He checked his aching palm, then shot another look at her, conclusions forming as the puzzle pieces came together. He stepped toward Sloan. “You stabbed your palm in the alley and that beast whined in agony.”
Parker stood and folded his arms in a way that made his biceps bulge with intimidation. “Is this true, Sloan?”
She shot Max narrowed eyes of accusation.
Why would she want to keep this a secret? It was good. For any of the seven to gain supernatural powers was an advantage over their enemies. They all needed to know about this. Secrets got people killed. He wasn’t keeping his mouth shut.
“It also happened when we sparred, Sloan,” he added. “You kicked me in the face, but bled yourself. You can receive pain too.”
Parker rubbed his stubble. “What else, Sloan?”
She bit her lip. “Maybe I made a few people in the salon cry when I was upset.”
Max’s lungs stopped. Why had she been crying?
At Parker’s insistent stare, she rolled her eyes. “Okay. Maybe I made the entire salon cry.”
“Interesting. Goes both ways.” Parker scratched some more. “Could be linked to mirror neurons and theta waves.”
Max offered Sloan a hand. She took it, and he levered her up.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Like the name suggests, mirror neurons work like a reflection of what they see, and fire when one animal witness another completing an act. They help us learn by imitating.”
“I think I’m going to need a little more than that, bras?” She lifted her brows.
“A few years back, a study discovered monkey’s brains fired like they were actually completing the task they watched another monkey do. I’m guessing our maker somehow enhanced that ability into some kind of psionic power for you.”
“Oh great. I have monkey DNA.”
Tony snorted. “Would explain a lot.”
She shot him a glare. “You better be careful, or else I’ll make you impotent.”
Tony blanched and covered his groin with his hands. “You wouldn’t dare. Can she do that?”
Parker ignored and continued, “Have you noticed anything else, Sloan?”
“It seems to be linked to sensations and emotions. Sometimes I feel them, sometimes others do.”
“But you can’t control it,” Parker pointed out.
She shook her head, a sheepish flicker to Tony. “Not really.”
Tony visibly relaxed and moved his hands away from his goods.
“Then you need training,” Parker decreed. “We can’t have you wounding yourself every time you use your power. We’ll need to record limitations and—”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Tony held up his hands. “I think we’re all missing the big point. Who is it, Sloan? Who’s your mate?”
After staring at the rocky floor in stubborn silence, Sloan lifted her reluctant gaze to lock with Max’s. The rest of them fell silent.
What the hell was going on?
Eleven
The next few hours were the most embarrassing of Sloan’s life. While they continued to hike, she trailed after the three men discussing the ins and outs of the mating bond. To his credit, Max took it in his stride. Well, at least she thought he did. He walked alongside them, listening and asking reflective questions every so often. Hearing their murmured responses made her stomach roil. She wanted to be included in the conversation and equally wanted to run in the opposite direction. She settled for trudging behind them.
The sun dipped below the horizon, bringing a much-needed drop in temperature. They would have to camp soon. The Lazaruses could go all night without breaking a sweat, and Max would most likely keep up with them out of sheer stubbornness, but he wasn’t built like them. Pulling her satellite connected device out, Sloan tracked their location as they walked, half listening to the conversation.
“So,” Max said to Parker, “if you’re out of balance, you black out and go berserk. You try to eliminate any sinner nearby, no matter what age or level of sin?”
“That’s right,” Parker replied. “It can’t be helped, unless…”
“You’ve been in contact with your special paired mate.”
“Yeah, bro. That’s right.” Tony nudged him with his shoulder. “Good to have you around.”
Her brothers were now treating him like one of the family, whether or not he liked it. It was enough to drive her crazy. She wanted to say they were all being ridiculous, that he didn’t have to do, or be, anything he didn’t want… but she held her tongue.
A small part of her didn’t want to scare him away.
A bigger part wished he’d accept the mating bond, and that they’d work out their problems. Discounting the fact she felt more energized than ever before, her mind was still in love with him. After last night in the elevator, her body was too. She couldn’t relinquish the memory of his kiss, or the feel of his tongue on her skin. Hot, demanding, needy. God, the way his bare torso felt—hard as rock yet smooth as satin. She’d been so ready for him, and she still stood by her claim—she forgave him.
Except, maybe he’d been right, and it was she who needed forgiveness.
There was credence to his claim. She’d checked last night. He had been pulled away on an urgent mission—military flight records confirmed it. And it was entirely possible he’d left a message with Sara. She was exactly the type to not pass it on out of spite.
“Sloan?” Parker asked, snapping her out of her daze.
“I’m sorry?”
“What’s the ETA?”
“About eight hours.”
Parker scanned their surroundings. They were in a clearing, a few pine trees overhead. In the distance, Sloan could hear running water. She checked her GPS map. “There’s a creek nearby.”
“Perfect.” Tony scrubbed his face. “I’m ready for a night cap.”
“Let’s stop here,” Parker said, dumping his rucksack. “We’ll get going a few hours before dawn.”
Max dropped his pack. “I’ll go set up a perimeter.”
“No need,” Parker added. “We can sense people coming a mile away.”
Out of breath, Max put his hands on his hips. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’ll only sense someone with pride, right? So what if they’re not feeling very prideful?”
Parker arched a brow. “Between the three of us, we’ll sense an intruder. Trust me.”
“Well.” Max retrieved a torch and pistol from his pack. “If it’s all the same to you, I’m checking anyway.”
“Suit yourself.” Tony already tasted the contents of a new canteen, and from the way he winced, Sloan was sure it was alcohol. “Although, in my opinion, you need to learn how to relax.”
While Parker and Tony made themselves comfortable with some refreshments, Max disappeared into the surrounding darkness. Nervous, Sloan stared in the direction he’d gone for long minutes, fighting the urge to go after him. Crickets chirped. After a while, she realized she couldn’t sense him empathically. He became like a ghost. The man also held zero sloth. She’d bet he fell asleep and woke like the dead. No mooching or lazing about, just straight to sleep, then up the instant he woke. The man would be hard to live with. Did he even play video games anymore?
Flinching, she caught herself. Did she just imagine living with him? Had she made that leap already? Of course she had. She was in love with him. This revelation set her up for so much future pain.
Shaking her head, she set about creating a soft spot for herself to lie down, then propped up against her rucksack. She inspected the map while eating a protein bar. The site wasn’t far off. Half a day’s walk. They should get there by mid-morning, but with the black-site drones her app picked up, arriving during daylight wasn’t a good move. Using a jamming signal to shut down the machines would warn their enemy of her arrival. She could try hacking the control frequency, but it might take too long.
Sloan got up, dusted her hands off and walked over to her brothers, now sharing Tony’s flask.
She gestured with her device. “We either have to keep walking through the night to get there before the morning, or take a longer rest. We’ll be spotted otherwise.”
“Give me a look.” Parker took her device, and she wanted to wring his neck. Her word was never good enough with Parker. He scrutinized the tablet. “You’re right. Do you think Max can handle it?”
“He’s special forces,” Sloan pointed out. He’d once told her about a mission that had him hidden in a hole, unable to move or sleep, gunfire shooting overhead, for three days straight.
“We’ll get going in a few then.”
“I’ll go find him.” She stepped away, cheeks heating. She had no idea where to look. Hesitating, she turned back to her brothers for help. “Um…”
“North-East,” Tony mumbled while snoozing languidly against his rucksack. “Must be glutonizing something—probably eating a protein bar.”
Right. Sloan packed away her device and headed off in the direction Tony suggested.
After floundering in the dark for a few minutes, her new ability sensed a gliding melancholy that could only come from him. She found him sitting on a log in a clearing, shrewd eyes watching the starry night sky beyond. The crickets chirped louder there, and the night birds called. The earth, still warm from the sun’s rays, provided an aura of warmth against the cooler breeze wafting the scent of pine down the mountain.
Unlike Parker or Tony, Max wasn’t relaxing. His muscles were taut as he leaned his elbows on his knees, tendons in jaw flexing as he ate something.
“Hey,” she mumbled as she came up next to him.
“Hey.”
After a stretched silence, she sat down next to him. He still wouldn’t look at her. She didn’t blame him. If their breaking up was a misunderstanding, then she had a lot to make up for. And she wanted to. Not because he was her mate, but because they were so much more.
“So… nice view,” she started, then winced at her awkwardness.
He grunted in reply.
“You used to go camping a lot, right?” Camping and surfing. There was plenty of outback and wilderness where he’d lived in Australia. He used to tell her he would go every time he came off tour. Just him and his close buddy, Gale. Max had talked about his friend all the time. They’d grown up together. Joined the army together and always came home together. The camping was their way to acclimatize back to the real world after the ruin of war. Nothing but them and the bush and sky. “You should tell your friend Gale about this spot. He’d probably love it, right? Maybe he can come and visit one day.”
Max’s sharp intake of breath made her glance over. The moonlight cast his handsome face into soft relief. A devastating frown drew his brows together, echoed by a sadness she felt in her gut. It came from him.
“That would be difficult,” he said, shuffling his feet.
“Why’s that?”
“He’s dead.”
The insects stopped chirping. The wind stopped blowing. Everything stopped for a heartbeat. And then a rushing sound filled her ears, beating in time with her rapidly increasing pulse. Gale. Dead.
“I’m sorry.” She breathed on a gasp. “How?” But the instant the word came out of her mouth, she knew. This was it. The missing link—it explained so much. Gale was the one who’d gone missing. “Oh, Max.” Her heart squeezed. “He was the one you went to rescue?”
He nodded, making a small choking sound.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
“I needed you, Sloan. I needed you, and you weren’t there.” Eyes full of hurt and accusation and longing locked with hers.
“I didn’t know.”
“You should have known, Sloan. You know everything.”
“I—” she cut herself off. Normally, he was right. She made it her business to know everything about everyone. So why had she given up on him? Could she really blame it on her sin?
“Why didn’t you look me up?” Accusation. Anger. Hurt.
“I stopped checking on you. I’m sorry. I should have tried harder.”
He wiped his nose. “Yeah, you should have.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That what they were saying was true. That we are evil.”
“You’re the furthest thing from evil. I’ve stared real evil in the face, and it’s human.”
Another silence stretched, and when he didn’t speak again, she shuffled closer to him on the log. “Tell me what happened. I know I can’t make up for it, but I’m listening. I’m here now.”
A long shuddering breath racked his body, and she realized he was crying. This big, strong man who’d once been the high point of her day, the laughter of her life, was sad. It pulsed out of him, drawing her down. He’d been sad for years and she hadn’t been there for him. She reached out, but he didn’t reciprocate. Her hand wavered in the air, then dropped back down to fist at her side.
The lump in her throat grew. “Max…”
“I quit. Like I said I would. Gale didn’t want me to go, but I had you. I wanted more than the military. I wanted my own family, not to be the tag-along to his. The instant my plane had touched down here, I got the message. He’d been taken hostage by the enemy during a ceasefire. They claimed to have no knowledge of it, but we knew he was with them, so the army called me back. They wanted me to hunt him down. I’d done a few tours already in the area and knew the terrain better than anyone.” He stopped, scrubbed his face and took a deep breath. “I dropped my package at your place, but most of you were out on a mission. She was the only one left in the building.”
“Package?” Sloan prompted. He’d left something for her?
“Doesn’t matter now. Point is, I was there. I left a message, then I left. When I arrived on site with the crew, we tracked Gale down. The bastards still didn’t admit to having him there, but we knew he was being tortured in this old run-down building. The reason the army were investigating the cell in the first place was they’d heard they’d received a shipment of armor-piercing shells. They tasked me with scouting the area. We found five trunks. The four I could get to held normal rounds. Instead of checking that last trunk, I assumed the all clear and gave the go ahead to move in. Gale wasn’t the only one who died that day. Because of my negligence, they mowed down half the squad.”
Sloan’s heart broke for him. This was why he was so obsessed with remaining diligent and vigilant.
“They broke the terms of the ceasefire. We should have been allowed to respond with force, but they wouldn’t let me go after Gale. The thing is… Gale and I had always promised we’d have each other's back. And I didn’t.”
“You did,” Sloan insisted. “You went back for him.”
“Yeah but it was too little too late.” He took a deep breath. “Anyway, that’s when I went after the bastards myself. Daymo and Tom-Tom followed me. We found pieces of Gale… After that, it was all a blur. I can’t remember how many of them we killed. Got dishonorably discharged for it, but we got the bastards. We got justice for Gale.”
This time, she reached across and placed her palm at the back of his neck. When he didn’t complain, she let her thumb rub in soothing circles.
“You were the first person I called when I got back, Sloan,” he said, turning to meet her eyes. “And your phone was disconnected.” He shrugged out of her touch and stood up. The deep canyon forming between his brows grew darker than the night sky behind him. “Then when I looked you up online, I found pictures of you with another man. Do you have any idea how much that hurt?”
She swallowed. “I’m an idiot.”
“Yeah. You are.” Then he strode back to camp, leaving Sloan speechless.
Twelve
Max trudged over rock, twigs and stone. He felt like he’d been hiking his entire life. His head was ready to explode, and his heart was shredded. Running on reserves, they’d all stopped talking hours ago and proceeded to the black site with dogged determination. Arriving under the cover of night was imperat
ive. His body ached, yet he pushed through. Had to keep up the with pace set by the three genetically enhanced beings in front of him.
While he walked, his thoughts meandered. What would it have been like if the Lazarus brood were in the army with him, not only training, but going on tour? If he’d had their help during the conflict that took Gale’s life… Wyatt was bulletproof. Griffin could stop metal projectiles with his mind. And Sloan… she could instill fear into the enemy, making them quake with doubt, seize in pain, or break down in tears. He wanted to be bitter about it, but the more he walked, the more his emotional baggage eased. They were where they were meant to be—stopping the fanatical Syndicate from making more genetically modified soldiers, and turning them evil and then loose on the world. They didn’t ask to be born the way they were. They weren’t given the choice to enlist, not like he had, like Gale had.
Tony’s reticence earlier came to mind and confirmed what Max had wondered, not all of them were happy about their lot in life, but they persisted.
Blood and viscera from the fashion store animal attack flashed before his eyes. It took him unaware, and so sharply that his steps faulted. Forcing the images out, he placed them in a locked box in the back of his brain. Mumbling the words to the school yard version of Waltzing Matilda, he cleared his mind. It was a technique he’d been taught to help cope with the sometimes unsettling results of war. When you just had to keep going, the song gave him something else to focus on.
Sloan hiked up ahead, darting a glance back to him now and then. Awareness of her attention trickled down his spine and soon his thoughts derailed to her, and only her. He marked the change in her since they’d activated her mating bond. She’d become more energetic, more vibrant, more focused. No more hiding out in her room, but diving head first into the conflict. The way she’d protected the patrons of that store was heroic. She could have exposed her secret, but that’s what he was there for. Reluctantly, he admitted they made a good team. Knowing this, he forced himself to explore his anger with her.
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