Gifted Connections: Book 3

by SM Olivier

  You marked me. He panted.

  I looked over his shoulders and gasped. I am so sorry. I didn’t realize.

  He chuckled. Don’t be. It’s a turn on. I’m yours.

  I smiled up at him and pulled his lips down to mine. Kissing him deeply. We were breathless when we finally pulled apart.

  I wiggled a little under him. Hyper aware of the fact of that his seed was still on my thighs.

  Sorry he muttered I’m too heavy.

  No, it’s not that. I love feeling you above me, but I kind of need to wash up. I hid my red cheeks into his chest.

  He gave me a satisfied grin before he unzipped the sleeping bag and picked me up. He cradled me to his chest and carried me into the pool. I held onto his shoulders as he walked me in.

  He stopped when we were completely submerged and pushed my hair off my face. His eyes scrutinizing me.

  “What?” I asked self-consciously.

  His mouth opened and closed a few times before he finally said. “I don’t know what I’ll ever do if I lost you. I don’t want to become the shell Cora is,” he said gruffly.

  I cradled his face. “You won’t. You won’t lose me, and if you did you’re a strong man.”

  He huffed. “I’m stronger because of you.”

  I felt my heart lurch. “You’re strong because you have no choice but to be strong.” I demurred.

  He buried his head into the crook of my neck. “If you only knew. When you came back tonight, you looked like you were on deaths door. You scared the shit out of me.”

  “But I’m fine now,” I insisted before I gave him an impish smile. “Especially now that you collected on your bet.”

  He let out a startled laugh. “I think I was the winner of that bet in more ways than one.”

  “If you say so.” I grinned at him before kissing him.

  “Oh, I say so,” he murmured.

  I paused as I thought I heard voices. “Did you hear that?”

  He carefully carried me back out of the water. They’re here. He frowned. Go get dressed and get the others up. I’ll take out the fire.

  I nodded and ran over to my back to remove my clothing. Jaxson, Noah, Jace, Drake, Troy, I called silently.

  Hmm? Jaxson was the first to respond.

  They’re here. We have to pack up and go! I insisted.

  That was enough for everyone to pop up. Just grab everything we need. Don’t worry about the rest. Jace commanded immediately.

  I finished pulling on my boots in record time.

  I wrapped the fish and put all of them in our packs last night, Drake informed us. We can leave the wool blankets. It’s not like we need them anymore.

  They’ll be waiting for us when we come back. Noah said confidently.

  I began rolling my sleeping bag, knowing it wasn’t going to be as perfect as it was when we got here. Then I heard voices.

  “I know they were in a cave,” I immediately recognized Adams’ voice as it drifted into our cave.

  “There are foot prints all over outside,” another male voice reasoned.

  We all looked at each other and silently cursed ourselves. None of us had thought about that.

  “But there’s no pool or fire here,” another annoyed male voice said.

  Troy helped me finish rolling my sleeping bag and attaching it to my pack. I looked around, surprised that we all looked ready to go in such a short amount of time. Other than some of our clothing hanging to dry out, we had kept everything pretty much packed away.

  “They definitely had a fire going and a pool. It was really warm. They were all walking around in their underwear like it was a damn vacation,” Adams insisted.

  I rolled my eyes at her slight exaggeration.

  “Well if I was banging Thomas, I’d be walking around naked all of the time, too” another man stated with a booming laugh.

  “Eww gross,” Adams said with disgust. “I think she’s possessed. You should have seen her yesterday. I also think she possesses other people. I think she makes those guys follow her around. You saw what she did to me the other day because she was afraid I might beat her. There’s no way hot men like the Bells,’ Murphy, and Ricci would like her otherwise. There’s nothing special about her, and she’s a baby.”

  Drake walked behind me and kissed the top of my head. You’re beautiful.

  I smiled up at him as I pulled my gloves on. Thank you.

  Leave it up to him to try and reassure me, but her jealous words weren’t going to affect me. She didn’t pay my rent, so I wasn’t going to let her live in my head for free.

  “You’re just jealous,” the first man said. “She’s a cutie, and she was beating you at that match. Spencer will be able to walk again because of her, Bell, Kincaid, and what’s that other quiet girls name…”

  “Gatto, she’s another cutie too,” a different male said.

  “Can we stop yapping and figure out where they went?” Annoyed Man asked rhetorically.

  Ready to go? Jace prodded as he took my hand.

  I looked around one more time to make sure we had everything. Jaxson already had my pack strapped to his chest. I wasn’t going to even waste my breath to protest. I honestly wasn’t feeling a hundred percent yet.

  Remy climbed up our rear entrance first and let the rope down. It would help us navigate the steep incline so we didn’t take a tumble. Troy had already mapped our route from this point and added extra time to our route back, but we had no other option.

  Drake went up next, and I started to follow behind him. He turned back to assess me. Are you okay? Did you want to stay here?

  We were back to our silent conversations now that we were back in the opening. We were unsure how far our voices could carry out here. The group that had been hunting us had proven that point.

  I debated to tell them the truth or lie. I’m slightly…off, but I’ll be okay. I reassured him.

  Let us know when you need to rest. Jace insisted.

  I will. I agreed. I turned to look at Noah. How are you feeling?

  I would be feeling better if you would have slept with me. He winked at me.

  My face fell. I had completely forgotten that he may be straining last night. He had used his gift as much as I did. I’m sorry. I said contritely.

  He chuckled. It’s okay, love. Tonight?

  Tonight, I promised him.

  We need a schedule, Jaxson grumbled good naturedly.

  You slept in her sleeping bag two nights ago, Jace reminded him dryly. I looked over at him, and he gave me a knowing look.

  He saw too much sometimes.

  It wouldn’t work. Drake said pragmatically. We shouldn’t expect Blake to be stuck to a schedule. She should be able to sleep with whoever she wants whenever she wants. Plus, we don’t know if one of us is more in need than the other.

  We were silent as we focused on the climb down. The snow and ice on the rock face was slightly treacherous and there was no way I wanted to end up like…Spencer—I finally recalled his name.

  When we all got to the bottom, we started to head west in the direction of the facility.

  Stand by. Jax snickered as he faced the cave. I saw him focus intently, then I’m pretty sure I heard the distinct scream of Adams. When we all looked at him inquiringly. He grinned. The bear family should keep them trapped in there for a while.

  I giggled. For real?

  For real, and even without your gift of compulsion, I would follow you anywhere. Jaxson flashed his dimples at me. I knew he was trying to reassure me, too, and take the sting out of Adams’ words.

  Cheesy. Noah groaned.

  But I made her smile, Jaxson said smugly. So, no schedule? I want Fridays and Saturdays please.

  I snorted. No schedules, I stated emphatically.

  We decided to stop for lunch around noon. The energy bars Drake handed us on the walk hadn’t filled us up for long. I pulled out a MRE and munched on some smoked fish while I waited for the spicy penne to warm up.

  Mm, this
is really good. I held up the piece of fish to Drake.

  He flashed me a smile. Thanks. Remy made an excellent cold smoker, too. It would taste better on crackers.

  Thanks, Remy, I added giving him a smile as well.

  How long do you think our hike will be today? Will we have to seek shelter again? Noah asked Troy who poured over the maps.

  I looked over at Noah, interested in the answer myself. I couldn’t help but notice how tired Noah looked. I wondered if I looked just as tired and I didn’t even have to carry my pack. The guys, except for Noah, had been carrying it. Noah was carrying his own despite the others offering to carry it for him.

  Troy shook his head. Hopefully not. With a little bit of luck, we should see the facility within the next hour or two. Then it’s a matter of navigating around the mountain and up to the access road.

  If we need to stop, we can, Jace added, looking at Noah and me.

  No. I insisted. If we’re this close to home, I would like to be in our own beds tonight.

  Me, too. Noah flashed me a roguish grin.

  That sounds like a plan to me! Jaxson said excitedly.

  Don’t push yourselves too much, Jace insisted.

  Someone tell me a story. I quickly changed the subject. Tell me how you were as teens. Tell me something you guys did that Pops may not know about.

  We don’t have any of those. Remy gave the other guys a pointed look.

  I groaned. Come on… Six teenage boys with no stories? Bull!

  Troy chuckled. There was this one time that we had this party planned. Will was supposed to go out of town for a conference, so we started planning it. Sue wasn’t going to be there that Saturday either. It should have been so easy, but Jemmy found out and told Pops. We thought we were home free. The party was raging, and here comes Pops. He groaned. We were grounded for a month. Jaxson and Drake decided to get in the alcohol, and they were blitzed out of their minds. And… He stopped as he shot Jace and Remy a look. And we found out Jemmy had told on us, so we stuck hair die in her hair. It backfired. He laughed. She’s colored her hair ever since then.

  I shot Remy, Jace, and Troy suspicious looks. Where were Jace and Remy? I smirked at them. I bet it had to do with a girl or multiple girls. I let out a startled laugh when Remy looked the other way.

  Well Jace was with his girlfriend, Jaxson crowed at their looks of discomfort and obvious evasion of my questions.

  Big mouths! Remy shot Troy and Jaxson looks. Look, Baby, you know we had past. Sometimes we much rather not tell our girl about the hounds we once were.

  Speak for yourself, Drake jested.

  I could tell he had surprised them with his quip as we all laughed. It was rare that Drake ever involved himself in their teasing and arguments. He was generally Switzerland. Always neutral.

  I huffed. I’m not saying I want the nitty gritty details, but I would like to hear stories from you guys every now and then. I want to know more about you.

  And here I thought we lucked out. I thought we got one of the cool ones. She’s asking us to talk now. Next thing you know she’s going to be texting us and asking if we’re thinking about her. She’ll sigh and look at us and ask us what we’re thinking. She’ll expect us to give us the passwords to all our phones. Troy sighed dramatically. This, my friends, is just the beginning.

  The guys began snickering and laughing.

  I had to smile at the contradiction that was Troy. He was all poetic and sweet when the other guys weren’t around.

  I mocked glared at him and bent down to throw my peanut butter packet at him. I never said all that, but I feel like, since we haven’t had all our normal distractions, it was nice to get to know more about you guys.

  I’m sure we can work something out, Jace said with a smirk.

  I was somewhat mollified.

  I used to suck my thumb until I was seven, Noah said with a straight face. That’s why I had to wear braces for a few years.

  I examined him and did notice that his teeth were extremely straight.

  I slept with my Teddy until I was eight, Jaxson teased.

  I got kicked out of school three times when I was ten for fighting, Troy commented in a pacifying voice.

  I don’t like odd numbers on the volume of the television or radio. Jace smirked.

  I wanted to be an astronaut when I was younger, Drake said in a humoring tone.

  I groaned. You guys are so lucky I won’t throw rocks. Fine. Fine. I get it. Leave me in the dark.

  They all laughed at me. I knew they were teasing me.

  We should probably get going. Remy chuckled. Let’s get back before it gets dark.

  .

  Chapter 11

  The sun was setting when we finally reached the mountains, close to the facility. I almost whooped with excitement.

  The idea of a hot shower, warm food, and a comfortable bed was foremost in my thoughts. My feet didn’t get any blisters today. I must have broken my boots in completely, but they still hurt. In fact, my whole body hurt. After last night and my early rendezvous with Remy, I was exhausted.

  I looked forward to seeing my siblings, Patrick, and Nadia, too. I was eager to find out how the last three days had been for them. I really hoped Paul and Will didn’t want a briefing tonight, because I was over this training exercise.

  “The finish line,” Jaxson said with excitement.

  We were so close I could almost taste it.

  “Not quite,” a self-satisfied voice said from behind us.

  I nearly cursed when I saw a group of six guys come out of the woods around us. How we didn’t see them was beyond me. We had grown lax the closer we got to the facility. We had stopped talking to each other with words and began talking aloud once more.

  From their haggard appearance, I knew they had to be the group that had set out yesterday with Spencer and James. I had foolishly assumed that they had been at the cave this morning and not a different group entirely.

  Three of them had riot guns trained on us, loaded with bean bags. They weren’t lethal, but they packed a hard punch. If we were hit with one, it would count as a hit and a capture. The other three had tasers trained on us which also counted as a capture if hit.

  “Come on guys, really? Just six of you at this party?” Troy casually brought up his hands.

  The two guys closest to him had no time to react as the barrel of their guns melted before their eyes. The other guys jumped to action, and Drake soon had a force field around us as the bean bags bounced off the shield uselessly to the ground. They all looked at each other and tried to charge the force field. To no avail.

  They were thrown back with such a force that they landed on their rears. They looked even angrier as they went to charge at it once more with the remaining gun and tasers.

  Jace glared at the guys closest to him and soon they were crying uncontrollably. The other three looked at each other in confusion. Jaxson was able to cast an illusion of mountain cats charging the rest of the group. The rest of the guys took off in the opposite direction screaming.

  “Well that was easy,” Noah said cockily.

  Jaxson laughed but the other guys looked wary, so I took my cue from them and started looking around us.

  We started to take the abandoned access road up the side of the mountain. We picked our way carefully over the loose rocks and stones. It was clear it hadn’t been used for some time. Nature had started to take it back. We came to across a bridge that was in bad shape. It spanned roughly across a twenty-five-foot gorge between the two mountain peaks. It was an old suspension bridge of ropes, cables, and wood. Some of the wooden planks were rotted out and some of them were even missing. The ropes and cables were fraying and worn from sitting out in the elements for so long without the usual upkeep. I doubt anyone had used it in quite a while. I tried not to panic or freak out when it started to shake and sway under our footsteps.

  I was glad I wasn’t behind Remy as I watched it dip under his weight more so than everyone else. I trie
d to grab the ropes on both sides, but I feared they would disintegrate in my hands. That and my arms weren’t wide enough to grab each side at the same time.

  I looked down and tried not to guess how many feet it would take me to plummet to the ground if the bridge collapsed. That is if I didn’t hit every pine tree below us on the way down. I could see the tension in Drake, Jaxson, and Noah’s faces too. I was somewhat reassured to know I wasn’t the only pansy in the group.

  We had about ten more feet to go when the ground started to shake around us and the wind kicked up. The pines below us swayed dangerously close to us. The tops of their branches making the bridge sway more so. Drake put his force field up just in time, as gravel and rocks started hurling towards us from the nearby mountain. They pinged off the shield around us.

  I looked around in confusion as I noticed the rest of the group had caught up to us and was now down at the foot of the mountain. Terrance was in front, along with the other gifted. I swore I could see his smile from where we stood.

  Friend or not he was just as competitive as we were. He wanted to win this training exercise just as much as we did. Whether he succeeded or not after this standoff, there would be no doubt why we had been recruited into the program.

  “This is it.” Jace said with determination. “Let’s give them what we got, with no injuries.” He stressed. “Remember this is just a training exercise.”

  “Well, fatal injuries.” Troy smirked. “I’m not above a little singeing. Nothing like the smell of burnt hair in the evening.”

  Jace shrugged. “That works. I don’t want any broken bones or death on us. Let them know we can control ourselves. They can give us the respect without the fear.”

  “Game on,” Jaxson muttered behind me.

  Remy turned and started grabbing large rocks and boulders and started to lob them down the mountain, preventing some of the group from advancing up. The few that had been close had to be thinking their lucky stars that he had accurate aim. They stumbled back, avoiding the pile he was building.

  Drake continued being our defense as Gavin, Marcel, Sierra, Sam, and Terrance tried their best to hinder our progress across the bridge. Earth, wind, and ice was coming down on us with a vengeance.