Ignited

by Corrine Jackson

  After Lottie and I had returned from the beach and shared the news of the meeting with Asher and Lucy, there hadn’t been a lot of time for discussion. We’d only had a couple of hours to gather our things and make the drive across the bay. Asher had looked like he wanted to suggest we skip the meeting, but I’d stared him down. He could come with or stay behind, but I was going as long as there was a chance Erin knew something about my father. Lucy agreed with me. With Lottie acting as a neutral party, two were pitted against one, though my alliance with Lucy was shaky at best.

  I walked toward the entrance with a bounce in my step. I shouldn’t have been so happy to be walking into danger, but I was. Anything—even walking into a trap—had to be better than feeling cornered in a house with the others. Other girls could wear ratty sweats and holey T-shirts, eat Ben & Jerry’s, listen to crappy breakup music, and cry to their friends when their boyfriends trampled on their hearts. I had to continue to live with him, watching him comfort my sister and making her smile. It didn’t help that I’d asked him to do it.

  After buying my ticket and a map, I entered the park, glancing around with curiosity. The main canyon floor had been designed to be accessible to everyone with various semi-flat loops that people could wander on. Thousands of redwoods, the tallest type of tree in the world, stretched high into the sky. Fog clung to the treetops, blocking out most of the sunlight, and I was able to remove my sunglasses. Asphalt paths and boardwalks curved around the centuries-old giant trees, one hollowed trunk large enough for people to walk inside. Green ferns and moss sprouted from the damp red-brown earth, clinging to tree trunks and branches. Birds chirped. Children laughed and ran down the path. The Redwood Creek trickled nearby. Hikers called to each other on the trails that spoked off into the hills. It would have been idyllic on any other day.

  I strolled through the park, letting my mental walls down to sense any Protectors who might be near. The hair rose on the back of my neck as I felt something, but I couldn’t pinpoint any threat. My footsteps echoed on the winding boardwalk, and my eyes scanned from side to side. Ten minutes later, I spotted Erin waiting for me near the bridge at Cathedral Grove as we’d discussed. The spot was far enough into the park to be secluded, but not so far that others wouldn’t be around. Nobody appeared to be lurking in the foliage.

  “Erin,” I called when I was a few feet away.

  She started and swung toward me on the path, her features locked in momentary panic until she recognized me. “Remy!”

  Erin leaned against the fence that bordered the trail, and I followed her lead. She’d dressed warmly, too, bundled up in clothes similar to mine. Her eyes flitted about, never seeming to land on any object for long.

  “Were you followed?” I asked.

  She shook her head, her blond ponytail swinging behind her. “No. They think I’m over at Delia’s.” She focused on me again and her mouth opened in surprise. “Wow. You look awful.”

  “I have a cold,” I lied. I’d been feeling better today, but then I usually did at the start of the day before I’d tired myself out. By the evening, I would be fading and forced to rest whether I wanted to or not.

  “Are you sure?” Before I could step back, she touched my hand. I jerked away, but too late. Her eyes widened with horror and sympathy. “Remy, it’s bad. You could die if you don’t see to that.”

  Apparently, I could hide my injuries from the Protectors I lived with, but not this Healer. I smiled to reassure her. “I’m working on it.”

  Her brow wrinkled. “I’d help you if I could, but I don’t have your power. I can’t heal things this serious.”

  I tugged on her ponytail. “Don’t worry. I need a little time to rest up and I’ll be able to heal myself.” Before she could question me more about the injuries, I asked, “You said you had news?”

  I gestured for us to move, and we strolled along the path. A whisper of someone’s energy floated in the air, and my head shot up. Anyone could have hidden on the hillside with all the foliage. We’d counted on the huge number of pedestrians walking the paths to keep them at bay. A flash of light caught my eye as I studied the hill above us, and I recognized the hair. Lottie tracked through the woods, keeping pace with us. That was who I’d sensed.

  Beside me, Erin didn’t seem to notice my unease. Her brown eyes shone with excitement. “It’s your dad. I don’t think he’s in California.”

  My legs jolted to a stop, unable to carry me forward. “Are you sure?” My hands fisted so that I wouldn’t reach for Erin.

  Her head bobbed in an excited nod. Over her shoulder, I glimpsed Asher and Lucy approaching from the opposite direction. They played their part, holding hands as they explored the woods. They stood a mere fifteen feet away. I met Asher’s eyes and he tensed when he saw my face. He raised a brow.

  “Where—”

  My question cut off when two things happened: Lottie whistled a warning from her lookout and two men approached from behind Asher and Lucy. The boardwalk clattered behind me, and I threw a glance over my shoulder and saw another man approaching. All three of them gave off Protector vibes as they boxed us in. It was a trap.

  Asher and I snapped into motion, working in unison. We whipped Lucy and Erin about so they stood between our backs, as we faced the oncoming threat from either side. We’d never be able to take out three of them with Asher’s weaker powers and my rotten health. Where was Lottie?

  The tall thirty-something man in front of me had the same thought. “Where’s the other one?” he snapped to his friends. His cultured British accent made him sound like he should be in a smoking jacket drinking cognac between seducing women like some second-rate James Bond. Black hair formed a deep V at his forehead where the hairline retreated at the temples. Dark whiskers shadowed his thin face, and dark blue eyes offset a narrow nose.

  “Didn’t see anyone else,” one of the others answered in a Cockney accent. In the brief glance I sent his way, I noticed he had a big birthmark on his forehead. His shorter partner wore a newsboy cap and shiny loafers. In fact, they were all dressed for a business luncheon, not a walk in the woods.

  Good, I thought. They hadn’t found Lottie. I fingered the knife in my pocket and pulled it out, wondering if I would be forced to use it again.

  Knockoff Bond dropped his gaze to the weapon. He stopped abruptly and held up both hands. “You don’t have to do that,” he said. His blue eyes wrinkled like I’d amused him.

  My eyes narrowed. “Something funny?” I asked.

  “You,” he said. “You actually think you can take down three of us?”

  I let my energy unwind in the air for a second and drawled, “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time. Do you remember what pain feels like? Because I would love to remind you.”

  A hand gripped the sweater at my lower back. Asher didn’t want me to push the stranger too far. He was probably right, but dealing with Dean had taught me never to back down. If you showed a predator a weakness, they would take advantage of it. He turned again to face the two men who had paused a few yards away. They seemed cautious but not poised to attack.

  Knockoff Bond had stepped closer while my attention was divided. “You don’t want to do that,” I told him.

  The knife didn’t scare him. That was obvious from the amusement still on his face. He said, “A cut wouldn’t be enough to stop me if I decided to put an end to this.”

  I trembled. Either rumors of my abilities were making the rounds of the Protectors, or these men worked for my grandfather. It made sense that Franc had sent them after Erin, guessing she would make contact with me again.

  “Maybe not,” I told him. “But that’s not the only injury I’d transfer.”

  His questioning gaze roved over me. I dared him to attack, almost wanted him to. My injuries would weaken these men at best, but it would feel good to use my abilities again. I let my energy swirl in the air longer than before. His face tensed with the pain that the hum of my power caused Protectors.

  He straight
ened and backed off a little. His entire demeanor changed from threatening to charming. “I’m not going to hurt you or your friends,” he said. “I’m here to talk, Miss O’Malley. Just talk.”

  He lied. Protectors wouldn’t let me go. My mind raced for a way to keep my friends safe, and I saw only one path. “Great. Let my friends go, and we can have a nice chat.”

  That hand at my back twisted my sweater harder, and I ignored it, widening my stance to stay balanced. Asher didn’t want to leave me on my own. Noted. Too bad. He’d promised to watch over my sister. If he could get away with her, he’d better damn well go.

  It was a moot point anyway. Knockoff Bond tsked and folded his arms. “I’m sorry. I can’t do that.”

  “Then we really don’t have anything to talk about, do we?”

  A movement behind him distracted me. My eyes couldn’t quite pinpoint what the blur was, and my first thought was that Lottie had arrived to rescue us. Knockoff Bond noticed my inattention and twisted toward the new threat. I launched forward, using my Protector speed. The blur swept past us, and I hoped Lottie rushed to help the others.

  All the hours of training I’d done with Gabe kicked in. I slammed my flattened hand into Knockoff Bond’s throat in a textbook throat strike, cutting off his ability to breathe. His hands shot to his neck, and I ducked down, sweeping my leg out to knock him off his feet. My next move would be to use the knife, but my fingers jerked open, the muscles refusing to grip the weapon. A wave of dizziness had me swaying like the trees as the knife clattered to the ground.

  My heart seized and beat erratically.

  Not now. Please, God. Not now.

  My vision blurred, and I landed flat on my back staring up at a canopy of green. I waited for the attack to come, completely helpless to protect myself. Shouting sounded from a distance, and I heard the thud of fists pounding skin and bones. I whimpered.

  Knockoff Bond’s face appeared over me, and for a second, he reminded me of someone. His fingers gripped my shoulder in a painful grasp, and the image faded before I could catch hold of it. He gasped for air and his eyes narrowed with rage as he glared down at me. “You should have listened to me. Come with me now.”

  “Never,” I choked out. I would never enslave myself to a bunch of Protectors. I pushed against him, but my hand fell to my side uselessly.

  “You don’t understand. We—”

  “Get away from her!” Gabe shouted.

  That couldn’t be right. Gabe was in Europe. It had to have been Asher. Knockoff Bond disappeared as if he’d been ejected through the air, and the sounds of fighting resumed. A steel band tightened around my chest when I tried to breathe. Lucy appeared beside me. I groaned when she forced me to sit up, the pain ripping through me. One of her arms slipped under my armpit, and she heaved me up to my feet with Erin’s help. We stumbled along the path with the two of them propping me up. Asher limped beside us, cradling an arm. From the angle it hung and the way his face blanched white with pain, I guessed it was broken.

  “Where’s Lottie?” I asked. We couldn’t leave her behind. She’d just saved my life.

  “Right here.”

  I glanced back, and there she was a few steps behind us. I frowned and would have stopped if Erin and Lucy hadn’t kept me going. “I don’t understand. Where did those Protectors go?”

  No way would they have let us go. Not with only one Protector left standing. The odds had been in their favor when I went down. Suddenly, the last of my strength disappeared. My entire body went limp, and I felt myself falling into a face-plant when Erin and Lucy lost their grip on me. I was yanked up at the last second and bodily lifted into the air.

  Gabe’s chiseled, grim features hovered over me. The most inane thought popped into my head; I’d forgotten how beautiful he was. “They took off after I bashed their leader’s face,” he said. “Be still, Remy. We’ll take care of you. You can rest now.”

  He cradled me against his chest, his strength obvious in the easy way he carried me. I believed him when he said I could rest. For the first time in ages, I entrusted myself to another and let go, drifting into the abyss of unconsciousness where the pain didn’t exist.

  CHAPTER NINE

  We broke into another house. I heard snatches of conversation. The consensus was that we shouldn’t return to our house until we understood how they’d found us. Lottie had apparently collected a list of empty residences in the vicinity that we could use as safe houses, and we headed to the closest one in Sausalito, a small artsy community that faced San Francisco across the bay.

  I didn’t notice much about the house, except that it was furnished. Gabe lowered me to the overstuffed brown suede couch, and the others sprawled on the floor or in chairs in the living room. Lottie shut the blinds in the front window, cutting off the sunlight. I closed my eyes in relief. My sunglasses had been lost in the fight, and my head was killing me. I focused my energy enough to steady my heart again. The ache between my eyes didn’t go away, but the room was dark enough that I could deal.

  I sat up slowly and took stock of our group. Lottie, Gabe, and Erin had apparently come through the fight without a scrape. Lucy had a cut on her forehead, and Erin knelt before her chair, already healing the minor injury. I wondered what she would think when she realized she was in a room with three Protectors. Most likely, she’d run home screaming, and the best we could hope for was that we would be long gone by then.

  Asher sat in an armchair by the fireplace, his long legs stretched out in front of him. His head rested against the chair’s back and he stared at me with an unreadable expression. Gabe sat beside me on the couch, his hip against mine. His deep brown hair had grown out to his nape, and long waves fell over his forehead. He shared Asher’s green eyes, angled bone structure, and proper accent, but he was larger and more muscular. His size used to scare me, but I’d gotten past that. His beauty, not so much. The man was sinfully handsome. I couldn’t look at him for more than a second. If I did, I would blush and there was no reason to. I didn’t think about him like that.

  Gabe refused to be ignored. “What the hell happened to you back there?”

  The room stilled as all attention swiveled to me. Dammit. Gabe never could let anything go.

  I stuck my chin in the air. “I’m fine.”

  “Bullshit,” he answered emphatically. “You went down before he laid a finger on you.”

  Erin shifted uncomfortably, and I glared at her with a silent warning to keep her mouth shut. She couldn’t help me, and I wouldn’t ask any of the others to give up their powers for me. Gabe wouldn’t let this go, though. I had to prove I was okay. I rose and locked my knees when I began to sway. I put one foot in front of the other and tossed a triumphant look at the group when I made it to Asher without stumbling. I sat at his feet, suddenly glad that the distance had been so short. I felt like a weak kitten.

  I reached for Asher, but Erin slid between us. “Let me,” she whispered in my ear.

  I didn’t argue with her. If I was honest with myself, I didn’t know if I could have healed Asher. It had been foolish to think I could. I moved back to give her room and listened to her soft voice telling Asher to put his guard down so she could heal him. A minute later, he groaned when the bone in his arm snapped into place. Erin moved away, her features tight with exhaustion. Unlike me, using her powers only wore her out. She didn’t have to take on the injuries she healed.

  A finger tipped my chin up. Asher had pressed forward in his chair, and I found myself staring up at him. “Are you really okay?” I opened my mouth and he added, “Please don’t lie.”

  My cheeks burned with embarrassment because I’d been caught. His gaze wouldn’t let me go, and I gave up. I shook my head.

  He grimaced, a muscle working in his cheek. “Since when?” he bit out.

  Since I tried to heal Laura. “A while,” I whispered. I almost died.

  I closed my eyes to escape him. He couldn’t hear me, and it made the ache in me spread. My heart tripped ag
ain, and I concentrated on getting it back to normal. Why couldn’t I heal this already? I was so sick of the headaches and the mini heart attacks. Lately, I used up all my energy acting like a freaking pacemaker.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Asher asked.

  “She just told you, man.”

  Gabe’s angry voice spoke from over me, and my eyes popped open. He wasn’t facing me, though. He was glaring at his brother, and he looked ready to thrash him. “It’s been two weeks since Laura died. You’ve been letting her walk around with her heart about to implode anytime. What the fuck is wrong with you? Why didn’t you help her? Any of you.”

  “Gabe . . .” I warned.

  He didn’t seem to hear me.

  “You tried to heal Mom?” Lucy asked. She stood by the coffee table, her mouth twisted with anguish.

  A sigh rattled through me. At last the truth was out there, but I didn’t feel the satisfaction I’d daydreamed about. Lucy’s shock added to the pain I’d been trying to shove down. As my sister, she should have known the answer to her question.

  My tone was bitter when I said, “Of course I did, Lucy. I loved her.”

  She stumbled back until her calves hit the coffee table and she abruptly sat on it. She crushed a hand to her mouth, obviously shaken, and her misery saddened me. I hadn’t wanted this. I hadn’t wanted to feel again.

  “How could you not help her?” Gabe repeated to Asher.

  He didn’t understand the expression that had come over Asher’s face, or the reason behind it. I did, and the bleak sorrow was too much for me to take.

  He didn’t know, Gabe.

  My thoughts finally broke through to Gabe. He crouched by me. “How could he not know?” he asked, confused. “Your pain is flashing all over your thoughts like a damned neon sign.”

  Five beats of my heart went by before realization swept over Gabe’s face.

  Asher pressed a hand to my cheek. It wasn’t an affectionate gesture, but a purposeful one. I sensed that he was testing me. Testing our bond. His eyes searched mine. I’m so sorry. The hope that he’d guessed wrong died, and his hand dropped to his side.