by Katie Reus
“Open those crates right now!” someone else shouted in the distance.
No! He tried to scream but blood gurgled in his throat.
The wound was fatal. He knew it. They knew it. The only reason they were attempting to save him was so they could prosecute him. Yasha closed his eyes and let blackness overtake him. His own son had betrayed him. As the darkness descended familiar faces swam before him. There were so many of them. How could there be so many?
Horror flooded Yasha as he stared into the face of Anya Aston. Now he remembered her quite well. She’d pleaded for her husband’s life, but not her own. “Why are you here?”
She wrapped an icy hand around his wrist and squeezed tight, her grip brutal and unforgiving. “You are coming with us to pay for your crimes.”
“Us?” Then he saw them. All of them. The faces of everyone he’d killed. Some were angry and bitter, others glowed brightly, looking at peace. But they were all there.
Staring at him.
Waiting.
Judging.
He tried to run, but it was useless. A dark swirling cloud surrounded him as unbearable pain and fire tore through his body in agonizing waves. “No!”
* * *
Nika opened her eyes and blinked a few times. She looked at the clock, but everything was fuzzy. It was early but the sun hadn’t risen yet. As she laid back against the pillow, she realized she was in a dream state. A soft light glowed all around the room and everything was still hazy, muted.
Tensing, she waited for that inevitable visit from a spirit. When a woman wearing a black dress sat on the edge of the bed, all her apprehension dissipated to be replaced by disbelief and joy.
Her mother.
The dress was the same one she’d worn the last night she’d been alive. She looked just as Nika remembered her. Utterly beautiful. Nika opened her mouth, not knowing what to say.
“I can’t believe how much you’ve grown,” her mother said. She reached out and cupped her cheek. “You’re so beautiful.”
It felt more like a soft breeze blowing over her skin than anything else. Tears spilled down her cheeks. She reached up to hold her mother’s hand against her, was surprised by how warm she was. “What are you doing here?” she whispered, afraid if she spoke too loud her mother would disappear.
“I can’t stay long but I wanted to tell you that Yasha is dead. He will pay for all his crimes.” Her voice wasn’t triumphant or happy, just matter of fact.
“Dead?”
She nodded, her dark hair swishing around her face. “You and your sister need to move on with your lives. This need for revenge almost consumed Alena. I want you both to find happiness.”
“What about you?”
A ghost of a smile touched her face. “I’m with your father. I’m more than happy. I shouldn’t even be here right now. My time has passed and I crossed this plane a long time ago, but I need to know you’ll let yourself be happy.”
She’d say anything if it made her mother stay. “I will, I promise.”
“I’m sorry I missed so many years. I hope you know how much I loved both you girls. Your father and I never thought you’d be in danger.”
Nika frowned at her words. “We know how much you loved us. What few memories I have are happy ones.”
Her mother pushed out a long breath, which seemed an odd thing for a spirit to do. Then she glanced over her shoulder. Nika couldn’t see what she was looking at but when she turned back, her face was sad. “I have to go. Tell your sister I love her too.”
“I will. I—” Nika bolted up in bed, her heart pounding triple time. Tears clogged her throat as too many emotions choked her. Throwing the covers off, she hurried to her sister’s room. She had to tell Alena.
Chapter 30
Declan frowned when he saw Vernon’s number displayed on his caller ID. He glanced across the table at Riley. They were at their usual diner. “Mind if I grab this?” The sun was barely up so if Vernon was calling this early, something had happened.
Riley picked up his coffee cup and yawned. “Go ahead.”
“Yeah?”
“You sitting down?” Vernon asked.
His heart stuttered. “Why?”
“Yasha Makarov is dead and that piece of shit Rick Savitch is in our custody. One of his guys admitted to kidnapping Alena Brennan for a severe reduction in sentencing. Christmas came early this year, my friend.”
“Yasha’s dead? Tell me you got what you needed.”
“We got all of it and more. The girls are safe. It’ll be hell figuring out where they were all taken from, but they’re alive and relatively unharmed.” The relief in Vernon’s voice was clear. “As we speak my guys are raiding his house. He had his hand in a lot of shit over the years and we’re just at the tip of discovering how deep his connections run.”
“I’m glad you got those women.”
“Me too. We’re more than even, buddy. Hell, I think I owe you now.”
Relief flooded Declan. “No, we’re even. Thanks for letting me know. I’ll tell Andre about his father.”
“Thanks.”
As soon as they disconnected, Riley’s eyebrows rose. “Good news?”
“Oh yeah.” Better than he’d hoped for.
As the waitress walked up to their table, Riley shook his head. “We’re good with coffee for now.” He turned his attention back to Declan. “So tell me the only reason you dragged me out of bed on a Monday morning isn’t because your girlfriend kicked you out of her dreams.”
Declan’s hand tightened around his warm mug. “I don’t know what to do.”
Riley rolled his eyes. “Talk to her.”
“I tried that. She thinks that because we’re both liars we don’t have a chance.” At least now that Yasha was dead she couldn’t use him as an excuse. There was no longer a threat.
“Try harder. Be honest with her. Tell her the one thing you’re terrified to admit to her.”
His eyebrows rose. “Are you serious?”
“Don’t look at me like that. You either love her or you don’t. If you love her, tell her and hope she doesn’t break your trust. If you don’t, walk away.”
“If she breaks that trust, I’m dead.”
Riley shrugged and took another sip of his coffee. “Don’t ask for my advice if you don’t want it.”
“I swear, sometimes I wonder—” His cell vibrated again. It was Andre. Frowning, he answered. “Hey. Is everything all right?”
“Where are you?”
“Having breakfast with my brother.” The house was completely locked down and he’d left Nathaniel in charge.
“Nika and Alena just left. I thought you should know.”
Iciness swept through him. “The plane wasn’t scheduled to leave until this afternoon.” Andre had said he was going to give them a ride anywhere they wanted to go, but Declan thought there would be time to stop Nika, to convince her that leaving was stupid.
“Plans changed. They’re leaving for New York in less than an hour.” Andre sounded bitter and angry. Not that Declan blamed him.
His entire body broke out in a cold sweat. “Can you stall them?”
There was a long pause. “I can call the pilot. I’m sure delaying them won’t be a problem.”
“Thanks. I’m on my way.” Later, when it was appropriate, he’d tell Andre about Yasha. Right now, he needed to catch Nika. He threw a twenty on the table and stood. “I gotta go. Nika’s skipping town.”
“Shit.” Riley threw another bill on the table and followed. “I’m coming with you.”
His brother was quiet as they drove to the airport. Declan didn’t have the energy for small talk anyway. Right now all he cared about was keeping the woman he loved from walking out of his life. He should have stormed into her room last night and forced her to listen to him. There was no way he was letting her get on that plane. And even if she did, he’d just follow her.
* * *
“Park there.” Declan pointed at the dark SUV N
ika had probably arrived in. It was parked on the side of the hangar, which would give him the element of surprise. Since Nathaniel and two of his men had escorted the women to the airport, he’d also called ahead. Everyone was under strict orders to keep that Cessna from taking off.
As he turned the engine off, Nika and Alena appeared from the direction of the hangar with Nathaniel. They walked a few feet toward the open tarmac, but their backs were still turned to them. “That’s her. The one in the red.” The weather had warmed up and she wore a slim-fitting sleeveless cherry red top with jeans and sandals. Her sister wore old jeans, a loose T-shirt and ballet slipper type shoes—a much different state of dress than she’d been in the past week.
Riley let out a low whistle and leaned over to get a better look. “She’s a hot little thing.”
Declan gritted his teeth. “That’s the last time you get to say that.” Nika was completely unaware of their presence. They both were. From his position, he could see the plane about a hundred yards off.
Nika had her back half-turned to him and from what he could tell she didn’t even seem upset. He was tearing his hair out over her and she was just flitting off to New York. Well fuck that. “Stay here,” he ordered Riley.
When he slammed the door shut behind him, she glanced over in his direction. Her eyes widened, but she didn’t move otherwise. As he approached, Nathaniel quickly disappeared inside the hangar. He was aware of Alena staring at him, but he ignored her and positioned himself directly in front of Nika.
“I’m going to go…be somewhere else,” Alena murmured before hurrying away.
Nika brought her chin up in defiance. “What are you doing here?”
As he started to answer, one of the maintenance guys began rolling their suitcases toward the plane. “You’re not going to New York.”
“Excuse me?”
“Damn it, Nika. Why are you leaving?”
Her chin notched up another fraction. “What reason do I have to stay?”
“Me.” His chest tightened as he put the admission out there.
“You want me to stay here for you?” She wasn’t being sarcastic, but her words were like a blow to his face.
The question and her tone stung. “That’s right. Me.”
She bit her bottom lip and eyed him warily. Then she shook her head. “This is ridiculous. First, I’m a threat to you.”
“Yasha’s dead.”
She blinked once, then seemed to gather herself. For some reason he was under the impression she already knew. “Well, I don’t even have a place to stay—”
“You’ll live with me.”
She snorted loudly. “And third, I have a lot of work to catch up on and—”
“Good. I’m also hiring you to work for me. And we both know you can do your work anywhere in the world.”
She eyed him warily, but didn’t respond. “So this is about me working for you?”
“Fuck no and you know it. This has nothing to do with work. This is about us, what’s between us.”
Her eyes filled with tears, but still she said nothing. She swallowed hard, as if she couldn’t talk.
God, she made him ache. “You’ve got a gift you haven’t tapped into yet. If you open your mind, I think you’ll find you can help a lot more people than that little girl, Selina.”
Her expression softened. “Oh…I never thanked you for that. Declan, thank you for finding her. She came to thank me too before she passed over.”
“I don’t want your thanks. I want you to stay.” Forever. “There’s so much we can do together, Nika. We’re different and should embrace that. Together. There’s so much we can do as…a team. Even if it’s not in the supernatural realm, I want to share everything with you, make a life with you.”
She shifted from one foot to the other. “Declan, I don’t know. There’s so much we don’t know about each other, and what we do know is based on lies. How can you ever forgive me?”
“We lied to each other, yes, but nothing I feel for you is a lie.” He waited a beat, then glanced over his shoulder to find his brother staring at them through the windshield. He needed to suck it up and just tell her. Facing Nika, he mentally steeled himself for her response. “You want to know why things ended with my last girlfriend?”
“Why?”
“Because she tried to kill me.”
Nika’s eyes widened, but he continued. If he didn’t get it out now, he might never. “I admitted the one thing to her I haven’t told anyone besides my family. In my dream walks, there are only a select few people who actually remember my presence. My ex, Madelyn, was a psychic too. Different than you, but psychic just the same. She worked for the CIA, but she was dirty. I was getting too close to…” He cleared his throat, forcing himself to stop since he couldn’t tell her everything. Not yet anyway. “In our dreams one night she used her mental powers to give me a heart attack. If it hadn’t been for my partner and a shot of adrenaline, I’d be dead.”
“So what happened?” Nika whispered.
“She was on the other side of the ocean when she tried to kill me. Thought she succeeded, too.”
“Did you kill her?”
“No.” But he knew who had. Once his handler had gotten wind of her treachery, her days had been numbered.
“So you’re telling me this because…”
“You have the capability to kill me if you want. I don’t know any other way to lay myself bare for you. I don’t want any more lies or secrets between us. And if you’re through with the stupid excuses of why you can’t stay, let’s get out of here. Come home with me.”
She uncrossed her arms and shoved her hands in her pockets. When she stared at him with those big green eyes, he felt as if he could drown in her gaze. “You know most of my secrets, already.”
He nodded. “I do, and I want to start fresh with you. I just want you to give us a chance. Don’t leave.”
Shadows swirled in her eyes. “You really want me to live with you?”
The vulnerability in her voice made his chest hurt. “After every date we’re going to end up in bed together. You might as well save on rent.”
Her lips curled up at the corners as she fought a smile. “That’s so romantic. I don’t know how to argue with that.”
He took a step closer and when she didn’t move away, he cupped her jaw, lightly stroking her soft skin with his thumb. It was too soon, but he decided to take the plunge anyway. “I love you, Nika. That’s why I want you to stay. I think I fell a little bit in love with you during that first dream walk and you called me your fantasy man.”
She sucked in a deep breath. “Declan—”
He didn’t give her a chance to respond. As he crushed his lips over hers, his senses exploded with the taste and touch of her. Her tongue rasped against his, hungry and teasing. He threaded his fingers through the curtain of her thick hair. Energy hummed through him and he tightened his grip. He couldn’t lose her. Not when he’d just found her. This was a woman worth fighting for.
She moaned lightly into his mouth and her arms wound their way around his waist as she gripped him tight. He jerked when she pressed her body up against the entire length of his. Through her sheer top, he could feel her hardened nipples pressing against his chest and he realized she wasn’t wearing a bra. That was his last coherent thought as he deepened their kiss.
A horn blast tore them apart. Nika’s chest rose and fell rapidly as she leaned in to him. Without turning around, he settled his chin on her head and murmured into her hair, “That’s my brother and I think he’s ready to meet you.”
She sighed heavily. “How many brothers do you have again?”
“Three.”
“Are they all gifted like you?”
“You could say that.” As a telekinetic, a clairsentient and a clairvoyant they were all incredibly different, but in one way or another, they were all gifted.
Her grip tightened around his waist but she shifted so that she was looking at him. “My uncle is MI
6. It’s how my sister and I were able to get out of the country undetected when we were kids. I was too young, but my parents had given my sister his number in case of any emergency. He broke a lot of laws getting us to safety and if anyone ever finds out, there will likely be hell to pay. He wanted to give us a chance to live normal lives and cut all ties from the CIA. So there you go, that’s my biggest secret.”
For a moment, he was speechless. The United Kingdom hadn’t even acknowledged the Secret Intelligence Service’s existence until the last couple decades. It made sense that her uncle was so careful getting them out of the country. And it also made sense why no one had been able to track them. “You come from a family of spies, huh?”
“Pretty much.” She bit her bottom lip then looked over to where her sister stood next to Nathaniel. “I need to talk to Alena.”
“Okay.” He kissed the top of her head before she stepped away, even though the last thing he wanted to do was let her go.
Nika pressed a hand to her stomach as she walked toward her sister. For some reason she felt like she was walking the gallows. Once she reached Alena, she opened her mouth but her sister beat her to it.
“You’re staying with him.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yasha’s truly dead,” she whispered.
Alena’s mouth parted a fraction, tears glistening in her dark eyes. “Really?”
Nika had told her about their mother’s visit, but having it confirmed seemed to take Alena off guard. “I didn’t ask for the details but I’ll get them for you. Why don’t you stay in Miami too?”
Alena shook her head, looking miserable. “I can’t.” For the first time in years, Alena had pulled her hair back into a plain ponytail, wore no makeup, and clothes that were just a little too big for her. Nika started to protest, but Alena shook her head. “I see the way you two look at each other so please don’t worry about me right now. I want you to be happy, Nika. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. I just…I can’t stay in the same city as Andre right now.”
“You care for him.”
With tears rolling down her cheeks, Alena nodded. “It doesn’t matter now. And I’m not leaving forever, silly girl. I’m going to meet with my agent and see about lining up a few new jobs this year. Work will keep me sane.”