screeched to a halt, and after pulling it onto the shoulder, the driver lowered the divider.
“Are you two okay?” He asked.
“We’re fine,” she assured him.
“Just hang tight. I’ll get another limo to get you the rest of the way,” he hit several buttons on his phone and started talking into it just as he raised the divider up.
Jason pulled away from her and scooted to the window. She let her head fall against the seat and pulled her coat closed. The cold air coming in from the window gave her a chill. Another limousine pulled up behind theirs in minutes, and the chauffeur pulled opened the door and hurried them into the other vehicle.
She rested her head against Jason’s shoulder after the car got into motion and she smiled when he put his arm over her shoulder and pulled her against him. That was always a good sign he was getting his energy under control. They made it to the airport, and she was amazed they pulled right on to the tarmac. There was a private jet awaiting them, compliments of one of the other senators, so it was apparently necessary.
“Hey, Sniper Girl,” Andrew said as they boarded.
“Andrew.” She sighed. He definitely didn’t need to be there just then. Her almost-calm husband built up another level of energy so suddenly that she was sure Andrew felt it.
“I guess congratulations are in order.” He reached out to shake Jason’s hand. “Hey,” he reached out and caught Kat in his arms when she intentionally tripped toward him. “Are you okay?” He laughed as he helped steady her.
“These damn heels,” she pulled one then the other off. “A girl could seriously snap her neck in them.”
“Obviously,” he helped her into a seat then took the one beside her.
“I can’t wait to change. Did you bring my stuff with you?”
“It’s at my place, up in your room,” he winked at her. She would have punched him just then if she could have.
“Great! Let’s get going then,” she stood when the power went out momentarily then came back on. “I really wanted to shower and get all this stuff off of my face and out of my hair.”
“Okay, let’s go.” He looked over her shoulder. “Where’d Jason disappear to?”
“Bathroom,” she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the center of the plane. “The first limo had a tire go out, so we had to wait a bit for the second one, and with all that champagne—”
“Ah, bladder was ready to rupture?”
“Yeah, you ready?”
He, thankfully, didn’t argue, and they teleported to his house in Half Moon Bay. She excused herself to the shower in the bedroom that he always referred to as hers. It was another development that drove Jason nuts. She grabbed her cell phone and ran to the bathroom.
She dialed his cell phone number as she slammed the door closed, and was relieved that he picked up on the first ring. She wasn’t able to get a word out before a shrieking sound erupted through the speaker. She stared in horror when the phone crackled, sparked, then caught on fire. She dropped it in to the toilet and ran to the cordless phone in the bedroom. She snatched it up and started to dial her mother’s phone to ask for help but stopped short when someone tapped on the bathroom window.
She ran across the room and almost ripped the curtains off the wall when she shoved them aside. She lifted the window and was relieved to see Jason standing out on the roof below. She sat on the ledge and he helped her onto the roof.
“Jason!” she hugged him and lost her breath, the energy exchange leaving her winded.
“The plane isn’t going to be able to take off if I’m on it.” He chuckled. “I’m glad I programmed the coordinates for Andrew’s into my watch a while ago.”
“Me too,” she leaned back and looked at him. “I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry for what? Did you want all of this to happen?”
“No!”
“Then what are you sorry for? If anything I should be the one apologizing. You have to cover for all of my bad temper moments.”
“Isn’t that part of my job description?”
“Hmm, I don’t think that falls under the lifemate part or the wife part or the roommate part? You do seem to wear a lot of hats when it comes to me and I don’t remember any of them requiring you to lie for the sake of saving my ass.”
“All of them do.” She kissed him, “Because I love you.”
“And I love you. So I’m sorry for all the craziness. Seriously, Kat, if I could control it, I would.”
“I know. I just think that ever since I helped unleash everything, it’s kind of taken its own course, and you’re just along for the ride.”
“Yeah, and it’s a sucky ride. And I’m dragging you along with me, so accept my apology. And take me seriously for a moment even if it sounds deranged.”
“Normal deranged or really over-the-top deranged?”
“Seriously? Normal deranged? Isn’t that an oxymoron?”
“With our lives, everything is an oxymoron, so shoot. I’ll try to hold all comments until the very end.” She laughed.
“Why thank you very much.” He chuckled. “So, how to do you feel about running away?”
“Running away?” She burst out laughing.
“I’m serious.”
“Jason, we can’t run away.”
“Yes, we can. I’ve given it a lot of thought and after some research and thinking—”
“What research?”
“When you go out on your missions, I’ve been looking stuff up, and I’ve been messing with my equipment...”
“And?” She asked.
“I think we need to die.”
“Excuse me?”
“We need to set it up to appear as if we die, then I can zap us somewhere. Anywhere you want, Kat. And we can be normal, live normal lives. No High Council or Nemeanians, just you and me.”
“And we can just be normal? Have regular jobs? Have a family?”
“Yeah,” he nodded.
“Jason, that all sounds like a dream come true, but our faces have been printed in magazines and online, so how would we?”
“We would,” he took her hand. “Kat, we could be together and have normal lives and never have to worry about anything again. I’ve already purchased land in Tennessee. We can build our house there and have a couple of kids and follow that dream.”
“Jason—”
“Don’t,” he kissed her quickly. “Just think about it while you work your mission, and when you get back, we can talk about it.”
“Okay, I will. But—”
“No buts,” he put his finger over her lips. “We can do this.” They looked through the window when they heard knocking on the door. Jason helped her back inside.
“Yes?” She shouted as her feet touched the floor.
“Are you okay in there?” Andrew called.
&n
bsp; “Yeah, I’m good! I’ll be out in a few.” She pulled her shirt over her head.
“I’ll be right here when you get back,” he propped his arms onto the window sill.
“What about the crew?”
“I’ll teleport back and play sick; I’ll tell them I have an upset stomach or something then lock myself in the bathroom. When you get back I’ll be here.”
“We don’t get upset stomachs.” She laughed.
“Yeah, well, they’ve forced us to take acting lessons our entire lives, so I’m gonna use some of that against them. I’ll be sick. I’ll force myself to vomit on the pilot if I have to.”
“Or I can just stall until you land.”
“You just think you can make everything so easy don’t you?” He reached inside and pulled her toward him.
“I do.” She smiled, “Most of the time.”
“Then stall. And the second I land, I’ll send you a text message so you’ll know to meet me at our hotel.”
“Okay.”
She kissed him then waved as he walked down the roof and disappeared. She showered in record time and was downstairs lacing her boots when Andrew walked in. He seemed to buy her story of starting to shower and getting several calls from her mother and Lauren about a hysterical Vanessa.
She feigned hunger pains, which prompted Andrew to offer her a sandwich. She asked for a second helping as she went on and on about the wedding. She was sure it was to the point of making him ill, but she didn’t care. She needed to stall and she loved talking about it.
When they finally teleported to their location, she had to change weapons after intentionally damaging a firing pin. The exchange, unfortunately, went off with no problems, so didn’t help kill much time and meant Kat would have to socialize with her team. After their debriefing, she feigned exhaustion and was surprised no one complained or commented but instead bid her good night without question.
She teleported to their hotel room in Cancun, showered again, then dressed in a pretty nightgown she had received at her bridal shower. She sat on the couch and didn’t have to wait long before she heard from Jason.
Jason texted her the moment he landed. She told him to take his time because she was waiting in their room. When he arrived, he listened to her recount the details of her mission as he massaged her feet. He excused himself to shower, and when he emerged from the bathroom, she pretended to sleep.
“Are you just going to sit there playing with my hair?” She opened her eyes and looked at him.
“I knew you weren’t sleeping,” he ran his fingers through her hair.
“That’s too bad.” She pouted. “I was really hoping to be carried over the threshold on my wedding night.”
“You didn’t have to pretend to sleep for that.” He chuckled. “It is a human tradition.” He stood with her in his arms, “And we are half human, so I will gladly carry my wife over the threshold.”
“I love the way that sounds.”
“I like it better than lifemate, something about it is so...”
“Special? Wonderful?” She smiled.
“Yeah,” he laid her on the bed. “I just gotta run and put my locator in the other room and grab us a quick snack. Will you be okay for a sec?”
“Yeah,” she smiled. “I just don’t want you to really fall asleep on me. I want to hear what you think about my plan.”
“I won’t,” she assured him.
She watched as he walked out of the room, then held out her hand, and studied her rings. The diamond bands that sat on either side of her engagement ring sparkling despite the dim lighting. She got comfortable and thought about running away. She hadn’t been able to give it her undivided attention because she had been working, so she gave it some thought now.
She sighed. She didn’t want to think about running away, not just then. She just wanted to enjoy being there with him on their wedding night. And that was okay because she could think about running away the next day and the day after that. For tonight, she wasn’t going to force herself to think about anything else other than how amazing it was to finally be his wife.
Chapter Fourteen The Sweetest Sound
“I’ve been on two flipping missions in the past three days and now he has to go?” Kat whined.
“Don’t shoot the messenger,” Lauren consoled her by rubbing her shoulder. “I’m just glad I heard Square Peg discussing it when I did. I rushed right over the second I learned of it to give you guys a warning so you didn’t make plans.”
“We have a couples massage in an hour.” Kat sighed and pushed one of Jason’s notepads aside.
“Hey, babe—” Jason stopped mid-sentence when he saw Lauren sitting beside her. “Hey, Lauren...”
“Hey,” Lauren studied the beverages in his hands. “Ah, you shouldn’t have.”
“I’ll go get you one if you aren’t here with bad news.” “Damn,” she said. “I guess I’ll just have to watch you two enjoy those.”
“She’s gotta go again?” He dropped into the chair beside Kat and slid her drink toward her.
“It’s not her this time. We’ve got a bit of an issue at the mining facility; it seems that an accident there has put a serious kink in our delivery. The good news is you get to go on a mission. We all know you’ve been itching for an assignment.”
“Yeah, but not on my honeymoon,” he interjected.
“Right, well that’s the bad news. But you know that these guys don’t see it as a honeymoon, hence all the school work,” she flipped open a textbook.
“Don’t remind me,” Jason said pushing a stack of books farther away from him. He had been ordered to retrieve everything he would need so he could complete all of the coursework for his upcoming classes. “I’m so tired of this.”
“Hopefully we can get this resolved quickly. We’ll give them a hand with some helpful clean-up tips and get everything back on schedule.”
They all looked at his cell phone when it started ringing. He answered it, and when he hung up after saying a few monosyllables, they knew it had been Ariel. He leaned over and kissed Kat’s cheek gently, then slid his untouched smoothie toward Lauren. He excused himself so he could shower and change into his uniform.
“Oh. My. God!” Lauren squealed the second he closed the bedroom door. “You two finally took the plunge!”
“What?” Kat gasped.
“Ha! Look at those cheeks!” Lauren laughed. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!”
“I guess I just…I don’t know.” Kat giggled and her blush deepened. “How did you know?”
“It’s written all over his damn face! And the way he just kissed you, come on! It’s so obvious,” Lauren gave Kat a big hug then leaned back and looked at her. “Isn’t it amazing, Kat? What about your powers? Did he blow the whole city grid?”
“Lauren!” Kat’s cheeks flamed brighter.
“Did he have to use a defibrillator?” Lauren laughed.
“You are horrible!” Kat slapped her hand playfully.
“Come on!” She laughed. “It’s a valid question. The man has an unusual amount of energy!”
“He does. And it’s almost like us being together has somehow…”
“Somehow?” Lauren begged.
“Helped him...I don’t know…I know it sounds weird but there weren’t any crazy power surges or anything. It was just amazing and beautiful, and now he seems to have more control over it.”
“No, that makes perfect sense, Kat. And I’m so happy for you,” Lauren reached over and hugged her again. “You have no idea how much peace it brings me knowing that you are so loved by your lifemate.”
“I am,” Kat nodded. “And so are you.”
“Loved by your lifemate?” Lauren teased.
“You know what I mean,” Kat studied her. “I just wish it was under better circumstances.”
“Me too,” Lauren looked away for a long moment. “But it is what it is, and I’m happy. That counts, right?”
“Yeah,” Kat agreed.
“Hey, before he gets out here, can I ask you something?”
“Of course,” Lauren said.
“Do you glow? You know…during…”
“Glow as in looking radiant due to extreme happiness or glow as in a light?”
“As in light, like a bioluminescence…” Kat asked.
“No.” Lauren’s eyes widening, “Do you?”
“Yeah, I mean, it’s not blinding or anything, but it’s definitely there.”
“Seriously?” Lauren asked.
“Yeah,” Kat nodded. “And there’s other stuff too—”
“Like the smell afterward?”
“Yes! Like flowers?” Kat smiled. “Roses mixed with a fresh rainfall.”
“Roses? Seriously?” Lauren asked. “I get the rainfall but not the flowers. What else?”
“And wind,” Kat bit her lip. “Are we like the king and queen of the freak show?”
“Yeah,” Lauren giggled. “I think you are! But not in a bad way, Kat. He’s a prince, so his powers are supposed to be stronger than everyone else. Maybe that’s the difference?”
“Yeah, that’s got to be it—”
“And it doesn’t matter either, so don’t let it bother you. Maybe it’s different for everyone.” Lauren suggested.
“Maybe…and you’re right, it doesn’t matter if it’s different. I’m just amazed our lives have become so exciting! I know that Wyatt is a bore but we’re both happy, both in love, and experiencing life as close to normal as we can get it.”
“Yeah,” Lauren pulled her ring off of her finger. “I’m not going to have time to get home and hide these. Do you mind holding on to them until I get back?” She unclasped her necklace.
“No, not at all,” Kat lifted her hair so Lauren could secure it around Kat’s neck. “How long do you think you’ll be?”
“I’m hoping not long, I should have him back in time to join you for that massage.”
“Really?” Jason asked after emerging from the bathroom and seeing his smoothie halfway gone. “Who said you could drink it?”
“You handed it to me!”
“To hold!” He teased. “Geez, some people think they can just make themselves at home! And drink your smoothie to boot!”
Sleeper Cells Page 21
