"You"re so like your mother, Erin. Ever the lady," Colton said, moving out of the shadows. "It was playacting. All to pique your curiosity, this time around, at least. I had intended to take her, but your dumbf.u.c.k father killed her."
"And for that I will thank him every day for the rest of my life," Erin said with heartfelt sincerity. That heartbreaking accident that had taken her mama and daddy had been a gift, and she had just now realized it. "And if I die today, or tomorrow, or the next day, my first stop is going to be to thank G.o.d for the car crash, for keeping her from you. I"ve always known things happen for a reason, and this is the reason she died when she did, to be kept away from something as awful as you."
"She should have been mine," Colton hissed, moving closer, his small eyes ugly, angry and enraged. "Your s...o...b..ring, blue-collar father didn"t deserve her. She was a Vincent, one of the blue bloods. Her family is as old as mine and-"
"And her first dog was better looking than you?" Erin supplied helpfully.
She saw the confusion in his eyes, then the rage. She watched as he raised his hand and then she closed her eyes and willed herself not to feel it. She wasn"t going to fight him yet. He had loved it when they fought back, and she wasn"t going to give that to him yet. She blanked her mind and then she felt Seth reaching for her.
And she had to block him as well when the first blow fell open-handed across her face.
Seth felt her cut him off and he wanted to howl.
He sped down the gravel road, following her. It felt as though there was a thread drawing him closer and closer, and the closer he got, the tighter the thread became.
"Erin," he growled, reaching for her. "Erin, d.a.m.n it, let me in."
"No. Not now. You"re close, I can feel it. I"ll be okay until then."
And then she was gone again.
She opened her eyes, licked the blood away from her mouth and glared up at Colton. Then she narrowed her eyes as he started to jerk his clothes open and away. "Big mistake, Chief. As long I didn"t figure you were ready to start with the rape, I could handle the beating," she drawled, focusing her mind.
He had just turned his small pig-like eyes back to her, opening his mouth to hiss at her again when she struck. His scream bounced off the walls, echoing as she struck again.
He drew his knife, one hand held to his head, hardly able to see beyond the pain. The knife was flashing down, just like she had seen. She felt it slash her thigh and she lashed out again with her mind, harder and stronger. In his rage, he was able to strike back, even though she ripped something open inside his brain, causing him to bleed.
This time he moved higher and had better aim, striking her belly, cutting her shallowly, but enough to make her bleed. If Seth didn"t get here soon-she pushed the thought aside, shoved the pain aside, and struck out. The knife was descending and she didn"t even realize how different this was from her visions. The rape hadn"t happened, she knew help was coming.
The door banged open, a howl filled the air, and Erin felt the terror leave her and she sagged back against the floor. She decided then it was fairly safe to pa.s.s out, and she conceded to the beckoning black waves with grat.i.tude. She"d be sorry later-she hadn"t lost that much blood. But enough that the fear made oblivion seem fairly sweet.
Seth took Colton to the ground, snapping his arm. Blood was pouring from his eyes, ears, nose and even his mouth. Ma.s.sive brain hemorrhage, Seth was figuring, but the fury and insanity there were masking the pain. Seth"s own insanity more than made them an even pair though, as Seth held him down and Colton fought to get back to killing Erin.
"That"s my woman you marked," he breathed into Colton"s ear, drawing his gun, pressing the cold metal to Colton"s neck. One arm broken, the other shoved high and twisted behind his back, he could only fight so hard, and the injury inside his head was slowly killing him. "My woman you tried to kill. I"d see you dead for it, but she"s already started the job. It"d be my pleasure to stay and watch it finished, but I"ve a need to see her to the hospital now."
"Mine..." Colton hissed.
"Mine," Seth said. "Know why she was just now available for you to grab? Were you able to hear inside her apartment? No? I"ve been with her, every night, loving that long sweet, body."
"Mine..." the voice was weaker. But he glared at Seth with furious, hate-filled eyes as Seth got up and stood over him, his lip curled in disgust as Colton tried to climb to his feet. But he was already too weak. Too unfocused.
Slowly, he backed away and went to Erin. The heavily padlocked leather cuffs held her chained like something less than an animal. The bleeding mess of a man lying on the floor, breathing in shallow pants, hadn"t paid enough. But Erin bled as well, from numerous thin slices that marred her pale, lovely body.
Her eyes remained closed as he checked frantically for a pulse. It pounded steadily, and her skin was warm and smooth, her chest moving steadily up and down.
A harsh gurgling noise came from Colton"s mouth as Seth pulled his lock picks from his pocket. Sliding him a glance, Seth started working the locks. "She"ll die with...me. I made...sure of...it," Colton hissed.
"No, you didn"t," Seth said flatly. "She was smarter than you. Instead of getting p.i.s.sed and losing her cool like you did, she fought. You f.u.c.king coward. Tied down and helpless and she could still fight braver than you could. They are waiting for you in h.e.l.l."
Colton started to laugh as Seth freed the second wrist. "I"m taking her with me," he insisted, rolling onto his side and lifting his gun.
A shot filled the room before Seth could even drop the lock pick. Flinging his body across Erin"s, he waited for the pain that would fill him, but it never came.
"Sorry b.a.s.t.a.r.d. They"ll lock the gate behind that one in h.e.l.l, that"s for sure," a wry, tired voice muttered.
Slowly, Seth lifted his eyes and met Eddie"s across the room.
"You know, it"s a funny thing being a partner. You"re actually expected to notify your partner when you are in need of backup. But you young punks probably have a hard time remembering that," Eddie said, smirking a bit as he pulled his jacket off and offered it to Seth.
"I"ll...ah...I"ll remember that."
"Good luck, Eddie. His head is harder than a rock," a soft, m.u.f.fled voice murmured.
Slowly, he rose and stared down into dazed, gla.s.sy eyes. "Erin," he rasped, tossing the jacket over her before he caught her under the arms and lifted her up, gently cradling her against him.
"Careful there, bud. She"s still pinned at the legs," Eddie murmured. "But you just hold tight. I think she needs that right now."
"Yeah," she whispered. "Hold tight-I do need it."
"I need it, too." Seth pressed his cheek against her hair and rocked her gently as the sound of sirens in the distance grew louder.
Epilogue.
CHIEF OF POLICE GUILTY OF MURDER?.
DEAD BY MYSTERIOUS Ma.s.sIVE BRAIN HEMORRHAGE.
Erin glanced up from her hospital bed where she was reading the newspaper headlines to look at Seth. "Do I really have to read this?"
He shrugged. "I wasn"t sure if you wanted to or not," he said. "Did you notice the date?" he asked.
She lifted a blonde brow. "I do know my own birthday," she said with a smile.
"Good." The door opened and a nurse wheeled in a cake, balloons and flowers. After she had left, Seth lowered himself to the chair and stared at her over the back. "We"re having a party, a big one, after you come home and are feeling up to it. But I wanted this quiet. Because I wanted to give you this."
She stared at the dark blue jeweler"s box with misty eyes, hardly able to breathe as he opened it. When he slid the ring on her hand, he said, "You told me you"d say yes, so do I have to ask, or can we just set a date?"
She laughed through the tears and said, "How does now sound?"
THE EMPATH"S LOVER.
Chapter One.
Jordan slammed the phone down. Her back hurt, her arches ached, her head was pounding, and her suitcases were on their way to Toledo.
This was not the way she had intended to start her vacation. She had actually wrapped up her trip to Williamsburg a week early, and had returned to Indianapolis on an evening flight without calling Lee, but if she had known the f.u.c.king problems she would have...
She sighed and shoved her hair out of her eyes. The choppy black bangs fell right back into her eyes again and she suppressed the urge to scream with rage. It was a bad hair day, on top of everything else.
She punched another number into the phone. She could probably get hold of Kaitlyn, her a.s.sistant manager. But nooo...
Kaitlyn wasn"t answering her home phone or the pager after thirty minutes. Jordan was about to call for a cab, reaching into her purse to find a credit card. She had no ready cash on hand, but plastic worked. A card fell out of her wallet and fluttered to the nubby teal carpet and she knelt, picking it up, rubbing her thumb over the print.
Angelo Investigations, Inc.
She knew the number by heart.
Angelo was Lee"s twin brother. He was going to be Lee"s best man at their wedding in eight weeks. They talked on occasion, ran into each other rarely. No reason to know the number by heart.
But she did.
Jordan didn"t really like Angelo. It was short for Michelangelo, of all things. And Lee was short, yep, for Leonardo. Neither of the men would acknowledge what their mom was thinking when she named them.
Angelo was too...there. Everything about him was too alive-his eyes, his voice, his hands, the way he talked and moved.
The way he made her feel. He looked at her and she felt like she had touched a live wire.
It was odd-he and Lee were identical twins. But only Angelo made her feel like that. He was just too much.
Yeah, too much.
She sc.r.a.ped her blood-red thumbnail over the embossed number and whispered, "The h.e.l.l with it. I"m tired."
She dialed the number and insisted it was not s.e.xual heat she felt when he answered the phone moments later with a gruff, "Angelo."
Angelo rolled onto his back and laid the phone in the cradle, lying there briefly and pondering the phone call before jackknifing out of bed.
Hot d.a.m.n.
Jordan Sears. His brother"s pretty little faerie, with her big green eyes and spiky black hair...he should feel guilty over how excited just hearing her voice made him. And a few weeks ago he would have-h.e.l.l, he had. He had avoided his favorite bookstore, which she owned, so he wouldn"t run into her. He avoided his brother outside of work so he wouldn"t see her.
But now-hot d.a.m.n.
He didn"t know why he didn"t do so now, but Angelo had learned long ago not to question his instincts. He made his living off them.
He jerked his jeans over his naked hips, thankful he had at least managed to get some clothes clean before falling into a stupor early this morning. He had spent the last week tracking a kid whose dad had decided to skip town with him. If the dad hadn"t been sliding the boy downers to keep him quiet and malleable, it wouldn"t have taken so long. But the boy"s emotions were repressed, abnormal, and it had taken a little longer than Angelo had expected.
Now they just had to get the drugs out of his system. He was sleeping it off in the hospital, and his b.a.s.t.a.r.d of a father was in the downtown jail. Probably wouldn"t stay, he thought, as he jerked a T-shirt on and jammed his feet into boots.
Angelo was a touch empath.
He could touch an object a person had held and know their fears, their thoughts, their needs. He could hold something of personal value and use it to lock in on that person, eventually. It made his job easier and harder, trying to explain to the cops how he had just followed a lead...
He was out the door in five minutes. And he didn"t bother with the car, even though Jordan was bound to have luggage. He threw one long jeans-clad leg over the Harley, made sure he had the extra helmet. There was always an extra jacket stowed. A few minutes later he was on I-65 and heading towards Indianapolis International, a hot grin on his face.
He didn"t know where in the f.u.c.k Lee was.
And he didn"t care.
He was going to see Jordan.
He would get to touch her.
She belonged to his brother, she would be marrying his brother, and Angelo respected that. h.e.l.l, he was probably going to have to leave town just to keep his distance. She didn"t like him, and that made it easier, but d.a.m.n it...he wanted her so bad.
He had started falling just a little in love with her from the first, when she had slid out of the car while Lee continued to sit inside, talking business on his cell phone, yakking away while his pretty little faerie stared at Angelo with wide, nervous eyes. Her first thought of Angelo was one that wouldn"t ever leave him...I"d never mistake him for Lee...
Of course, it had felt like an insult.
But Angelo knew too many things about Lee. Broken dinner dates, late business meetings that really weren"t that important-Lee didn"t seem to realize what a prize he had in Jordan.
He took the turnoff for the airport and felt his body tighten in antic.i.p.ation. The bike"s engine sounded twice as loud under the sheltering overhang provided for the people waiting for their rides.
The thriving ma.s.ses, so many different moods.
Anger, frustration, happiness, sadness, loneliness-the airport was a living, breathing thing to Angelo"s senses. His shields fell into place almost automatically, and he hated that he had to keep them in place as he saw Jordan pacing the sidewalk. He wanted to know what she was thinking, feeling, dreaming.
She had said curtly, "I"ll wait out front. Thanks, Angelo."
He slowed the bike to a stop as he caught sight of her and pulled his helmet off, waiting until she looked his way.