“When do you think he’s going to try anything?” Zoë asked as she nipped a piece of bacon, watching Micah as he stood at her stove expertly turning the golden brown hash browns.
“I only wish I knew,” Micah said, his mouth going into a firm, flat line, eyes grim. “I feel so blind.”
Zoë shrugged. “You’re not blind. Not with me,” she said, lifting one shoulder, her eyes moving to the window. She’d had to draw the curtains. They couldn’t risk Morraine seeing Micah. Her presence would drown out any echo from Micah until Morraine was practically on top of them. And he’d be caught by surprise, hopefully surprised enough that Micah could do what needed to be done.
But in order for this entire plan to work, she had to drop her shields. Going completely unshielded was like walking naked in a rainstorm.
The emotions she picked up from Micah had her head whirling.
It was his thick head. He was so damned stubborn, his personality strong enough, that she had a hard time seeing inside his head. Of course, he was also an intensely emotional person. And his emotions, she felt. Emotions were like colors, just like thoughts came mostly in complete words.
And the color of his emotions painted her a rainbow.
Hunger, fear, want, desire, anger…love. She hadn’t seen that emotion of love so clearly on him before. She’d felt confusion, need, lust…but love…had he always loved her?
Did he even know he loved her? Whether or not he had admitted it to himself, she didn’t know. Whether or not he ever planned on telling her, she didn’t know. But he did love her. Love was a pure golden color underlined with the deep, rose red of desire, and the colors surrounded him.
With her shields down, she felt so much.
But that could also be dangerous.
She was leaving herself wide open for Morraine. And he’d done her enough damage already. Pensively, she stared at the table, lost in thought, lost in the morass of her fears.
“Hey.”
Startled, her head flew up and she stared solemnly into Micah’s eyes. His hand came up, cupping her cheek and she rubbed against it, reaching up to cover his hand with hers.
“Are you okay?” he asked quietly.
With a forced smile, she said, “As okay…”
Terror, icy and black, punched her in the gut as a low, menacing voice purred into her mind.
Now…now…now…what do we have here?
The psychic voice was powerful enough that it echoed in the room, not just within her mind. Powerful enough that Micah heard it as well and his hands closed over her upper arms, pulling her against him. Her vision was foggy for a minute as fear seized control. For a moment, she battled the fear as it tried to overtake her, but finally, she gained control, clearing her mind and mentally bracing herself for what was coming.
Zoë swallowed and raised enough of her shielding that he could only sense what she wanted him to sense. Now that he was here, she could resume some of her normal caution.
“What do you want?” she said flatly. “Your masters know you got out of your cage?”
Always so brave, Zoë. Why aren’t you surprised to hear from me? You all thought I was dead.
Zoë laughed. “I know better than to expect you to die like a normal person. You’re like a cockroach, always turning up in the most unexpected places.”
Staring up at Micah, she forced a smile and mouthed, I’m okay.
His eyes were flat and hard but he nodded, cocking a brow at her and waiting.
I’m coming for you, Zoë. Do you know that?
“Well, I didn’t think this was a social call. What makes you think it will be so easy?” She stepped back away from Micah and ran her hands through her hair.
Zoë was pleasantly surprised to find her hands steady.
Kyle laughed, the silky sound warm and amused. Almost pleasant. You are weak, Zoë. Weak and soft. That’s why you didn’t kill me when you had the chance.
“Trust me when I say that’s not a mistake I’ll ever make again,” she assured him sweetly. “Why don’t you come on up and I can show you?”
Kyle laughed. No…I’m not done playing with you yet. You cost me five years. You’ll pay for it before you die.
Ice chilled her blood as he shoved at her mind and for long minutes, her eyes blurred and she couldn’t see the sunny yellow of her kitchen anymore, just the roughhewn warm amber beams of an exposed ceiling. Narrowing her eyes, she growled, “I’m not as easy to take as others, Kyle. You should know better.” As she shoved him out of her mind, she broke out into a sweat and the sudden break of the link left her staggering for a minute. Slamming her hands against the table, Zoë sucked air into her lungs, scrunching her eyes tightly closed.
Micah’s arms came around her and he whispered into her ear, “Are you okay?”
Turning around, she stepped up against him, snuggling against him. “Well, at least I can move enough to shake. That’s better than last time,” she murmured.
Under her cheek, she felt the steady beat of his heart. His hand came up, fingers threading through her hair, massaging her scalp as he cradled her against him. “He doesn’t know I’m here, does he?”
Zoë could feel the smooth cotton of the Henley shirt he wore against her cheek as she shook her head. The warmth of his skin underneath. “No. He’s too focused. Too focused on me.”
That was going to be his downfall.
So focused on Zoë, so focused on making her scream and whimper and beg that he stopped thinking. He let his emotions rule his thinking and after Zoë had broken the link with him, he’d left the mountain. She could even feel him…vaguely…his presence slowly grew more and more dim, like a light in the darkness.
He got stupid. Instead of thinking with his head, he thought about how to get to Zoë and he grabbed a girl. He took her off the streets, a college coed in town for some R&R over her fall break.
Zoë could feel the girl’s fear as Morraine dragged her through the woods, murmuring against her skin, using the barrel of his Glock to caress the flesh left bare by the v neckline of her sweater.
He hadn’t been gone more than a few hours and Zoë had been aware of every step he took, aware of the girl’s terror, Morraine’s excitement.
Keeping her face blank as she dealt with all the emotions from the girl, she accepted the steaming cup of green tea into her hand from Micah as he crouched down in front of her. Without drinking it, she set it aside and leaned forward, looping her arms around Micah’s neck and drawing him against her.
The minute his lips touched hers, she did it. Focusing and dragging him under. As he went kicking and screaming into a dark slumber, she whispered, “I’m counting on you.”
And then she slid out into the dusky twilight, closing the door behind her. As she moved away, she released the hold she had on Micah’s mind and prayed she wasn’t making a mistake.
Morraine kept whispering to her as she tracked him. She’s bleeding, Zoë. Aren’t you going to try and save her?
“I’m not going to try. I will save her. Stupid fuck.”
Morraine laughed.
Zoë knew these woods like the back of her hand, even in the night. As twilight fell, the shadows lengthened but she moved through them surely and confidently, sidestepping the branches and natural debris that littered the forest floor.
With her shields locked down so tightly, he wouldn’t feel her coming until it was too late. And he was shielding from her, so she couldn’t track him as well, at least not like she could if she let her shields down.
But he couldn’t do a damn thing about blocking the girl’s thoughts from her.
Zoë was just too strong.
And she was severely pissed.
By the time she got close enough for Morraine to feel her presence, Micah was awake. Feeling Micah’s fury, she dropped her shields once more, hoping the power of her presence would drown out Micah, or at least camouflage him for a little while.
“Let the girl go,” she said, keeping her voice normal.
A
lthough Morraine was still probably a quarter a mile away, she knew he’d hear her.
Just like she heard his evil laughter. “Now why should I? She’s such a pretty little toy, skin so white and soft…well, at least where I haven’t cut her.”
“Because if you don’t this is the closest you’ll ever get to me,” she replied. “You want me? This is your chance. But you can either let her go now, or I disappear. You’ll kill her. I know you will. You get me close enough, the first thing you’ll do is kill her in front of me. So if you want me, let her go.”
“You don’t have the guts to come and face me,” Kyle sneered. “I let her go, and you’ll just run away.”
Zoë laughed, the sound hard and brittle in the air. “No. Because I want you dead more than I want to run away,” she responded. “Believe that.”
When Micah awoke, he exploded off the floor in a flurry of motion.
He didn’t even waste time searching the house. He headed for the back door, but before he even got to the kitchen, he heard Zoë murmur, No…he’s watching that way.
Follow me…
It wasn’t her voice. Not really. More like an echo, or a memory she had planted within his mind.
Damn it. When she kissed him, she had known Morraine was out there and she knocked him out so she could go after him herself.
With a snarl, he jerked his phone from his belt. He was already out of the house when somebody came on the line. “He’s here. Zoë’s out there.”
This plan was seriously flawed. One person going after Morraine.
No…two.
It was as he was running through the woods, stumbling on the uneven ground, that he realized why the plan seemed so fucked up to begin with. Oh, he was sure there was a team that would come in and do the clean-up.
But they were counting on somebody else doing the dirty work.
Not Micah.
He was there to make sure Zoë stayed alive and to call them if something went wrong. But Zoë was the one they were counting on to kill Morraine. It had been the suit who had insisted Morraine be brought in alive. But the woman had been the one in charge, and now Micah understood the secrets he’d seen in her dark gaze.
She wanted Morraine dead as surely as Micah did. Only she wasn’t strong enough.
And apparently none of her men were either. So the ball fell to Zoë.
Problem was, it put Zoë entirely too close to Morraine—Micah wasn’t at all pleased with that.
The echo of her voice guided him. He listened to it intuitively as he moved through the woods.
His night sight kicked in and he didn’t have to run blind anymore. The darker shapes of trees and branches and rocks lining the faint trail became easier to avoid and he moved quicker.
And soon, he heard her voice, not just the echo of a memory she’d forced inside his head. They’d be having a talk about that. But right now he was too happy to see her in one piece. Although he’d known she was alive. He’d felt it.
If something ever happened to her, he would know. He’d feel it inside his heart—and his heart would die inside him.
Sliding behind a tree, he drew his gun and prayed that whatever twist of fate kept Zoë from sensing what was going on in his mind would also keep Morraine out.
“I can always go back after the girl,” Morraine said as Micah braced one shoulder against the tree. In the distance, he could hear the sound of a woman’s faint sobs, the sounds of somebody thrashing through the trees.
Shit.
He had brought bait. A girl to threaten Zoë with. That was why she’d left the way she had. Stubborn, irritating brat of a woman. He would strangle her.
“No,” Zoë said calmly. “Because you won’t leave these woods alive.”
There was the sound of branches and leaves crunching underfoot and Micah chanced peering around the tree as Morraine approached Zoë. The bastard laughed as he stared down at her. “Arrogant bitch, aren’t you?”
“Hmm. No, confident bitch. Arrogant is what you are, thinking you are so powerful, so mighty. And you don’t even realize that I wasn’t alone in that house. Any more than I’m alone with you right now.”
Micah cracked a smile, shaking his head. He understood what she’d done now, traded herself for whoever Morraine had grabbed, counting on Micah to come after her.
Although Zoë had the skill to kill Morraine, Micah suspected she didn’t fully believe it.
And even if she did, it would scar her.
“There’s nobody here but us, Zoë. Don’t you think I’d know? I’d hear the thoughts,” Morraine said, his voice still so full of arrogance.
Moving out from behind the tree, Micah lifted his gun as he cocked an eyebrow at Zoë. “Not if my head is too thick for the thoughts to leak out. Zoë can’t hear me. Why should you?” he asked as he aimed the gun squarely at Morraine’s forehead.
“You fucking cunt!” Morraine roared, lifting his arm and backhanding Zoë across the face.
Micah saw red at the same time he felt an outside force, ugly and black, punch at his mind. Shoot the bitch…the whisper was dark and malevolent, so full of evil that Micah was certain it would haunt him.
But it didn’t control him. Curling his lips in a smile, he said, “No. I’ve got my target.” He saw Zoë from the corner of his eye as he pulled the trigger.
And when Morraine went down, a look of shock still on his face, he felt the relief from her as surely as if he was the one with the abilities.
She hadn’t wanted another stain from Morraine inside her.
Chapter Four
Two days later, finally, all the agents from the still unknown agency had left Gatlinburg. Zoë knew damned good and well there might be more questions, but for now, she had some peace.
They’d tried to recruit her.
Zoë had suspected they might—they even tried some none too subtle blackmail and then she blasted her way into the mind of the woman who’d led them. After a few moments of shell-shocked silence, the woman simply turned and walked out.
Her full abilities were something she rarely utilized—but she knew that when she blasted her way into a mind, it was akin to somebody experiencing a sonic boom within their skull. Zoë couldn’t be controlled. And she wouldn’t tolerate somebody trying to.
But now she was alone. Completely alone.
Micah had been gone since yesterday morning. He had slid into her room and she’d awoken to find him staring down at her.
For a long, poignant moment, their gazes held and then he slanted his mouth across hers.
A soft, sweet kiss that left her with tears burning her eyes.
Then he turned and walked out.
His way of saying goodbye?
Hell, she didn’t know.
She just knew she was alone again. Achingly alone. He had to go. She knew that.
He had a job to do, and just because Morraine was gone didn’t mean his part in it was done.
Settled at her computer, she tried to focus on editing some pictures but she couldn’t work up the interest to do more than flip through the photos.
When the knock came, she stilled. Her heart started to slam against her ribs and Zoë licked her lips nervously as she lifted her head and stared out the door of her office into the hall. From upstairs, she couldn’t see the door, but her gut knew who was there.
Nervously, she climbed to her feet and walked slowly into the hall, staring down the stairway at the dark shadow through the frosted glass of the door. The knock came again, demanding. Resting one hand on the banister, she walked down the steps.
Her hand closed around the handle and for a long moment, she hesitated. A hand came from outside and rested on the glass. “Open the door, Zoë.”
Reaching up, she rested her palm against the glass, opposite his, leaning her forehead against the door as she took a breath and tried to prepare herself.
He’d come back…but why?
Why had he come back this time? Closing her eyes, she whispered, “There’s on
ly one way to find out.”
Slowly she opened the door and stood there, staring at Micah in silence.
The moment her eyes met his, a smile spread across his face and he whispered, “I told you—I wasn’t walking away from you again. You’re mine, Zoë.”
Swallowing, she said thickly, “When did you become a mind reader?”
Micah just chuckled as he pulled her against him. “I don’t have to read your mind. I just need to look in your eyes,” he whispered as he threaded his fingers through her hair. “I love you, Zoë. And if you plan on pushing me off the mountain, do me a favor and make sure it kills me. That’s the only thing that will keep me from you.”
Pressing her face against his chest, she gave a watery laugh. “I love you,” she whispered. “The only way I’ll try to throw you off a cliff is if you try to leave me.”
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