He wanted even more.
When she disappeared into her building, he stayed on the sidewalk for a minute, trying to pull himself together.
She shouldn’t be getting to him this way. He couldn’t believe he’d actually told her about his parents earlier that evening over dinner.
He hadn’t talked about his parents in years.
He wasn’t a man who ever let himself be vulnerable. He did his job—and did it well—and never left loose ends or messy interpersonal connections.
He might be lonely and slightly bored, but not since he was a child had he allowed himself to be hurt.
Sometimes he regretted his predictability. He always did what served him best, no matter what pulled him in other directions. It had made him successful, and he hadn’t yet found something he was willing to sacrifice his comfortable, successful life for.
Tomorrow, he needed to get Riana to talk about her grandfather and then risk a light connection. Next time, he wouldn’t get wrapped up in the spicy glow of her spirit, or her intelligence, or her humor, or her beauty. Or how much he wanted even more of her.
He would get the job done and move on.
He was about to walk away, realizing he’d been standing like a dope on the sidewalk for a few minutes now, when the door in front of him flew open.
Riana burst out, her long brown braids streaming behind her and her cheeks dead white. “Oh, Mikel!” Her voice was almost a sob. “You’re still here.”
She reached out to grab one of his arms in her urgency.
Mikel almost lost it when part of one of her hands contacted the bare skin of his wrist.
Against his will, the connection opened again—a rush of feeling and thrill of sensation flooding him as he instinctively started to breathe her in—and it took all the focus and control he possessed to cut the connection off before it went too far.
She was terrified. He would have been able to tell even if he hadn’t swallowed a dose of her pure panic from the touch of her hand. Plus, there was something deeper tearing her apart, underlying the intense fear.
Even so, he saw her respond to the brief connection. Her pale cheeks flushed and her lips parted slightly, as the jolt of feeling surprised and momentarily distracted her. She jerked back, releasing his arm and staring up at him in stunned bewilderment.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, pulling himself together quickly and sorting through possibilities in his mind. He’d been sloppy. He hadn’t been prepared for her reappearance or her touch, so he’d lost control like a boy. He was better than this, and he wasn’t going to let one slip-up ruin his chances to succeed at this assignment.
Riana shook off her instinctive response to the connection, and her purpose and panic returned after just a moment. It was his good fortune that something else had happened that took precedence over her confusion about what she’d just felt. “My sister,” she choked. “My sister’s gone!”
“She’s not at home? Maybe she just left for a while—”
“She doesn’t leave on her own, and she wouldn’t go anywhere without letting me know. Something has happened!” Riana’s voice seemed to strangle in her throat. “What if someone has taken her?”
Mikel put a hand on her shoulder, making sure not to touch the bare skin at her neck. “Riana, calm down for a minute. Why would anyone have taken your sister? Let me go up with you to check things out, and then we can figure out what to do from there.”
She had refused to invite him up earlier, and she wouldn’t have now had she not been terrified about the disappearance of her sister. Mikel wasn’t about to ignore any advantage he might have, though, and he put a supportive hand on her back as they walked up the dark stairwell to her loft.
It was a pleasant, comfortable home—tastefully decorated with artistic sensibility if not a lot of resources—but Mikel sensed a whiff of conflict in the air as soon as he stepped in.
“There’s no note,” Riana said shakily, gesturing toward a recliner in one corner of the main room by the window. “And, look, the glass of water was knocked over. That’s where Jannie would have been sitting.”
Mikel walked over and looked down, studying the strewn pillow and puddle of water on the floor. It would have looked suspicious, even if he hadn’t had the heightened senses of a Soul-Breather.
The tremor of fear and violence was strongest around the recliner.
He had no doubt that Riana’s sister had been taken from this loft by force.
“It does seem odd,” he said slowly, making sure to keep his voice calm and reassuring. “But there’s no sense in panicking until we have more information. Is there anywhere Jannie would have gone if she was in trouble? Do you know of anyone who would have wanted to hurt her?”
Riana opened her mouth, as if to answer, but then she shut it with a snap. She glanced away from him.
She knew something—something she wasn’t going to tell him.
“If you want, I’ll go with you to the police,” Mikel offered, making sure not to sound offended or disappointed by her obvious reticence. “Maybe, since she’s handicapped, they’ll be willing to start an investigation immediately.”
He doubted it. Missing persons weren’t one of the Union police’s priorities.
“No.” She’d closed down—he could feel it as well as see it in her tight jaw and guarded expression. “No police.”
Mikel swallowed, a hard weight in his chest that he assumed was a remnant of the swell of fear and pain he’d breathed in from Riana. “Why don’t we go down to the businesses on your street and start asking people if they’ve seen anything suspicious today? There are several that are still open. Maybe someone saw something.”
It was a good idea, and for a moment he thought Riana was going to agree. Then she gave her head a hard shake. “I’m sorry, Mikel. I need to go talk to someone.”
It was clear from her tone that she meant alone. He wanted to object—annoyed at the rejection. He’d gotten so close only to be shut down abruptly. But he was far too diplomatic to argue. “Of course. I think I’ll ask around to see if anyone has seen anything anyway.” He reached into his pocket and handed her a card. “My number is here. Call me as soon as you can, and I’ll let you know what I find out. If you’d like me to call you instead…”
He trailed off and was relieved when Riana mumbled out her phone number.
At least he’d be able to contact her easily now.
She was shaking when she grabbed her bag and headed for the door, but she turned to face him before she left. “Thank you, Mikel. I appreciate your help. I just—” Her words broke off as she choked on an obvious sob.
“I understand. We’ve only known each other a week. But I do want to help. I...I like you.” He didn’t have to feign the stumble over the last sentence. Riana looked so pitiful and broken that he felt like a monster for a moment.
Which might have been why he couldn’t resist reaching a hand around her shoulders and spreading his fingers on the nape of her neck in a gentle massage. It was the lightest touch—only two fingers and his thumb, and much of the contact was blocked by her hair.
It was so easy for him to make her feel better, and there didn’t seem to be any reason not to.
He applied gentle pressure and let the connection open just enough. Instead of intensifying her feelings as he usually did, he instead relieved her of them. He breathed in the most urgent of her panic and despair—emotions so strong and pure they were almost blinding.
Riana responded visibly, letting out a hoarse sigh and closing her eyes as her body softened. She leaned her head back toward his hand, as if she wanted even more of his touch.
He didn’t let himself revel in the sensation or what he experienced of her as he breathed in her spirit. He had to focus enough to end it before it went too far and she realized what he was doing.
“Try not to panic,” he murmured. “We don’t know what’s happening yet.”
She let out a choked little sob—an obvious sign o
f letting down her guard and opening herself up him.
Because it was working, he let himself keep the connection open for another minute. He was now getting flashes of memory and feeling from her—too fleeting to fully process or identify.
“Mikel,” she whimpered, her eyes still closed and her hands coming up to cling to his jacket. “What if she’s…”
“Shh,” he soothed, still massaging the back of her neck. “You don’t know anything yet. Don’t scare yourself for no reason.”
There was reason. Mikel could feel it in the air. He wasn’t about to tell her that, though.
With a pang of reluctance, he dropped his hand, severing the connection.
With one last long sigh, Riana opened her eyes. She looked calmer now, although weak from the release of emotion. Her body swayed slightly, and she still held onto his jacket for support. “Thanks,” she whispered, glancing up at him with an irresistible shyness. “You...you made me feel better.”
“I’m glad. Go ahead and talk to whomever you need to. I’ll call you later to check on you.”
Her fingers were still gripping the lapels of his jacket, as if she were afraid to let them go. She stared at her hands like she couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t release the fabric.
Mikel didn’t dare touch her bare hands. He’d already touched her too much.
He was swimming in her—almost overwhelmed by how much more of her he’d tasted. He needed her to leave so he could process what he’d experienced and not do anything unforgivably stupid. “Riana, you can let go now.”
She gasped at his gentle voice. Made a choked sound in her throat. Unclenched her hands. “Sorry.” She took a step back, her dark lashes hiding her expression. “I don’t know—”
Acting quickly, lest she start to question why she had succumbed to him so quickly, Mikel said, “It’s fine. I’m glad I could be here to help. You needed someone to lean on for a minute. Are you going to be all right now?”
She nodded and met his eyes—her urgency building again and the color returning to her lips. “Yes. I need to go. Jannie— I need to go. Thanks again for...for being there.”
“I’ll call you in an hour or two.”
Riana locked the door behind them and started running down the stairs.
She was gone before Mikel could say anything else.
Which was just as well.
He took a couple of deep breaths and tried to clear his head. But it was no use. He’d taken in too much of her that evening.
Even as he left the building and sucked in the hot, dense air of the street, he was still breathing in the heady, spicy, untouched taste of Riana.
***
Riana realized, after she’d started down the street, that she had no idea where Jenson lived.
She was disoriented and shaky after leaving Mikel, and absolutely mortified as she remembered how she’d acted. She couldn’t understand why she’d been so weak and needy—clinging to him like some sort of silly girl. His strong, soothing presence had helped stem the worst of her panic, though, and she felt more composed now than she had when she’d run down the stairs to find him on the sidewalk.
She’d sort out her strange reactions and intense attraction to Mikel later on. Right now she had to worry about Jannie.
The only possibility she could imagine was that Jannie’s disappearance had something to do with her conversation with Jenson earlier that day. It was instinct, maybe, rather than pure reason—but the two must be related.
She had no idea why Jannie should have gotten caught in the crossfire, but Riana was sure that somehow she had.
Which meant she had to get to Jenson.
She stopped at an all-night drugstore and looked up his name in the Common Directory, relieved when she easily found his address. His apartment wasn’t too far away.
He’d better be home.
Riana ran, too fired up now to take it slower. Breathless and perspiring, she rang the buzzer of his building, about a mile toward the center of town.
He buzzed her in when she said her name. No doubt he’d be startled by her visit so late at night.
Riana didn’t care. She strode through the lobby and to the elevator, only one thing on her mind.
When she reached his apartment, she pounded on the door. He swung it open with a question in his expression. “Riana? What’s the matter?”
For some reason, his familiar, pleasant face broke her weakening patience. She launched herself at him, grabbing him by the shoulders and trying to shake him. “This is your fault! My sister is gone, and it’s your fault for dragging me into this.”
Jenson reached out for her instinctively, taking her upper arms in a firm grip. “Riana? What are you talking about?”
“She’s gone!” Her voice was somewhere between a sob and a shout, the temporary calm she’d gotten from Mikel dissipating as she started to think about the significance of Jannie’s disappearance. “They’ve taken her. If they hurt her, I’ll kill you. I mean it.”
“Riana, not so loud,” Jenson hissed, gently pushing her into the apartment and shutting the door with a good sense that infuriated Riana even more. “Tell me what happened.”
“I just told you. I told you I wanted nothing to do with it. I told you it was too dangerous. But you arrogant, pig-headed ass—you got me involved anyway.” She felt outraged and terrified and absolutely helpless. Having no other channel for her feelings, she tried to shake him again. “How could you?”
Jenson’s face had altered from confusion to intense focus. He grabbed her wrists and used his grip to hold her still. “Riana, stop! I know you’re upset, but I can’t do anything unless you explain what’s going on. Did something happen to your sister?”
Riana took a ragged breath. Then another. She managed to compose herself to tell the story to Jenson—of going home and finding an empty loft, of the clues that Jannie hadn’t left of her own accord.
Jenson’s lips tightened as she spoke. When she finished, she glared at him defiantly, silently challenging him to tell her she was overreacting.
Finally, he said, “I agree. This doesn’t sound good. But—”
“No but! She’s gone. It’s your fault so you better help me get her back.” Now that her outburst was over, Riana felt shaky again.
Not shaky and soothed as she had with Mikel. Right now she felt shaky, pitiful, and terrified.
“I will help you. However I can. But we need to figure out what really happened. Perhaps there’s a different explanation.” When she started to object, he continued, “I know what you believe. But we have no proof right now. And I don’t understand how anyone would be served by kidnapping your sister. We need more information.”
Something about his practical response was reassuring to Riana. She swallowed over the lump in her throat. “So you think she’s...she’s been kidnapped. She isn’t—”
He shook his head and reached out to put a warm hand on her cheek. Like Mikel but completely unlike him. “Honey, if they were going to kill her, you would have found her body.”
The endearment surprised her but didn’t concern her. He wasn’t acting remotely sexual, and, combined with his blunt honesty, it was more comforting than anything else.
“Okay,” Riana said, taking a step back, although her expression softened as she let go of some of her resentment. “But what can we do to find her?”
“We have some resources in the Front that might be helpful. We need to study the loft and see what kind of clues it provides.”
She was about to say she’d found all the clues, but he seemed to predict her response.
“Not all clues are visible. We have a Soul-Breather in the city who is loyal to us. She’ll be able to sense any residual undercurrents in the loft. I’ll call her and see if she can get over there tonight.”
“A Breather,” Riana gasped, “But—”
“I know what everyone thinks, but they aren’t evil and they’re not all on the Union payroll. They’re good and bad, like th
e rest of us.”
“But they’re dangerous, aren’t they?” Riana didn’t know much about Soul-Breathers—just the stories she’d heard as a child and the random gossip she occasionally picked up. She’d never thought much about them, so she was startled and confused about hearing of one involved in the Front.
“They can be. But I can be dangerous.” For just a moment, he looked dangerous—focused and powerful. An odd impression for such a scholarly man. Then he continued, more naturally, “So can you. Tava is good, and trustworthy, and she can help you find out about your sister.”
“Okay. Call her. I’ll appreciate any help I can get.”
Incongruously, Jenson’s mouth twitched. “That’s a promising shift from your trying to strangle me and blaming everything on me.”
Word and Breath (Wordless Chronicles) Page 7
