by Sienna Aylen
‘Tessa, Damien wasn’t in the memories from the table. There were scenes where Hunter and Bleu were talking to thin air and I think he was there but I couldn’t actually see him. What the hell?’
‘What do you mean, he wasn’t in the memories? That’s not possible, Em. This is his house, after all.’
‘I’m telling you, he wasn’t there.’
‘Emma…he…could he be—’
‘No. No way. It’s not possible. Wouldn’t I…automatically know him on sight?’
‘I wouldn’t be too sure about that. If you can’t read him, then there’s only one plausible explanation.’
Wadding up the napkin and stuffing it into her sleeve, Emma kept her gaze focused on her food as she asked, “What was your question?” She couldn’t help but tug on her sleeves repeatedly, yanking them over her wrists and tucking them into her gloves.
Damien’s commanding voice rumbled across the table and she didn’t even have to look to know he was frowning. “I think I’ll switch it for a new one. What just happened to you?”
Emma shook her head against the shallow beginnings of a pulsing headache, bristling at the absolute authority in his voice. Raising her chin, she stared into his rough golden eyes and answered in a voice that brooked no argument, “It’s a part of my gift.” If she told them the truth, she would get that look. The look she had gotten from every member of her village before they’d kicked her out, outcast. A look of disdain and disgust. Of hatred. It wasn’t her fault she could see intimate moments of other people’s lives, but no one ever saw it that way.
They’d condemned her for knowing too much. Ferreting out their secrets. Witch. Freak.
“What is your gift, Emma?” Damien’s curiosity was piqued. Screw politeness. They were on his territory and he had a right to know what was going on. One way or another he was going to find out. His bear huffed in agreement for the first time that day.
Emma ran a finger under the edge of her glove. Damien watched as her gaze traveled over his entire face. She seemed to be sizing him up, as if she was deciding whether he could be trusted or not. Her tongue darted out over her lips before she leaned back and arched one eyebrow.
“It isn’t important.”
Instead of being cowed, Damien crossed his arms over his chest. “The hell it isn’t. I need to know what your gifts are so I know what to expect and whether or not you three can actually help with our problems.”
He met Emma’s vibrant green eyes and waited for her to back down. They sat there for almost two minutes, neither budging before Gwen slipped a bookmark into the crease of her book and dropped it on the table. Leaning forward, she propped her elbows on the table and steepled her fingers together. Damien was curious about the silent look that passed between her and Emma, but before he could voice it, Gwen was already speaking.
“Well, he does have a point, Emma. We might as well tell them the rest.” Gwen rolled her eyes in Emma’s direction before continuing, “They won’t trust us if we don’t tell them, just like we wouldn’t if the situation were reversed. Gentlemen, the condensed version is that I soak up knowledge like a sponge, Contessa can see bits and pieces of the future and Emma sees the pasts of inanimate objects. That about sums it up. So, yes, all the legends about us having powers are true. We have a better chance of solving your problems than you do, simply because we can do things you can’t.” At their silent stares, she nodded. “Now that’s settled, if you’ll excuse me, I have three chapters left to finish.”
Bleu scratched his forehead with one finger, the corners of his mouth crinkling upward in a smile. “Is she always so blunt?”
Tessa and Emma rolled their eyes affectionately and answered at the same time, “Yes.”
“Wait, so you’re telling me that you can ‘see’ the history of our dining table? Prove it,” Hunter scoffed.
Damien met Bleu’s knowing gaze and had to look away before he started chuckling. This was why he didn’t have random company over—one of his family was sure to put a foot in their mouth. Of course, Hunter would be the one to do it with three Council women at the table. But if Hunter’s antics could prove whether they were the real deal or not, then Damien was supportive of his crazy tactics.
Emma blinked before clearing her throat.
Damien couldn’t hide his grin when Emma picked up the gauntlet Hunter threw down. Her smile was slow in coming and it was a scary one. Sickeningly sweet, it warned of impending doom while looking innocent at the same time.
“April 24, 2015. You threw a party while Damien was away on business, a party complete with women, booze and your big ol’ butt dancing and singing karaoke on top of this poor table.” Emma crossed her arms and tapped her lips with one finger in what seemed to be a silent dare. “Should I tell them what song you belted out?”
Hunter held out his hands and stuttered, “N-nope, I believe you.”
Turning in his seat, Damien raised a brow at his cousin. “Seriously. A house party?” Before Hunter could say anything, he shook his head. “No, I don’t even want to know.” The look on Hunter’s face said it all, said the Council ladies were the real deal. They were powerful in their own right, not charlatans looking to turn a few tricks, but actual protectors of the innocent.
Sending Emma a small smile, he picked up his fork, determined to use the moment to probe for more information. “Do you have control over it? Or do you see the histories any time you touch an object?”
Emma shrugged and scooped some more potatoes onto her plate. The scrunch of her nose and moment of hesitation made it clear to Damien she was choosing her words carefully. “I used to be able to pick and choose which ones I read but I don’t have that control anymore. Any time I touch an object with bare skin, I pick up its history, hence the gloves.”
Hunter gaped. “Wow, so if you touch a bed that someone else owned, you would see everything?”
Damien kicked Hunter under the table as Emma froze with her fork halfway to her mouth. Damien had to bite his own tongue to contain his laughter.
Leaving the fork hovering in mid-air, Emma looked at Hunter deadpan. “Yes, I would get the X-rated, high-definition version of anything that happened in that bed.” She took a bite of her salad, chewing thoughtfully. “Honestly, though, I have seen it all, and after two millennia it gets rather old.”
Tessa choked on her bite of steak, her face cherry red. Gwen reached over without missing a beat and smacked Tessa’s back while continuing to read. This lunch just kept getting better and better. Damien was starting to enjoy their company. He couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face. Who would’ve thought that two thousand-year-old women would still blush? He snuck a glance at Emma and watched her struggle to contain a chuckle, her gloved hand covering her mouth. For a moment, their eyes met and he swore an arc of electricity passed between them, though, no one else seemed to notice.
Gwen switched her book for a fork and stared at Damien. “Changing the subject, what exactly made you reach out and contact us?”
Damien lowered his glass as everyone’s attention centered on him. “Accidents. They started off slowly and we wrote them off as bad luck, but they can’t be chalked up to coincidence anymore. They’ve escalated to bodily harm, and so far we haven’t been able to figure out who’s behind it.” He glanced out of the window, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. His voice sounded gruff even to his own ears. Sighing, he admitted, “I didn’t want to bring in outside help, but the situation needs a fresh perspective. Maybe you’ll see something we haven’t.”
Emma met his gaze. “Even if you hadn’t contacted us, we would’ve shown up uninvited within the month. The accidents have been frequent enough to garner our attention. Who was hurt?”
“Hunter’s sister was driving his Jeep when the brakes failed and she ran into a ditch, ending up with a broken wrist and a bump on her head. If they’d failed a few seconds later, she would have run right off the edge of the cliff.” Even the thought of it brought a growl to hi
s lips. He didn’t bother holding it back, letting them all know what he thought about the situation.
Damien had upped security since the accident, having their mechanic, Gene, check all the vehicles each day before they were taken out and each night when they were brought back. He should’ve guessed that things would escalate, and of all the people who could have gotten hurt, their Lysa had been the one in that particular Jeep. Had she been targeted individually? Or had the accident been meant for Hunter, or one of them? He had no idea.
That was the worst part, not knowing what would happen next. Damien didn’t want to think one of his Clan was capable of this kind of violence, despite the evidence, because that would mean he hadn’t seen it coming. Hadn’t prevented it. It made him just as responsible for what had happened to Lysa.
Distracting himself from his anger at the accident, Damien eyed the way Emma’s jeans cupped her rear end as she stood up. With each sway of her hips, the barest bit of black lace peeked out between her shirt and her pants. He had to stifle a groan at the sight. That woman would be the death of his control.
Wait, why was he letting himself get distracted by a Council member’s ass?
Perhaps because it’s the perfect size to grab on to. She would, without a doubt, dispatch him in the dead of night while wearing her ninja suit if she guessed the direction of his thoughts. Regrettably, he didn’t feel threatened by the imagery, just heated in some very obvious places.
Sometimes his superior shifter senses were a curse instead of a blessing. Like when he could hear the small hitch in her labored breathing, or smell the sweat that was rolling down the curve of her neck. He was thankful the other men in the room were studiously avoiding getting anywhere near her. If anything, they stayed on the farthest side of the room. It was the only thing preventing Damien from dragging her delectable ass outside and making her his. His bear growled in agreement—they could take her out to the woods for a few days…or weeks…or maybe forever.
The tension and pain in the room overwhelmed Emma’s senses. It must’ve been quite the scare, especially for Hunter’s sister. Damien’s eyes were haunted as he related the story, the slightest hint of purple underneath them, as though he hadn’t been getting enough sleep lately. Emma would bet he was clean-shaven more often than not as well, since he kept running his hand over his clenched jaw as though surprised to find scruff there. Emma stood up and went to the sink to wash her dishes while going over the scenario of the accident in her mind.
Focusing on the task at hand, she replayed the information in her head. It was a puzzle, a challenge. Whizzing through the available information, Emma fit pieces together and discarded others. Turning them this way and that, she examined every one of the facts to see where it might connect with the others. When everything was clear it would be easy to see the whole picture, but she was missing too many pieces to form any solid conclusions. Glancing over her shoulder, she asked, “How many people have access to the Jeeps?”
Emma felt eyes on her and caught Damien’s muffled curse. Swaying to one side, she watched his gaze follow her hips. Back and forth she shifted her weight, his eyes glued to her ass the entire time. Facing forward once more, Emma fought off the heat that was rising into her flushed cheeks. Her pulse beat out a steady tattoo against her wrists…and other places, places that were becoming quite damp.
Damien had only touched her once and she had melted like hot wax. She had never reacted this strongly to anyone, ever. Most of the time she wondered at her underwhelming reaction to men as none seemed to ignite any excitement. Well, none except for one deliciously handsome, overgrown bear.
Right now, she was flushed. Overheated. A blossoming fire spread from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. She felt as if she was going to dissolve into a puddle on the floor, a very wet, very large pool of goo. See that? That liquid right there? Yep, that’s just me, having a moment. An embarrassing lack of self-control and decorum. This is what happens when you wait too long to get laid. Hormone overload.
Emma leaned back against the cool marble of the counter and wondered if it would be too obvious to open the freezer and stick her head in it for a few minutes to cool off. Probably. Shit.
Focus. On the job. She could do this, fend off her attraction to him and do her job at the same time. At least she hoped she could. If she kept blushing, it wouldn’t be long before everyone noticed her discomfort.
Taking a deep, cleansing breath, she heard Hunter answer her question, “Everyone in the Clan has access, and the Jeeps are taken to the other two dens in this territory as well during the week, so it could be anyone who lives within the dens.”
Emma filed this piece of information away with the others. Clearing her throat, she tried to ignore the heat radiating from her body like an inferno. Unfortunately, she couldn’t ignore the new huskiness of her voice when she spoke, “Okay, do any other species have access to the Jeeps, or just bears?”
Hunter cleared the leftovers off the table, taking the long way around the island to the fridge. She was grateful he avoided infringing on her personal space. With his superior sense of smell, he wouldn’t be able to help noticing her embarrassing lack of self-control.
Shutting the fridge, Hunter answered her question, “We don’t let any other species near the Jeeps, except for any mates who are human, which means it’s one of us.”
Propping his elbows on the table, Damien cursed. “We didn’t want to cause suspicion or panic, so for now, only those of us in this room, our sister and my father know what’s really going on.”
Gwen pushed her glasses up her nose with one finger. “Good. Rule number one, never show your hand too early. We want whoever is doing this to get complacent. Complacency leads to sloppiness and sloppy is where we catch them. If they know we’re on to them, they’ll only become more careful.” She paced across the living room with measured steps. “I’m going to assume that whoever did this has access to a scent blocker, keys to the Jeeps, tools and a communication device, as well as knowledge of everyone’s daily habits.”
Hunter threw up his hands. “Well, that doesn’t narrow it down at all, except for the scent blocker. Only someone over the age of eighteen can get access to the pills. So, we’re back to square one, but we can rule out the cubs.”
Emma strode into the living room and took a spot on the largest couch, curling her legs underneath her. She had always been drawn to mysteries. Whenever she felt the memories calling to her, she distracted herself by solving one. It had helped stave off the insanity. Now, it served another purpose, to occupy her mind and fill it with anything besides her raging libido. “Besides the Jeep, what were the other accidents?”
Damien rubbed the back of his neck. “At first, it was small stuff. Deliveries being mixed up, schedules switched without authorization, direction signs blown over where people couldn’t see them. Then it escalated. A tree was cut, barely missing the shed out back, power lines snapped and missing kids showing up on our property. The last accident was the brakes on Hunter’s Jeep.”
Fingers tapping out a rhythm on the armrest, Emma bit her lip. “Okay, so most of the ‘accidents’ were ones that can’t be traced. Are your deliveries and schedules kept digital, or do you still do them old-school with a pencil and paper?”
“Everything is digital these days, you can’t run the businesses otherwise. It’s all run through the mainframe computers we keep in the offices.” Damien sighed.
“Is there any way to find out who got into the mainframe to switch the deliveries and schedules?”
Bleu’s movements were stiff as he wiped down the table. “We checked. Someone used Damien’s password to get in. His password wasn’t a difficult one and most of the higher members of the Clan knew it. We’ve switched all the passwords since then.”
“I can’t guarantee how long it will take to catch this guy but we’ll be staying until it’s done.” Emma stated, monitoring every gesture Damien made. Most of the ‘accidents’ seemed to involve him in o
ne form or another. So much for indulging in a few steamy nights with Mr. Alpha, at least not until she cleared him of any wrongdoing. It wouldn’t be proper to end up sleeping with a criminal.
Pulling her thoughts back together, Emma decided on a course of action. There was no set hierarchy within the Council, except for Jade. No matter what sort of job they were on, Jade always had the final say as the head of the Council. But when they were split up into groups, whoever had the most practical gift for the job took on the leadership role.
For this job, her ability to read information from objects was more practical than Tessa’s ability to see the future or Gwen’s knowledge. If either one of them found information that was more useful than what her abilities brought to the table, then they would assume leadership. It was a system that kept things balanced and efficient.
“All right, here’s how we’ll start. Gwen will go with Bleu and check the mainframe, just in case anything was missed. Tessa, would you mind talking to Hunter’s sister? She might remember something useful. I’ll check out the shed myself, then we’ll re-evaluate and go from there.”
Damien rose from his chair, stretching his lithe frame. Emma was speechless when he held out his hand to her. “I’m going with you.”
* * * *
So…the cavalry had arrived. He had never thought Damien had it in him to bring in outside help. It must’ve been the old man’s idea. He’d figured he’d have at least another month to put things into place before those bitches got wind of his antics. Oh well, their arrival just pushed his timetable up a bit.
They thought they all were so smart. Ha! It had taken them over three months to realize the ‘accidents’ were connected. Like a game of chess, he planned three moves ahead. Unfortunately for them, they had no idea they were playing against a pro.
“Is everything in place?” The disembodied voice coming through the phone’s speaker echoed off the walls of the cave.