Ignited

by Corrine Jackson

  His features softened. “You love him, Remy. I know that. I’m not asking you to stop.” He tugged me closer, his lips touching mine. And then he pulled back to say, “But if you could maybe arrange to not kiss him and promise to love me a little more, I would be okay with that.”

  I suppressed another laugh, shaking my head. “I do love you, Gabe.”

  “I know, Remington. I’ve just been waiting for you to figure it out.”

  The certainty in his voice bound me to him a little more. He’d been so sure of me, and it warmed me to my toes to know someone had that much faith in me. That he’d loved me enough to wait for me to come around to my feelings only made it sweeter.

  Gabe rolled to his back, taking me with him. “Is it too soon to ask for a favor?”

  I lifted my head to give him a suspicious look.

  He tugged the neck of his T-shirt slightly askew so I could see the edge of Lottie’s latest artwork. “She used permanent marker. It’s not washing off.”

  He looked sheepish, and I grinned. I laid my hand over his heart and “healed” the latest marker tattoo. Then I pointed at my lips and said, “I expect payment in kisses. At least seven or eig—”

  Later, much, much later, he held me while I tilted into sleep. I was almost disappearing into a dream when he whispered, “Psst. Read the marker.”

  I blinked and pulled away enough to peek inside my shirt. The writing wasn’t Lottie’s. It was Gabe’s. He’d penned a heart, and inside the heart it said GABRIELA LOVES REMINGTON.

  I dissolved into giggles that grew louder when Gabe insisted that he should probably check his artwork.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  In the morning, Gabe and Asher set out together. It had been Gabe’s idea. The two of them had been avoiding each other, but it would be difficult to continue that in a house with so many people. Gabe had given up his room to Asher to stay on the couch in the family room, but I don’t think anyone was fooled when he could never be found there. He had convinced Asher that they should get away from all the girls and go do manly stuff. Gabe had mentioned the gym, but I suspected they’d probably sneaked off to a pub for a Guinness.

  Lottie had griped about not getting to go with them, but she’d given up when Gabe produced a Sharpie and brandished it in her direction with a scowl. After lunch, Lucy, Erin, and I decided to spend the time training. Apparently, Asher had been working with Lucy for a while.

  “I’m tired of being the powerless one,” she said as we moved furniture in the family room. “Whenever the fighting breaks out, everyone scrambles to cover me because I’m so freaking helpless. After what happened in Muir Woods, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I asked Asher to teach me a few things, and we’ve been working together when we can.”

  It surprised me, but I was glad. Maybe a little hurt that Lucy hadn’t included me, but then she’d hardly been speaking to me then. “I should have suggested it sooner, Lucy. I know how it sucks to feel like you can’t fight back. I’m sorry I made you feel that way.”

  She shrugged off my apology. “You didn’t make me feel anything. I let you take care of me because I was scared. I want to pull my own weight now. I don’t want you to have to risk your life to save me. I want to save myself.” She turned around and saw the look on my face. “What?” she asked.

  I shook my head with a smile. “Nothing. It seems we’ve both been doing a lot of growing up.”

  Erin shoved a table to the side. She straightened and her eyes latched on to my chest. “Lottie strike again?” she asked.

  I glanced down and saw the edge of Gabe’s drawing showing above my tank top. The blush started at my chest and worked its way up to my ears. That was like waving a red flag at Erin and Lucy. They tackled me at once, tugging the neck of my shirt aside. They shared knowing glances.

  “Ahem. That doesn’t look like Lottie’s handwriting,” Lucy said.

  Erin suggested, “Need a hand healing that?”

  No way. I stuck my tongue out at them and zipped up my hoodie. “Shut up. Let’s get to work.”

  Since Erin and Lucy had begun working around the same time—and both lacked Protector blood—they were fairly matched in a fight. I stood to the side, instructing them as Asher or Gabe would. Lucy turned out to be a pretty great fighter. She had good instincts and could guess what her opponent would do next. When she’d thrown Erin for the third time, I stepped in.

  I took Erin’s place and dropped into a crouch. “Come on, Lucy. Try that with me. I want you to see what it will be like against someone bigger and stronger. You wouldn’t be able to throw a man off balance in the same way.”

  Lucy’s eyes took on a speculative glint. She gave too much away, and I guessed she planned to come at me with everything she had. I readied myself and waited. A second later, she swung out with her arm. She tipped forward too far, losing her center of balance. I used her weight against her, grabbing her arm and tugging her toward me. Instead of meeting resistance, she fell forward and I used her arm to flip her through the air. Too late, I realized that I’d put too much force into the move and I cursed. What might have tipped her over before sent her flying with the help of my newfound strength. I sped forward to keep her from hitting the wall, but her chin smacked into my head. We collapsed in a heap on the ground, both of us moaning.

  “Sorry, Lucy. I didn’t mean to throw you like that.”

  “I guessed that when you yelled ‘shit’ in my ear.” She touched her bloody mouth. “Ow. I bit my tongue when I headbutted you.”

  I scowled at the ceiling from where I sprawled. “I think I’m about to have the mother of all headaches.”

  Erin stepped forward, and I waved her over to Lucy. “Can you help her, Erin?”

  She nodded and knelt on the ground by my sister. I winced, rubbing my eyes. How was I going to know the limits of my abilities if the line kept moving? A week ago I couldn’t have thrown Lucy like that, but I hadn’t been so strong. My head throbbed, and I squinted, letting my energy unwind through me to see if I could heal the goose egg already forming on my scalp. I sensed Erin’s energy in the air, even though I wasn’t touching her. The monster perked up, and I thought, Quiet, beast. Nothing for you here.

  “Damn,” Erin said.

  I rolled my head toward her. She had a hand on Lucy’s arm, and she frowned at the blood seeping from my sister’s cut lip. “What’s wrong?”

  “My powers don’t seem to be working.”

  “What happened here?” Asher said, coming down the stairs. He walked over to Lucy, tipping her head up so he could examine the cut.

  Gabe entered the room behind him and crouched over me. “What’s up, Buttercup?”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Call me Buttercup again, and I break a finger.”

  He tapped my nose. “Violent today, aren’t we?”

  I stuck my tongue out at him, and his gaze dropped to my mouth. I snapped my mental wall in place so he wouldn’t hear what that did to me, while we were surrounded by others. His mouth curved in a promise that we’d talk about it later.

  “There!” Erin said. “Finally!”

  Purple sparks lit the air between Lucy and Erin and the cut on Lucy’s lip disappeared. Asher helped them both up. His gaze slid to his brother and me for a second, and his mouth compressed into a tight line. He saw me looking at him, and he forced a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. A pain in my chest throbbed, and I stared after him as he climbed the stairs with the girls.

  Fingers snapped in front of my face. Gabe gave me an understanding look, and I shrugged off the ache. It was what it was. Everyone had made their choices, and we would have to live with them.

  “Up with you!” Gabe said, pulling me to my feet. “Obviously you need training. If you’re on your back, you’re not doing it right.”

  I snickered at his unintentional innuendo.

  He shook his head. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Remington. We have work to do.” He stripped off his T-shirt and kicked off his shoes. His jeans rode
low on his hips, and my mouth watered like I’d discovered a dessert buffet. He smirked, and I guessed he’d done it on purpose.

  I smiled and unzipped my hoodie, throwing it toward the couch. His eyes latched on to the edge of his artwork on my chest above the tank top and his breath caught. I used his inattention to knock his feet out from under him. He landed on the floor staring up at the ceiling.

  “If you’re on your back, you’re not doing it right,” I observed.

  I danced out of his reach when he made a grab for me, and the game was on.

  “How did things go with Asher today?” I asked Gabe.

  We were in the kitchen. The two of us had been volunteered for kitchen duty for the night, which meant Gabe did the cooking and I would do the cleanup so that everyone would survive the meal without food poisoning. While he buzzed about the kitchen, pulling together something he’d called shepherd’s pie (which looked like Hamburger Helper topped with mashed potatoes), I sat on the kitchen counter to keep him company.

  “Awkward and painful,” he said, stirring vegetables into the ground beef and gravy. He shrugged. “So basically what I expected.”

  I felt for him. I wasn’t sure how to behave around Asher yet. While I wasn’t ashamed of Gabe, I didn’t want to flaunt things in front of Asher. We were stuck together and that meant we had to figure out a way to get past this.

  Gabe touched my hand. “We’re going to be okay. Give it time.”

  I smiled. “Did you put lima beans in that?” I asked, changing the subject.

  He set aside his spoon and walked over to cage me in between his arms. “Why? Have you got a beef with lima beans?”

  I smacked a kiss on his nose. “No. I like the way they pop in my mouth. They don’t taste great, but they have an awesome texture so they pass inspection.”

  He grinned. “You have a rating system for food?”

  “Of course.”

  “And which foods pass both the texture and taste inspection ?”

  “There’s really only one. Pop Rocks,” I lied, imagining the candy that exploded on your tongue.

  He shook his head. “That’s not a food. I’m realizing that most of your favorite meals can be classified as Fair Food.”

  I pondered that. “What do you mean?”

  “Fair Food. Foods that one would eat at a fair. I bet you love funnel cake.”

  A laugh burst out of me. “It’s like you can see into my soul.”

  His attention caught on my mouth, and I gripped the front of his T-shirt to tug him closer. We both groaned when my cell phone sounded off in my pocket. He took a step back so I could retrieve the phone.

  My heart stopped when I saw which number was on the screen. “It’s Seamus.”

  I answered and he wasted no time replying, “We have located your father.”

  My breath heaved on an involuntary sob, and Gabe rested a hand on my thigh to offer strength. “Please tell me he’s okay.”

  “He’s alive,” Seamus said in his thick Irish brogue.

  That could mean that my dad was really hurt. I couldn’t think about that, though. I had to focus on the fact that he was alive. “What now, Seamus?”

  I expected him to tell me the location and demand that I live up to my end of the bargain. After all, he’d found my father as promised. Retrieving him hadn’t been part of the deal.

  “The Morriseys are keeping him at their home just outside of the city. Tomorrow half the Morrissey family is going to be in London for a meeting with your grandfather. We go in then.”

  “We?” I asked.

  “Is your father not my kin, too?” he asked in a defensive tone. “We should plan to meet in the morning to make a plan.”

  “Gabe will come, too,” I said.

  “Fine,” he grumbled. “But your human friends stay behind. They’re a liability we can’t afford. Sean will be around to pick you up at nine.”

  He agreed so quickly that I guessed he’d known all along that I would be going in with at least one of the Blackwells. Asher and Lottie would stay behind to watch over my sister and Lucy. Everything would be set in motion tomorrow, and Gabe and I would have to be ready for them to pick us up in the morning.

  We hung up, and I turned to Gabe. “Tomorrow. We go get him tomorrow. Sean’s going to pick us up in the morning so we can figure things out.”

  Gabe slipped his arms around me. I’d thought I would feel happy or excited, something more than the numbness settling over me. We’d waited so long for some kind of news, and now that we had it, I didn’t know how to react. Tomorrow would change everything. We would find my father, whatever condition he was in, and then we’d decide where to go from there. Would he hate me? What had they told him about me? How would he react when he found out about Laura? Dread formed a pit in my stomach at what was to come when he found out she’d died.

  “Remy?” Gabe touched my chin. “Focus on the rescue. We can handle the rest later.”

  I nodded. He was right, of course. What was the point of jumping ahead six steps? It could get me killed if I wasn’t paying attention to the here and now. I pushed off the counter and Gabe stepped back to let me. “Let’s go tell the others.”

  “I want to go,” Lucy said.

  We sat in the family room. Erin, Asher, and she had been playing Call of Duty when I found them. Gabe had gone to find Lottie so I was on my own. I understood Lucy’s desire to be there when we found our father, but I couldn’t let her go.

  “You can’t,” Asher told her before I could. I looked over at him in surprise. His mouth had tightened into an angry line. “None of us can,” he added, taking in Lucy and Erin. “The three of us would be in the way.”

  He expelled a frustrated breath and dropped his head back against the couch.

  Lucy cried, and I knelt in front of her chair. “I’m sorry, sis, but he’s right. These men are dangerous, and you wouldn’t be able to defend yourself.”

  “But the training,” she protested.

  I shook my head. “Think about how I hurt you today. I wasn’t even using all of my strength. And the Protectors are faster and stronger. You can’t go. Dad would never forgive me if you were hurt, too.”

  She squeezed my fingers. “Promise you’ll bring him back.”

  “I’ll do my best,” I promised.

  Gabe and Lottie appeared, coming down the stairs together. She walked to the couch and perched on the arm next to Asher, while Gabe stood near me.

  “I have to admit, I’m excited,” Lottie said, flipping her hair. We all stared at her like she was crazy, and she added, “I’m sick of waiting around for something to happen. I want to be doing something.”

  Asher’s jaw tightened another degree, but he didn’t say anything.

  “Excited isn’t exactly what I’m feeling, but I get what you mean,” I said in a wry voice. “Erin? Are you okay?”

  She hadn’t said a word. In fact, she’d been quiet most of the day. Her gaze didn’t quite meet mine and she flushed as if she felt guilty. I wanted to tell her that it was okay to be relieved that she didn’t have to go. I wouldn’t have if I could have avoided it.

  She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Sure. I’m good. What can I do here to help?”

  The discussion turned to preparations and what had to be done by the morning. Weapons would be needed, and we wanted to have a backup plan in case Seamus and his men let us down. An hour later, we called it quits, deciding the best thing we could do was try to get a good night’s sleep—a thing I feared would be impossible.

  Lucy and Erin hugged me before following Lottie up the stairs. Gabe looked at me, and I motioned for him to go on. I needed to talk to Asher. He gave a small nod and went upstairs.

  “Is this where you tell me you’re sorry that I have to stay behind, too?” Asher said, his voice bitter.

  I sat on the couch beside him. “No. This is where I beg you to keep my sister and Erin safe.” My answer surprised him, and his eyes searched my face. “I’m afraid. If
I don’t make it back . . .” I choked on the words and had to begin again. “If I don’t make it back, I need you to promise you’ll look after them.”

  Asher cursed under his breath, and the use of another language almost made me smile. “Don’t talk like that. You’re going to make it out just fine.”

  He turned away, but I grabbed his hand, pressing it between mine. “Promise,” I begged. “I can’t go if there’s a chance something will happen to my sister.”

  I didn’t say what we both knew. If I didn’t make it back, most likely Gabe wouldn’t, either. He would never leave me behind. The gravity of what I asked didn’t escape me. It wasn’t fair to ask this of Asher, but there was no one else I trusted.

  “Please,” I said again.

  His hand moved to grip mine. “You have my word. Nothing will happen to them.”

  “Thank you,” I breathed.

  “I wish I could save your father for you,” Asher said.

  “I know,” I whispered.

  The silence grew awkward, and he waved me on, a sad look in his eyes. “Go on. I’m fine. You need to rest.”

  I left him there, knowing that no matter what I said, he would beat himself up because he wasn’t strong enough to protect me like he wanted.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  A sound woke me out of a deep sleep. Before I could move, Gabe pressed a hand to my arm. He touched a finger to his lips in warning. Someone was breaking into my room from the courtyard, and they were being very quiet about jiggling the sliding glass door. The room was oddly still and silent.

  I hesitated to drop my guard to discover if the stranger was a Protector. If I did, he or she would be able to sense me and know that I was different from other Protectors. The person—a man, I could see now—pushed the door open in micro movements. Any second now he would be inside the room. We could wait for him to enter and attack, or we could attack first. Indecision held me hostage. Then the man entered, and I could see a face.

  Xavier. I would never forget his features. Black hair, olive skin, the lean build. He’d tortured me for two days, suffocating me and cutting me. He’d fired the gun that I thought killed Asher, and he’d been one of his torturers, too. Xavier had been there the day my father was kidnapped, and he’d been in the car that had struck my stepmother.