Hidden Light

by Nikki Bolvair

  I paused my drawing. “Do they know about me?”

  He smiled, and for a moment, he didn't appear threatening. “Yes, they know about you. At least, they do by now.”

  I went back to my doodles and asked him another question. “What about my mark?”

  His brows rose as he pulled back. “What about it?”

  “Well, I don't have one. And I learned in the other class today that you're supposed to have one after you turn thirteen.”

  He shrugged. “You’re right, but this whole situation is new to us. The only thing I can speculate is it's probably because the person who gave it to you hadn’t received theirs yet. Maybe the light stays the same age as the giver? It was Philip who gave it to you, right?”

  My heart stung at the sound of his name. “Yes.”

  He jumped up from his spot and went over to the computer. He typed on the keyboard and muttered to himself before speaking. “Philip Everly was due to gain his mark in two more days.”

  He leaned back in his chair and turned to me. I gaped at him in silence, dumbfounded by the information.

  “You know what they say…” he continued with a sly grin.

  “What?” I stared at him in confusion.

  His mischievous grin almost made me regret asking. “The more time you spend with someone, the greater the likelihood you’ll have matching marks.”

  I was taken aback. If that were true, maybe I would get one matching my stepbrothers’ and their friends’. “Really?” My gaze narrowed suspiciously at him. “And why would you say that?”

  His expression became mortified as he jerked back. “Not for my benefit.” He waved a dismissive hand. “It’s just what the kids say, not a proven fact. So, don’t you worry your pretty crown about it.”

  My lips twisted. “It’s head.”

  “Crown, head,” He waved the careless hand again. “It all means the same.”

  “Huh, fine. How about you? Do you have a mate? Or a group bond?”

  His expression darkened, and he turned back to his computer, ignoring my question. “Keep drawing.”

  I sighed and did as he ordered.

  Zoning out, I hadn't noticed Mr. Teacher slide up beside me until the scent of mint lingered. I peered up at him sideways. “What’s your name?”

  “Hooks.” He nodded to my drawing. “Let me see.”

  For the first time, I stared down at my drawing and looked at it. Shock froze my pencil in place.

  A woman, holding a baby, stood next to a man. The couple smiled. But what caught me off-guard was absence of pencil marks around the center of the woman’s and the child’s chests, giving an illusion of a glow. The man, on the other hand, did not.

  The paper slid from my fingertips as Hooks took it. He studied the paper. “Do you recognize them?”

  “No. Do you?”

  “Maybe.” He folded and pocketed the drawing. “But you know what this means?”

  “That I can draw?”

  He shook his head and walked back to his desk. “You’re a Pathist Imture. Or a PI. You gain visions through your drawings that others need to see.”

  My eyes narrowed as I stared at him, trying to connect the dots. “So, that picture you had me draw, was that something you needed to see?”

  He never glanced my way as he gave me a one-word answer. “No.”

  Then he lifted his hand, rotated his finger, and I found myself in a diner, sitting in a booth next to Baxter.

  Wide blue eyes turned to me as his mouth hung open. “What the hell?”

  I frowned, glancing to the fries on the table. The damn man shimmed me out of the room. And how did he know where to send me?

  Chapter Five

  At the smell of food, my stomach growled. Like I’d been in the diner all along, I picked up a fry and dipped it into the ketchup. “Hi, Baxter.”

  “Car, you’re not supposed to shim in front of people,” he whispered, his head whipping around to check if anyone noticed.

  I glanced around as well while I munched on the fry. Nothing seemed to be out of sorts. “It wasn’t me.”

  His wide shoulders relaxed when he realized no one was staring at us or had even noticed.

  “They probably thought it was the flash of a camera,” I reasoned, grabbing another fry. “Why are you here?”

  Finally convinced no one saw me drop in, he stretched his arm behind me on the back of the booth and scooted closer until my head barely met the curve of his underarm. “Meeting up with Colten for a quick lunch break. He’s not here yet, though.”

  He grabbed a fry for himself, the arm across my shoulders so close his dangling fingertips brushed my shoulder. The movement of his fingers against the cotton of my school uniform made me hyper-aware of every touch. I wanted him to do it again. I leaned forward to pick up another fry just to feel the sensation of his fingers when I leaned back once more. As if he knew what I was trying to do, Baxter slid his arm off the back of the booth and curved it casually around my shoulders. As his fingertips drew circles on my upper arm, I sank back into him, enjoying his touch.

  Did Baxter like me the way Colten did? The way I liked them?

  “By the way, what was with you leaving and not coming to dinner? The guys and I popped in to see what was wrong, but you were passed out. I guess the change really did take a lot out of you.”

  I scrunched my nose at him. “I shimmed for the first time by accident. Didn’t know how to get back. Fell asleep. I slept so long this stupid silver bracelet decided to shim me right onto the teacher's desk this morning.”

  At first, he tried to keep his expression neutral, but then a grin tugged at the corners of his lips, causing a laugh to break through. He hugged me close. “I wish I’d been there. I would’ve loved to see how that played out.”

  Heat filled my cheeks as I rolled my eyes, and I nudged him in the side with my elbow. “It was not pleasant.”

  A few more minutes went by and no Colten. Baxter decided not to wait and ordered us food.

  After the waitress left with our orders, he leaned to the side and pulled out his phone to check it. He shook his head and put it back into his pocket. “Wonder where he is.”

  “Maybe he got caught up with work stuff,” I reasoned. “By the way, what do you two do?”

  His blue eyes lit up. “We work at the animal sanctuary up the road."

  My brows scrunched up. “The one in Williams?” I’d heard about it but never visited.

  He nodded. A lock of hair fell from his hairdo and curled up on his forehead. “Yeah, the two of us like working with the animals, and it's convenient when we need to shim out at times to check in with our WT.”

  “What's that?”

  His voice dropped. “It stands for Warrior Team. When you go through the training, you're assigned to a team. We have to check in every once and awhile.”

  “Oh.” I glanced around the diner, recognized it as the one in Flag, and wondered how Baxter made the trip so fast. “How do you come here for lunch if you work in Williams?”

  Blue eyes shifted to mine and widened as his hand came up and gestured between the two of us. “You just did it. Why couldn’t I?”

  I smiled. Of course, shimming. I turned my gaze away and pushed at his hand, but he grabbed ahold of it. I spun back to see his blue eyes light and friendly. He surrounded me, his arm around my shoulders as my body turned toward his, and my hand nearest to the table caught by his own.

  “I like it when you smile.”

  Once more heat rose in my cheeks. “Thanks. You have a pretty good one yourself.”

  “I wouldn't call it pretty,” he drawled with a smirk as his thumb traced along the sensitive skin of my palm.

  “What would you call it then?” My voice came out slightly airy.

  He leaned in closer to whisper, “Unforgettable.”

  My cheeks bunched up as I giggled. His arm moved from around my shoulder, his thumb brushing along my cheek, but I hardly noticed as I put on my best police officer impre
ssion. “I retract my statement, sir. Let’s start over. You have an unforget—”

  His hand at my cheek curved around to the back of my neck, and his head dipped, his lips cutting off my next words. His firm hold gave me no leeway as he coaxed my lips into playing with his.

  After a moment, he pulled back, dark eyes full of desire when they met mine. My lips tingled as my heart thumped. “Why now? Why after—”

  He shut me up again with his lips, more insistent this time. My whole body tingled. His lips left mine, and he whispered in a rough voice, “I’ve always wanted to, but I probably shouldn’t have. We’re encouraged not to get involved with anyone until we give ourselves some time to find our mate.” My heart raced in my chest at his confession. “But, Carly, I don’t care. Not even knowing that you’ll be mated to others.”

  I swallowed. “Why do you think it will be someone else and not you guys?”

  He pulled completely away, leaving me cold. “Because of your brothers.”

  “Stepbrothers,” I corrected, trying to reason with him.

  “Marks will never match you with a sibling. Plus, you don’t like them like that.”

  Pain stabbed at my heart. Yes, I did. And we weren’t really siblings.

  “And the guys and I already decided not to be a family unit.”

  My hopes deflated. Why couldn’t anything go right?

  “But that doesn't matter. Nothing matters now. We’re damned if we do, and I’m damned if we don't.” He sighed and picked up my hand once again. Toying with my fingers, his eyes became hopeful. “Carly, will you go on a date with me?”

  Ignoring the pain of my hopes for all of us being together washed down the drain, I tried to rejoice in the knowledge Baxter Holt liked me. The tall, athletic guy who set off tingles when we touched and who stole my heart at his first smirk. My stepbrothers’ friend.

  I mustered up my best smile. “I would love to go on a date with you.”

  He grinned, and when he leaned in for a brief kiss, the tingles came back.

  Someone cleared their throat.

  We both turned quickly to find Colten standing there with heat in his gaze. His husky voice vibrated across my skin. “Is there room for one more?”

  “Yeah,” I croaked, and slid closer to Baxter to make room.

  Colten's lips turned up into a grin as he squeezed in beside us. “We always knew you were trouble.”

  “The best kind,” Baxter affirmed. My cheeks flamed.

  The waitress came back with our food, and Colten ordered lunch for himself. As we all ate and after I told them about my first day, Colten slid his hand under the table to my skirt-covered knee and gave it a gentle squeeze.

  I turned to find his liquid gold eyes staring back at me. “Glad you’re here.”

  “Me, too,” I answered.

  I wanted to say fuck karma and screw the mark as I lay my head on his shoulder and grabbed another fry. And I would, all it would take was a little faith and hopefully a myth: that my mark would take after those where I spent the most time. I had today and tomorrow to spend as much time as possible with them if I wanted to make them mine.

  Chapter Six

  After we finished eating, Colten suggested I go back with them to the animal sanctuary.

  “Don’t I have more classes?”

  Colten smirked. “Haven’t you learned? The band will shim you back if you need to be there.”

  Baxter snickered.

  I blushed, remembering this morning. “Fine. Okay.” I wouldn’t turn down an offer to spend more time with them. The band would shim me like Colten said.

  The three of us walked out of the diner and over to the side, where a slope of green grass lead down to a line of trees growing at the bottom of the holler. A street ran along the other side. A warm breeze stirred up, causing the pine trees down below to sway. Baxter and Colten grabbed my hands.

  “Ready?” Baxter asked as he and Colten guided me down the slope.

  “For what?”

  We neared the bottom, and both guys tightened their hands. Colton glanced down at me. “Get ready to shim.”

  With a brief twinkle of bright lights, we disappeared.

  Shimming into a wooded area on a dirt trail, we walked toward a truck parked not far off.

  “We have to drive?” I stared at the four-wheel drive truck. “I thought we were shimming there.”

  “We can't exactly shim out of work,” Baxter reminded me as he pulled the key fob out of his pocket to disarm the alarm.

  “Yeah,” Colten agreed from the passenger door he held open for me. “It would raise eyebrows if we were gone and our vehicles were still in the parking lot.”

  I climbed in, and he shut my door before opening the second one to get into the back. Baxter, who now sat in the driver's seat, started the truck and pulled out of the dirt path.

  “By driving down the road a bit,” Baxter explained, his blue gaze cutting to mine before his attention went back to driving, “it covers our asses if someone comes to look for us. No truck, then we must be gone.”

  I nodded. “Makes sense.”

  I felt Colten against my back, and his breath moved my hair, trying to get my attention while he spoke. “It’s weird talking to her about this stuff.” He directed the words at Baxter before laying a comforting hand on my shoulder. “It’s not you. I just don’t understand why your mom could know and you couldn't. After your mom married Kenneth, he told her everything, but it still confused us why we couldn’t tell you, too.”

  “When we hung out, we always had to keep this part of us separate from you. It wasn’t easy,” Baxter added.

  Colten’s hand tightened on my shoulder for a moment. “Fuck, there were so many times I almost slipped.”

  Baxter chuckled. “Me, too. Like at Slide Rock when—”

  “When I fell flat on my ass!” Colten’s amused tone turned light-hearted. “If nobody else was there, I totally could’ve shimmed out of it. But with her, I couldn’t.”

  I winced. “I remember that. You had a nice bruise on your hip after.” That was also the first time Colten kissed me.

  “You saw?” Baxter’s voice lifted with surprise as his eyes shifted toward us for a moment. “When?”

  My cheeks grew red, and I turned to peer out the window. That was the moment I found out Colten Ross liked me. Like, really liked me.

  Colten’s hand moved to my neck, as if he sensed my memories, his fingers curled around the sensitive area, lightly massaging. “Yeah, she saw it a week later when it looked ugly.”

  I cringed. “It looked black, brown, and green, and covered his whole hip. I felt sorry I pushed him.”

  “Wait!” Baxter’s gaze darted to the rearview mirror to stare at Colten. “I thought you slipped.”

  I smiled and leaned into Colten’s touch. “He just said that so you guys wouldn’t know he got taken down by a girl.”

  Colten's fingers tightened, deliciously so. “Ha! You wish.” His chuckle of denial vibrated through the truck. I shivered when his thumb caressed the column of my neck. “I did slip. Your slight tap just helped it along.”

  My thoughts drifted to those times. Colten had kissed me, but then majorly backed off. Now, I knew why. He couldn’t start a relationship with his friends’ stepsister. Even though I was only their stepsister, the Lydent community considered me family, and with Colten and Baxter being a part of their bond group, they couldn’t cross that line.

  The only reason they stepped out of bounds now was because I was one of them. My stepbrothers and their two friends decided not to form a bonded family, but to find their own wives instead. At Philip’s funeral, Colten tried to lay claim on me, and he was more touchy-feely now. Baxter knew the risks and still asked me on a date. But besides last night, I hadn’t seen or talked to my stepbrothers.

  We used to text all the time. I glanced down, noticing my lack of a purse or bag, and pursed my lips. I didn’t exactly shim to Flag with all my stuff.

  “We’re here,”
Baxter broke into my thoughts as we pulled up to a large, brown archway that read Zona Animal Sanctuary, in big, bold letters.

  “Back to the grind,” Colten agreed.

  Just as we drove beneath the arch, a massive rock sculpture, a mixture of wolves and bears carved into it, dominated the right side of the structure. It was pretty darn cool. “You’re sure they’ll be okay that I’m here?”

  Colten gave my neck a squeeze before his hand pulled away. “You’ll be fine.”

  “Lots of people come here. The zoo is half walk-through and half drive-through. You’ll blend in just fine.” Baxter reassured me.

  We passed the arch and pulled up to a gate with a camera, where Baxter and Colten both rolled down their windows and waved their badges. The gate opened.

  We pulled through the gate and to the right I saw what looked like a road that led into a mountain pass before Baxter turned left going away from it. “What’s that?”

  “The drive-through portion of the sanctuary,” Baxter explained. He parked and grinned at me. “Ready to see Zona?”

  “Sure, she is!” Colten stated cheerfully as he opened his door.

  Baxter leaned my way and reached to curve his hand around my neck. I didn’t resist as his lips met mine once again. The brief, soft coaxing of his mouth against mine made my heart race before we pulled apart. His blue eyes darkened, letting me know if we had been somewhere else, his kiss wouldn’t have stopped there. “Don’t forget me completely while you're with him, seeing as we’re both aiming to steal your heart.”

  A wild thump in my chest made me realize it might already be gone. “I won’t.”

  Colten opened my door and poked his head through. “You kiss him twice, and you have yet to plant those cherry reds on me?” he demanded good-naturedly, helping me out of the truck. His golden gaze and smirk made my heart melt. “We need to fix that soon. But not here.”

  “Colten,” I let out a flirtatious warning, hitting his shoulder as I walked to the back of the truck. “Quit messing around.”

  “I say what I mean, always,” he shot back, following behind me.