Hidden Hearts

by Eva Chase

  A pained grin crossed my face. “They deserve it.”

  I stuffed the tracker and the gauze in a plastic baggie and dropped it into one of the toilets. With an energetic flush, it spun and vanished into the sewage system. “Adios!” I said to it, and turned to Nick. “Okay, let’s get the hell out of here.”

  We slipped out of the restroom and hustled across the park. We’d purposely chosen one close to the main train station. If we could just get out of the city before Alpha Project tracked me down…

  We’d just reached the sidewalk at the edge of the park when a faint snapping sound careened to my ears. I flinched and ducked, yanking Nick with me.

  A tranquilizer dart lodged in my hair, the needle less than a quarter of an inch from my scalp.

  “Run!” Nick said.

  I followed his lead, trusting his years of evasive skills. Another dart flew past us. Footsteps pounded behind us, but we dodged down an alley and through a winding set of back streets like you could only find in London.

  A shout echoed off the tall buildings somewhere behind us. We kept running, slowing a little so we weren’t making quite so much noise, until we couldn’t hear anything behind us at all.

  Nick paused where the side street we were in led out into a main road. “We’ve gotten turned around a bit, but we can make it to the train station in a few minutes from here. They might be guarding it, though.”

  “Maybe just grab a taxi?” I said. “Head out to Stansted Airport. They can’t have every port in the city completely under surveillance.”

  “That sounds like a plan.” He grasped my hand—and a low smooth voice that I’d never wanted to hear again carried from the street ahead.

  “Carina? I thought you might head this way if you gave those dolts the slip.”

  Langdon. My pulse stuttered. Nick and I scrambled back behind a dumpster. If we headed the other way, we’d be running right back toward our other pursuers. Was he alone?

  “I thought you might want to know that your parents are alive,” Langdon said. He was talking so casually, as if this were an everyday conversation. As if I’d answered him. “But there’s no way you’ll ever see them unless you come back to Alpha Project. That’s a fair deal, isn’t it? You come back to me, I bring them back to life for you. If you don’t come, well, who knows what might happen to them.”

  He sounded amused. My hands clenched. Was he threatening that he’d murder them if I didn’t go with him?

  “Don’t listen to him,” Nick said, low, by my ear. “We’ll get your parents out. We’ll get everyone out.”

  “I just ask that you bring your boyfriend too,” Langdon added. “Since he got you into this mess in the first place, didn’t he? I promise I’ll play nice.”

  Like I’d trust any promise he gave me. But my heart was wrenching. If we fled, if I defied him again… Was I throwing away my parents’ lives?

  But how much was I throwing away if I gave in? Langdon could easily be lying, like he’d lied about their deaths. I had no reason at all to trust him.

  My mind leapt to Nick in Amsterdam, clutching that little scarf and talking about making the world just a little bit of a better place. A lump rose in my throat. I wanted to be part of that. And the only way I could was if I stayed with him, stayed free.

  Or if I at least made sure he stayed free. In our silence, Langdon’s shoes brushed the ground. The hairs on the back of my neck rose. He was creeping up on our hiding spot, planning to ambush us somehow or other. Lord knew what weapons he might be carrying, what tricks he had up his sleeve.

  But he didn’t have me anymore. I could still surprise him.

  I grasped the collar of Nick’s shirt and tugged him into a quick kiss. He caught my eyes with a question in his, but I was already pushing away from him.

  “Run for the street—don’t wait for me,” I whispered, and threw myself around the dumpster at Langdon.

  23

  Nick

  Carina leapt away from me so quickly I didn’t have time to catch her. She dashed around the dumpster. I sprang after her in time to see her barrel right into Langdon, who’d come up just a few feet away with his hands tight around a gun.

  A real gun, I registered distantly as my body moved on instinct. She slammed him to the ground, his arm jerked up, and the finger he’d already had braced around the trigger pulled. The bang that echoed through the alley wasn’t any tranq gun. Even if he had rubber bullets in it, at this close range, I had the feeling he’d been aiming to kill.

  Maybe he figured one dead Keane to conduct research on was better than letting one of us escape all over again. Especially if that escape included the woman he’d raised like a pet.

  Carina had told me to run, but no way in hell was I leaving without her. I threw myself after her, slamming my foot on Langdon’s hand. He yelped, and the gun dropped onto the ground. I kicked it away as hard as I could.

  He was shoving at Carina, and Carina was fighting back with knees and elbows, holding him down with all she had. To try to let me go free, no matter what happened to her. I grasped her shoulder, pushing Langdon’s arm against the ground.

  “Carina, he doesn’t have the gun anymore. Come with me.”

  She glanced up at me, her eyes wild, and Langdon took that momentary distraction to his advantage. He heaved up with more strength than I’d been prepared for. My hand slipped from his arm. He tossed Carina over onto the ground and braced his forearm against her throat. His dark eyes found mine, his gaze flat.

  “Bring me that gun, or I—”

  I wasn’t waiting around to find out what threat he was going to make. Carina flailed out with a choked sound, and I hurled myself at Langdon with all the strength I had in me.

  The older man tumbled to the side, off her. I barely managed not to land on her myself. Carina scrambled out of the way and onto her feet. As she spun around, Langdon shoved himself after us.

  We could have run then. The two of us, together, as far and as fast as we could get. But in that instant, faced with the man who’d orchestrated thirty years of hunts for my family, thirty years of fear and uncertainty and pain, something inside me hardened.

  Without his gun, he wasn’t any match for me. I wasn’t leaving here with nothing.

  I’d wrenched a tranquilizer dart from Carina’s hair as we’d run into this warren of allies. Now I yanked it from my pocket and lunged at Langdon. My jab caught him right at the crook of his neck. The sedative poured into his body.

  It didn’t take hold immediately. Langdon threw a punch that smacked my jaw and left my nerves jangling before I pinned him down. Then his muscles sagged. He blinked, quickly and then more sluggishly. His head lolled on the dirty concrete as his eyelids drifted completely shut.

  “Come on!” Carina said, her eyes wide.

  I shook my head. “I’m going to take everything I can from him first.”

  I tugged up the sleeve of his suit jacket and circled his bare forearm with both my hands.

  The impressions swam up as soon as I opened my mind to them. I braced myself for whatever horrors I might see from Langdon’s long, destructive life.

  He was in a lab, studying constructs I didn’t recognize on a computer screen. Damn it, he muttered to himself. Frustration hung thick in the air.

  He was a little boy constructing an elaborate building out of Lego. A woman’s voice shrieked at him, and a foot came down to kick his castle against the wall, smashing it. He snatched it up and threw a hail of pieces back at the woman.

  He was walking down a long gray hall with doors on either side, a smile curling his lips and satisfaction radiating through his body. This is exactly the way I pictured it. Good work. We’ll do even better with this one.

  He was standing in front of a broad glass desk, behind which a man who looked like a ruddier, stockier version of him eyed him with hands clasped on his belly. If you’re really sure this is the route you want to take, the man said. I think it’s better if we don’t get our hands too dirty.r />
  I think we’ll learn so much more, so much faster with a hands on approach, Langdon said, in a younger voice than the one I’d heard a few minutes ago. Great things come to those who aren’t afraid to dig in, Dad.

  He was looking down at a topographical map, tapping a spot between two hills. Here. This will be perfect. There aren’t any state restrictions in Utah we’d need to worry about?

  I think we can make the transition seamlessly, the woman beside him replied.

  He was swimming lengths in a pool, the water cool against his skin, the scent of chlorine in his nose. He pushed off one wall and dove down, pushing himself farther and farther until his lungs burned with the need for air.

  He was standing in a boardroom, next to a wall of windows looking out over a city—Rome; I recognized Il Vittoriano in the distance—with several men in fancy suits around the table in front of him. A red logo gleamed on the table’s polished surface. He cleared his throat. Gentlemen, we’ve now moved into the next phase of our research. Thanks to your funding…

  He was striding down a busy sidewalk, shoulders skimming other pedestrians as he—

  A hand shook my shoulder. “Nick!” Carina said in an urgent whisper. “I can hear the others. They’re coming. We have to go.”

  Some part of me balked. No. There was more I could find out from this man. More that maybe could save us, save the rest of my family. But even as I swam out of the dreamlike state of so many impressions streaming together, I heard it too. The shuffle of several feet somewhere down the alley, the calls of one agent to another.

  I pushed myself away from Langdon and whipped toward the street. Carina squeezed my hand, and we bolted for our freedom together.

  24

  Carina

  One month later

  Even at the window of our little apartment, high up in one of Beijing’s central apartment buildings, the thrum of the city’s energy reached me. I leaned against the sill, soaking it up as the setting sun painted the streets with its last streaks of light.

  Nick came up behind me, sliding his arms around my waist and nuzzling the crook of my neck. I leaned into him automatically with a happy sigh.

  “Finished that last job already?” I said.

  “Not quite,” he murmured. His lips brushed my skin, sending a wave of heat through me. “But I figured I deserved a break. If you’d like to take one with me.”

  I laughed, but at the same time I snuggled closer to him. “Well, when you’re the one who’s offering…”

  He raised his eyebrows in mock horror. “Have you been getting a whole lot of offers from other guys you haven’t told me about?”

  I swatted him, grinning. But my heart squeezed with how much I meant the words I said next. “Of course not. There’s no one I want except you.”

  “Good.” He kissed the side of my neck and swept me off my feet, tossing me onto the bed more easily than really should have been legal.

  “Oh, you’re asking for it now,” I growled.

  “Oh yeah? And are you going to give it to me?”

  I sat up, and he let me yank him down beside me. Our mouths collided, and the next few minutes were a flurry of shed clothing and hungry kisses. I might like my food, but I’d never found anything I had as much of an appetite for as this man. Nothing sated me like the moment when I lowered myself onto him, a moan slipping from my lips as his cock filled me completely.

  He gripped my waist as I rode him, his free hand stroking one breast and then the other until I couldn’t tell where my body was searing with pleasure more. It was just made of bliss. I came with a cry, bowing over him. With one smooth movement, he flipped us over and plunging into me deeper, faster, so swift and hard I came again as he found his release inside me.

  When we were lying cuddled together after, my body still tingling, he brushed his fingers over my loose hair and said, “You know I was just teasing about the offers thing. If you ever did want to move on… The last thing I’d ever want to do is make you feel trapped.”

  Like Langdon had literally kept me trapped. Nick didn’t need to say that part. My throat tightened. My good, good man. So kind and caring beneath that hot as hell exterior.

  I eased back far enough to kiss him on the lips, letting it go on long and tender until my body started to heat again. But I wasn’t trying to light another fire between us.

  “I know,” I said. “The last thing I’ll ever feel with you is trapped. You opened the door to the whole world for me, Nick.”

  He hugged me to him, and for several moments there was nothing but the soft warmth of his skin, the solid muscles beneath, the rhythm of our breaths falling into sync. When an alert sounded on his computer, I groaned.

  Nick had stiffened. “That’s Liam,” he said. He detached himself from me gently and went to the laptop on the table near the apartment’s small kitchenette.

  I followed him over, but kept myself at a slight distance, where I couldn’t actually read what was on the screen. Nick had shared a lot of secrets with me in the month since we’d fled London, but I didn’t want him to feel as if I were prying. I knew how hard it was for him to trust me completely.

  “He’s found the company that owns the building where Langdon had that meeting in Rome,” Nick said, his expression relaxing. No one was hurt. No one was in danger. “The one I saw in one of the impressions I got from him. That’s a solid lead.”

  “So what do we do now?”

  “We don’t do anything. Langdon knows too much about us. And he’s probably very peeved with me.” Nick rubbed his mouth. “Liam’s suggesting we send Connor in. He’s already nearby in Florence. And as far as we know Alpha Project has no idea he exists.”

  “Do you think that’s a good idea?” I said, studying his face. From what Nick had told me about the first of his younger brothers, Connor was a hothead, prone to getting into trouble. The fact that his talent was manipulating fire and he didn’t always have the best control over that talent didn’t help the situation.

  Nick sighed. “He has been getting better, Jeremy says. When I talked to him, he sounded a lot more grounded than before. And he’s been pushing to pitch in more with our investigations too. Maybe it’d be good for him to take on a little responsibility, to know that we trust him? Something low key to start.”

  He didn’t sound totally convinced. As he closed the email, I slung my arm over his shoulders and leaned in. “I know from personal experience that having your trust can mean a lot.”

  He turned to kiss me. Then he got up, reaching into his pocket.

  “I saw something I wanted you to have when I was out today.”

  He pulled out a jewelry box and opened it. A gold necklace gleamed inside, the charm two hearts looped together.

  “It’s a little corny, I know,” Nick said. “But if you haven’t figured out by now that I’m not adverse to corniness… And I figured it could replace the one you had with something that really did come from a person who cares about you.”

  My throat tightened. “I love it,” I said. I fastened the chain around my neck, the corner of my mouth quirking up. “And it’s interesting timing. I took a little walk this afternoon too. Come here.”

  I took his hand. Nick followed me with a curious tilt of his head. I led him onto the apartment’s cramped balcony. It was barely big enough for two chairs, so we’d never bothered to put out any furniture. But now a stack of pots, a bag of soil, and a flat of seedlings were sitting in the corner.

  I squeezed Nick’s hand. “What do you say we get started on a new garden?”

  A hopeful glow lit Nick’s face. He touched my jaw and leaned in to press his lips to mine again.

  His head stayed bowed by mine when our lips parted. “I love you,” he said.

  I choked up completely. He’d never said that before. I’d felt the emotion building in me, but I hadn’t dared to say it first. Hadn’t wanted him to think it was too fast.

  But it wasn’t. I knew right then, this was the perfect time.
>
  “I love you too,” I said, and kissed him again.

  After, he slung his arm around me and we looked at the makings of the garden that would be ours.

  “To new beginnings?” Nick said.

  “And to making a new life,” I said. “A real one.”

  Hip to hip, we knelt down to get planting.

  * * *

  Book 3 in the Alpha Project Psychic Romances, featuring Connor, coming this fall!

  Want to discover the history between Alpha Project and Nick’s parents? You can grab, Burning Hearts, the Alpha Project Psychic Romances prequel novella FREE here!

  Magic Waking excerpt

  Did you know I also have a romantic urban fantasy series about a female incarnation of the wizard Merlin, who fights to protect the reincarnated King Arthur from a fae threat—while also trying not to fall in love with him all over again?

  Sarcastic wizardry, cruel fae, Arthurian legend, and a star-crossed love fifteen hundred years in the making await in Magic Waking…

  MAGIC WAKING

  1

  The day I found my king started with a stomachache.

  I stretched on my bed amid the tangle of blanket and sheet, still waking up. The warmth of the sunlight streaming through the narrow window soaked into my skin, but the knot in my stomach didn’t loosen. I knew what it meant. My heart thumped.

  Today, after twenty years, four months, and six days of searching and waiting—not that I’d been counting or anything—I was going to set eyes on him again.

  I rolled over and caught sight of a creature I was much less enthusiastic about.

  A gloom was lurking under my computer desk. No one else would have been able to distinguish that patch of thicker darkness within the regular shadow, but my magic-touched sight could make out even those mindless scraps of dark intent. I grimaced.