Illicit Senses: Illicit Minds #1

by Royce, Rebecca

  “Spencer? Holy shit, what’s going on?” Tara’s unique phraseology filled the air.

  “Can’t see. Moved us all through dark space. Help her, need Laurel.” He could barely form sentences due to the pain in his head. Okay, so he wasn’t meant to move through space like that unscathed. It didn’t matter, as long as Addy was going to be okay.

  “Laurel.”

  “I’m with her, Spencer. I can feel your pain. Close your eyes. Don’t try to see yet.”

  He’d never been so happy to hear her voice.

  “The bullet is lodged in her abdomen. I can see it so clearly. Why are my powers so intense right now?”

  Spencer groaned. He wasn’t ready to tell anyone about what had happened with Rhodes. He might never be.

  “Uncle Spencer, are we there?” Jeremy’s high-pitched, little boy voice called his attention.

  Opening his eyes a crack, he looked at him. Things were somewhat clearer.

  “We’re there, Jeremy, we’re there.”

  He sat up. The world spun, but he didn’t care. Addison wasn’t awake to care for Jeremy; she would want him to do it.

  “Laurel?” He was sorry if he was being annoying, but he needed constant updates. The woman literally had his reason for living in her hands. She damn well needed to tell him what was going on.

  “She’s going to be okay, Spence, but I’m concentrating, so hush.”

  His eyes were tolerating the light better, so he dared to move, picking Jeremy up in his arms.

  “We went on an adventure, didn’t we, bud?”

  “We did.” Jeremy had dimples. They were so cute. He reached out and poked one with his forefinger and was delighted when the little boy giggled.

  “I hate to bring up a bad subject here, but we need to move. Aren’t I supposed to be setting something on fire?” Tara was clearly getting impatient as she tapped her feet.

  “Only problem is, only Addison knows where the car is and where we’re going.”

  “The van is in the bushes,” Addison croaked.

  Spencer set Jeremy down and rushed to her side. “You okay, sweetheart?”

  “I should be dead, but I’m still here, so yes, I’m okay.” She sat up. “Are you okay, Laurel?”

  “I’m a little worn out. Don’t let her walk yet, Spencer.”

  Picking Addison up in his arms felt right. It was just what he wanted to do, even though Laurel had ordered him to do it. Jeremy squealed and ran to them.

  “Hey.” Addison’s voice shook. “Were you scared, kiddo?”

  “No. Uncle Spencer moved through dark space. It was cool.”

  “Oh.” Addison looked at him, questions in her eyes. “What happened to Rhodes?”

  Hearing his name caused a pang in his gut. “We’ll talk about it later. Tara, the fire, please.”

  “You’ve got it.”

  Tara looked behind her and he watched as the walls went up in flames, first one and then all of them. The orange bursts of light would have been beautiful if they weren’t so incredibly dangerous.

  She hissed. “I didn’t mean for it to be that strong.”

  “We’re all going to be stronger now. Rhodes is dead.” Behind him, he heard the guards shouting to get everyone out. “Let’s move.”

  The group seemed to move in unison, running toward the van.

  As they piled into the vehicle, Spencer took one last look behind him at the place that had been both his home and his prison for twenty-six years.

  “Take me with you.”

  Spencer jumped, jarred out of his reverie. It was Simpson. He rolled his eyes. Wow, he hated the little man.

  “How did you find us? No, don’t answer that—you had a vision, right?”

  “I did.” His shifty blue eyes seemed to float inside their sockets. “I can help with the boy; he’s going to need me. Take me with you.”

  “This is Addison’s show.” He looked down at the woman he held in his arms and knew the answer before she nodded. There was no way she would leave anyone behind who wanted to come. Hell, if the woman had her way, she’d probably bring the whole institution with her.

  “Come on, Simpson. Let’s go.”

  They got into the car, the sound of fire engines growing closer by the second. Jack was at the wheel, a grin on his face. He couldn’t blame the guy; he’d like to drive too. Although at that moment, all he really wanted to do was hold Addison on his lap and keep Jeremy next to him.

  “Where are we going?” Jack asked as he jerked the van onto the road. “Sorry, I’m a bit rusty at this. It’s been… well… over a decade, but I’ll get it together.”

  Addison turned to look at Spencer as she answered Jack. He had a feeling this was not by accident. She wanted to watch his reaction when she said it. Her eyes alight, she stared at him. “We’re going to the ocean. Drive east. We need to get to the Jersey Shore.”

  Silently he tried to digest what she’d said: the ocean. He’d told her it was his dream to see it, and now he was going to. Not wanting anyone to see how emotional he was, he leaned down and kissed the top of her head, holding her as close to him as he could. If it were his choice, he’d never let go.

  * * *

  Spencer was impressed. The ocean was extraordinary, vaster than he could have imagined, and the love of his life was beyond competent at all things she attempted, it seemed.

  He was impressed and also slightly seasick. After they’d boarded her boat, Addison had turned out to be quite the sailor. She’d taken them out to sea with very little trouble and spent the next hour explaining to the group exactly how they were going to operate the two hundred and forty-six foot, fiberglass, twin diesel engine vessel they would reside on until they arrived at this island of Guy McKidd’s.

  When she explained all his brother had done, it had made his head spin. Closing his eyes, he let the breeze off the ocean hit him in the face. He was supposed to be dead, and instead he was nauseated on a boat in the ocean. “Penny for your thoughts?”

  He jumped. “I was thinking about the fact that I’m supposed to be dead and instead I’m here.”

  “We’re both supposed to be dead.”

  The statement hung between them. The image of her nearly lifeless body would haunt him forever. Pulling her into his arms, he held her tight. “You do realize you’re my entire world?”

  “That goes both ways.”

  As he stared at her, he could see the swirls everyone else had noticed. How had he missed them? Her blue eyes were alive and dancing with light, swirling like a child’s pinwheel in front of him.

  “But…” Her smile said she was feeling mischievous. “You’re not getting out of telling me what happened. I also have something to share with you.”

  “Which you won’t tell me if I don’t tell you what happened?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  He sighed. “But you implied it. All right.” He kissed her cheeks, first one then the other. “I killed Rhodes. It was different from killing Daniel, harder, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. He intended to kill Jeremy as well. In that moment, I realized I didn’t know him. I spent twenty-six years with him, practically worshiping the ground he walked on, yet the man I killed was a complete stranger.”

  She stroked his face, the sensation sending shivers down his spine. “It’s going to be hard to live with.”

  He nodded, not surprised that she understood. “It is.”

  “And then?” she prodded.

  “Then Jeremy started sounding like a prophet and told me that I could walk us all through dark space, said the voices said I could.” He shrugged. “I believed him, and it turns out he was right.”

  Addison lowered her voice. “Do other people hear voices, or do I need to find us a therapist when we get where we’re going?”

  “I think it’s safe to say it’s part of his power somehow.”

  She bit her lower lip before she pressed her head against his chest. “I hope I didn’t massively screw up and this is all going to
turn out to be a big disaster.”

  Russell spoke from behind them. “Well, if you did, at least it’s a nice ride on a boat.”

  Spencer jumped, and Addison yelped before they both burst out laughing.

  Neither of them had heard Russell approach.

  Addison grinned, showing her straight, white teeth. “You’re easy to please, Russell. First you liked the car, now the boat. I wish I could find you an airplane and a train.”

  Russell’s face turned serious. “Do you think that’s a possibility?”

  “I would say no, but I never thought this was a possibility, so I’ll say maybe. How about that?”

  “Addison, everyone wants to come out to talk to you, to say thank you.”

  In his embrace, she stiffened. “Russell, please don’t. Please tell everyone I don’t need their thanks. I’m grateful to them. Jeremy is sleeping downstairs because of all of you. You’re all my friends now. I don’t know what I’ll do if you all start thanking me.”

  Russell paused for a moment. “I’ll tell them that, but you may have to take it from Tara. She’s worked up like I’ve never seen her before.”

  Spencer ran his hands through her silky blonde hair. Was there any chance they’d ever be alone? “Hey, Addy, who’s driving the boat?”

  “Holland. I showed him how to use the GPS. It’s kind of point and click after that.”

  They’d worked up a schedule so everyone took their turn and everyone piloted. He’d promised to teach Marisa and Minnie how he traveled through dark space in his body. It was a large boat, but everyone was going to have to share rooms. Addison wanted to be with Jeremy, which he completely understood, but that meant that he wouldn’t be ravishing his love in the quiet of their dark cabin.

  Addison looked at Russell. “Give me a minute?”

  He nodded and headed back down below. She handed Spencer a box.

  “What is it?”

  “I kind of noticed that my powers felt more under control, subdued even.”

  “Is it Jeremy?”

  “He’s asleep.” She pointed to the box. “There’s a note.”

  Spencer opened the box, pulling out a circular, transparent object. It looked like the crystal balls he’d seen on television. When he touched it, his skin felt warm. He pulled out the note enclosed in the box.

  Wade Corporation authorized this object five years ago. It was one of the first things Addison Wade ever did there, and even if she doesn’t remember doing it, I’ll never forget that she did. I am a Fury through and through. I’ve taken oaths and made promises you’ll never understand. I am a man who keeps the oaths I make.

  But before I swore allegiance to the Fury, I made a promise to someone else. I promised Mother I would keep you safe. Before today, I have been unable to keep that promise. Now I have fulfilled it.

  The object you are in possession of is a static ball. It will help you—and whoever is with you—control your abilities. Say hello to Guy McKidd. Ten years ago, I did him a service and told him someday he would pay me back by taking you in. I think you will be a good team.

  Don’t return to the United States. If you do, I will hunt you down and re-institutionalize you or one of us will die.

  William Rhodes is not your friend. He promised me five years ago that he would tell you of Guy McKidd. His agenda and yours do not match.

  Good luck. You’ve found a worthy woman. Such a thing is rare.

  Your brother, R

  #3

  He looked up from the note. “Did you read it?”

  “I did. When I found the box, I didn’t know what it was, so I read the letter.”

  He pulled her close. “I guess we’re done, then.”

  “With him, maybe. Life is long. You never know what’s going to happen.”

  He was good at burying his emotions, but it was going to be hard. He didn’t trust Roman, hadn’t since he’d returned to Safe Dawn as a Fury. However, something about the note was so final. For a moment, he saw his brother as he had been. The little boy pulling him through the crowd to protect him, bringing him food and holding him while he’d cried in the juvenile ward. Had Roman ever been a child? Spencer had thought he himself had never been. Maybe, in reality, it was Roman who had never been allowed to be small.

  He crumpled the note in his hand and tossed it overboard just in case they got caught. No one would ever know Roman had helped them. That much he could do for his brother.

  Addison pulled him close in her arms. “How do you think he knew we were on this boat? I buried the boat records so far in Wade’s database it’ll be six months before anyone realizes it’s missing.”

  “He’s Roman. I think he’s been planning this for a long time.”

  Behind him, he heard someone running up the stairs. Jack stood in front of them, out of breath. “Addison, I was watching the satellite news to see the pictures of Safe Dawn—it’s totally gone. Un-frickin’-believable. By the way, you’re on the news.”

  Spencer jerked. How had they found out? When he looked at Addy, she didn’t look surprised. “What did you do?”

  “I gave an interview. Come on, let’s watch it.”

  They walked below deck hand in hand. The others were gathered around the television. Addison’s assured, classic features looked like they had been made for television.

  She looked directly into the camera. He recognized the background as the living room in her apartment.

  “My name is Addison Wade. I am speaking out today to let you know that I am and always have been Conditioned. Although measures were taken, unbeknownst to my grandfather, to hide me from discovery, I find I can no longer hide the truth of who I am.

  “The rules against Conditioned people are barbaric. The Conditioned can learn, with age, to control their abilities, and before that both medical and scientific measures can be taken to protect the general public and the Conditioned person themselves.

  “It has never been acceptable that we lock them up or that we force parents to either break the law or separate themselves from their children. It’s time to change the laws. I am capable, smart, and continue to be as I always was, not in spite of but maybe because of my Condition.

  “I urge you to take measures to change our barbaric, inhumane laws. Thank you.”

  The camera pulled off her, and the commentators went crazy discussing what she’d just said in relation to the burning down of Safe Dawn.

  He kissed the top of her head. “You do know that now your destiny is the same as ours, regardless of what happens.”

  He couldn’t help wishing it were different. Addison had to be safe. Everything else was secondary. “It always was, Spence.”

  Twenty-Six

  Addison’s first impression of Guy McKidd’s island was that it was pink. The group had been on the boat for several weeks. All of them were tanner and, for the most part, much more relaxed. But as the destination had neared, a tension had re-formed. Roman had said that Guy would take them in. Would he? Did they even want to be there?

  She directed the boat into the dock, noting three others. On the edge stood a man. Although it was hard to tell from a distance exactly how tall he was, she would guess over six feet. His face was familiar to her. She’d seen it in the newspaper article. He was darker skinned than he had been then, and ten years older. His hair, which had been long and to the middle of his back, was completely gone. Whether that was by design or Mother Nature’s choice, she didn’t know. Guy also had a gold earring hanging from his left ear.

  All in all, he looked like a pirate in his light woven beach trousers and cotton shirt with the sleeves cut off.

  As they maneuvered the boat, two men joined him. One was tall and redheaded, the other shorter, stocky with black hair.

  “Let me get off the boat first.” She wouldn’t expose everyone else if things didn’t go well.

  “Not without me.” Spencer’s declaration made it sound like she’d suggested she wanted to walk by herself into a volcano, not three feet from
the boat.

  She knew enough to know he wouldn’t budge on the matter, so she nodded and took his hand.

  Her legs wobbled when she stepped onto dry land.

  “Guy McKidd, I’m—”

  He interrupted. “Addison Wade, I know. I’d have to have missed the last two weeks of news reports not to know you. Of course, I knew who you were before then, even though I didn’t know you were one of us.” His accent was southern, which surprised her considering he’d been residing in the western United States.

  “And you’re Spencer Lewis,” he continued, though he still hadn’t shaken hands and that the men behind him were silent. “I’ve been waiting for you for ten years.” He smiled then, and it lessened the intensity of his face, made him look younger and less scary.

  “I didn’t know about you until two weeks ago.” Spencer’s tone told Addison he was tense, not sure what to make of Guy.

  Guy raised an eyebrow. “That surprises me. In any case, you’re all more than welcome here. We’re a small group by some standards, too large according to others. How many are you?”

  “Ten, including us.” Addison moved forward. “And a child.”

  “We have five children here. I wish it were more. All in all, we’re fifty, now sixty with you.”

  He looked to the man to his right. “Go make beds. We’ll figure out their particular talents later tonight. They’ve had a long trip.”

  “And the boat?” the stockier man inquired.

  “We’ll have to strip it, disguise it and remove the HIN number.”

  “I’ll get to it after they disembark.”

  She still had a lot of questions before they took everyone off the boat. “What do you do here?”

  “Now that you’re all here, we’ll do a lot more. I don’t have any dark space travelers, and we’re desperate for one.”

  He would get four now, but she wasn’t ready to give away that information yet.

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “Now that we’ve amassed a certain amount of strength, we’re what I guess you would call the Resistance. A war is coming. We won’t let our brothers and sisters languish in those places anymore. Good job, by the way, burning down Safe Dawn. A lot of folks here see that as a sign that the time has come to fight back.”