All the Wounds in Shadow: The Healing Edge - Book Two

by Anise Eden

  “Is she all right?” Ben asked urgently. “Did she tell you something was wrong?”

  “No, and calm down,” Nessa said. “She didn’t say anything was wrong, but it was obvious that she was tense. And honestly, after I found out that she’s basically new to every aspect of this, I was surprised that you brought her here at all, especially given how overly cautious you usually are. From what I gathered, this is nothing like the world she’s used to.”

  Ben sighed audibly. “I debated about whether to ask her. But I figured that since I was going to worry about her no matter where she was, I’d leave it up to her. Honestly, I was relieved that she decided to come. At least while she’s here, I can protect her.”

  “A-hah!” Nessa exclaimed. “So you were being overly cautious—true to form. Okay, well, at least that makes some sense. What do you have to protect her from back home?”

  Ben hesitated. I nibbled on a fingernail, wondering myself what his answer would be.

  “This lowlife bastard was after her last week,” he finally said. “We got him thrown in jail, along with some of his crew. But there’s no way to know who else he might have told about Cate. I wouldn’t put retaliation beyond him, and I’m sure he knows plenty of bottom feeders.”

  A single, cold bead of sweat trickled down the back my neck. Ben was talking about Don, the boyfriend of Elana, one of my therapy clients. When Elana was thinking of breaking up with him, Don somehow decided that it was my fault. So he came to my house, threatened me, and told me to stay away from her. Later, when I thought Elana might be in danger from Don, I’d gone over to her place, but I’d been hopelessly ill prepared to protect her. Ben and Pete ended up having to rush in and save us both from Don and his colleagues, a group of armed drug dealers.

  Now Don was in jail, and I’d assumed that was the end of it—or would be for a long time, anyway. But—retaliation? From behind bars? That thought had never occurred to me. I felt hopelessly naïve.

  “Damn,” Nessa said. “I’m sorry to hear that. I’m glad Cate’s here, too, then. Like you said, she’s safe. We’ll all look out for her.” With a hint of amusement, Nessa added, “If you want, we can put her in bubble wrap. Perez found these huge rolls in one of the storage rooms. He tore some off and put it in his pocket; he’s been popping it incessantly. Slim’s going to snap his neck any minute now.”

  Ben chuckled. “I always knew one of them would kill the other eventually.”

  “That’s all we need—another attempted murder on our hands.”

  “I’ll keep Slim in check if you’ll get the bubble wrap away from Perez.”

  “Deal.” I heard a chair pull away from the table, and the crisp rhythm of Nessa’s steps as she headed toward the door. “See you later.”

  “See ya.”

  I held my breath again as Nessa walked out and turned away from me. The sound of her footfalls disappeared down the hallway.

  It occurred to me that I should slip away, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to leave. After all, my body was still screaming for a cup of coffee. But it was still true that if I appeared out of nowhere, Ben would know I’d been eavesdropping—something that, unfortunately, I had a history of doing, if completely unintentionally. I had resigned myself to waiting behind the door until Ben left when I heard him turn on the sink. That was the cover I needed. After a minute, I could walk in and Ben would assume that the running water had drowned out the sound of my approach.

  As soon as he turned off the water, I prepared to emerge—but then I heard him approach the doorway. Dammit, I thought, watching through the crack as he stopped suddenly and looked both ways down the hallway. I screwed my eyes shut, willing him to either go back inside or leave.

  “Good morning, Cate,” he said, peering at me through the crack. “Eavesdropping again?”

  “Ow!” I was so startled by the sound of his voice that I jumped and hit my knee against the doorknob. He pulled the door away from the wall, exposing my hiding place.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yes,” I said, rubbing my knee. “And I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I came to get some coffee, but I didn’t want to interrupt your conversation.”

  “How long were you back there?”

  I shrugged.

  “I see.” He gestured toward the staff lounge. “Well, there’s plenty of coffee. Inside.”

  “Right. Thanks.”

  He followed me into the lounge and closed the door behind us. The staff lounge was small, with one wall covered with kitchen-style cabinets and a sink and counter beneath. On the counter sat a coffee brewer and all of the fixings; the pot was still half full. In the middle of the room stood a small round table and three chairs. Ben sat at the table while I went to the counter and poured myself a mug.

  “You would have been welcome to join us, you know.”

  “I almost did,” I said. “I will, next time.”

  “Good.” Ben rested his elbows on the table and clasped his hands behind his neck. His tone threaded with worry, he said, “You heard what I said about Don.”

  “Yeah.” I sat at the table and looked down, circling the rim of my mug with my fingertip. “I guess it was stupid for me to feel safe—”

  “It wasn’t—isn’t—stupid,” Ben insisted. “The chances of anything else happening are incredibly slim.”

  “Slim isn’t zero, though.”

  “Well, no.”

  An optimistic thought skittered through my mind. “But you can’t be that worried. I mean, you left me home alone yesterday morning, and you and Pete didn’t even answer your cell phones when I called.”

  “I meant to apologize for that,” he said quickly. “I was on the phone finalizing arrangements for us here, and since I knew that you were safe at home—”

  “Wait, how did you know that?”

  Matter-of-factly, Ben said, “I checked the cameras.”

  “What cameras?”

  “The ones on the exterior of your house—oh, right.” Ben nodded as though a realization had just hit him. “I may not have told you about those.”

  I felt as though there was a surly bear hibernating inside of me, and Ben was poking it with a stick. “Then you should tell me now.”

  “Of course,” he said, suddenly wary. “Pete and I put them up after Don threatened you—standard security procedure. Of course we shut off the video feed after you told us that you didn’t need us anymore. But we hadn’t got around to taking the cameras down yet—which turned out to be a good thing yesterday morning, since I was able to keep eyes on your place until after you left.”

  My inner bear emitted a low, dangerous growl. “You were spying on me, on my house?”

  “No, of course not.” Ben flattened his hands on the table. “Not on you. On anyone who might try to get to you.”

  “Oh for God’s sake, Ben!” I threw my hands up. I couldn’t tell whether he really didn’t see the problem, or he was being purposefully obtuse. “You do realize this is the kind of thing that might make someone think that you’re creepy, or a stalker—or at the very least, that you have no idea what appropriate boundaries are. Or worse, that you do know what they are, but you choose to disregard them whenever you think you have a good enough reason!”

  “Fair enough.” Ben gave a conciliatory nod. “I apologize. That was an oversight on my part. I intended to fill you in on all of the precautions we were taking, but other things kept happening that took priority.”

  I took a couple of slow, deep breaths and tried to coax my inner bear back into hibernation. It was true that the past week had been pretty chaotic. We’d been running from crisis to crisis, it seemed. While that didn’t excuse the fact that he’d put up surveillance equipment at my house without asking me first, at least I could understand how it might have happened. “Okay, it was an oversight. And I appreciate that you turned off the video feed when you stopped guarding me. That was the right thing to do. Which is why I’m completely baffled by the fact that you decided it was okay to
just turn it back on yesterday without my permission!”

  Ben clasped his hands together on the table and looked me in the eye. “In order to ask your permission, I would have had to wake you up, and you were exhausted. Also, I didn’t want to worry you unnecessarily about the Don situation.”

  I leaned forward and looked him in the eye right back. “So in other words, you knew you were crossing a line, but you did it anyway. For your own reasons.”

  He glanced towards the ceiling for a moment. “You could say that, yes.”

  My fingers curled into fists and my nails bit into my palms. “If you were really that worried about Don, what would you have done if I hadn’t volunteered to come down here?”

  Staring at the tabletop, Ben pursed his lips. Finally, he said, “I would have asked Pete to stay behind.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “And you didn’t mention that?”

  “Well, no. You decided to come with us.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “No, I mean before, when you were offering me those opportunities to stay home, why didn’t you see fit to mention that they came with a condition—having Pete tail me?”

  “Not tail you,” Ben said, “make sure you were safe. And if you had decided to stay home, we would have talked about it. But you didn’t, so I didn’t think it was necessary to bring it up.” As his brows gathered together, he added, “I also didn’t think it would be controversial.”

  “Of course you didn’t!” I was sorely tempted to let loose on him with the full force of my indignation. But while I would never admit it to Ben, if there really was a chance that I might be in danger, I felt a little bit relieved that someone was on top of it. Still, I couldn’t let him think that it was okay to “keep eyes on” my house, or on me, without my permission. “For the record, the next time you’re contemplating invading my privacy, talk to me about it first, even if it means waking me up,” I said, trying to sound as icy as possible. “And I want those cameras taken down as soon as we get home!” After a fear-fueled, lightning-quick second thought, I added, “Probably!”

  Ben’s confusion only lasted for a moment. “Of course, whatever you like. But at some point we should talk about installing a state-of-the art security system—”

  “Benjamin!” I shouted.

  He held his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

  I stabbed the table with my finger. “No more talk about security measures for me—not until we have a serious conversation about the concept of informed consent!”

  One of Ben’s eyebrows slowly arched. “You know I’m always happy to talk about anything with you, Cate. But if you don’t mind, I’d prefer to table that discussion for now.”

  “Why?”

  “Because there’s something else we need to talk about that can’t wait.”

  “Of course there is,” I leaned back and folded my arms across my chest. “What is it?”

  Frowning, he sat back in his chair. “You know now that I was relieved when you decided to come down here with us, and why. But seeing the situation through Nessa’s eyes has reminded me how unfamiliar all of this is to you, and that it might be stressful in ways that I hadn’t thought about.” As our eyes met, he slid his hand across the table, palm up. “How are you holding up?”

  The weight of Ben’s concern pushed the portal doors to open, and all of his worries flowed into me. Given that we were in such a safe place, his emotions seemed inappropriately intense. I knew that something else must have been amplifying them. In that moment, though, he needed reassurance, not analysis. Fortunately, that was something I could offer. Of all of the things weighing on my mind at that moment, the mission itself wasn’t one of them.

  I put my earlier frustrations with Ben aside and made an effort to sound calm. “I don’t know what I said to Nessa that worried her, but I’m fine. Really. And as for this situation being new and stressful, I volunteered to come, remember? We all did, as a matter of fact, but I don’t see you obsessing over the others and whether or not they’re stressed out.”

  “Of course I worry about them, but not as much as I worry about you. They’re all seasoned members of this team. They have more practice using their skills and gifts; they have a better understanding of how paranormal healing works; and they have much more experience working together. Meanwhile, you just started your internship.”

  “Be that as it may, I also have a few years as a therapist under my belt. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to deal with risks, or adapt to a situation that was tricky and unfamiliar. And there were no marines guarding us at the clinic,” I added. “Down here, I feel positively relaxed by comparison.”

  The deep lines that had formed on Ben’s forehead began to soften. “That’s true. I’d forgotten that your past experiences would have prepared you somewhat.”

  But the way he held his shoulders still broadcasted tension. I had to figure out what else was fueling Ben’s fears. After a moment, the answer dawned on me—something so obvious that I felt like an idiot for not seeing it sooner. “Is it possible that your worries about me are disproportionate because of… you know?” I waggled the finger that bore his ring.

  “Yes, that’s part of it.”

  After a series of startled blinks, I asked, “It is?” I hadn’t expected him to concede that point at all, let alone so quickly.

  “Naturally. You’re the woman in my life. Of course my concerns for you will be more intense.”

  “I’m the what?” A feverish sensation flashed through me. I drummed my fingers on the edge of the table. “Ben, that sounds so… serious.”

  “I’m a serious person,” he said frankly, “and so are you. There’s no point in pretending otherwise, no matter how slowly we decide to take things.” His eyes shimmered gold. “Is there?”

  Dammit. He was right; there was no point denying it. Neither one of us lived life lightly—particularly when it came to matters of the heart. I had experienced his emotions through the portal, and just thinking about his feelings for me made my stomach flutter. Meanwhile, my feelings for him were already much deeper than I wanted to admit. “Well, no,” I acquiesced, “but that doesn’t mean you have to say it out loud. I mean, we could at least pretend that we’re keeping things light for a while longer.”

  The corners of Ben’s eyes crinkled with amusement as he reached across the table and took my hands in his. “Keeping things light isn’t really my forté,” he admitted, “but for you, I’ll give it a try.” He began stroking the backs of my hands with his thumbs, lulling my body into a warm trance. “Just promise me again that while we’re here, you’ll talk to me right away if you have any problems or questions. If you can do that, I’ll promise to try not to worry so much.”

  For a fleeting moment, I considered telling him about my mother’s dream and the questions it had raised. Was he primarily interested in me because I was an empath? But I knew that even if he was, he might not be fully aware of it—and if he was aware, and answered “yes,” I wasn’t ready to hear it. I pushed the thought away as my eyes rose to meet his. The depth of caring I saw there made my doubts seem inconsequential, pulling me back into the moment. “Like I said, everything is fine. But if something comes up, I promise to tell you. Okay?”

  “Okay. Thank you.”

  “Will you stop worrying now?”

  He gave me a self-deprecating smile. “Like I said, I’ll try.”

  “Good lord.” I rolled my eyes. “Nessa was right; you are overly cautious.”

  “I’d be careful about cosigning everything Nessa says.” Devilishness crept into his voice. “After all, putting you in bubble wrap was also her idea—an idea not without merit, I thought.”

  I gave him my best glare. “You know exactly what you can do with your bubble wrap.”

  “Well, not exactly,” he murmured suggestively. “I’m still sorting through ideas.”

  Baffled as to how one could possibly debauch bubble wrap, I struggled to formulate a sufficiently scathing com
eback. Fortunately, there was a knock at the door. Ben got up and consulted with the marine outside.

  When he returned moments later, his expression was grave. “It’s Dr. Belo. His kidneys are failing. They’re putting him on dialysis, but this means he might not have as long as we’d hoped.”

  His words poured through me like ice water. “Oh no, Ben. We should go.”

  “Yeah.” He squinted and looked me up and down. “You’re sure you’re ready for this?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. Let’s go.” I pushed my chair back, stood up, and followed Ben to our next destination, keeping my hands clasped together so he wouldn’t see them trembling.

  Chapter Eight

  A mesmeric ringing emanated from Dr. Belo’s room as Ben and I approached. Different musical notes layered one on top of the other, becoming quite loud by the time we reached the door. Inside, Kai was sitting at a small table filled with what appeared to be about a dozen brass bowls of different sizes. He was using a wooden mallet to alternately tap them or circle their edges, making the air vibrate with sound.

  Asa sat in an armchair with his eyes closed and his hands resting on his knees. He looked so relaxed that I thought he might be asleep. He wore a camo baseball cap with a long clear crystal affixed to the underside of the lid. It stuck out from his forehead like a unicorn’s horn.

  I leaned down and whispered to Kai, “How does this work?”

  “These are the Tibetan singing bowls. Each makes a sound that activates a different chakra,” he explained. “I’m tuning in each of Asa’s chakras to Braz’s so Asa can act as his proxy.”

  “What about the hat?”

  “The crystal is a special seven-sided piece of quartz that opens the channels of spiritual communication,” Kai said. “Some say it activates that pineal gland Braz was studying. That’s why Asa’s wearing it on his forehead, where the third-eye chakra is located.”

  “Wow, that’s amazing,” I whispered as I approached Dr. Belo. He appeared unchanged except for the medieval-looking metal device that was holding his eyes open. It hummed for a few seconds as it administered drops of liquid into his eyes.