“Leave me alone,” I said, voice hoarse and throat scratchy. I tried to invoke my power again, but it sank into a teaspoon of acid in my aching stomach. The energy I’d expended that night had shut down the intangible doors to my ESP. A tingle of electricity fluttered my hair. I just wanted to go upstairs, drag myself into bed with my kitties, and sleep the nightmare off. A blasted tear slipped down my cheek and that pissed me off the most. I slapped at the offensive droplet, smacking sense into myself. Before I could stop him, Ronan picked me up and hoisted me over his shoulder as if I were another sack of dead bones he needed to hide.
“Put me down!” The diminishing splashes of the waterfall drenched my croaky voice as he tramped down the hall toward the rear of the casino. My travel bags, slung over his other shoulder, banged against my skull. Using the last of my strength, I bolstered my arm to muscle the bags from hitting my already rattled head. His shoulder dug into my empty stomach, and my gut ached with every step. “Come on! I can walk.”
“If I drop you, will you turn it off?”
“If you ask me nicely, I’ll zip it, turncoat.”
“Please?” he asked with considerable trouble. “We don’t have time to screw around and you’re going to draw attention.”
Blood coagulated in my head, fogged my fried brain. I hated being upside down staring at the shiny, red floor. “I’ll behave.” That word hurt to say.
Double steel doors barred us. Ronan wrested me off his shoulder, his hands encircling my waist as he set me on my feet. Surprisingly, he straightened my skewed jacket, and then stripped off his gloves to work the security lock on the service door. Well, one second of gentlemanliness didn’t make up for a night of murder, mayhem, and mystifying magic.
I fished mints out of my purse. Blood drained from my head, easing my encroaching headache. I contemplated my next move. Stun and run? Go along with him? I studied a crack zigzagging the length of the cement hallway. The red river zigged to Murph and zagged to the sane, safe life destroyed in one measly hour.
I couldn’t go back. If Ronan told the truth, there’d be more Murphs, and the cops would lock me up tighter than a nun’s chastity belt. With a decisive squint, I watched the silent hulk’s hand enclose the electronic lock. He exhaled a couple of times and the lock clicked. The security light flashed green, and he shoved the door open wide.
“How’d you do that if I negate you?” I accused wanly.
Sweat glistened on his pasty forehead. “Cheap lock. I managed.”
So there was a way around the negation, or he lied. I probed his features for any clue I could steal. Shallow lines of pain around his eyes aged his face, my only clue. I trudged past him out the door. We found ourselves by the delivery docks. Not a soul in sight, not even a bat. Chilly air flowed around me, dispelling the bloody stench from my nostrils.
Ronan motioned for me to follow him to a crevice between two loading docks. Shadowy lights illuminated the deserted area. Even in the dim lighting, I saw the pained tolerance on his face. “Get it out.”
I blinked rapidly. “Get what out?”
“Your rant.”
I braced my weary body against the exterior wall. What could I say? Murdering people squarely shoved me outside my element, even if the victims included skeevy bounty hunters. “Thanks, I guess.” My stun gun grew arctic against my palm.
“Aria. Murph was a hired enforcer with a mile long rap sheet. He would’ve taken a few days with you…before collecting his bounty.” His jet lashes swept down, up. “Five million. Do you get it now?”
Revulsion rolled through my middle as his innuendo sank deep. I clutched my jacket tight around me and said the only thing I could think to say, “You don’t want the money?” My teeth chattered.
He grasped my upper arms. “It’s not about the money.”
I jerked out of his hold. “Then why do you care about me? Why do you want me?”
His fists clenched at his sides. “I need your help to take down my father.”
Chapter 3
As much as I wanted to believe otherwise, I didn’t exactly live a ho-hum life, especially due to my father’s desertion at age six and my mother’s death at thirteen. Yeah, unlucky thirteen strikes again. My grandmother raised me afterwards until she died after a bizarre topple off a ladder last fall. A few other traumas I’d rather pretend were fiction, and all involving the number thirteen.
I’d always known I possessed paranormal talents that defied description. Now people wanted me for them. One part of me wanted to knit a red carpet with my toes for the recognition and potentially finding my true purpose in life, something to kill the emptiness inside me. The chicken part of me didn’t want the exploitation—or to die for it. Dying just didn’t appeal to me. Ronan appeared to have information I wanted and needed. I refused to ignore that. Obviously, it wasn’t safe to stay at home, and as much as I hated to admit it, I needed his help to get out in one piece. And he’d let me keep my stun gun.
Ronan and I left the shadows skirting the casino complex. My feet dragged and I was thankful he carried my bags.
“Where’s tenant parking?” He slowed his long-legged stride.
My heart galloped from the exertion of keeping pace. “I thought you didn’t want to take my car?”
“We’re not.” Ronan plucked a small tool kit out of his pocket.
“We’re stealing a car?” I sucked in air. “I don’t steal—” Ronan placed his palm over my mouth and my heart plummeted into my stomach. I bit him and his skin tasted salty…and chocolaty.
He yanked his hand away. “You little—”
I forced winter’s fury into my glower, prodded his hard chest with my fist. Forget the evil eye. “Don’t ever put your hand over my mouth.” I punctuated each word with a finger jab to his shoulder. “Got it?”
His mouth hung open and he rubbed my reddening bite marks.
Shaking like a mad leaf in a gale, I spun on my heels and marched toward the parking garage. I wiped his taste off my mouth with the back of my hand as I approached the black-as-death Mustang I’d bought with Granny’s life insurance money. Mom loved Mustangs and had driven one at my age. She was with me whenever I drove the hot rod. But I didn’t trust Ronan with it. Maybe borrowing a car wasn’t such a bad idea. Oh, sweet hell’s minions, get your pitchforks ready. I’d have a lot to atone for if I ever made it home alive.
Ronan’s booted footsteps pounded a few paces behind me. Before I knew it, he’d picked the lock on the driver’s door to an older dusty Cadillac. The sport model was parked in the thirteenth spot from the end. Wonderful.
“I have another vehicle waiting,” said Ronan the barbarian. “We just need to clear out of the area.”
Aggravated heat warmed my chilled cheeks, and I whirled to face him. “No fingerprints.”
He slipped on his black gloves. “That’s why I brought gloves.” A hint of a smile curved into a devastating grin. His smile set off the slate specks in his eyes, sparkling from the fluorescent bulbs directly over his head.
What prompted that irresistible grin? My pulse raced circles around my hormones.
“We cool?” he asked as I neared the passenger side of the car.
“As a cucumber.” Rolling in the desert.
I used the bottom of my jacket to open the door. Careful not to touch anything, I slid into the passenger seat. Leather bolsters wrapped around me, the leather cracked and rough. Rose-scented perfume lingered in the car, masking the scent of eau de smelly ashtray and locker room carpet. I banged my elbow on a half-empty water bottle in the cup holder, knocking it toward the driver’s floorboard. As I made a grab for it, Ronan’s hand tangled with mine. Electricity buzzed through his glove and I jerked back.
Wiped out beyond reason, I pressed the recline button, scratching the strange tingling away. The seat eased back softly and I wanted to snooze the night away. I’d placed my life in the hands of a total stranger, but resistance seemed as pointless as my date with Dipstick Michael. One hand resting on the
stun gun at my waist, I huddled in my seat. If Ronan so much as looked at me cross-eyed, I’d find a way to jinx his luck.
Our swiped car jolted to a stop, flinging me out of a nightmare featuring the dead intruder chasing my cats on Survivor island, immunity up for grabs. I bolted upright, practically braining myself on the roof. Aural energy trickled from me and dissolved like tissue paper in a bonfire. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep, which proved my telekinetic reserves had sunk to the level of ground squirrels. My brain ruled my body, and I needed time to recuperate, or there’d be a war of wills between my head and body. I wasn’t quite sure who’d win.
Ronan strung his arm across the center console to brace me in the seat. “Sorry. Mutt ran in front of the car.” He parked in the circular driveway of a secluded mansion nestled within a shadowy forest of Douglas firs, oaks, and redwoods. Little starlight penetrated the canopy of towering trees. The headlights and a single porch bulb illuminated the fir strewn, pea gravel driveway. Did the butler forget to buy lightbulbs?
A black lab puppy trotted into the headlight beams, tail wagging sixty miles a minute. I did a double-take, my eyes narrowing as I inspected the dog. Strange psychic energy flashed into my center of power, stemming from the dog. I sensed an old soul inhabiting the pup’s body. Exhaustion bogged my mind, and I shook off the weird sensations. Dogs weren’t my thing, or I would own a salivating Rottweiler.
I tightened my grip on my stun gun. “I thought we were switching cars. Where are we?”
Ronan killed the engine and shifted to face me. “Adam’s place in the foothills. He’ll return the car, grab our other ride.”
Anxiety circled my chest. “Who’s Adam? Is he like us? Do you trust him?” A fiery focus of energy coiled in the pit of my empty stomach. “Whose puppy is that? He friendly?”
Ronan stretched out a hand, thought better of it when my eyes prepared to launch fireworks. “When you bit me earlier…did someone try to shut you up?”
“What’s it to you? I ask a lot of questions, so call your lawyer.” Ronan Riley, meet Aria’s tangent. “Why do you think you can forcibly shut me up without any consequences?”
My last question stopped the words about to trip from his open cavern mouth. He closed it, a veil descending over his expression.
He tapped the dash. He must’ve been a drummer in a past life, or even in this life. Heck, I knew nothing about him. Gaze fixated on the shadowed house, Ronan ceased his finger solo. “There’s a lot you need to know. You’re gonna need to trust me. If you can’t…” His wide shoulders rose and fell, the leather seat squeaking in protest.
My defiance melted in the wake of my fatigue and curiosity. I suffered his words grudgingly. “I’m listening.”
He scratched his jaw. “If I were you, I don’t know why I’d trust me. I understand why you didn’t come willingly.” He rasped his hand over his stubbly cheek, appeared to battle with a desire to extend a gesture. “You’re just like your father described—feisty, stubborn, cute as hell.”
“Cute is a six-year-old bouncing in the driveway on Friday the thirteenth, waving to Daddy as he drove off to get cookie dough ice cream.” I crossed my arms over my stomach, cramming down the angry grief I despised.
A dense silence enveloped us until Ronan whispered, “I’m sorry, Aria.”
“He lied to me. Deserted me and my mother, left us destitute, broke my freaking heart.” My tears had dried up for my father long ago, and I’d only cried twice since the day he’d left. At that moment, divulging the deepest dregs of my life, I almost ended the drought.
I ground my back teeth. No! I refused to surrender so easily. Not after learning of his betrayal. Fury wiped the sorrow from my heart so painfully my breath hitched. I pressed my fingers to my mouth. The timing of our conversation sucked. I wanted to be two hundred percent lucid when Ronan gave me the goods on my father, and why a five-million-dollar bounty hung over my Goldielocks. And how did my father know about my telekinesis?
I touched the back of his hand. “If you hurt, betray, or lie to me, I’ll hex you six feet under.” I hadn’t figured out how to hex someone, but I was working on it. Of course, I only had to wait for my unluck to handle it for me.
“I figured that was the lay of the land.” He massaged the spot I touched as if he wanted to buy the slightest bit of contact he could afford. “I had no clue I was rescuing a killer.” His lips ruffled up at the corners.
My bitterness skated out on my laugh. “Yesterday, I couldn’t kill a pesky fly. Look at me now. One dude in the hospital, a dead man or two. What’s next? Am I a secret killing machine? Thirteen curses and I’m dead?”
Ronan dipped his head. “If you only knew,” he murmured clear enough for me to catch his drift.
I swallowed the egg-sized lump in my throat, cracked open the door. “Is the dog friendly?”
“Yes.” He unfolded his large, sinewy body from the front seat. Gravel crunched loudly beneath his boots in the still night.
Easing into the pitch-black night, I gingerly planted my boots on the ground. Unafraid of dogs, I just didn’t want to step in any little presents that might stink up my shoes. The tail-whipping lab loped over to me and waited on its haunches. It seemed too well behaved for a puppy. Threads of energy wafted off the pup and skimmed through my aura like slivers of cool, luminous moonlight. The dog’s energy flitted around me similar to an unshielded psychic. It was cozy, exploratory, a light sifting of the hair on my arms, my special brand of psychic sensitivity. I’d only experienced that sensation from a human. Unease slipped over me as if I hovered in the stargate to the Twilight Zone.
“Let her sniff your hand,” a male voice crackled from the porch. “She won’t hurt you.”
Silhouetted in the doorway, within the shadows of the porch light, stood another tall hunk. The mysterious Adam, I presumed. The puppy swung its tail, swishing pine needles on the ground. My sight adjusted to the dark and I reached toward the black pup. Cats were my specialty, but the puppy was adorable. Both guys watched me as though I had an initiation to pass. Lovely.
The puppy stretched its neck, sniffed my hand, its nose cold and wet. Goose bumps fled across my arms as my aura crashed into another band of energy. I patted the dog on its soft head, my fingers tingling against its silky fur. Kneeling on a bed of dry leaves, I looped my arms around the pup’s neck. She smelled of firs and spring meadows. The lab licked my cheek, its tongue sloppy wet. A freeze swept through purgatory as cat lover Aria bonded with a dog.
“Hi, baby.” It wriggled in ecstasy. I kissed her nose and stood up. The pup gave a croaky bark.
The guy looming in the doorway moved toward us into the shelter of darkness from the surrounding forest. “Her name’s Infinity. Fin for short.”
His low, melodious voice drove chills down my spine that quickly warmed and flooded me with… Heaven forbid, I squirmed. Suffice it to say, his voice skimmed my bare skin, simulating a lover’s hands, vibrating in parts of me that had no right to vibrate to a voice.
Even with a baseball cap low over his brow, I saw his eyes glow like an animal’s at the end of a flashlight. The violet orbs mesmerized me, and the glow bathed me in the unimaginable. Heat dripped into parts of me that had suffered a cold front for a long season. My mind challenged my body’s response to him, tried to dampen my smitten hormones. I’d never burned for another in such a sexual manner. Invasive and welcome, the sensations both excited and frightened me.
I managed to close off my mind to his coercion and conquered whatever mesmerism he nailed me with. His violet eyes changed from emerald to teal to azure before the glow petered out. The stranger didn’t possess an evil or harmful nature from what I sensed. He touched my arm but I withdrew a step, bumping into Ronan. I hoped Ronan would jump in if his friend meant to harm me. Of course, he could’ve led me into a trap as I skipped along on a suicide mission. One thing for sure, Adam possessed a strange breed of ESP I was certain wasn’t documented anywhere. I’d stumbled upon the motherlode of criminal ac
tivity that night.
Fin leaned against my leg, lending me comfort only an ally offered. And I needed all the allies my love could buy. “What’s going on?” I finally asked. A breeze breathed across my shoulders, shifting the tips of my hair. Trees stirred in the wind, and papery dry needles showered us in more death. The air carried the scent of Christmas trees rounding the bend toward Easter lilies.
The pup sidled toward Adam, looked over its shoulder, and waited for me to follow.
“Let’s go inside,” Ronan said. “It’s been a hellish night.”
“I’ll bet.” Adam’s voice crackled again, no longer sinking inside my soul, lacking the layers that first skimmed my flesh. He extended his hand, this time with no pretenses. “Adam Freshfields.” His cultured voice and manner along with the McMansion fit the life of the privileged.
Wary, I hesitated to touch him. However, my inflamed body screamed at me to take more than his hand. To its indignation, I ignored my fickle body and allowed my faltering mind to shift the gears. His fragmented aura joined Ronan’s aura still teasing mine.
Fin gave another one of her short affable yaps, which I took as approval. I’d have to sleep with one eye open if my cats ever found out I accepted affirmation from a dog.
I inhaled deeply and grasped Adam’s hand. “Aria Elle Walker.”
“I know.” His tone held a smile the darkness hid.
He led me through the dark, his aura wrapped around mine, merging within it and Ronan’s aura surrounding me. Since when could an aura meld with someone, let alone two people? I derived aural energy from other people, but I just absorbed it like oxygen. I never felt it because my aura always dominated. What was happening to me?
An owl hoot splintered the night’s tranquility, and I tripped on the first porch step. The screech of a bird of prey grated across the back of my neck as Adam caught me against him. I wished I could fly off into the night and ease the horror crimping my intestines.
Ronan stopped in the doorway. “You’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg tonight.”
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