The team all saw something was off with Greer. They ribbed him for it. And then, at last, Greer took the action Bastion had wanted him to hours earlier: he locked the house down. Everyone headed downstairs to have a meeting about Greer’s concerns—except Selena. She was left to guard the civilians.
Bastion slipped outside through the kitchen doors, which he locked again behind him. As he walked down the long patio that ran the length of the house, he saw Selena close the curtains in the dining room. He paused outside one of the sets of French doors in the big living room. She closed those curtains as well.
His heart beat fast. Tonight could be the night, the first time he let her see and remember him. He knew she could feel the pull between them—her energy was rich and heady, full of yearning. He let that energy loop between them, summoning her to come outside. A beckoning, not a compulsion.
She didn’t. Time was passing quickly, and night had come. The couple at the cabin was in ever-deepening danger, as were all of the people around Selena.
Bastion could feel Selena’s tension. He was standing outside the same pair of French doors that she was, only a curtain and some wood-framed glass panels separating them.
Selena moved the curtain and looked outside, then cracked the door open. Bastion sucked in a cold draft of air. He was about to reveal himself to her when the door was slammed shut and the curtain dropped back in place, leaving him alone in the cold night.
He put all of his attention into calling her to him. She was resisting him too well. He paced a stretch of the long patio, impatient with himself and with her. He let his consciousness separate from his body as he trolled the edge of the woods, looking for a branch. There were plenty to choose from. Instantly back in his body, he levitated the heavy branch from the far side of the lawn. It flew to his hand. Turning to the house, he threw the branch against the house near the window wear Selena stood guard.
It worked. She pushed the curtain aside, sending an alarmed look around the portion of the patio that she could see.
Bastion stood frozen. He held his illusion in place, keeping his presence hidden from her. But when she put her hand against the glass, he hurried over and covered it with his, sending heat through the glass to warm her hand.
She blew on the pane, fogging it. He smiled. His woman felt him near—subconsciously, at least. He blew on the section above hers, near where her forehead was.
Message sent…and received.
And then Selena pulled back from him, returning to the people in the room with her. He couldn’t stay longer. Night had come an hour ago—it was prime hunting time for the ghouls. He fully expected Flynn to send more of his monsters out. At least Greer had finally roused the troops. Max and his girlfriend wouldn’t be left exposed for long.
Bastion drove out to the rough Forest Service road that led to the cabin. He wanted to get into position before Max’s team came to fetch them. He cast his energy out like a net, checking for enemies in the woods. None were out yet.
As he drove, he continued to monitor Selena’s energy. He felt her excitement and courage. And then her energy rolled into that of the big blond. Jealousy spiked through Bastion. He forced the blond away from Selena, locked him behind a field of energy that kept him from moving or speaking or in any way interacting with his environment. Bastion held him in that frozen state until he felt Selena move away from him.
He reached the road that led behind the cabin and parked off to one side, hidden in a stand of cedars, covering his tracks with a mental illusion. He crossed the narrow road and walked into the woods. Max was out here with his woman. He was closer to them than to the cabin, near enough that he could shield them should a ghoul show up. The read he got off the woods indicated no monsters were yet prowling. Hopefully, Selena’s team could get the couple to return to the main house. It was easier to defend his woman and her people if he weren’t spread across such a large physical area.
Time ticked past, slowly, steadily, and then Selena was there, walking toward where he hid in the woods.
Come, Selena. Come to me, he urged.
She looked straight at him. An expression of ease came over her face. She might not be hearing his exact words just yet, but he knew she was sensing what he was saying.
Come. I will shield you from all of them.
And then the War Bringer stopped her. Anger flooded Bastion’s body as he watched them discussing the footprints. Of course, Bastion hadn’t hidden them from Selena, but Kelan only saw them in their illusory state—as deer prints.
My tracks. That’s all, Bastion said to her, speaking directly into her mind so none of the others heard him. When Kelan touched her arm to pull her away from the woods and from Bastion, Bastion sent a wave of pain to the War Bringer, as he had all night when any of the guys had gotten too close to her. Unfortunately, the pain hit her and not the man, like she’d intercepted it to spare him.
That shook Bastion up. He’d was an expert in dealing out pain. He never sent it to the wrong recipient, so what was going on? Had his jealousy made him sloppy? Or was his woman strong enough to intercept an energy signal meant for another?
Or was this the Matchmaker’s doing?
Bastion had no answers, so he just compelled the two of them to step apart as he withdrew the pressure he’d sent their way.
Dieu, he’d hurt Selena.
He’d never seen a regular take an energetic hit for another regular. If that was what had happened, her senses must be more developed than usual.
Selena and her people loaded on to the snowmobiles and started back for the cabin. She looked back and saw him step out of the woods. She told herself she had to be mistaken about what she was seeing. Her thought came through so clearly. He rarely could hear human thoughts, unless they were broadcast clearly, as hers had been. She followed that thought up with the belief that what she’d seen had been a bull elk not a person.
Think that if you wish, he said, pleased they seemed to be mentally communicating with such ease.
I don’t know what to think, she said.
At last, they were tuned to the same energetic channel and could communicate with ease. That realization filled him with joy.
I understand. You will too, soon, he said. Stay at the cabin.
No. In her thoughts, she referred to him as a being, not a man. He was sad that he hadn’t been able to leave memories of their prior meetings in her mind. Talking to her now was like starting all over.
I am a man.
No man I know can do what you can do.
That is true.
Stay away from me. And stay away from my friends.
I cannot.
He knew she wondered what that meant—that he couldn’t leave her alone or couldn’t leave her team alone. The channel she’d opened between them was wonderful. He loved being able to talk to her mentally with such ease.
Both, he said, answering her unspoken question.
Bastion returned to the cabin to make sure it had been properly secured before the team left the area. It was locked down. He drove back to the house and parked in the bunker cave, where he hid his Jeep behind an illusion.
He walked down the long tunnel to the loading dock and entered the secret conference room. Most of the team were there…except Selena and Max. He kept himself hidden from those in the room and any tech that might have identified him. It was weird to observe the group of fighters having a convo about him while he was standing there. In truth, he wasn’t what they should be worried about. They needed to prepare themselves for war with Brett Flynn and his ghouls, not the Legion.
At least they were starting to recognize their enemy had access to tactics they’d never seen.
He left them to their meeting and went up to Selena’s room. He still felt awful about the pain she was feeling. He’d have to find other ways of keeping the men of her team from her without using pain inducement. That was the only way he would know if her suffering was coming from him or her reaction to him or if it was som
ething else entirely, like something the Matchmaker was doing.
Selena was lying on her bed with a cold cloth over her eyes and forehead. He wasn’t sending out pain at all at the moment. The fact that she was still feeling it worried him. Had he harmed her earlier? Or was the pain coming from another source? Merde. He wished he could talk freely with his team to better understand what was happening to her.
Was the Matchmaker doing something to her? Motherfucker. The demon had better not be harming Selena.
A knock sounded on her door. Selena went to open it. Instantly, Bastion felt her pain expand. She backed out of the short hallway, bumping up against her dresser. The big blond tried to get her to move over to a chair, but she just shrank away. It was Ace who was able to get her to take a seat.
Send them away, he said to Selena. Without the others looking on, he could send her to sleep. He wasn’t able to shield her from pain the way Liege and Guerre could; sleep was her only escape.
Ace sat next to her. “Sel, you don’t look like yourself.” She pressed her palm to Selena’s forehead. “Maybe you should lie down.”
“I can’t. You have to leave. All of you. You have to go. Right now.” Selena cupped her hands around her forehead. “My head is about to crack open.”
“Just tell us what happened to you tonight,” Max said.
Selena was silent. Bastion knew she was thinking about the night’s activities. She didn’t understand much of it, and how could she while he was keeping himself hidden from her?
Maybe the pain she was feeling was a stress response.
If so, that was on him.
“I just don’t feel well, that’s all. Nothing happened to me.”
“Kelan thought you saw something out there,” Kit said.
Selena looked from him to Kelan. “I saw deer tracks. The low light tricked me into thinking they were human footprints. My mistake.”
She’d just lied, and to her team, no less. Of course she couldn’t tell them something that ran counter to their understanding of reality.
Val stepped in front of the team and held his arms out to his sides, ushering everyone to move out of her room. “Let’s just let her get some rest. We’ll see how she feels when her migraine’s gone.”
Ace lingered behind everyone else. When the room was empty, she gave Selena a worried look. “I can stay with you tonight. You shouldn’t be alone when you feel like this.”
Selena shook her head. “Nothing’s wrong with me that a good night’s sleep won’t fix. Really, I’m fine.”
“All right. Come get me if you need me.”
“Thanks, Ace. I will.”
At last the room was empty. Bastion knew that Selena was questioning her sanity. This needed to end soon. The longer he kept his reality hidden from her and her team, the more damage he might be doing to her. She was the only one he let see his actual tracks, so she and her team would never have been able to come to a consensus anyway.
He knew it was sometimes better to ease into radical shifts of reality slowly. He wished they didn’t have to enter his reality at all, but they were already fighters in the Omni war—there was no escape for them. Perhaps, if the evil that the Omnis were spreading could be stopped, then at least civilians everywhere might be spared.
But probably not, despite the work his Legion was doing—and this team’s every effort.
Bastion allowed himself to be visible to Selena as he opened her mind to their shared moments. She looked at him with her pain-hazed eyes. “No. God, no. Not you. I can’t—”
Bastion knelt in front of her. “Shh. I’ll help you.” He touched her hand. “This is happening because of me. I don’t know why, but I will figure it out.”
Tears pooled in his mate’s eyes.
“Close your eyes. I’ll send you to sleep. It’s your only escape right now.”
She did as he asked, spilling a stream of moisture over her tense cheeks. Instantly, she was out. He carried her over to her bed, removed her boots, then covered her up.
Bastion straightened and stared at her, relieved to see the frown ease from her brow. Pain inducement was one of the first skills he and all of the Legion had learned in the training camps. They were all experts at it. It was as first-nature as breathing. So why had his aim been so sloppy, harming Selena?
8
Selena jerked awake, then kept still as she took stock of her surroundings. There was daylight in her room, but she felt as if she’d just shut her eyes. She rolled over and looked at the clock. It was already nine a.m.
Someone was knocking on her door. She smiled, thinking the team had come to check in on her. She threw the covers off and stood, then stretched. Man, she felt great. Better than she had in a long time.
She opened the door. Ace was there, frowning. “So, um, you taking a sick day or what?”
Selena stood back and let Ace in. “No. I just overslept. Guess I needed it. I was out like the dead.”
“Huh.” Ace walked in and faced her. “You feel better?”
“Like a new person. I think Owen should have rolling days for each of us to sleep in.” Selena smiled at her friend.
Ace pulled out a chair at the little table in the corner. “So, you missed the meeting this morning. Owen’s going to be sending Lion and Hawk to college.”
“Wow. Everyone cool with that? I thought Hope wanted some time with her brother.”
“She did, but she sees this as a good thing for him. And for Hawk. But that’s not all. The rest of the cubs are going to schools here in town.”
“Wow. Owen’s not worried about their security?”
Ace shook her head. “Looks like he’s not. He thinks the Omnis have gone to ground. For a little while, anyway.”
“Well, good. I think those are great things for the boys.”
“Yeah.” Ace gave her an appraising look. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Much better. Don’t know what happened yesterday. I swear I was hallucinating.”
“How so?”
“I don’t know. I just felt like someone was there. I saw footprints that looked human but weren’t.” Selena wondered if it was safe to say this next bit. “I blew on a pane of glass in one of the living room’s French doors—you know how you do when it’s cold outside?”
“Yeah?”
“I thought I saw someone’s breath on another pane in response. From the outside.”
“When was this?”
“When you all went downstairs during dinner. Before my headache got bad.”
“That’s weird.”
Selena nodded. All of that was gone today. She felt normal. No pressure in her head. No paranoia. No extra voices. Maybe she really was losing it. “Ace, like I said, I feel good right now. But if I go crazy, will you tell me?”
Ace didn’t laugh—and that scared Selena. “I’ve seen people lose their shit, Sel. I don’t think you are.”
“But if I do, you’ll tell me, right?”
“Better than that: I’ll take you to the doctor and hold your hand through your tests.”
“Okay. Let’s just hope it was the migraine that worked me over.”
“Yeah. I’m down with that. Could have been fatigue, too, the way you slept so long.”
“I hope so. Look, I’m going to shower. Ask Russ to keep a bit of breakfast aside for me.” Selena walked to the door and held it open for Ace.
“You bet.”
The entire household was in a state of chaos that morning. Moving trucks were delivering furniture. The wild boys’ hangout in the basketball court was being relocated down to the basement now that the construction was finished.
Bastion made his rounds over the compound, keeping himself out of the way. When he returned to the attic, he found a young boy asleep on his mattress. Ever since the household had decided to decorate for Christmas, Bastion had had to share his secret space with the household kids, who favored it as a playroom.
Sometimes he’d banish them with a compulsion. Sometimes he’d j
ust keep himself hidden and watch them. Their antics reminded him of his childhood with his younger brother. Only a year separated them—they were more friends than siblings. He tried to hold on to memories of their time together, but he had to admit, those were fading. He was becoming more of an outsider to human society with every day that passed as a mutant. And while the sweet memories became hazy, the bad ones never lost their edge.
The sleeping kid shared the same bloodline as the leader’s woman—but not the leader himself. And yet Bastion had seen Owen interact with the boy as if he were his own. The boy was younger than his brother, who did share the same blood as both Owen and his woman.
There were dynamics at play there that Bastion hadn’t yet unraveled.
Bastion kicked the mattress, but the boy didn’t wake. He poked the kid’s shoulder—that worked. The kid sat up and blinked sleepily. Bastion frowned at him from the foot of the bed.
“Who are you?” the boy asked.
“No one. Why are you up here?”
“We play up here some. They said we could.”
“Mmm. Are you the leader’s son?”
“Yeah. One of them. Why are you up here?” the boy asked.
“I like it up here.”
“I do too.”
“They’re looking for you downstairs.”
“Oh.” The boy rubbed his eyes. “I fell asleep.”
“You’d better go to them. Your maman weeps for you.” Bastion, whose hearing was far better than a regular’s, shared with the boy the sound of his mother’s crying.
He looked worried. “Mom?” he called out.
“She’s downstairs.”
It confused the boy that he could hear his mother two floors above where she was, but he stood and looked back at Bastion, who also came to his feet. “Okay. I’ll go. Are you coming with me?”
“Non.” Bastion took that moment to hide himself from the kid, hoping it would startle him into staying out of the attic. The boy screamed and ran down the dark attic stairs. Bastion turned the stairway lights on. The boy pulled on the door, pulled and pulled, thinking it was locked. Bastion pushed the door open with his telekinetic skills, then sat on the top step.
Bastion: O-Men: Liege’s Legion Page 7