by Jaime Rush
Except for when she dreamed about him every now and then. Not the kind of dream where he actually came to her, just ordinary dreams where he touched her, and she woke up all hot and bothered.
Pope tilted his head, a puzzled expression on his face. “What am I feeling now from you?”
She was not going to explain sexual frustration to him. “Just annoyed, or I was annoyed when I wanted to see him, but I don’t want to see him anymore.”
“I’m not sure if that is a good thing or not.”
“It’s a good thing. I don’t kick my couch anymore or punch pillows.” She gave him a forced smile because she’d said too much. “I have a date tonight. A date with someone who hopefully hasn’t killed anyone or been hunted by the government or has any kind of psychic ability.”
“A date.” He nodded. “So you have no troublesome feelings for Cheveyo?”
“None at all. Just a lingering frustration, and only because I never found out why he couldn’t contact me. It’s like, you know, when you date someone once or twice and never hear from him again. You just wonder why.” She smiled. “Have you ever been on a date?”
“No. That’s never been part of my assignment here. Not my desire, as I see the chaos it creates in humans.”
She snorted. “Probably a good idea. You want to know about Cheveyo? I really can’t tell you all that much.”
“I need you to contact him. Your untroubled feelings for him will make that easier, right?”
“I don’t understand why you need me. Can’t you, like, teletransport to wherever or whoever? Or did you lose that ability?”
“My transport skills are still weak. Even when they were fully operational, I could not go to him. He’s different.”
Yes, he was. “He can turn into a panther. Did you know that? He did it in front of me once. It was freaky, sexy, cool, even if I am afraid of large animals with sharp teeth.” Pope’s mouth twitched slightly, making her replay the words she’d just said. “Anyhoo, he seems more advanced than any of us.”
“Indeed. Since he trusts you, I want you to bring him to me.”
Her chest tightened at the thought of contacting him. She hadn’t even tried, out of pure pride. If he couldn’t be bothered to contact her, why should she be the one to go begging him to come see her?
She shuddered. Cheveyo, damn him, wasn’t easy to forget, but she was sure trying. Taking a college program on esthetics, accepting a date with a guy who couldn’t do amazing, crazy things with his mind. She could pretend she was totally normal and that she loved her life the way it was.
No, not pretend that last part. She did love her life now.
So why was the prospect of seeing or even talking to Cheveyo pumping up her heartbeat?
“I’ll try, but he absolutely refused to even come down to the shelter and talk to Lucas, even though he’s his half brother. What do you want me to tell him?”
“It might be better not to tell him about me until you get him to our meeting place. I’ve tried to find him over the years, and I think he suspects I’m an enemy.” His mouth twitched again. “Use what you call here feminine wileys, if you must.”
Now her mouth twitched. “Wiles, you mean. Yeah, well, I don’t really have any of those.” People seemed to think that just because she was pretty, that she was (a) easy, (b) had tons of dates, or (c) was a man stealer. “If you think this will be easy because we have some psychic connection to each other, that doesn’t seem to mean anything to him. Or me,” she added. Anymore.
Pope merely gave her a Mona Lisa smile. “I think you’ll be able to bring him to me.”
Pope had confidence in her. Cheveyo had once told her she was stronger than she thought, and he’d been right.
“I’ll try. That’s all I can promise. Are you going to tell me why you’re having me summon him?”
His smile faded. “Do you want to be involved?”
“No.”
“Wise answer. Bring us together, and your part will be done.”
He left a twenty on the table, and they stood. His violet-blue eyes scanned the restaurant. “You walk out first. In case the assassin has found me, I don’t want him to know we’re linked in any way.” In a low voice he said, “You will need to be even more careful when we meet next.”
She blinked as an image flashed in her mind.
“That is where we’ll meet,” he said. “Speak not of it, not to Cheveyo, either. Just bring him to the location.”
She nodded, knowing where it was. “This is starting to sound scary again.” Scary, yes, but her heart was thrumming with adrenaline. Good God, she couldn’t actually miss the danger, could she? That would be sick. Sick.
“I’m doing everything I can to protect you. All of you. But I need Cheveyo’s help.”
She nodded. “I’ll make sure you get it.”
Yurek watched a blond woman walk out of the restaurant. She headed to the right, unraveling her long straight hair from its braid. Pope emerged a few seconds later, watching the woman for a moment. She looked back, and in that glance he saw a connection between them. Yurek was close enough to pick up on the woman’s emotions: an odd mix of excitement and trepidation. But he also picked up something from Pope. Was it . . . caring that came from him? Yes, he cared about the girl. Interesting. They weren’t supposed to have those feelings, and yet . . .
He also picked up something else from the girl. The Geo Wave, an almost electric sense whenever one of their kind met up with another. It shouldn’t be coming from the girl.
Intrigued, he followed her, making sure he wasn’t picking up Pope’s Wave. She was beautiful in Earth terms, like the women he saw in advertisements here: tall, full mouth, long legs in black, tight pants. Her bag matched her shoes and earrings.
Anyone who came from their dimension was warned not to get physically involved with the humans here. Mixing their blood, a bad idea.
People streamed past them, many tourists who were paying more attention to what was in the shop windows than where they were going. Some looked at him, at the handsome visage he had chosen for his costume here.
The woman stopped at an intersecting road, and he nearly bumped into her. She turned and looked at him, and he apologized. She gave him a quick, forgiving smile and turned forward again.
Yes, a beautiful woman . . . who was part Callorian, his species. Then the pieces clicked together. Pope had been coming to the Earth dimension for many years on various assignments. He was a valued dignitary, before he went Scarlett. He had obviously had an assignation with a human, and this lovely creature was the result. It explained why Pope cared about her.
The crowd surged forward again, and he continued to follow her. He smiled. Now that he worked for the Collaborate, his duties included eradicating anything troublesome on this dimension. This woman was troublesome. It would trouble Pope if his daughter was killed, and that would further weaken him. Yurek liked the idea of bringing down the last vestiges of the once powerful Pope.
By Jaime Rush
BURNING DARKNESS
TOUCHING DARKNESS
OUT OF THE DARKNESS
A PERFECT DARKNESS
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Tina Wainscott
Teaser excerpt copyright © 2011 by Tina Wainscott
ISBN 978-0-06-201885-4
EPub Edition © 2011 ISBN: 9780062041746
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and
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