A heavy feeling gathered in Gage. “I don’t know.”
“She’s important somehow. We need to work out what she has that Leven wants because my gut says he’ll be back.”
Anger roared through Gage. No way in hell. He wouldn’t let Leven get to her again. Ever.
“I’m heading home.” Cal paused in the doorway. “Get some sleep, Gage.”
Gage worked to throw off his anger. “Yeah.”
After Cal left the lab was quiet. Most of the island’s residents would be long tucked in their beds, dreaming of the normal things they had planned for the coming day.
His gaze cut to the lab and he moved forward, drawn by something he didn’t understand and couldn’t fully describe. He paused by a crowded workbench, and glanced at Cate’s door. How could he sleep while Cate was lying in there, miserable? He imagined her curled into a ball on her bed, staring at the wall. Not moving, not speaking. Just like her first week here.
His hand clenched on the pen in his fist. Frustration was a burn under Gage’s ribs. He slammed a palm down on the stainless steel countertop, knocking over a row of empty test tubes. One of them rolled onto the floor and shattered.
He stared at the broken glass, the splinters of what had once been whole and would never be put back together. With a sigh, he found the dustpan and brush and cleaned up the mess.
Cate may not be the same woman she was before. She would have to accept that. The biggest step was realizing her life wasn’t over.
Please kill me. His stomach turned over. Her words would haunt him for a long time. Just like Theo. His brother had been begging for help and Gage had been too absorbed in his work to see it.
But damn it, he wasn’t giving up on Cate. She was stronger than she realized.
He wouldn’t let her fail.
And he refused to let himself fail. Not again. He knew his heart couldn’t take it.
But if she was going to have some faith in herself, he had to have faith in her.
He strode to her door.
Chapter Three
The door to Cate’s room slammed open.
She turned her head on the pillow and stared at Gage. His legs were spread, like he was ready to do battle.
“Come on, we’re heading out,” he said.
She blinked. “I’m a prisoner, remember?”
“Yeah, well, Cal was wrong. I’m your doctor. I’m prescribing a walk on the beach.”
She sat up and curled her legs under her. “Are you crazy? You saw what I did. I could go on a rampage and steal of the souls of everyone on this island.”
“I saw what Leven’s man forced you to do.”
She fingered the hem of the clean white T-shirt she’d changed into. She wanted to believe in herself the way this man did.
He shifted. “You want your life back?”
Her lips trembled. She firmed them. “There’s no point.”
He held out his hand. “Don’t be a coward, Cate. Let’s go do something normal.”
She hesitated. Apart from being dragged out by Jagger, she hadn’t been out since she’d arrived.
She stared at his hand, longing a deep pain inside her. She rose and took a step toward the door. Stopped.
He headed out into the lab. “You coming?”
She paused with her feet in the doorway. One step and she’d be just like a normal person. Why the hell was her heart pounding like a kettle drum? She forced herself over the threshold.
She followed Gage through the darkened lab. She knew he conducted experiments to help anomalies like her, with special and lethal abilities. So different to Leven and his scientists.
Then she stepped outside.
Cate sucked in the clean night air. She heard the gentle wash of waves on the beach beyond the palms.
They passed through the trees. She noted Gage avoided the spot where she’d killed Jagger. Memories of stealing his soul flooded in, making her pulse race. She focused on the man beside her instead.
He was tall, her head barely reached his shoulder. He was lanky but muscled for a doctor. His rolled-up sleeves showed toned forearms and tanned skin. He obviously got out of the lab regularly.
They stepped out onto white sand. The picture-perfect beach curved in an elegant sweep and the waves glistened in the moonlight. She wasn’t wearing any shoes and the sand felt good beneath her toes. She breathed deep and tilted her head back to look at the stars scattered across the sky. She could smell the ripe, luscious scent of some tropical flower.
For the first time in a long time, everything inside her was still, quiet.
“Every Saturday in the summer, I drive from the city to the beach.” At first, she didn’t even realize she’d spoken.
“Do you like to swim or lie in the sun?” Gage asked.
“Both.”
“Sounds great.”
“I’d open the sunroof on my car. I have a little Volkswagen bug.” For a second, she was that woman again—carefree, happy. “Once, I took my class on a school excursion to study the rockpools.” She remembered the echo of childish laughter on the wind.
Like a knife slashing across her belly, pain seared into her. They would have wondered why she’d disappeared but by now some other teacher would be grading their papers, teaching their lessons and soothing their fears.
Could she look into those innocent faces again? She wasn’t their lovable teacher anymore. Now she was a killer.
The instinct she’d been born with, the one she’d fought to control all her life, had been ripped wide open and yanked to the forefront. Pain lodged in her throat like barbed wire.
The lap of the waves in her ears was now a horrid reminder of her loss.
She turned away. “I want to go back to my room.”
Gage’s face was serious, those brown eyes studying her. “You can’t hide away from the world.”
But she didn’t know how to face it.
“Why don’t we sit for a bit?” He sank onto the sand, looking out at the waves.
Cate sat down beside him, careful to keep a good solid meter of sand between them. “I just want to be myself again.”
“Then we’ll work toward that.”
A tear slid down her cheek and she swiped it away. “You really believe I can go home?”
“I think we can always go home.”
She wrapped her arms around her middle. “Even when I can’t remember what made me laugh? Even when I’m afraid to be around other people?”
“It won’t be easy, but you’re strong enough to fight for what you want.”
Another drop of moisture fell from her lashes. She pressed her hands into the sand. “All I remember is killing. Sucking the soul out of someone is the best, most rapturous sensation and it blots out everything else.”
“You just need to give it time. The memories will fade. You’ve already come so far in the last few weeks.”
Such faith. She envied him his easy confidence.
She looked down and saw their hands were only centimeters apart in the sand. God, she wanted to touch him. He was so warm when all she felt was an icy cold through her marrow.
Looking up, she saw him watching her.
The ugly, twisted part of her rose again, egged on by the patience in his eyes. She moved her hand until only tiny particles of air separated them.
“I just killed a man and I could kill you. One touch and you’d be dead.”
***
Gage looked at Cate’s slim hand. A weapon more dangerous than any gun. “You’re trying to make me afraid of you.”
She shrugged. “I’m afraid.” Her fingers curled into the sand. “I liked killing that man. I’ll always like stealing a soul—” her chest hitched, her voice lowering to a ragged whisper “—so I’m afraid I can never be what I was before.”
Those huge eyes were blue pools of pain. Her body was tensed, poised to either fight or run.
It tore at him. Took him back over a decade. To another young soul stealer drowning in anger and gui
lt.
She had to accept before she could ever move forward. “My brother was a soul stealer.”
“Really? But you aren’t an anomaly.”
“No. I always thought Theo was the lucky one.” While his brother had always felt cursed. “He killed his fiancée.”
Cate’s gaze was riveted on Gage. He watched the way the moonlight turned her pale hair silver.
“They’d had an argument and his ability got out of control.” Because Gage had enhanced Theo’s ability to the point where he couldn’t kept it leashed. All Gage’s fault. “He never got over it.”
“Where is your brother now?”
“Dead.” Even so many years later, it still washed over Gage in a huge wave that left his throat tight. “His guilt killed him. He stepped in front of a train.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Gage.”
He saw a light out on the horizon, some ship passing in the night. “He was my brother. He was part of the program I was in charge of.” Gage had been so engrossed in his work he’d never given any thought to the consequences. “You think I’m some sort of do-gooder, but before I came here, I experimented on anomalies, just like Leven’s scientists.”
She hissed in a breath.
Gage hunched his shoulders and they sat there in silence.
“Did you force them?”
He slowly turned his head. “No, but—”
“They volunteered for your program?”
“Yes, but they had no true idea of the things we’d do. I ignored the signs that Theo and the others were struggling.”
“It’s not the same as what Leven did.” She tilted her head. “You see Theo in every anomaly you help. You see him in me.”
Gage saw all the faces of the people he’d hurt in the Anomaly Program. “I just want to help you.”
She pressed a cheek to her drawn up knees. “You do. Just being close to you helps.”
Dangerous territory. “I’m one of your doctors, Cate. You depend on us for everything in your world right now.”
She raised a brow. “Worried I’m suffering from Stockholm Syndrome?”
“That’s for kidnappers.”
“Whatever. Don’t worry, Dr. Walker. I promise not to fall in love with you.”
Her words made his throat close, his belly warm. He coughed to clear his throat. “I need to stay objective. If I’m too close…” He’d risk making a mistake again that could cost Cate her life.
“Like I said, don’t worry,” she said.
He scrubbed a hand over his hair, searching for some calm. “First thing we need to do is work out why Leven wants you.” He didn’t want to scare her, but she needed the truth. “He’s putting a lot of effort into finding you.”
Her head snapped up. “You think he’ll try again?”
“We’re ready now. He won’t get onto the island.” Gage had always trusted Haven’s security, but seeing a bleeding Cate caught by Leven’s man had shaken his rock-solid belief. “The sooner we can figure out what he wants, the better. Otherwise—”
“Otherwise I can’t leave the island.” She looked up. “I don’t know why he’d want me. I’m nobody special.”
“I think you’re special.” The words were out before Gage could stop them. When her mouth dropped open, he felt heat in his cheeks. “Ah, all anomalies are special.”
Her gaze dropped. “Right.”
“Think about the time you spent in captivity—”
“I try not to think about it.”
“I understand that, but think about why Leven wants you. Did you see something, hear something?”
“I’ll try,” she whispered.
Gage knew he was asking a tough task. He glanced out at the horizon. “Look.”
The sun was just climbing out of the Pacific Ocean in a blush of gold and pink.
“I can’t remember the last time I saw the sun rise.” She lifted her face to the early morning rays. “It’s beautiful.”
She was beautiful. In the flush of first light, she truly did look like a fairy with golden hair and eyes of the deepest blue. She looked like she could grant a man his most deeply held wishes.
The thought of this woman locked away in the hands of a madman turned Gage’s knuckles white. He was a man of science, but he’d find a way to make Gabriel Leven regret what he’d done to Cate. Maybe not with his fists, but by helping Cate be whole again.
“Let’s get back to the medical center.” He rose. “We both need some sleep and then it’s time you start assimilating back into ordinary life.”
Chapter Four
Cate raised a brow. “Doing laundry is going to heal me?”
Gage dropped the basket full of wet clothes on the grass beside the outside line and ignored her sarcasm. “Everyone on Haven pitches in with the chores.”
“And that now includes you.” Ellie set a bucket of pegs down beside the basket.
Cate heaved a sigh but reached down, grabbed a lab coat from the basket and a couple of pegs from the container. “Fine.” She gave the wet garment a shake and pinned it up.
Gage hid a smile. He could tell she was happy to be out of the lab. He knew she’d gotten some sleep during the morning—he’d caught a few hours himself—but dark circles still underscored her eyes. The sunshine would do her good. He frowned as he studied her creamy, pale skin. He’d need to get her some sunscreen, or she’d burn quickly in the strong Australian sun.
After studying her on the beach at dawn, he’d known it was time to start letting her integrate into island life. Most of Haven’s residents were anomalies. If she had a relapse, there were plenty of people with powerful skills to contain her.
And seeing others with deadly abilities—especially her own ability—living a normal life was a good next step. He and Ellie had already discussed it. When Ellie caught his eye, he nodded.
Ellie cleared her throat. “We’d like you to talk with Anissa. She’s another soul stealer who lives here—”
“No.”
He studied Cate’s bent head. “Want to tell us why?”
She leaned down and pulled up a towel. “I just can’t talk with someone yet.”
They’d pushed too far. “Okay.”
She pegged the towel on the line. “What’s Callahan going to say when he sees me out of my room?”
Ellie arched a brow, her look saying, This one is all yours.
“Leave Callahan to me.” Gage didn’t relish fighting with his friend, but for Cate’s wellbeing he would. “Once you’re finished here, I have some work in the lab I need help with.”
She strung up another towel. “I’m sure you’ll find some other menial task to keep me from sucking the soul out of someone.”
Since he heard the humor underlying her tone, he ignored the comment and wandered back toward the lab. He could see her from his office window, keep an eye on her from there. Ellie fell in step beside him.
He heard Cate humming under her breath and smiled. Then the smile disappeared and he scrubbed a hand over his face. Patient. Patient. Vulnerable patient.
“She’s doing well, all things considered,” Ellie said.
“Yeah.”
“She trusts you, Gage. Don’t let her down.” With that, Ellie headed off to her office.
Gage strode into his own office, desperate to get to work. He logged onto his computer and pulled up some scan results he needed to analyze. But no matter how much he stared at the scans—things that usually sparked his passion no matter how tired, hungry or aggravated he was—his thoughts kept returning to her.
Looking out the window, he caught sight of her. She was wearing a tiny pair of denim shorts and a white tank top and his gaze was drawn to her slender legs. She held a wet shirt in her hand and had her face lifted to the sun.
“Gage?”
His name snapped his attention back. “Cal. You’re becoming a regular in my office.”
Cal stalked in like a big cat and leaned a hip against the desk. He stayed silent, his dark gaze pinning Gage
.
Gage knew silence was a tactic Cal used to great effect to get guilty parties to spill their guts. Normally Gage could hold his own with his friend, but this time he couldn’t fight the itch to fill the silence. “You keep her locked up and she will kill eventually. Let her be human again and she has a chance.”
With a sigh, Cal sank into a chair. “Okay.”
Gage blinked. “Just like that?”
“Believe it or not, I trust your judgment. More than anybody else’s.”
Gage smiled. “What about Mara?”
Cal raised a brow. “Mara’s the jump-in-first-and-think-about-it-later type. Sometimes I don’t trust her judgment at all.”
But it didn’t stop him loving her. Gage pushed his glasses up and sat in his chair. “Did you manage to get some sleep?”
A satisfied smile crossed Cal’s face and Gage blinked at the unfamiliar sight. Since Cal had hooked up—no, that phrase didn’t quite describe it, collided—with the red-headed mind raider, he tended to smile a lot more.
“I convinced Mara to watch the sunrise.”
“It was a nice one.” Gage thought of pale, pale hair and slender limbs warmed by the sun.
Cal’s smile widened. “Oh, we missed the big event. She was too busy convincing me there were more pleasurable things to do so early in the morning.”
Gage felt a stab of envy so sharp it stole his breath. He’d watched Cal sacrifice everything, first for his country as an agent, and then for Haven the last few years, risking his life time and again to save anomalies and offer them sanctuary on this island. Cal had always believed he could never have a personal life, that his intense and unique powers made it impossible.
Gage was thrilled his friend had found Mara. But damn it, it made Gage yearn for his own happiness.
“You’re sure Cate’s ready?”
Gage nodded. “We need to warn all residents to be careful, but yes, she’s ready. She needs more than four small walls containing her to help her heal.”
Cal was silent for a moment. “Okay. I’ll put security on alert. You’re responsible for her and you keep her contained to the medical center and its surrounds.” Cal crossed his legs, placing an ankle on his knee. “You think she’ll want to stay on Haven?”
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