by D. N. Leo
“Ciaran!”
“Yes.”
“Will you marry me?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“We’re divorced. So let’s do it all over again. Will you marry me?”
His eyes twinkled with the little spark in his eyes that happened whenever she intrigued him. She had missed that look.
He stepped back inside the apartment, tilted her chin up, and looked into her eyes. “Yes, I will,” he said. “Do you have the ring?”
She pulled out the ring she wore on her necklace.
He wiped away a tear that had rolled down her face and kissed the dimple on her left cheek.
He backed her against the wall and started kissing her.
“I have one condition,” Madeline said.
“All right. What is it?”
“A holiday in Ha Long Bay. All five of us.”
“Five of us?”
She rubbed her tummy and grinned. “According to our very helpful robot, I’m pregnant. And he gave me the time of conception, too. Remember the New York bagels?”
He gingerly put his hand on her tummy. “So it’s a normal baby. I mean, a human child. No, I mean…I love Caedmon and Lyla the way they are. But this…this …human…”
She touched his face. “Ciaran, it’s fine. I know what you mean, and I’m happy, too. Can I name our girl?”
“A girl?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, Robert gave me that information, too, using his wicked newly developed algorithm.”
“I didn’t install that program for him. He developed a baby gender algorithm himself?”
“Well, you said he’s a learning machine. He’s spent too much time with your little brother. And for your information, Robert asked for a reward for helping me out with the technology.”
“What does he want now?”
“Apparently, he wants a smart phone to add to his collection of Earth antiques.”
“Then he shall have one. And yes, you can name our girl.”
“How about Freyja?”
“What does that mean?”
“Goddess of love, sex, beauty, war, and death.”
Ciaran chuckled. “Is there anything she isn’t the god of?”
She wanted to answer his question, but he had stopped her words with a kiss.
No matter of how long they had been together or what they had gone through, when Ciaran kissed her, it was always like the first time.
THE END
MORE ON THE NEXT PAGE >>
BONUS
1. Random Psychic - A Shade of Mind - Book 1
2. Fire at Crossroad - Shadow Hunter Trilogy - Prequel
The relationship between Ciaran and Madeline begins in
A Shade of Mind Series. Read Random Psychic if you are interested in their relationship.
Shadow Hunter Trilogy is about Michael Fraser and Lyla J. Leblanc - Ciaran’s and Madeline’s daughter. If you are interested in their relationship, read Fire at Crossroad.
Random Psychic - A Shade of Mind - Book 1
A SHADE OF MIND
A SHADE OF MIND
by D.N Leo
RANDOM PSYCHIC
FOREVER MORTAL
ELUSIVE BEINGS
IMPERFECT DIVINE
>>>SERIES HOME PAGE<<<
Synopsis
Technologically incompetent Madeline has to use her random psychic ability to track down a secret identity of an avatar from the most advanced game technology on Earth, or her best friend will be killed. During the process, she falls for Ciaran, a man who possesses more dangerous secrets than the kidnapping ordeal she has already tangled herself in.
This is the first instalment in an urban fantasy thriller series, filled with paranormal romance and science fiction twists and turns!
1
Hate leaves ugly scars, love leaves beautiful ones.
Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, 1966
She stared at the last three seconds of her life.
A red double-decker full of passengers was racing straight at her, and she couldn’t do anything but stare at it.
Like the traffic and everything else surrounding it, the bus seemed to move in slow motion, but Madeline was more than certain that it was zooming in full speed in reality.
The bus was going to crush her the same way the kidnap and ransom ordeal had cut short Jo’s life.
Jo was like her sister. They had grown up together, but they might not grow old together.
Madeline kept staring at the bus. It was real. It was enormous. And her psychic ability didn’t seem to help at all—if she did have such ability.
Five seconds ago, Madeline had seen it—the haunting blue dot hovering in the air, giving her guidance. She couldn’t believe her eyes. She was a psychic after all. The blue dot glared at her and blinked. That’s unusual, she had thought. It had been three days that she’d stalked this place, and now her psychic ability had finally decided to kick in. About damn time!
She could save Jo now, and her life would be back to the way it was. Not that her life had been spectacular, but it was much better than her current situation.
The second blue dot appeared, blinking at her. She gazed at the dots, and then they were no longer blinking. They weren’t blue, either, but a bright yellow.
And they came with sound.
Honking.
Shouting.
She blinked. They weren’t her psychic blue dots but the headlights of a double-decker racing at her in full speed.
She glanced around. In a blur of motion, she realized she had just stepped out in front of ongoing traffic in the middle of a busy road in the center of London.
She now stood in her reality and froze.
2
Someone grabbed Madeline’s arm and pulled her back onto the sidewalk. The double-decker zoomed past, and the other cars kept moving. If it had been New York, she would have stirred up a hideous bout of road rage. Madeline was still dazed. She turned around and looked at the man who had just saved her life.
“Are you okay?”
“Thank you,” she automatically said and immediately realized that those words she kept in her vocabulary inventory didn’t exactly answer the man’s question.
Then Madeline shook her head. Focus. Stay strong. You’re Jo’s only hope, she scolded herself. She turned toward the man, who was still looking at her with concern.
“I’m fine. Thank you. I’m sorry. The jetlag is killing me. And apparently, I was looking the wrong way.” She gestured toward the traffic and smiled. “Madeline. I’m from New York.” She reached her hand out for a handshake.
“Peter. I’m from . . . here . . . apparently.” He fumbled with his briefcase, swapping it to his left hand so that he could respond to Madeline’s greeting.
Madeline pointed at the building across the road. “I’m looking for LeBlanc Pharmaceuticals. But I think I’ve got the wrong address. That building looks more like military barracks than business headquarters.”
Peter arched an eyebrow, looking Madeline up and down.
“I’m a journalist. I’m writing a business column about one of their new products. Is there a problem?” Madeline asked.
“Oh, no. No problem at all. Nobody has any problem with the LeBlancs.”
Madeline smiled and waited for the next part of Peter’s speech, but it never came. Instead, he shrugged. “Well, to be honest, even the locals know almost nothing about them. I’m sorry I can’t help you. But I can certainly show you around if it does any good. And the I around the corner is one of London’s hot spots. I’m sure it will help cure your jet lag.”
Madeline smiled but cursed on the inside. Peter was a decent-looking man. She hadn’t been in a serious relationship for a while—not that no one was interested in her, but her situation was too complicated to let anyone into her life. Still, it was nice to be hit on occasionally.
She was tall, slim, and attractive enough, but Madeline didn’t consider herself pretty. She had a s
lightly long, oval face, big brown eyes, a generous mouth with full lips, and a dimple on her left cheek. A sea of brunette curls wrapped around her shoulders.
A hot cup of coffee was tempting, but now was not a good time. “I’m sorry. I’ve got to get this done, or my boss will be very unhappy. Thanks for the offer, Peter. Maybe next time.” Madeline waved her gloveless hand goodbye and scurried away, shivering in the winter chill.
She glanced at the reflection on the shop window and saw that the smile on Peter’s face had been replaced by a strange look.
She wouldn’t be mistaken. She had seen that look several times. It was the look of a predator who had just lost his prey.
Instead of going straight home, she turned to the opposite direction and headed toward a crowed shopping center.
3
Hours later, throwing her light backpack over her shoulders, Madeline headed toward a small apartment on a back street in Knightsbridge. Rows of terrace houses that curved along a tree-lined street looked invitingly at her. The black gothic-styled light poles and street fences accentuated the beautiful blend of modern and classic London.
She normally adored and admired the architecture. But right now, Madeline was cursing the amount of money she had to pay to stay in Knightsbridge on such short notice.
There—she saw those blue dots again.
It had been a secret she’d only told Jo, and Jo called it her psychic ability. After the incident in the bush that both Madeline and Jo didn’t want to remember, Madeline had appeared to be able to see people’s minds—or at least she thought that’s what it was.
Sometimes it came from those she had been in contact with. That was how Jo speculated she was able to track down a missing person. Sometimes it randomly came from a stranger when they directed their thoughts at her. Other times, she had absolutely no explanation of where the dots came from. She wasn’t a mind reader—she didn’t know what the thoughts were about. She just saw them as the blue dots.
Ironically, her randomly found ability only worked when she didn’t need it, like when it had led her in front of a fast approaching bus.
The dots hovered in front of her and then moved toward the alley leading to Hyde Park. After the near-fatal encounter with the bus, Madeline didn’t think it was wise to follow the psychic specks anymore. She ignored them and headed home.
Her cell phone buzzed as soon as she entered her apartment. She picked up the phone and kicked the door closed.
“Madeline,” she answered while searching for the light switch on the wall.
At the other end of the line, a male voice croaked, “I miss you. It’s been a few days. What have you got for me?”
“Zen, I almost got hit by a bus trying to get to the door of LeBlanc Pharmaceuticals. Their premises are guarded like a military barracks. Seriously, I’d have a better chance of running through the gates of Buckingham Palace to the Queen’s private chamber than breaking into the front yard of that building.”
“That’s why I sent you there, honey. We can’t compete with the LeBlancs using weapons, money, or manpower. Your little gift is just what we need.”
Madeline finally found the light switch. She flicked it on and strode toward the fireplace. Her teeth were never going to stop chattering if she didn’t get a fire going.
“I don’t have any gift, Zen. You know I can barely operate a computer let alone hunt down a computer geek and ask him questions about an avatar.”
“I saw the games you played with Jo, Madeline. Don’t bluff with me.”
Madeline closed her eyes. Damn. Jo made her play guessing games just to prove that Madeline’s psychic ability was real. Jo believed in it more than she did. Since Jo was doing research on a new simulation game, Madeline thought it would be fun to help out. Now those games were biting her in the backside.
“Look, Zen, it’s been days, and I haven’t been able to get inside. You have to give me more information than just ‘look for a White Knight.’”
“But that’s all I have!” Zen screamed though the phone. She could hear his heavy breathing and his swallow to suppress his anger.
She lowered her voice. “If you let me talk to Jo, we could figure something out.”
“You want to talk to her? Okay.” Zen turned on the video phone. He grabbed Jo’s hair and smashed her face onto the screen of the phone. “Do you see her now? Talk away. You girls can figure things out, right?”
Madeline caught a glimpse of Zen’s face, which was burning red with fury. Jo’s eyes were dazed, and her forehead was bruised. Jo bit her lips and looked into the screen. Madeline knew Jo wouldn’t cry.
“You hurt her, you bastard. You told me you wouldn’t hurt her if I found your stupid avatar!” Madeline roared.
“But you found nothing!” Zen screamed.
4
“He didn’t hurt me, Madeline. I tried to run and fell down the stairs. Should have taken my stupid heels off.” Jo smiled weakly.
A tear rolled down Madeline’s cheek. Jo was barely five foot two, and she always wore those impossibly high heels. Madeline couldn’t understand why she was so conscious about her height. Jo was gorgeous. She was a brilliant computer game designer, but no one could peg her as a nerd. Madeline wiped her tear and smiled back.
“You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine. You take care of yourself, Madeline.”
“I can’t get the blue dots to work, Jo. Can you tell me what the game is about? What am I looking for?”
Jo was about to say something, but Zen yanked her off the phone. “All you have to do is to find out who plays with Jo using the name White Knight. You’ve seen the game—and the player. You should be able to tell who the guy is in real life. I told you he works for the LeBlancs and has been playing from that building. You don’t have to go in. Just wait him out.”
“Do you understand that LeBlanc Pharmaceuticals is a global company that employs millions of people?”
“But I gave you the precise location!”
“I told you, it’s like a military barrack. I used my journalist credentials to ask for an interview with their PR department . . .”
“And?”
“The waiting list is a month.”
“I don’t have a month. I give you three days.”
“It’s not possible . . .”
“I don’t give a shit. If I don’t get this done in time, I’ll be dead. But I’m not going down alone. I can guarantee you that. I’ll send you more info as soon as I have it. But three days is all the time you’ve got.”
Zen hung up.
Madeline slid down to the floor and curled up next to the sofa. She let the tears fall freely. She could fall apart right here, right now. Nobody knew, and nobody cared. Jo was her family—the only family Madeline had ever known. She had taken her in and had shared her family with Madeline unconditionally. Jo’s parents had never once asked Madeline about her own family—they knew she didn’t have one. Otherwise, she would’ve had to tell them that she had come in a basket, abandoned on the front porch of some random house.
Her teeth chattered, and her body shook with the chill. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten or slept.
At the corner of the room, the fireplace stood cold and empty. She had forgotten to start the fire.
A shadow hovered at the window and tripped over the potted plant at the front door, but Madeline had drifted to sleep and heard nothing.
A piece of paper slid under her door.
A crash woke Madeline. She jumped up to her feet, panting.
Then she let out a sigh of relief. She had kicked the side table in her sleep, and the vase on top of the table had crashed to the floor.
Madeline checked the clock. She must have passed out for the night. It was just past five in the morning. She glanced out the window without any hope of seeing the winter sun at this hour. Madeline went to the kitchen to make herself a strong mug of coffee and to find something with which to clean up the broken vase.
> A short moment later, she settled in front of her computer and stared at the mountain of documentation she had researched about LeBlanc Pharmaceuticals.
Secrets.
That was the conclusion she had drawn. Not that she couldn’t find any information. On the contrary, there was too much information. Ten years of experience in journalism had taught her that the information about the LeBlancs was only a facade. Even the underground information revealed nothing about the company that they didn’t want the public to know.
The LeBlanc family was filthy rich—and extremely private.
Madeline had to congratulate herself after hours of searching. She found one picture of the current head of the family, Ciaran LeBlanc. One lousy picture. The picture must have come from a very keen stalker. It was taken from a distance, and the scene it showed was reflected on a traffic monitoring mirror in a car park.
Judging by the proportion of the cars and guards around him, Madeline speculated that Ciaran was tall and well-built, but on the slender side.
Young, she mused, and maybe long hair. The picture was so distorted that Madeline wasn’t sure she would have recognized Ciaran if she met him in the flesh.
She drew imaginary lines with her finger around Ciaran’s face, trying to make out the part that the poor quality image didn’t catch.
Then she glanced at the corner of the door, on the floor, and saw the note.
Madeline picked the note up.
It read, “Hyde Park.”