For once Juliet didn’t argue. Maybe she realized how unstable Melanie was. Maybe she feared for her life because she was in the presence of a woman with uncontrollable strength.
Melanie laughed humorlessly to herself as she let Juliet up. She was the Hulk. Would she turn green now when she got mad? Would she lose all sense of reason and attack those she loved?
When Juliet dropped her off at home, Melanie went straight to her room. She shut the door and called Joel. She didn’t care anymore. She needed someone to talk to.
Voicemail.
Frustrated all over again, she threw her phone into her pillow, the tears she held back earlier falling freely.
The door to her room opened slowly and Nathan appeared, holding a plate with a sandwich. “Lanie?”
She sniffed pathetically and that was all it took.
Sandwich forgotten, Nathan enveloped her in his arms and held on, not saying a word as the tears swamped her soul.
Chapter 21
Melanie’s number popped up on his phone.
“No calls, Kegler,” Cali hissed at his side. Her dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail, her eye makeup accentuating her dark eyes. Those eyes looked at him nervously, and he knew she only snapped at him because she was worried for Felix.
Earlier that day Niella had gotten a Dream about where one of their suited friends was located. The guild hadn’t hesitated—they moved out, not wanting to miss their opportunity.
But that wasn’t the only thing contributing to Cali’s nervousness. Jente was missing. Whether it was his own choice to go to ground or someone had taken him was anyone’s guess. Cali had tried to get ahold of him again and again, but to no avail.
It didn’t bode well and had the entire guild on edge.
Now the two of them stood outside the building Niella had sent them to. They’d found it relatively easily, and Felix and Merrick had gone inside. Joel was still feeling sore about being left behind with Cali, but they had all ganged up on him, saying he wasn’t fit enough after his accident earlier in the week. Sure, his muscles were still stiff from the wreck, but he didn’t think it was that bad. He could have helped out more instead of being sidelined.
He tried to find his silver lining. At least he wasn’t stuck at the clinic like Sydney, Luke, and Niella.
“I don’t like this,” Cali said after a few moments. “What if they were attacked?”
He shook his head. “We would have heard something if there was a struggle. I think they encountered a computer they could hack and they don’t know what to do with it.”
Cali shot him an arch look. “Get over it, Joel—you weren’t going in there. You can hardly turn your head.”
“I can too,” he protested and started to do just that. He winced before he even got his chin to shoulder.
Cali snorted. “Uh huh. Now cut it out before you hurt yourself.”
They waited for ten more tense minutes before Joel started to get anxious. Cali bounced next to him, unable to control her nerves.
Their eyes locked. “We should go in there,” he said.
“Agreed.”
They started out hunched over, hugging the edge of the building until Joel realized they’d attract more attention that way. It was broad daylight; one didn’t sneak the way they would at night.
“Stop, stop.” He grabbed Cali. “We need to act like we own this place. If anyone drives by, they won’t notice a thing.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “And when did you become a special ops expert?”
“It’s not that hard, Cali.” He proceeded around the building, standing tall, scanning for any cameras. “You just have to pay attention when you watch all those movies Felix and I like to marathon.”
She scoffed behind him. “I can’t believe you have a girlfriend.”
He thought about that for a moment. He didn’t know if Melanie was his girlfriend. He knew without a doubt that she was his Mirror Mate, but like Melanie said, they didn’t have control over that. Would she want to be referred to as his girlfriend? That would be something she did have control over.
He’d ask her next time he saw her.
His phone burned in his pocket and it ate at him that he’d had to ignore her call. What if it was something important? What if she was in danger?
He shook his head. It was Saturday afternoon. She was safe.
“Earth to Kegler,” Cali whispered. “What the hell, man? You can’t go off daydreaming in the middle of a mission. What kind of operative are you?”
“Sorry.” Joel rubbed his arm where she’d pinched him mercilessly. “And ow.”
“Serves you right. Do you see anyone by that back door?”
They’d made it around the building to the back door propped open with a small stick—either Felix’s or Merrick’s handiwork.
A car engine sounded around front.
Cali cursed. “I think they’re back.”
“What the hell are you guys doing here? You’re supposed to be our lookouts.” Merrick’s ice-blue eyes flared as he stared down at them. He held the back door open as Felix emerged a few seconds later, printed documents under one arm.
Felix stopped dead when he saw them. “Cali? Joel? Why are you guys—?”
The glass door shattered, a rippling wave seeming to shake the very foundation. They all recoiled as the shards rained down around them.
“Shit.” Joel felt the glass cut against his skin. “What was that?” He looked around for a bullet, a rock, something that could have destroyed the door so effectively.
“Sonic boom,” Cali shouted, her hands covering her ears. She was the only one.
Joel, Merrick, and Felix all exchanged glances. They hadn’t heard anything, only felt the force, which meant there was another Silencer like Cali around.
Felix, Merrick, and Joel popped up as one to take a good look at what they were up against.
Joel recognized their suited friend, but the Asian woman next to him was new. She also wasn’t dressed in formalwear. Her hand was pulled back, ready to throw another sonic blast at them.
Merrick’s hands came down on Joel’s shoulders. “We’re leaving, now!”
Felix was already ahead of them, ushering Cali away as quickly as possible.
The woman didn’t run after them. Her face was pinched in concentration and she brought her arm up in a quick move.
Something shimmered at the corner of Joel’s vision and a few seconds later Merrick cursed as he ran face first into some kind of invisible barrier.
Joel stared. “No fucking way.” There was no way that woman had shot a sonic boom at them and then erected some invisible wall.
Adrenaline pumped through his veins. Joel grabbed Merrick, blood gushing from his nose, and steered him away from the wall.
He continued to glance over his shoulder and watched as the woman tried again and again to summon the barriers but to no avail. Frustration marred her face.
Curious.
She threw sonic blasts out like they were no big deal, yet she wasn’t comfortable with these powers? If Joel didn’t know any better, he’d think she was just starting to use them.
“Hurry up!”
Felix’s voice broke Joel’s thoughts, and he and Merrick rushed to the Hummer.
“What happened to him?” Felix jerked his chin in Merrick’s direction as he slammed his foot on the gas. “You take a sucker punch at him or what?”
He glared at the back of Felix’s head. The jab would’ve been more accurate a few months ago when Joel had still felt torn up about Sydney leaving him for Merrick, but he didn’t feel that way anymore and he wanted the guild to know that too.
Merrick beat him to the punch. “Joel and I are good. He didn’t hit me, he saved me. That woman had some other power I’ve never encountered before. She summoned this invisible wall. I ran right into it.”
“Illusionist?” Felix asked.
Joel and Merrick shrugged.
An Illusionist was someone with the ability to
create anything with a wave of a hand. The catch with Illusionists was that their creations weren’t corporeal unless the Illusionist was full-forced. There was no way that woman could be a full-forced Illusionist and a Silencer.
Cali echoed Joel’s sentiments.
“How is that even possible?” She spoke up from the passenger seat. “She threw that sonic attack at us, so how can she turn around the next minute and summon some magic wall?”
Felix frowned and Joel waited as his friend tried to piece together the same puzzle he was trying to wrap his mind around.
“I don’t know,” Felix said after a few seconds.
“Hopefully, we’ll find some answers in the documents we confiscated,” Merrick said.
“Hopefully,” Joel echoed, a sinking feeling in his gut.
Chapter 22
Melanie found Joel sitting alone on one of the benches near the basketball courts at the community center. He got to his feet as soon as he saw her.
“I’m so sorry I missed your call yesterday. Is everything okay?”
He’d called her late Saturday night, apologizing for his moment of silence, mentioning a bunch of paperwork he needed to go over with his guild that night, and as an alternative to their date he’d suggested a basketball game today with two of his guild members.
“Everything’s fine. I was a little stressed yesterday and needed someone to vent to.” It wasn’t a lie. After crying her eyes out to Nathan, she’d told him everything and he’d helped her work through it. He’d pointed out the importance of her work again, how she was curing so many people and giving them the best gift of all: their lives back. He’d pointed out that she was learning to control her main powers and that it should transfer over to all the other powers she might collect on the way. It made her feel a tiny bit better. She’d had all morning at work to come to terms with it. In hindsight it was probably a blessing that Joel had missed her call. She would have told him everything, and that would have been disastrous.
Her eyes caught on his forearms. New cuts littered his skin, some covered with bandages.
“What happened to your arms?” She rushed to him and gently ran her fingers along his skin. As always, her gut clenched at the contact and her body ached for him.
His eyes flashed with desire. “It’s nothing,” he said hastily. “A cat got loose at Sydney’s clinic and we all had to help catch it.”
The scrapes didn’t look like claw marks—some of them were too fine—but Melanie left it.
“Speaking of your guild, how did the paperwork go?” she asked him.
His expression darkened. “Disconcerting.”
He didn’t elaborate.
So, she wasn’t the only one keeping secrets.
Before she could ask any more, two new people came onto the basketball court. Joel smiled and waved. These must’ve been part of his guild. Wow, they were gorgeous.
Was there some kind of pretty rule to get into their guild?
“Melanie, I’d like you to meet Felix Del Valle and his fiancé, Cali Crazar.”
“You know,” Cali said, “when we get married, I’m going to make it a rule that I come first in the introductions and you can follow as my husband.”
Felix grinned. “Joel just likes me better so he says my name first.”
They were both tall, which meant this was going to be a one-sided basketball game. They also shared dark hair. Cali wore her hair back in a ponytail, her side bangs pinned out of her onyx eyes, which were made more pronounced due to the smoky makeup she wore around them. Her build was somewhere between a model and an athlete. Cali didn’t suffer from large breasts either. Melanie felt a twinge of jealousy.
Felix had a short haircut and five o’clock shadow. His skin was bronzed and his eyes were the brightest blue-green she’d ever seen. He was built like a football player, broad shouldered and nothing but hard muscle. Melanie narrowed her eyes at him—was he was one of the guys in high school who used to pick on Joel?
“Nice to meet you, Melanie.” Felix stuck out his hand, instantly destroying her ill-mannered jock theory, and she noticed a faint coating of something white around his fingertips.
He caught her staring and brought up his hand to examine it himself. “Damn, thought I got all the flour out.”
“Flour?” she asked.
Cali patted her fiancé on the chest. “He’s got the manliest job around. He’s a baker.”
“Thanks, future wife,” Felix drawled.
Cali winked up at him. “You can butter my biscuit any day.”
Joel made a disgusted noise. “Save it for the honeymoon, would you?”
Melanie found herself smiling along.
The basketball game started out innocently enough. It was the perfect day, bright sun, few clouds, and a wonderful cooling breeze from the ocean. One second Melanie was passing the ball to Joel, the next it disappeared then reappeared in Felix’s hands.
“Hey!” Joel shouted. “No powers, cheater.”
Felix gave him a cheeky grin. “It’s not cheating. It’s called using my advantage.” He threw the ball to Cali, who scored.
A glint came into Joel’s eye, and he took the ball and passed to Melanie. She was still trying to wrap her mind around what Felix had done with nothing but a swipe of his hand. Sure, she remembered the brief description Joel had given her of all the guild’s powers, but it was entirely different to see them in action.
Joel raced up court and she passed to him. In a burst of speed, Felix came up the middle and stole the ball. Quick as lightning, Joel switched direction and grabbed Felix’s arm, only for a second. Felix continued toward his own basket.
Melanie laughed. “Traveling!” she shouted at him.
Felix stopped dead and stared at his hand where Joel had Locked the ball to it. “Hey now, that’s playing dirty.”
“You started it,” Joel said arrogantly.
Melanie felt the testosterone go up in the air.
“Fine.” Felix held out his hand for Joel to Unlock the ball. “New rules.”
“This should be interesting,” Cali, standing next to Melanie, said under her breath.
Joel grasped Felix’s hand. “New rules,” he agreed as the ball fell free from Felix’s grasp.
Melanie didn’t know what to make of any of this. Joel held the ball and came over to her. Cali moved to Felix.
Joel blocked them with his body. “Take some of my powers. We need to even the playing field,” Joel whispered to her.
“What?” Trepidation ran down her spine.
“It’ll be a good exercise session for your powers too,” he said. “Take a little bit and when someone tries to take the ball from you, Lock it to your hand so they can’t snatch it.” A competitive glint came to his eye. “Then maybe try and Lock their limbs so they can’t use an arm or something.”
“Now that is playing dirty,” she whispered to him.
He shrugged. “This is war. Felix is giving similar instructions to Cali.”
Melanie leaned to her right to glance around Joel. Sure enough, Felix stood hunched before Cali, his hands moving animatedly.
“What can Cali do again?” Melanie asked.
“She’s a Silencer, so she can manipulate and control sound. I’m not sure how she’s going to use that to her advantage, but we need to be cautious.”
Melanie refrained from rolling her eyes. Joel was treating this as if it were an actual battle. Boys.
She had to admit though, their energy was contagious. When Joel held his hand out to her, she hesitated only for a second before reaching out to take a bit of his powers.
“Ready?” Joel asked when she’d released him.
His blue eyes sparkled.
She stood taller and gave him a quick salute. “Ready, sir.”
Pride shown on his face and he quickly gave her a kiss on the cheek. “That’s my girl.”
His words warmed her, but the time for pleasantries was over.
It was game time.
It
didn’t take long to figure out how Cali was using her powers to their advantage. Melanie saw her lips moving but no sound was coming out, then Felix’s mouth would move and still she couldn’t hear. Somehow they were communicating without her or Joel being able to hear it.
They shared a worried glance. This wasn’t good.
Team Tall, Dark, and Gorgeous, as Melanie was mentally referring to them, scored five points in a row on them. Her own competitive nature started to spark as she took the ball down court to Joel. She saw Cali come up on her left, she faked to the right, and quickly threw to Joel.
Cali’s lips moved and she shot out her arm.
As if hit by some invisible wind, the ball sailed past Joel, right to Felix. Felix took off and scored a three-pointer.
The spark of competition inside Melanie grew to a flame.
She walked over to Cali and touched her on the arm. “How’d you do that? It was amazing,” she gushed.
Cali preened under the attention. “Thanks. Just another skill that comes with the territory.”
“Ready, Melanie?” Joel called from down court. He gave her a knowing wink and she smiled to herself as she jogged down for a pass.
Cali kept pace with her, but when she went to block the ball, her arm didn’t budge.
Her lips moved and Melanie didn’t need sound to read them.
“What the hell?”
“Problem?” Melanie asked sweetly.
Cali’s dark eyes narrowed, and before Cali could say more Melanie passed to Joel, who was already up court to narrow the gap between their scores.
Joel laughed as Cali ran, her upper arm frozen to her side, to where Felix stood with the ball. Her expression was murderous. Felix tried and failed to hide his smile, which earned him a smack on the shoulder with Cali’s good arm.
“Nicely done,” Joel said. “She didn’t even realize what you were doing till it was too late. That’s what I call finesse.”
“I feel a little bad. How long will it stay like that?”
Joel shrugged. “Until you Unlock it. If you’re feeling really torn up about it, you can let her go when we take the lead.”
“You’re horrible,” she said, but the smile on her face belittled her words. “Are you going to get Felix?”
Locked Out of Love Page 15
