She pictured his body riddled with bullet holes, watched his skin separate and bleed as knives ripped through his flesh, imagined his lungs burning from lack of oxygen as the life was strangled from him. His grasp began to loosen as his mind snapped, little by little. Rennie sent out every conceivable method of death she could think of, crowning it with images of a coffin being lowered into the ground. Dirt was tossed on top and the darkness from inside the coffin was complete.
Dalton was more terrified of the coffin than anything else she had thrown his way and that angered him. Too late, Rennie realized the danger she had put herself in when his fear turned to fury. Outraged by what she was doing to him, Dalton’s control gradually grew in strength as they continued to fight for dominance. She struggled to separate herself from the madness that was consuming him, but she had worked too hard to form a solid connection and couldn’t break free. Without Mac to call her back, Rennie was lost.
She had to do something before it was too late. Dalton was quickly losing his grasp on reality and he was taking her with him.
Mac. She pictured his face, his smile, the color of his eyes. In her mind, she reached out to touch him, filled her heart with his love, breathed in his scent. Slowly, the link with Dalton began to fade and a new one was formed with Mac.
Rennie had never purposely connected with more than one person before, and now she fought to let go of one while holding on to the other. For several minutes she was caught between the two men in a strange mental tug of war, until at last Mac must have realized what she was doing.
The break was so sudden she was caught off guard and simply sat there in a mindless stupor. Dalton was gone, crowded out by Mac’s love and determination to protect her. Warmth began to seep back into her limbs, and for a few brief moments she truly believed it was over.
Rennie rose wearily from the chair and started to move towards the window, her steps faltering as an icy shiver raced up her spine. Something was wrong, terribly wrong. She could feel Mac’s fear and it hit her as hard and sharp as a blow to the stomach. Her own fear intertwined with his, nearly incapacitating her. What was happening over there? Had Dalton somehow managed to corner Mac?
She stumbled to the window just as Ryan and Michael came barreling out of the apartment building across the street. Oh God, where was Mac? Panic erupted inside of her; a violent, ravenous monster that sucked the air from her lungs. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.
Run.
Rennie staggered backwards. Run? Was Mac telling himself to run or her?
“I knew you weren’t dead.”
Rennie whirled around, a strangled cry catching in her throat. She would have known him even if she hadn’t seen his picture. He stood in the doorway, his lips curled back as if the mere sight of her infuriated him. His eyes were wild, crazed, and he was clutching a gun, aiming it unsteadily in her direction.
“Dalton,” she choked.
He took a few steps towards her. “Make them go away,” he ordered. When she shook her head in confusion, his fury escalated. “You did this,” he snarled accusingly. “You put these thoughts in my head and now I want you to make them go away!”
Rennie tried to back away from him, but there was no place to go. “I’m not linked with you anymore. Whatever thoughts you’re having are your own.”
“You’re lying,” he shouted. “Do it!” Dalton raised his arm, leveling the gun at her face. “Make them stop or I swear to God I’m going to blow your head off.”
He’d lost his mind, that was clear, and nothing she could say or do now would make any difference. She couldn’t feel Mac any longer and knew if he had been able to save her, he would have been here by now. The only way Dalton could have gotten to her was if Mac was hurt…or worse. Rennie lifted her eyes to meet his, her heart cold as ice. She didn’t care what happened to her anymore. Dalton had somehow managed to get to Mac and she was going to make damn sure he paid for it.
“It won’t stop,” she said evenly. “Even if you kill me, I’ll come back. Would you like that,” Rennie taunted, “would you like me to send visions of worms eating your flesh as it rots in the ground?” She turned her back to him and stared out the window. “Go ahead, shoot me. It will only give me greater power to make your life miserable.”
“You bitch! You think I’m afraid of you?”
Rennie squeezed her eyes shut and thought of Mac. Without him, she had nothing to live for anyway. She ignored Dalton’s ranting and threw all her energy into conjuring up images of all the horrible deaths she’d experienced. She heard him gasp for breath when she envisioned holding his head under water, and from there she made certain he knew death up close and personal.
Behind her, Dalton was screaming, pleading, and ultimately threatening, but Rennie was relentless and held onto the link tenaciously. She knew she was pushing him to the edge of sanity, just as she knew the precise moment he finally snapped. There was only one way out of this for both of them and she braced herself for the end.
The first bullet caught her square in the back, the pain ripping through her with such force she was propelled forward into the window. She grabbed at the window sill just as the second bullet lodged itself in her kidney. Rennie’s knees buckled beneath her and she dropped to floor, surprised to find that Dalton’s fear and pain seemed greater than her own.
Darkness swirled around him, carrying Rennie with him, but she didn’t fight it. If he was trying to frighten her, he was failing miserably because she was beyond fear, beyond feeling. Her only regret was that she wouldn’t be able to see Mac one last time before it was over.
***
It hadn’t taken more than a few minutes to get the apartment manager to come to the door and tell them which apartments on the fourth floor were vacant. There was one near the south corner and one almost directly across from the apartment they’d left Rennie in. Mac and Ryan took the stairs while Michael rode the elevator up, but Dalton hadn’t tried to take either of those escape routes. It seemed odd that they hadn’t been spotted running across the street since they knew Dalton was watching, but he had either left his position at the window and not seen them or decided to remain where he was and make a stand from there.
They converged outside the apartment door where Mac gave it a few solid raps and identified himself as a police officer before ordering Dalton to open the door. It was then that he felt Rennie, just as he had the night they linked. It began as a small tingling sensation in his fingertips and it startled him because he couldn’t fathom why she would try to connect with him now. He tried to remain focused as he pounded on the door and demanded once again that Dalton open up. When there was no response, Mac decided he’d had enough and kicked the door in.
All three men entered the apartment with their weapons drawn, but it didn’t take more than a few seconds to determine Dalton was gone. Mac crossed to the window, his worst nightmares materializing when he saw how clear the view was from here. That’s when he spotted Rennie sitting in the armchair, her body pitching forward and then falling back as if she was trying to break free from invisible bonds.
He realized then why Rennie had been trying to link with him; she needed him to pull her back from whatever hellish place Dalton was dragging her to. Mac closed his eyes, focusing solely on his feelings for her. He didn’t speak out loud, but in his mind, in his heart, he spoke to her. He envisioned holding Rennie in his arms, protecting her, loving her. Desperation enveloped him as the battle continued; just when he felt she was safe, the tide would turn and she slipped away from him again.
It finally dawned on Mac that it wasn’t the strength of his love for Rennie that would save her, but the power of their love for each other. Just as he’d done the night they linked, Mac opened his mind and heart and let her in. The tenuous link between them instantly grew stronger, the struggle to hold on to her vanishing seconds later. The relief that washed over him quickly dissipated when Ryan gripped his shoulder.
“Mac, we think he went down the
fire escape. There’s an exit at the end of the hall.”
Fear struck at his heart. “Rennie…” Mac bolted past Ryan. “I’ll take the fire escape, you two go out the front.”
There were very few things in this world that frightened Mac, but the thought of Dalton reaching Rennie before he did squeezed the air from his lungs. Knowing his fear would only heighten hers, Mac threw up an emotional barrier that would keep her from knowing what he was feeling. He reached the fire escape in a matter of seconds and all but slid down the rails in his haste to make it to the bottom.
Mac hit the ground running, somehow managing to get there ahead of Ryan and Michael. He didn’t stop to wait for his partners, taking the stairs up to the third floor and slowing only as he approached the apartment door.
Dalton hadn’t bothered to close it all the way, presumably to avoid making noise and alerting Rennie to his presence. It hadn’t occurred to any of them that he might have a spare key and could easily get in, but it was too late to do anything about that now. The important thing was to get to Dalton before he hurt Rennie.
Mac could hear the man raving like a lunatic and felt the heaviness lift from his chest when Rennie responded. Ryan and Michael came up behind him just as he was slipping through the doorway and silently followed him inside. They inched their way down the hall towards the bedroom, stopping just outside the open doorway.
He’d held himself together fairly well up to that point, confident it would all be over in a matter of minutes, but when he heard Rennie tell Dalton to go ahead and shoot her, he nearly came unglued. He motioned for Ryan to go low with Michael as back up while Mac went high. Then he held up three fingers and counted down.
It only took a fraction of a second for them to realize Dalton’s gun was aimed at Rennie’s head, and even less time to decide the killer’s fate. Mac’s bullet hit Dalton in the middle of the back, shattering his spinal cord; a shot from Ryan, fired simultaneously, nailed him several inches lower.
For one horrifying moment Mac thought Rennie had been shot too as he watched her body pitch forward and then crumble to the ground. He approached Dalton cautiously, pausing just long enough to kick the gun away from his hand before holstering his own weapon and hurrying to Rennie’s side.
She lay facing the wall, her eyes wide and unblinking, but thankfully he didn’t see any blood. The fact that she had fallen at the exact same time as Dalton could only mean she was linked with him when he’d been shot.
What would happen if Dalton died while they were still connected? Mac’s jaw flexed. He’d be damned if he was going to find out. He lifted Rennie off the floor and carried her out of the room, cradling her to his chest.
“Let him go,” he told her. “Listen to me, honey. Dalton has been shot, he’s dying. You have to let go now.”
Rennie blinked. “Mac?”
A soft smile curved his lips. “You’re safe now, sweetheart. It’s over.
“Is he…”
“He won’t hurt you or anyone else ever again.”
Rennie let her head drop onto his shoulder. “I thought he killed you. I felt this overwhelming fear and then I couldn’t feel you at all.”
“It’s over and done now. All I want to do is take you home and kiss you until my insides stop shaking.”
She tipped her head back, her heart so full of love for him she thought she would burst. “I want to marry you, Mac Logan, and I don’t want to wait.”
Mac grinned. “As luck would have it, I just happen to be free this weekend. Is that soon enough for you?”
“I guess I can wait,” she told him.
After all, she’d waited a lifetime for a man like Mac to come along; she thought maybe she could handle a few more days. Of course, she saw no reason why they shouldn’t get a head start on the honeymoon. Mac wholeheartedly agreed.
EPILOGUE
“Daddy’s almost home!”
Rennie turned the burner down on the stove and went to freshen up while her nine year old daughter raced out of the kitchen to wait by the window. So far, neither of the boys had shown any signs of inheriting her psychic ability, but their daughter, Lacie, had exhibited facets of it that even Rennie didn’t possess. She seemed especially in tune with Mac, who thought the sun rose and fell on his baby girl, and Lacie always knew when he was within five or ten minutes of the house.
Lacie was also extremely sensitive to intense emotions; anger, anxiety, disappointment, but she was just as sensitive to happiness and when someone was trying to keep a secret. She found that last talent extremely handy when she wanted to hold something over her brothers’ heads. Lacie’s psychic ability seemed limited to the family, which extended to Mac’s parents and siblings, but Rennie thought in time it would develop as hers had.
It bothered her at first, fearing Lacie would suffer the same type of ridicule and solitary life she had experienced. But after Mac pointed out their daughter would never have to worry about her parents abandoning her and that she had Rennie to help her understand and control it, the anxiety she’d felt was eventually dispelled. Lacie took it all in stride. She was headstrong and fearless like her father and would probably never have the self doubts that Rennie had suffered from.
The sound of feet stampeding down the stairs told her Mac had made it home. There was always a mad rush of activity when he walked through the door, swamped as he was by their two rambunctious boys, McKinley and Chase, who insisted on telling Mac every detail of the day before he’d even cleared the foyer. Once they’d stopped bouncing around, Lacie would demand his attention for a few minutes before Rennie finally got her turn.
She finished brushing out her hair and hurried down the stairs, trying not to look as if she wanted to throw herself in his arms as the children had done. The boys had already wandered off to the living room to watch television but Lacie was still prattling on about her day. Rennie waited patiently until Mac gave his daughter a big hug and told her he would save some time for her after dinner.
As always, the sight of her husband took her breath away. Thirteen years of marriage hadn’t dimmed her love for him, nor his for her. His kisses still sent a wild fluttering of butterfly wings loose in her stomach and made her heart race. Rennie was even more in love with him now than she had been the weekend they’d run off to get married.
Mac gathered her in his arms, kissing her for quite some time before letting her loose and following her back to the kitchen.
“Mom called today,” he told her as she resumed fixing dinner. “She said they want the kids this weekend.”
“They’ll have a house full then. I talked to Jess yesterday and she said she and Grant were dropping off their kids and going sailing with Ben and Grace.”
Mac’s family was extremely close and his parents adored their grandchildren so it wasn’t unusual for them to take the kids for the weekend at least once a month.
“Did Jess ask if we wanted to go with them?”
Rennie kept her back to him so he wouldn’t see the sly smile on her face. “Yes, but I told her we already had plans.”
He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He didn’t have to ask what those plans were; they’d been talking about it for the past few months.
“So you’ve finally decided to give me another daughter?”
Rennie laughed. “I can’t guarantee another girl, but you seem to be pretty adept at getting what you want.”
Mac’s hand moved to her belly. “By this time next week, you’ll be carrying my baby. What do you think about the name Alice?”
Rennie smiled, remembering how Mac had proposed as they rode the giant tea cup. “Alice Logan. I like it.”
He turned her in his arms, suggestively pressing his hips into hers. “Maybe we should put in some extra practice before the weekend rolls around.”
Her lips parted in anticipation of the amorous kiss she knew was coming and her insides turned to liquid goo as they always did when Mac kissed her. They had a solid marriage and their pa
ssion for each other was just as strong now as it had ever been. He had only to look at her in a certain way or run his hand down her back and she went weak in the knees. She’d once thought he would get tired of taking care of her every time she had one of her episodes but, as it turned out, that last linking with Dalton had turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Maybe it was because she had taken her powers too far that day, or maybe it was simply because her life had been so full once she married Mac and started having children. Whatever it was, the voices and visions that once haunted her on a daily basis hardly came at all anymore. There was a time when Rennie believed she was destined to relive other people’s pain and sorrow, that she would simply have to accept the lonely and secluded existence she’d grown used to.
Then Mac had come along and changed all that. He’d given her love and light and laughter. He’d given her three beautiful children and a reason to wake up each morning. But he’d also made her realize she had something to give too. She was brimming with love and there was no longer any room in her life for shadows.
The only voices Rennie heard now came from the soft whispers of love that passed from Mac’s heart to hers.
WHISPERS TO THE HEART Page 16
