by Jen Talty
“So you saw us standing outside in the driveway? If we’re crunched for time, why didn’t you come get us?” Hunter asked.
“Ms. Riley told me you’d have a vision and to let you watch it.” Kim handed them a manila envelope. “Don’t open this until you’re in a safe place.”
“What is it?” Alexis asked as she examined the package.
“I don’t honestly know,” Kim said.
“Where is Ms. Jacobs?” Hunter stepped around the mahogany desk. Not a single picture anywhere in the office. Nothing personal anywhere, other than the books, but even those looked more like they were on display only for show with their old-fashioned, thick leather bindings.
“I don’t know that either.”
“What do you know?” he asked.
“I know that the Elite Brotherhood is closing in on the truth, and she’s gone into hiding.” Kim closed a laptop and unplugged it.
“She wrote about them in her book,” Alexis said. “A group of psychics who want to harness psychic energy. They want to channel it, tapping into people’s auras.”
“Isn’t that what the North Koreans were doing with me?” Hunter rubbed his chest. He knew there were no burn marks left from the electric volts that shocked his body, but he remembered the pain all too well.
“The Elite Brotherhood have people all over the globe, but only a select few know what their real agenda is, and that’s to make sure the quadruplet brothers and their counterparts are captured.” Kim handed Hunter the laptop. “Ms. Jacob wanted you to have this. She said it has some information that might help protect you from the Elite Brotherhood.” She waved her hand toward the door. “It’s time for you to go.”
“Wait. I have—”
Alexis interrupted his statement when she grabbed his biceps with a death grip. Her eyes rolled toward the back of her head.
“What’s wrong?” He shook her gently, trying to snap her out of wherever her mind had just wandered, but instead he was drawn into her mind.
“They’re coming,” she said as she sucked in a deep breath. “I can see them. They are by the park.”
“I see them too.” Hunter held her tightly as an image of a car racing down the road came into his mind’s eye.
“I don’t think it’s looking into the future but seeing the present.” Alexis blinked her eyes open. She shrugged his hands off her and let out a long breath.
“I think we should go. Are you going to be okay?” Hunter asked Kim as he held Alexis with his free hand.
“I have instructions. I’ll be fine.” Kim opened the front door. “By the way, your girlfriend has a fiancée. Ms. Jacobs thought you’d want to know, considering.”
“Good to know,” Alexis said with a bright smile.
He let out a slight chuckle as he raced down the path, Alexis at his side, her strength gaining with every step. “Up you go.”
“The car should be coming around the corner,” Alexis said.
Hunter leapt into the driver’s seat and revved the engine before slamming the gearshift and peeling out of the driveway. He took the next three turns out of the neighborhood a little too hot and a tad too tight. The smell of burnt rubber filled the inside of the vehicle.
“Over there.” Alexis pointed down the main drive. “That’s the car, but that’s where we saw it in the vision.”
“Having the ability to see both past and present could be a major advantage, only it seems we can’t tell the difference,” he mumbled, frustration fused into every word.
“I’m going to open the envelope.” Alexis peeled back the metal clasp and pulled out a couple of papers.
“What is it?”
“A handwritten letter and three birth certificates.”
Hunter swallowed. “Only three?”
Alexis rested her hand on his thigh. “Let me read the letter.”
“To my dear sweet boys,
If you are reading this letter, then we are closer to a future where we can all be together again. This letter pains me because I know some of you have suffered great emotional and physical pain. Your father and I made the mistake of trying to change the future and because we did, you all have paid a price. That’s why we had to let you go and let the future roll out as the cosmos intended. Only, if we hung back and did nothing, then the Elite Brotherhood would have butchered us all. So, the fact you are reading this warms my heart because it means the vision of all of you around the sacred table of your ancestors will emerge as truth.
Things will happen that make no sense at first. Pay attention to past, present, and future visions. Each one will reveal something important. I wish I could tell you more.
Hunter. I know Alexis is reading this to you.”
“What the fuck?” Hunter hit the brakes, pulling the SUV into an empty parking lot. “How the hell does she know that?”
“Only a couple more sentences. Let me finish.” Alexis squeezed his thigh.
“I’m so sorry about what happened last week. I’ve never, in all the years I’ve known him, seen your father so distraught. We planned for your capture. We did what we could to protect you without changing the natural course of the future the world is supposed to see. I will be saying sorry for as long as I live for that.
Now. You’re minutes away from being at my house as I write this. I’ve held back one birth certificate. You all have to find each other on your own. I can’t make it happen. I’ve seen potential futures if I do, and it doesn’t end well.
Giving you all up was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I wanted to be a mother to you, but the only way we could protect you was to do what the original Collective Order had predicted.
Love, Riley (or Mom)”
“I want to see the birth certificates.” Hunter’s mind filled with a thick haze, making it difficult to focus. He took the official documents between trembling fingers. He laid all three out on his lap and the center console.
“Your adoptive parents all named you what your parents had,” Alexis said in a soothing voice.
“Makes me wonder if they handpicked our parents.”
“Chad wasn’t adopted until he was like twelve.” Alexis tapped one of the papers. “He was born first.”
“Then the unknown brother, followed by Brett, and then me.”
“You were all born healthy, though a tad small,” Alexis said.
He gathered the papers up and handed them back to Alexis. He couldn’t fight the concept of the Collective Order if he wanted to, and he hadn’t needed to see those papers to know the truth.
But he was glad to have them.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine,” he said, rolling his neck.
“It’s been a lot to take in between being one of the predicted four brothers and finding out your girlfriend is engaged to marry someone else.”
A quiet laugh erupted from his lips. “The Collective Order is a lot to take in, but the latter, well, let’s just say I don’t have to feel guilty now about doing this.” He palmed her cheek as he brushed his lips gently across hers, increasing the pressure with each tender movement.
A car horn startled him, ending the kiss way too soon.
She raised her fingers to her slightly parted lips. “You’re a really good kisser.”
“You’re not so bad yourself. Now we should get back to your place before one of my newfound brothers sends out the cavalry looking for us.”
4
Alexis lifted her feet, resting them on the ottoman in her family room. She glanced over her shoulder, making sure Hunter and his brothers had indeed remained in the kitchen before raising her slice of pizza and devouring half of it in a single bite. “Oh, my God. This is sooooo good.” Closing her eyes, she licked the grease dribbling down her fingers.
“What is your problem about eating in front of men?” Savanah plopped herself down on the other side of the sofa.
“It’s not that I can’t eat in front of men, it’s that I can’t eat like this.” Alexis tore off a huge chu
nk and chewed on it with her mouth gaping open.
“Gross,” Savanah muttered. “Anyone hear from Willow?”
“She’s following up with the license plate number I got from my premonition.” Alexis smiled, sitting up a little straighter. She’d never been one to boast about her ability to heal, but she also never shied away from it. As a kid, she’d get into trouble for finding random strangers on the street and doing whatever she could to ease their suffering. Her parents worried about what people would think and if they would treat her differently.
But deep down, their real concern had been about her psychic energy being sucked out by trying to heal the terminally sick.
“You know, Chad used to only get premonitions minutes before they happened,” Savanah said. “But he’d been pushing down his abilities for so long, and if you don’t use them, you lose them.”
“I don’t think it really works that way, but channeling a vision is a lot harder than remote viewing,” Hazel said from her perch on the recliner. “I’m worried about Willow. When she left, she mumbled something about giving us all time to get to know our new significant other while she racks her brain on who the fourth brother could be.”
“I just hope she doesn’t do something crazy, like going off by herself to search. She can be so impulsive,” Savanah said as she reached across Alexis to snag another slice of pizza.
Hazel tossed her head back with a roar of laughter. “That’s rich coming from you.”
Savanah waved a dismissive hand. “Perhaps, but I don’t carry an assault rifle wherever I go.”
Alexis’ heart swelled. She couldn’t imagine what life would be like without living with her sisters. They had been thick as thieves for their entire lives. She never felt alone and when she’d been scared, she’d always had the comfort of all of her sisters loving arms. But things were changing and while she accepted her role, she wasn’t quite ready to have a man in her life full-time.
“I have a hard time believing Mallard is on vacation.” Alexis brought the conversation back around to their current problem.
General Mallard had gone missing.
Well, not missing, according to the Navy, but no one could get ahold of him and that made Alexis pause.
“I think Mallard and Riley are together.” Hazel waved a chicken wing in the air. “But what’s the end game? I mean, we took down a North Korean psychic terrorist cell and saved Hunter. So, why are they hiding from us?”
“Whatever their reasons, the Koreans were only a small part of the Elite Brotherhood.” Alexis wiped her fingers on a napkin. She twirled her hair, letting the long strands slip between her fingers. Most would consider it a nervous habit, but she did it when she was deep in thought. It helped her categorize all the information floating about inside her head. “We need to find out more about that group and what their agenda really is.”
“It’s too bad Riley didn’t discuss them more in the book.” Hazel let out a long breath. “It’s not like she and Mallard didn’t see all this coming.”
“We don’t know exactly what they saw or know.” Alexis reached for another slice of pizza. Folding it in half, she shoved most of it in her mouth.
“I can’t believe she’s the quadruplets’ mother and lived right down the street from your boyfriend’s girlfriend’s house,” Savanah said.
“He’s not my boyfriend.” Alexis bit down on her bottom lip to keep from smiling.
“Yet,” Hazel said.
“It’s more disturbing that General Mallard has been tracking the boys from the get-go. I mean, Chad had a crappy childhood being bounced around from one foster home to another until middle school. Pretty shitty if you ask me.” Savanah didn’t often sound bitter about anything, but when it came to Chad and what he went through as a kid, her claws came out.
“I’m sure they both have their reasons.” Alexis held her own bitterness for the torture Hunter had to endure. She could still hear his cries echoing in her head. But that was in the past, and they had to focus on fulfilling the prophecy of the Collective Order. She glanced at her smart watch, hoping to see a text from Willow.
Nothing.
“Alexis is right,” Savanah said. “Riley mentioned in her book that as the brothers come together, their collective energy would create fully developed abilities in each other, as well as us. Imagine if that kind of psychic aura got in the hands of the wrong people.”
“That brings us back to Willow and finding the fourth brother. Once all of us have been joined, the Collective Order will be reinstated, and it will be near impossible to strip any of us of our talents.” Hazel had always been the voice of reason in the family. The glue that held them together when their parents died.
“Might not be able to take them away, but they were trying to suck the psychic right out of Hunter’s body,” Alexis said, swallowing the rancorous bile that bubbled to her throat, reminding her of what burning flesh felt like even though she’d never experienced it firsthand.
“Willow has been trying to project to whoever the fourth brother is, but she’s not getting anything back,” Savanah said. “So has Chad, Brett, and now Hunter. They can’t find anyone either.”
“Maybe he’s supposed to find us.” Alexis leaned back and stared at the ceiling, hoping maybe a vision of some kind would come to her. Most of her life she’d spent healing people. She’d always believed it to be one of the most important gifts any psychic could have, but she secretly envied all of her sisters and their talents. So, to be able to channel Hunter’s ability to see the past provided a level of excitement she hadn’t anticipated.
Or maybe it was Hunter who roused her in ways she’d only imagined.
“Can you hear me?” she projected to Hunter, hoping that her sisters hadn’t picked up her signal. Biting down on her lower lip, she tried to hide her amusement at her own thoughts.
“Loud and clear,” Hunter’s voice filled her mind and tickled her soul. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes. Just wondering if this still worked.”
“What are you smiling about?” Hazel asked with a wicked grin, as if she knew Alexis had been communicating with Hunter.
Heat rose to Alexis’ cheeks.
“She’s thinking about Hunter.” Savanah laughed.
Alexis rolled her eyes. “What are you guys still doing in the kitchen?”
“Trying to make heads or tails of the information on the computer, eating pizza, and male bonding. It’s weird to all of a sudden have brothers.”
“Well, you all can join us in the family room.”
“Aww, you miss me, and I’m not even out of the house. How cute.”
“He is pretty damn sexy.” Savanah winked. “He’s got more of a boy next door look to him, but he’s sure easy on the eyes.”
“Eye your own man,” Alexis said, though she hadn’t meant to say the words out loud.
“Speaking of my man. I think you both should know I’m moving in with Chad. This place is kind of crowded now that Brett has moved in, and I’m going to assume Hunter will be resting his head here as well.”
Alexis choked on her pizza. “Let’s not rush things. Even though his girlfriend is engaged to someone else, they haven’t officially broken up.”
“Wow. That’s complicated.” Hazel waved her beer in the air. “But easily fixed and since she’s obviously moved on, giving him the freedom to do the same, I see no point in putting off your union.”
“I’m not ready to share my bed.” Alexis chugged half her beer with a scrunched nose. Not her go-to drink, but it was the only alcohol in the house, and she needed a little mind-numbing.
“He’s got to sleep somewhere,” Hazel said as she waggled her brows.
Alexis patted the sofa. “This is quite comfortable.” Butterflies filled her stomach. She’d never had a lasting relationship and certainly never had one of her few boyfriends spend the night. Nor did she stay over at their place. She never wanted to do the walk of shame, so she always snuck out long before the morning
hours. Her sisters had often teased her about her lack of interest in men. It wasn’t that she wasn’t interested, she just didn’t have time. School was more important.
She also had fully believed that she and her sisters were half of the Collective Order, which meant destiny would find her.
“You’re not seriously going to make him sleep on the couch?” Savanah tossed her wadded-up napkin on her paper plate and set it on the coffee table. “If that’s the case, he can have my room.”
“Why don’t you let Hunter and me figure out things for ourselves. Both of you had past relationships with your other half. Hunter and I shared only a few minutes of me healing him. And need I remind you that at the time, I was a kid and he a grown man.”
“Barely a grown man,” Savanah said. “And so not the point. We are the Collective Order whether we like it or not.”
Alexis opened her mouth, but quickly snapped it shut as Chad strolled into the room carrying a stack of papers. “This is what we’ve printed out that makes sense.” He waved them in the air as Brett and Hunter entered the room.
“The rest is in a foreign language or code of some kind,” Hunter said as he eased onto the sofa. His warm skin brushed against her.
“I’ve got a linguist from the Perception Project working on cracking it.” Brett took a seat on the floor in front of Hazel while Chad handed out the papers.
“What is all this?” Alexis thumbed through the documents, trying to take her focus off the sexy man with his arm behind her.
“We believe some are sections that didn’t make it into Riley’s book. Some are notes about her research into the history of the Collective Order. And then there is a list of three men,” Hunter said. “I know one of them and that’s Theo Knox. He helped Karl Homer kill my team.”
Alexis squeezed his thigh. The sadness of losing his buddies bubbled from his aura.
“Another name, Caleb Snow, I’ve met before. A bit of a prick, as I recall,” Chad said.
“And the final name is Justin Green, who I thought was killed in the mission that left me for dead,” Brett said. “I’m questioning that now. I’ve sent all the names to Willow to do some research.”