White walls, tiled floor and bright florescent lighting. She walked down a long hall. Through plate glass windows, she saw technicians in white coats frozen in place as they worked in their labs. High-tech equipment and flat panel screens crowded the tabletops.
“Oh God,” Bay choked out.
Mara swiveled. In the lab across the hall, she saw three dead bodies laid out on silver tables. Two men and a woman.
The time thief pressed a hand to the glass. “I knew her. She was a time thief.”
Mara stared at the woman’s lifeless face and lank brown hair. Surgical scars peeked out from beneath the edge of the white sheet covering her body.
Another woman Leven had destroyed. Mara pushed open the door.
“Mara, no,” Cal hissed.
She strode to the bench and gently lifted the sheet over the woman’s face. “I’m sorry we couldn’t help you. I hope you’ve found some peace now.” She paused, sadness a crushing pain. Then she spied the notations on the adjacent computer screen. “God, Cal, look at this.”
He leaned over her shoulder. “Fuck. Leven’s scientists are trying to create anomalies.”
So far they were failing. Mara looked at the dead woman again. That meant more anomalies would become lab rats until they succeeded.
“He wants an army,” Cal said.
“Why? What made him so evil?”
“Leven had a bad past,” Sean said from the doorway. “Doesn’t excuse what he does, but his father…Leven’s childhood was beyond bad.”
“It doesn’t give him the right to do this.” Mara swung at the computer screen, sending it crashing to the floor. “We have to do something.”
“Cate’s our priority.” Cal grabbed Mara’s arm and steered her out of the room. “But we’ll stop this, I promise.”
And Callahan was a man who kept his promises.
She nodded and they continued deeper into the complex. Toward the end of the hall was a heavy metal door with no window. Cal ripped the nearby electronic lock panel off the wall, then opened the door.
Mara pressed the back of her hand to her mouth and swallowed desperately. Oh, no.
Cate Hartmann was chained to a chair. Her pale blonde hair hung limply around a once-pretty face that was now sallow, her blue eyes sunken. She’d fought against her shackles and dried blood caked around the deep wounds on her wrists and ankles.
Two men knelt at her feet. Both had their mouths open in silent screams, terror etched so deep on their faces it was hard to look at.
But what horrified Mara most was the fact that Cate was smiling.
“Bay? Free her,” Cal said.
Bay nodded and moved to the soul stealer. She pressed a hand to the woman’s shoulder.
Cate snapped back to life. Confusion flickered over her face. Her gaze ran over the men in front of her and then to Bay. Her blue eyes were wild, like those of an abused animal about to shy. They moved past Bay to land on Mara.
Mara moved closer, one hand outstretched. “Cate, its Mara Ross.”
The blonde blinked slowly but no recognition showed.
Mara took another step. “We’re here to get you out.”
Cate closed her eyes. Her breathing turned fast and uneven. “You shouldn’t have come.”
“I promised you sanctuary. I’m going to take you to Haven.”
The soul stealer shook her head. “Leave me.”
Cal moved up beside Mara. “Ms. Hartmann, I’m Callahan. There’s a place for you at Haven. We can help you.”
A wild laugh burst out of the woman. Shocked, Mara stepped back. What the hell had Leven done to her?
Cate’s head fell forward. “Just leave me.” An agonized whisper.
No, Mara wasn’t going to let Leven win. “It’s going to be okay. I know what you’ve been through—”
Another laugh. Her head came up and something burned deep in the woman’s eyes. Something that froze Mara’s lungs.
“You know nothing.” Another laugh. “I want you leave me because I want to stay.”
***
Cal saw shock bloom on Mara’s face. He wanted to comfort her, but he knew she wouldn’t accept it from him.
Instead he turned to the woman whose fight he understood far too well. “Cate?”
The blonde turned her head. He saw the battle raging in her eyes. The two halves of her tearing each other apart.
He stepped closer and crouched beside her. “It feels good doesn’t it?”
Behind him, Mara made a noise but he ignored her.
Cate blinked. “Yes…”
“Your entire life you’ve fought not to use your power, not to kill. But now you’ve been allowed to—”
“It feels so good.” A sob tore from Cate’s throat. “I know it’s wrong, I don’t want to be a killer…”
But it was denying a part of yourself. Cal had been in Cate’s place once. Like an addict, once you’d tasted the pleasure of using your skill, you slid down a very slippery slope. All you longed for was your next hit.
Cate’s sobs filled the room, her wild gaze running over the men in front of her. Her chest shuddered with each cry. “I hate myself. I hate what I am.”
Cal placed one hand over hers on the armrest. Squeezed. “I understand.” Then he looked up at Mara.
Their gazes clashed. She stared at him without blinking and he saw the shimmer of tears in her eyes.
He didn’t expect her to change her mind about him, but he hoped she could at least understand. Comprehend the darkest heart of him.
“I know how you feel. I promise I can help you. Haven can help you.”
Cate lifted her head. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “Really?”
“It’ll be hard, but yes.”
She bit down on her lip. Then she looked over his shoulder. “Mara? Will you help me?”
Mara crouched beside Cal. Her thigh brushed his. “I’ll do everything I can.”
“We need to go,” Bay said, voice shaky. “I won’t be able to hold time much longer.”
“Cate, I need your answer.” Cal’s fingers moved to the chains.
The soul stealer nodded. “Yes.”
He worked on the cuff on her left wrist. Mara moved to the other side. Her hand hovered over the chains for the briefest seconds then she removed the cuff. Cate slumped forward.
“She’s too weak to walk.” He knew she couldn’t hold her own weight. “I’ll carry her.”
With Cate’s slight weight in his arms, he headed out. Mara strode beside him and Bay and Sean led the way. It wasn’t long before they stepped back into sunshine and warmth. Cate moaned a weak protest and closed her eyes.
They headed for the trees. Halfway across the clearing, Cal saw Bay stagger. Sean grabbed her and helped her onward.
A pang shot through Cal. What was it like to have someone there to support you? Someone to hold you up when you lost strength. Unconsciously he glanced sideways.
Mara was watching him. “They make a good team.”
“Yeah, they do.”
She dragged in a deep breath. “Cal, I—”
“Hurry.” Sean’s shout cut her off. “Bay can’t hold the steal any longer.”
Shit. They hadn’t reached the trees. Cal pushed harder.
Time snapped back into place. Birds chirped from the trees and the sounds of the plantation echoed around them.
Shouts sounded behind them. Cal gritted his teeth and kept going. They’d been noticed too quickly. Leven had been waiting for them.
Shots rang out.
Bullets hit the dirt around them. Ahead, Sean stumbled.
“You’re hit,” Bay yelled.
“I’m fine.” He gripped Bay harder and blood poured down his calf but his grim face said he wasn’t going to stop.
Cal hitched Cate higher. “We’ll try and lose them in the trees.”
They reached the dappled shade of the palm trees and headed for the truck.
Then Cal realized Mara was missing. “Mara?”
He spun, frantic. She’d been right beside him. The image of her lying with a bullet wound struck him like a punch.
“No!” Bay pressed a hand to her mouth. “Where is she?”
He couldn’t hand Cate to Sean. Damn it. They hurried to the truck and he quickly maneuvered Cate into the vehicle.
Cal looked at Sean. “Five minutes. If I’m not back, get Cate to the plane.”
The ex-Navy SEAL’s jaw worked but he gave a reluctant nod.
Cal ran. Faster than he’d ever run in his life. He raced through the undergrowth.
Then he heard a deep voice that made his blood freeze.
“Ms. Ross, I’ve been looking forward to killing you for a long time.”
Gabriel Leven.
Cal skidded to a stop. He wanted to rush in. Wanted to break every rule he’d ever learned about combat. Most of all he wanted to send out a mental blast, but he couldn’t with Mara in the middle of the target zone.
Drawing in a breath, he peered through the foliage.
Leven’s back was to Cal and he was flanked by four armed guards, two each side. The men held their guns trained on the woman standing in front of them.
Mara gave a short laugh. “You can’t want to kill me anywhere near as much as I’d like to kill you.”
Damn her, she was going to get herself killed. She stood there with her chin up, her hip cocked and her eyes blazing with hatred.
“Yet here I am. Alive.” There was a smile in his voice. “Despite the fact I made you an excellent killer.”
Mara’s face blanched. “You aren’t worth it, you scumbag.” She took a step forward. “I won’t kill again. Even to take your miserable life.”
The guards moved toward her. “Stop,” one barked.
She halted and arched an eyebrow. “I prefer taking away the people you treat like animals instead.”
“Yes. You have caused me quite a bit of annoyance. And now you’ve taken away one toy I’m not ready to lose.”
“Cate’s long gone. You’ll never touch her again.”
“We’ll see.” Leven gestured with one hand. “For now, I’m going to enjoy watching you die.”
One guard moved forward. He pressed his pistol to Mara’s chest.
Cal’s hands clenched into fists. There was only one way to save her life. To save her, he’d have to hurt her. He stared hard at Mara and slowly moved out of the undergrowth.
Her gaze flickered to him. He tapped his head.
She nodded. No hesitation. She knew what he was inside, what he could do, but trust shined in her eyes.
He hated what he had to do next.
The mental blast hit the group. All of them dropped to the ground, moaning.
Cal sprinted to Mara. He’d kept the blast low enough to disable them but not knock them out. Tears brimmed in her eyes, but she was already trying to sit up. He pulled her into his arms and stood.
He paused by Leven. The man was writhing in the dirt. His usually immaculate hair was mussed, his face pinched.
Another small mental punch and Cal could kill him. Scramble his brains and end the terror he caused. The darkness in Cal rose up, his power begging to be let loose.
“No.” Mara gripped his arm.
“Why not? Payback. For you, Cate, Bay and all the others he’s hurt.”
“Because you aren’t him. Because despite everything they’ve done to us, we’re human. We aren’t killers.”
Cal sighed. He was a killer. She just wouldn’t accept that.
But for her, he’d grant her any request.
He met Leven’s gaze. “You come near any anomalies again, I will kill you.”
The man’s eyes widened then he looked away. Satisfied, Cal moved back into the trees. Mara closed her eyes, her lashes dark against her cheeks. His arms tightened. Once again, he’d hurt her.
When they reached the truck, he scowled at Sean. “You should have left.”
“Knew you’d make it.”
Cal set Mara in the back seat with Cate and Bay. He jumped in behind the wheel while Sean slid into the passenger seat. The man had a makeshift bandage strapped around his calf. It was soaked with blood.
“Let’s get out of here.” Cal wrenched the truck into a tight turn.
Moments later they were on the cracked and bumpy highway headed for the provincial capital and the private airstrip where they’d left the jet.
Cal looked in the rearview mirror and saw Mara with her arm around Cate. When green eyes met his, he let his gaze trace her face. He memorized curves he’d never caress again, locked the images away along with the feel and taste of her.
He wished things could be different. That he was just a simple mind raider or even just a normal human being. But he knew better than most how pointless wishes were.
Instead, he’d focus on the one thing certain to keep his control in check—Haven and the people who needed his help.
Ever since he’d been changed in that lab long ago, ever since the first time he’d used his skills to kill, he’d known that he would be alone forever.
Chapter Ten
Moonlight spilled across the water like liquid silver. Cal stood on the sand, the nighttime breeze washing over his bare chest.
But the calm he usually found on Haven was missing.
He breathed deeply, wanting desperately to feel some peace, but too much stirred through him. He’d left a distraught, screaming Cate Hartmann with Gage. She was displaying classic withdrawal symptoms and they’d had to sedate her to keep her from hurting herself or someone else. Cal knew Gage—with his patience, silent strength and vast intelligence—wouldn’t give up until he’d healed her.
Then there was Mara.
She’d spent the plan ride recovering from his blast and after they’d arrived at Haven, she’d disappeared. Cal didn’t even know if she was still on the island. She came and went as she pleased, refusing to be caged by anyone or anything.
He kicked at the sand. He’d known—always known—he could never keep her. He’d just never realized how much losing her would hurt.
Sensing someone behind him, he turned. Mara stepped out of the shadows.
His pulse kicked up but he made sure nothing showed on his face. She wore a loose dress of turquoise blue that hit her above the knee. Her hair was loose and she tucked a strand behind her ear.
God, he wanted to yank her into his arms. To once again go to that place where it was just them—man and woman and nothing else. Pain deeper than anything he’d ever suffered tore him open.
He spun back to the ocean, his gaze locked on the churn of the dark waves. “I can’t do this now, Mara.”
She came closer. Her scent wrapped around him. “I want to understand. Make me understand.”
He closed his eyes. Saw terrible flashes of his past. Fingers brushed over his bare back and made his skin burn.
“Seeing a schoolteacher succumb to the dark part of her power—” Mara’s voice hitched “—I can’t even imagine what it would be like for a trained CIA agent.”
Her touch seared through him, warming dark places deep inside. He loved her. The realization almost dropped him to his knees. He loved everything about her—her body, her face, her quick mind, her confidence.
But more than anything, he wanted her safe. From those like Leven and from himself.
“You made the right choice in turning away from me. I’m a monster. You need to stay away.”
“A monster?” She pressed her lips to the spot between his shoulder blades. “And yet here we are, on the island you created to help save others.”
Another kiss against his back. He looked up at the moon, searching for control that was fast slipping away.
“Here you are, brooding on the beach about a woman you just risked your life to rescue.”
He balled his hands into fists. “Don’t turn me into a saint.”
“No chance of that.” Mara’s hand curled around his bicep and she moved beside him. “Look at me.”
He tried to deny
her, tried to find a way to send her far from him.
“Cal, please look at me.”
With a sigh, he turned. Her skin glowed in the moonlight and he couldn’t stop himself from touching. He brushed his knuckles down the side of her neck and she leaned into his touch.
“I’m sorry about my reaction when you told me what happened. After Leven…knowing you volunteered to increase your powers and use them…it was a shock.”
“Don’t be sorry. It was the right reaction.”
“No.” She reached up and cupped his cheek. “It wasn’t. Will you please tell me everything? Leave nothing out. I want to understand.”
If this woman ever worked out the power she wielded over him, that he could deny her nothing, she’d be beyond dangerous.
He let her pull him down onto the sand. She settled between his legs, both of them facing the water. If he didn’t look into her eyes, making his confession might be easier.
“I thought I was defending my country. But deep down, I wanted more power. They say power corrupts and by God, that’s an understatement. It spreads like a virus.” The waves rumbled onto the sand, the ocean made angry by a storm many miles off. The words tumbled out of him like a tidal wave, faster and more urgent. “The need to be stronger, faster, tougher, it multiples like a cancer. And once you wield it…you start to make decisions you have no right to make. Who lives, who dies.”
She leaned back, her head against his shoulder. “When my parents tossed me out, I vowed I’d never be ashamed of my ability. Of what I am.”
Cal pressed his chin to her hair. Her strength amazed him. Most would have fallen apart, shunned what they were. Not Mara.
“When both my ex and then Leven tried to break me, I vowed I’d use my skill to help others.”
She’d embraced her power to help, while Cal had embraced his to hurt. It shamed him.
She swiveled between his legs to face him. “But I wonder now if I’m so different from you.”
“You’re nothing like me. You’re good and strong, I was so weak.”
She leaned forward until their foreheads touched. “Oh, Cal. You are the least weak person I know. I try to use my power for good, but it’s a fine line we walk with our gifts. One person’s right is another’s wrong. There are times we make mistakes.” She nipped at his lips. “For all our powers, we’re human.”
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