I felt the hum of energy tickling inside me, waiting for the rush of release. “Power is everything,” I said softly. Then I shook myself. “Come on.” I nodded back toward home goods. “I forgot to get curtains.”
CHAPTER 11
The snow had taken the past few days off, giving the sun a few teasing moments to show its colors. When Heather turned onto my driveway, the dirt road had turned to slush and mud. For once, I was grateful I wasn’t the one driving. We got to the tree line, and instantly my guard went up. People were in my house again. I touched the intruders’ minds as we pulled around to the back of the house. Jon, Thirteen, Chang, Shane…
I stopped breathing. Theo. His presence was like a beacon, drawing me in.
Tempering the urge to leap out of the car and find him immediately, I led the way to the front porch and held the door open for Heather and Cordele. “I’ll be there in a second,” I said and shut the door behind them as they took their bags inside. I placed my own bags on the cleared-off stoop and walked around to the side of the house. The smell of cloves hung thick in the air, making my body tingle. Standing a ways from the house, staring into the nearby woods, he’d put up the collar of his heavy navy peacoat. Dark hair fell in waves around his strong face. His long legs were covered in black jeans tucked into thick-soled Doc Martens. I took a steadying breath.
“I felt you coming,” he said softly as I approached. God, I loved his gravelly voice. “Before you even hit the driveway, I knew you were on your way here.” He blew out three perfect smoke rings. Show-off.
He glanced down at me with subtle surprise. “I can show you how to blow them. It’s not that hard.”
Every muscle I had instantly tightened. “I didn’t say anything.”
He scowled and looked back out over the woods. “It comes and goes. For months now. Ever since that day we”—made out, dry humped, almost went all the way—“got close, I’ve felt it. I can hear people’s thoughts. Not the way I can with you, but like listening in. It doesn’t happen all the time, but sometimes. And some days, I can bench-press ten times what I normally can. Or run a freaking five-minute mile.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I have all these fucked-up dreams about you, and when I wake up, I’m glowing. Glowing, Mag.” He turned his scowl on me. “What the hell did you do to me?”
I flinched. Everything came back to me in a rush. I’d been drawn to Theo from the first moment I’d laid eyes on him. No, before that—the first time I’d felt him enter the Thirsty Turtle. I couldn’t explain it. I was attracted to him—I mean, who wouldn’t be? But it was so much more than that. It was a pull, a need to be near him. He’d felt it too. And as frustrating and confusing and terrifying as it had been for me, it had been more so for him. Because the connection between us was real, a separate entity apart from either one of us. And when we were together, it grew.
I stared at my feet because I couldn’t look at him. “I’m sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen. I don’t know why…or how…”
His fingers were warm against my skin as he lifted my face. His eyes were soft. Melted chocolate. “I don’t blame you, Mag.”
“But you just said—you said, what the hell did I do to you? I didn’t mean to do anything to you.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Yes, you did.”
“I thought it, maybe for a second, but, Mag, I didn’t mean it. Not like that.”
I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. We’d had this conversation before. When all our walls had been down, when we’d been at our most intimate, I’d seen what he really thought of me. I was a monster. A Kelch. Evil. And he’d hated the feelings he’d had for me. I’d pushed it away and tried to convince myself that his errant thoughts didn’t really matter.
“But I couldn’t get into your head the other night,” I said, forcing myself back to the conversation. “Not even a little. It was like, you remember how when we were…you know…on the couch?” Heat flashed in his eyes; his gaze went to my mouth.
“Yeah, I remember.”
“Well.” I had to swallow twice. “That time it was like we shared the same thoughts—there were no barriers at all. I could see everything inside you.”
“And I saw everything inside you.” His gaze traveled over my face, soaking it in.
“The other night at Jon and Heather’s, it was the complete opposite. There was nothing but barriers. I couldn’t hear anything in your head at all. It was all a complete blank.”
His hand had been caressing my face. Now his fingers tightened in my hair. “This is what I’m talking about. One minute I have every power in the world. I can hear bugs in the dirt like they were bulldozers. I can lift a car over my head. Apparently I can also block your telepathy. Then the next minute, it’s gone.”
I turned my face into his palm automatically as his other hand skimmed along my sleeve. Like now that we’d made the contact, we couldn’t help ourselves. His frustration, humming in the air between us, slowly dissolved into something warmer.
I’ve missed you so much. Was that his thought or mine?
With a concentrated effort, I stepped back. We both gasped at the break of contact, but there was more to say and it needed to be said before we gave in to everything coming alive between us.
“It’s stronger now that you’re back,” he said, rubbing his sternum. He tried to hide the returning frustration in his voice but didn’t quite manage.
I steeled myself and made sure he saw my determination. “This connection isn’t the only thing that’s stronger now. I’ll figure this out, Theo. I promise. And once I do, if you want to be free of me, you will be. Forever.”
His eyes widened. “No, Mag, that’s not what I want. I mean, I want to understand this connection between us, and this power that’s inside me now, but I don’t want to lose you. Not again.”
He took my hand and stepped in close. A heat stirred low inside me.
“I have so much control now,” I said breathlessly. “I can handle all of my powers, even the new ones. But this—”
“This isn’t a power that is yours alone,” he said softly. “This is our power. The things I can do now—yeah, it was easier blaming you while you were gone, convincing myself that you had done something to me. But this power didn’t exist until we got close.”
The heat inside me swelled. “No, it didn’t. I’ve never felt anything else like it.”
“So it’s the two of us, then.”
I reached up and slid a hand inside his coat, resting my palm on his chest. He pulled me closer so that our bodies touched. His scent filled me as everything around us brightened. The snow, the dark woods, the gray sky—the landscape glowed with a subtle golden light, brightening more and more as Theo leaned down.
Our power, his thoughts breathed. Together.
Our noses brushed. I held my breath. He sighed into my open mouth just before his lips—
Thirteen cleared his throat. I jumped and spun toward the back of the house. They were all standing there: Thirteen, Jon, Heather, Shane, Chang, Cordele—hell, even Charles and Marie had shown up. My whole freaking team had just snuck up on us, and I hadn’t even felt them there. Talk about ruining the moment. And what if they had been an enemy? I’d been so distracted by the feel of Theo, I’d been completely oblivious to the rest of the world around me. Definitely not good.
“It’s time to get this meeting started,” Thirteen said, his eyes boring into Theo. I glanced over my shoulder to see Theo tap another clove from his pack, light it. He matched Thirteen’s glare with his own.
“No problem,” Theo said. “We were just coming in.” Then he placed his hand on the small of my back and guided me toward the house. Thirteen’s mental walls were up, but I’d seen enough rage in my life to recognize the feel of it. Something was happening between the two of them. Before I could say anything, though, Thirteen turned on his heel and led the group of silent eavesdroppers back into the house.
Oh yeah, this meeting was going to be prod
uctive. With everyone focused on Theo’s and my little exchange, they would have no problems sticking to the agenda. No problem at all.
CHAPTER 12
“Break out the formal wear, folks. We’re going to a party.”
Chang’s hair was green today, and as he rubbed his hands together, he looked like some greedy little leprechaun. I handed Thirteen a tall glass of orange juice and sat cross-legged on one of the ottomans. Theo took a seat beside Cordele on the sofa behind me, his legs brushing my back. He had started out on the couch by the window, just like I’d started out on the chair by the kitchen. But the pull was just too strong now. After a few minutes of awkward shifting, we exchanged a glance and just gave in. Tension filled the room no matter where we sat anyway.
“OK,” Chang started. “So basically the senator’s computer tells us nothing. He has a flat system that’s hardly protected at all. The government blocks are a joke. He has a little more protection than most Washington guys, but still, getting the deets on the guy’s itinerary was like total cream. Little bro Magnus, on the other hand, has a killer system stacked with the latest and greatest in techno security. We’re talking ghosted transmissions, layered encryptions that Stephen Hawking would piss himself over, and fail-safes—oh, baby, this is a freaking bomb ready to blow. It’s a thing of beauty. It truly is.”
I held back a chuckle as he took a moment out of respect for the system. I wished I could have figured out earlier how to control my supernatural sex appeal. It would have been cool to hang out with a noncomatose Chang before now.
He cleared his throat. “So anyway, genius tech that I am, I was able to narrow down the system that’s housing the details to Magnus and the senator’s mysterious trips overseas. I’ve got fifteen dates where everything in the system goes on lockdown. I can’t even get a freaking time stamp on the log-in. Since these dates coincide with what you guys got from Bennett’s travel logs as well as with the senator’s itinerary, I figure Magnus’s system is the key to our meeting details.”
“That’s good,” Jon said, leaning forward. “What’s it going to take to get through the security and into the data?”
“That’s the thing,” Chang said. “The data system is housed in Magnus’s personal computer. I need to be in front of the actual PC to get anything out of it. I can get the info—no worries about that. I mean, it’s going to be tricky.” He rubbed his hands together again, an eager glint lighting up his eyes. “But oh, baby, I’ll totally get through.”
Charles rolled his eyes. “So bottom line, you have to be sitting in front of the actual PC—Magnus Kelch’s personal computer—to get at the data. And you expect that to happen how?”
“With these.” Cordele tossed a heavy envelope on the empty ottoman in front of Charles. As he lifted the thick vellum, I saw in Cordele’s mind what the envelope contained. My stomach sank. Theo shifted in his seat behind me. Heather moved forward beside Jon, her eyes worried.
Charles pulled out the invitation, and Marie read it over his shoulder. “The esteemed board of directors, along with Chief Executive Officer Magnus Kelch, invite you and a guest to the Twenty-Fifth Annual Kelch Incorporated Winter Gala.” She turned the envelope upside down and poured out the remaining contents. “There’re five invitations here.”
“The Winter Gala is the big annual party where all the Kelch Inc. executives pat each other on the back for all the good they’re doing in the world,” Shane explained, narrowing his eyes on me. “They give speeches about their drug research and medical breakthroughs, about what new and improved detergent they’ve come up with to revolutionize the way we clean our houses. Of course, no one bothers to mention the gunrunners and drug lords that also make up a large portion of the annual report’s bottom line.” He looked away from me as if I were the one killing people all over the world. Whatever.
“In the past, the Winter Gala has been held at the estate,” Cordele explained. “This year, because of the big quarter-century thing, they’re holding it at the new addition of the Kelch Inc. compound up on the north side. It’s supposed to serve as both a holiday celebration and the official kickoff for the new call center opening right after the New Year.”
I focused completely on Cordele and her thoughts, not letting a single memory of my own slip to the surface. She concentrated on the decorative details of the invitation in her hand, as if she didn’t want her own thoughts straying too far either.
“And wouldn’t you know it,” Chang said, all sly smiles, “Magnus has taken a personal interest in the new center, temporarily moving his offices on-site.”
“So this is what we were thinking,” Cordele began; then she laid out a tentative scheme for infiltrating the gala. For the next hour or so, people went back and forth on the details: who should go inside, ways to slip into the private office suites, exit strategies once Chang got the info he needed. They probably said a whole bunch more, but I couldn’t pay attention any longer. I closed my eyes. My skin had gone icy cold. When I brought my whiskey to my mouth, my hand trembled.
I was going undercover to the party. To one of my father’s parties. A couple of people still argued my involvement at that level, but Jon’s and Thirteen’s minds were set. Father would feel a supernatural presence when I arrived, but the family didn’t know I was alive. No one would suspect that the power they sensed was from me. The team would use it as a distraction, build it into their plan. They were infiltrating Father’s personal space in a way never attempted before. It was simply too important not to have their most powerful resource on-site.
God, I wanted to throw up.
“I’m still looking for Bohlren,” I said, surprising Jon. My eyes stayed closed as I fought back the cruel memories just waiting to roll over me. That didn’t mean I wasn’t paying attention, though. Well, kind of paying attention.
“Oh, you mean you’re actually listening and not dozing off over there. You know we’re laying out the details for a plan to gain access to your father’s offices here. You’re role is going to be key. It would be nice if you were a little more engaged.”
I opened my eyes and glared at him. “I’ve never been to his offices. I have no idea what to expect from his security. Until last year the only place I’d ever been was my family’s estate—or have you forgotten that? I’ll find out where in the world Bohlren is, and I’ll get you and whoever you assign to go with you through the gala’s security. And I’ll make sure everyone on the team gets out of there in one piece, even if that means killing every other person there. Is that what you want to hear? Is that engaged enough for you?”
He ground his teeth. Jon wanted to trust me; he really did. But looking at me right now, all he saw was his best friend and the pain I had caused him by leaving last summer. Images of Theo’s frustration and confusion pounded into my head. Add that to the terror and dread swirling in my gut at being near my father again, and I basically felt like an energy bomb waiting to go off. I needed another drink.
“Fine,” Jon said finally. “The gala’s less than two weeks away. We need facility blueprints, established network lines, and a solid bead on their security. Charles, Chang, Shane—that’s you. Heather, Marie—we need guest lists, agenda, anything and everything on what’s going to happen at that party. Cordele, Magnolia—stay on the research. The more we know about those trips overseas beforehand, the better.” He paused and looked to Thirteen.
The big man was leaning back in a comfy chair by the fireplace, still nursing the glass of OJ I’d given him an hour before. He hadn’t said a word the entire meeting. Now his voice was soft. “Jon, Theo, Shane, Cordele, and Magnolia will join Chang at the gala. Charles, Marie, and Heather will set up a contact base within a hundred yards of the new call center. You will need to determine the best location for the base and request any necessary surveillance equipment within the next twenty-four hours.” He pushed to his feet and continued speaking as he walked into the kitchen. “You will meet again next Thursday evening to lay out the information gathered a
nd finalize your plans. The gala will be held the following Saturday, so you will have plenty of time to fill in any missing pieces and request any additional equipment you feel you may need.” He rinsed out his glass, placed it in the sink, and stood framed by the wide entrance that separated the kitchen from the living room. “Your designated identities will be delivered during your Thursday meeting. I will take care of establishing your covers.”
“We each have established covers already—” Jon started, but Thirteen cut him off with a wave.
“New covers will be created for this event. Your portfolios will be delivered Thursday. I expect a copy of your objective, agenda, and designation by oh-seven-hundred. Magnolia, may I speak with you a moment?” Then he turned and walked down the hallway from the kitchen and out the back door.
I pushed myself up and followed with heavy feet. Either we were going to talk about the implications of my attending a party thrown by my father, or he was going to reprimand me for doing something wrong. Either way, I grabbed the bottle of Beam as I made my way through the kitchen.
CHAPTER 13
Thirteen stood on one of the wide stepping-stones that trailed from the back of the farmhouse around to the front porch. He looked at me as I came down the rear cement steps, his expression unreadable. I wrapped my arms around myself.
“I’m closing in on locating Bohlren,” I lied, stepping into the yard. “I’m pretty sure it’s south of Ukraine. I just need to pin it down.”
His expression didn’t change. OK, maybe my lack of progress wasn’t the reason for this little convo like I’d hoped. I peeked in his thoughts for a clue but came up blank. His mental walls were solid today, and I wasn’t going to hurt him just to find out what his deal was.
“I’ll be fine going to the gala, Thirteen,” I said, trying again. “I’ve been to enough of Father’s parties to know what to expect.” My whole body trembled in a violent shiver before I could stop myself. I just ignored it. “And I’m totally listening to Jon—I really was paying attention in there. When he takes over the team for good, I’ll listen to him as well as I listen to you.”
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