Dream Shard (9 page)

It didn’t matter. She didn’t care a bit because she was still caught in the grip of satisfaction. It had never been so warm or noticeable before. It was more than release, it was bliss, and she floated into semi-consciousness contently.

Devon pulled her close. She opened her eyes, trying to decide if she should let him cuddle her.

He pushed her head onto his shoulder, gently but insistently.

“Shhh.”

It wasn’t even a word but she felt a tiny hint of insecurity coming from him. For all his strength, he still felt the sting of rejection like she did. She stroked his chest, threading her fingers through his chest hair before drifting off into sleep. She felt wonderful.

Why argue when the sun would rise soon enough to shatter the illusion of perfection?

Devon began to drift into sleep. Memories waited there, in that place where his subconscious mind wasn’t focused. He felt an aversion to letting down his guard, but with satisfaction coursing through his veins, there was no way to fend it off. His focus and control crumbled, allowing memories to rise.

Heather’s face blossomed in full color. This time she was laughing, sunlight in her hair, but when she turned around, the face was Kalin’s. He smiled, enjoying the feel of her in his arms. He stroked her hip and the person in his dreams changed to a slim, petite form that looked at him with emerald eyes.

Grace stared at him and he felt the connection. She reached for him, trying to connect firmly with his thoughts. Time froze as he strained to communicate, but it felt like he was stretching and still falling short by just a few inches. He could almost sense the connection. All he needed was to get a tiny bit closer.

Grace sat up and went all the way to her feet, stopping in a low crouch on the edge of her bed.

Her unexpected motion caused a reaction that was swift and razor sharp. Her husband jumped to his feet beside the bed and had his gun drawn before asking her what had awakened her.

“Grace?”

She didn’t look at him, but he’d seen her connect with a link before. He reached over and checked the security system. Everything was green. Brice pressed a button on a wall-mounted control panel to let her commanding officer know she was active.

Grace was a proven psychic tracker. Even in her third trimester of pregnancy, she could take off like a doe. She sat poised on the edge of their bed, her coal-black hair streaming down her back as the open window allowed the night breeze to ruffle the edge of her sleeveless chemise. She knew he liked the vintage garment and often wore it to bed. At the moment, she was locked into a link with something, completely unaware of anything else. He began to step into his jeans and boots in case she tried to follow the link.

There was a soft step on the hallway floor and Major Jason Jacobs peered into the room over his drawn weapon. Once he was satisfied there wasn’t an immediate threat, he holstered the gun and considered his Operative.

A few moments later, she slumped, landing on her bottom and blinking as she lost her link. It took a moment for her to recognize where she was. She drew in a deep breath and stood but her legs shook. Brice reached for her arm and lowered her to the bed.

“That was a solid connection,” Jacobs observed. “Why? You didn’t have anything to pull a tracking link from.”

“This was empathic,” she answered, still distracted and peering into the night like she could see something neither of them could. “Someone else initiated it.”

“Someone was trying to contact you?” Brice asked, his tone defensive. He’d almost lost her once when someone had tried to sell her on the black market. He’d agreed to let her entire Ranger unit move onto his property just to make sure she never faced that sort of threat again.

“I’m not sure,” she muttered before drawing in a deep breath and trying to withdraw from the world of her sixth sense. “I have never been as good with empathy as Devon was.”

She crawled back up the bed and lay down. Jacobs left but Brice watched his wife for a long time after the lights were out.

“You didn’t have to push the com link. I know my unit frustrates you.”

He moved up close behind her, wrapped his arms around her and inhaled the scent of her hair. “Only sometimes, and it’s a condition I’m happy to accept so long as it ensures you are right here.”

She tried to look at him but he tucked her head beneath his chin and rubbed the swollen mound of her belly.

Devon was gone when Kalin opened her eyes.

The motorhome had a gray light filling it from the rising sun’s rays reaching out to touch the canvas fabric covering the windows.

Pain stabbed into her, leaving her vulnerable to a wave of despair that threatened to send tears down her cheeks.

You have to be kidding.

They barely knew each other. When she factored in that Devon still didn’t know who he was, it was absurd to be upset over waking up to an empty bed. They’d given in to red-hot lust, that was all. It had been mind-blowing, but that wasn’t a relationship.

As much as she might wish for it to begin one.

You’re crazy. The guy carries a gun around.

She rolled over and picked up her clothing. Her nose wrinkled as she caught a whiff, but she wasn’t sure she was willing to steal anything else from the owners of the motorhome. Sure, she and Devon were on the run from serious bad guys, but it still struck her as wrong to search for clean clothing. Even when she tried to rationalize it by saying the owners obviously didn’t use it very much if the foot of dead leaves by the door was any indication.

Stealing was wrong. Period. She could hear her grandmother reminding her to keep her spirit pure.

If she lived through her adventure, she was going to have to pay for the motorhome to be cleaned.

“You’re going to what?”

She jumped, swinging around to find Devon looking at her like she’d lost her mind.

Oh hell, she had lost her mind by sleeping with him.

Her cheeks burned as the morning light illuminated him and set off a tingle of awareness in her clit.

“I thought you were gone,” she groaned softly when she realized she’d spoken out loud.

Way to go, Kalin, just pin your heart to your sleeve.

His face had darkened but then he heard her thoughts and he raised one eyebrow. She shook her head, doing her damnedest to shove him out of her mind. Anger flashed in his eyes a moment before he reached across the space between them and hooked her forearms. He tugged her forward and she stumbled into him.

“Devon—”

He cut her off with a kiss. This time, it wasn’t a tender touch of lips. It was a demand for surrender. She resisted, trying to pull her head back, but he followed her. She could feel him pressing against her mental walls, seeking entrance into her mind just as firmly as he was pressing her lips apart so he might deepen the kiss.

The problem was, she didn’t want to be alone either. Her resolve crumbled as she kissed him back, reached for his neck to hold him steady while she took a bold taste of his mouth. He had hard, demanding edges that intoxicated her as much as they frustrated her.

They were both breathless when he broke off the kiss and leaned his forehead against hers. The intimacy wasn’t gone though. For long moments, she felt him connected to her mind, their thoughts mingling as completely as their bodies had the night before.

Maybe more so.

“I hate it when you block me, Kalin.”

He drew in a deep breath, filling his lungs with the scent of her skin. She heard his thoughts as clearly as her own and wiggled away.

He chuckled at her. “You smell sexy.”

Her cheeks remained pink, but now it was because she was self-conscious.

“But we have to go.” He sighed. “Get dressed.”

He moved to the bed and began to make it, erasing all evidence that they’d been there.

I’ll always remember
.

He glanced over at her, his lips curving into a grin. A twist of excitement went through her belly and his gaze settled on her nipples as they tightened. He pulled the coverlet back down in suggestion.

“I thought you were in a hurry,” she argued before turning around and grabbing her dirty clothing.

“I am, but you tempt me to ignore everything I’ve been taught.”

She heard him smoothing the coverlet into place. She breathed a sigh of relief before realizing she was wasting the opportunity to help him recall his life.

“Teaching about what?” She sat to put her boots on.

She felt his mood shift. The light, good-natured teasing air vanished as he tightened his focus. When she finished tying her boot laces and looked up, his expression was hard and unreadable. He looked like the man she’d watched grip a pistol with the very last bits of his strength.

“About how to survive and stay out of sight.” He looked around the motorhome before picking up her backpack. “I know how to look for cameras, license-plate scanners and a hundred other things used to track people. It’s all here.”

He tapped his forehead before moving out of the motorhome. She followed him and the crisp morning air nipped at her nose.

“What does it mean, Devon?” she questioned softly.

“For the moment, it means I know how to avoid being detected.” He began threading his way through the draped RVs. His attention was on where he was going, his head turning constantly as he checked all directions to make sure no one spotted them. It made her apprehensive because it was just so military. Devon Ross lived in a drastically different world than she did.

He stopped next to a car, looked around before opening the door and climbing behind the wheel. A moment later, the engine turned over.

“Get in, Kalin.”

She jumped as he put the instruction straight into her brain. She was already reaching for the door handle when she pulled her hand back and ordered herself to consider what she was doing.

Grand theft auto was no joke.

“Now, Kalin.”

She pulled the door open and landed in the seat with a growl on her lips. “Don’t order me around.”

He piloted the car out of the parking space and onto the small dirt access road before answering. “Don’t hesitate when we have bad guys on our tails.”

The urge to argue was strong, but she bit her lip because she realized she was just in the mood to bicker. The real issue was dealing with her impulsive action from the night before. She looked out the window, reminding herself that she’d made her choices and needed to shoulder the responsibility for them.

Devon chuckled softly. They were creeping toward the main road and the sound of the interstate was growing.

“I think I’m really beginning to like you, Kalin.” He checked the cross traffic before pulling smoothly onto the black top.

“I like you way too much,” she groused.

“I think my head is swelling.”

“You’re the one who said we needed to get moving.”

He laughed out loud at the blatant sexual humor. “Don’t worry about the car.”

“Don’t worry?” she argued. “This is a classic Mustang. It’s somebody’s baby.”

“That they leave in a storage area for most of the year with the spare keys in the motorhome stored in front of it.” He cut her a firm look before returning his attention to the road. “It’s a spare car.”

“That doesn’t make it right to take it,” she said. “But since you have, do you know where we are going?”

They pulled up to a traffic signal. “I think so.”

His tone was cryptic. A shiver went down her back because he was very much on guard in spite of the teasing conversation. It was getting harder for her to remember that he was part of a dangerous world. One that had already tried to kill her. The signal changed and he drove the car toward the entrance ramp for the interstate.

Maybe he knew where he was going, but she was more concerned with what they’d find when they arrived. It just might be the end of the road for her.

“You’re getting on my nerves, Jacobs.”

Grace turned to stare at her commanding officer. Per the book, she was an Operative and didn’t have to call him her C.O., but that left her titling the man her bodyguard. Some of his predecessors she’d thought of as jailers.

Jason Jacobs tilted his head to the side, which was as close to a concession of guilt as she was likely to get from him. When it came to her safety, he never apologized for tightening the unit of Rangers assigned to her around her like a net. She’d be the one expected to adjust. For her own good of course.

“When you start linking with unknown sources so completely you aren’t aware of anything else, plan on having a shadow. I don’t want to have to run you down.”

“Getting slow in your old age?” she teased softly.

He smiled at her but the expression was nothing but pure promise. “Tackling pregnant women is ill advised. And it makes my wife cranky.” He sobered. “Any clue as to who it was connecting with you?”

Grace shook her head. “It was familiar.”

His expression tightened. “The last time you encountered a link you called familiar, I almost had to take you back to base in a body bag.”

“I remember,” she agreed softly. “Just secure a tracking band to my wrist.”

Surprise registered on his face.

“You heard correctly. I did ask for it. I feel like I’m being backed into a corner.” She raised her hand when he started to interrupt. “I’ve already tried to drop it, but this isn’t as simple as ending a phone conversation. I hear it in the distance, only inside my head so earplugs won’t work. When I fall asleep, there is nothing to stop me from listening and responding.”

“Empathy isn’t your department, Grace.”

She smiled at him. “You can’t departmentalize my senses, Jacobs. Band me so I can work through this without either of our blood pressures going through the roof.”

“I’m a little more concerned that this means someone is trying to get their hands on you again.”

“I agree,” she said. “You’re not the only one who learned a lesson when Fredricks did his best to make it look like I went rogue. I’ll wear the band.”

He drew in a deep breath and nodded, a look of respect entering his eyes. The band in question had been a source of stress between them before because she could not remove it. Her last C.O. had shackled her with it like an animal, but today was different. There were people in the world who viewed her as a commodity. Even if she was willing to risk her own freedom, she would never risk her unborn son’s future.