Freaky by Nature (20 page)

“Rem em ber when I told y ou I thought Holly was hiding

som ething?”

“Yeah?”

Brett paused, glanced at Shadow, and then back at Max. “She

and Claire hav e som ething in com m on.”

After a few m ore silent seconds, Max leaned back in his chair

and folded his arm s behind his head. “You gonna m ake us guess?”

“She’s psy chic.”

Shadow dropped his feet to the floor. “Oh hell. Is she as good as

Claire?”

Brett shared Shadow’s concern. No m atter how hard they

tried, neither of them ev er got any thing past Claire.

He shrugged. “She reads people through color.”

“Don’t any body dare tell Cam eron,” Max m uttered.

Shadow grinned. “She m ay already know.”

Brett bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing out loud.

Max had no idea how m uch trouble Cam eron could cause him with

Holly and Claire on her side.

Max didn’t seem too concerned. “We need to decide where to go

from here.”

“Send Claire and Holly back to the scene,” Shadow suggested.

“Claire should be able to pick up som ething.”

Max unfolded his arm s and leaned forward. “Good idea. After

y ou tap Bannister’s office, run them by the gy m .”

Brett frowned. “I should probably be there.”

“Shadow can handle it.” Max gav e him a lopsided grin. “You’re

attending a black-tie dinner with Hawke.”

Brett pinched the bridge of his nose. “Black tie?”

“Yep. Unless y ou want to trade m issions with m e.”

“What hav e y ou got going?”

“Nursery talk with m y wife.”

“No thanks, I’ll go with Hawke.”

***

Shadow crawled through the darkness while the edges of

sev eral unforgiv ing two-by -fours bit the skin of his knees with

ev ery inch. Dam n Bannister for working late. Intel rev ealed he

spent m ost ev enings at The Cathouse. Then again, the inform ation

had been giv en by a confidential source. Shadow released a long

breath and kept m ov ing. He could’v e sav ed him self a whole

helluv a lot of trouble if he had just asked Claire.
Sure
. Claire

would’v e m ade it doubly difficult just to spite him .

He stifled another heated curse when a nail penetrated his

kneecap and he felt the sticky wetness of blood on his skin. He

grasped the splintered edge of a board and squeezed his ey es closed

until the pain passed. Conv ersation from below caused him to

focus.

“Bitch.”

Certain he was now positioned just abov e Bannister’s office,

Shadow eased the ceiling panel back just enough to get a v isual of

his target. He lowered him self to his belly and reclined along

sev eral rafters to wait, his ey e trained on the m an below.

Bannister picked up the telephone and stabbed num bers with

one finger. Sev eral seconds passed before he spoke into the handset.

“She won’t budge.”

Shadow heard what he im agined to be the rant of an angry

fem ale. The ear-piercing squelch couldn’t be described as any thing

else.

“Calm down,” Bannister insisted. “I hav e ev ery thing under

control.”

Shadow alm ost laughed out loud when the high-pitched noise

escalated.
Damn, Bannister, never tell a woman you have everything

under control
.

Bannister threw his head back against his chair and squeezed

his beady ey es closed. Alm ost a full m inute passed until he

m anaged to speak.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Shadow watched Bannister hang up the phone and alm ost felt

sorry for the little pecker. There was nothing pleasant about being

beat down by an angry fem ale. He could v ouch for that.

Bannister stood, grabbed his suit jacket and key s. Shadow

raised him self to his knees and waited until the room darkened and

the lock clicked at the front entrance.

Once confident he was alone, Shadow rem ov ed the ceiling

panel and eased him self down until he stood on top of the desk.

With one last glance around the office, he stepped to the floor and

palm ed the telephone receiv er. He snickered as he unscrewed the

m outhpiece and buried a pea-sized bug beneath the wires. Poor

bastard. Now sev eral people would know what a whooped pup he

really was.

Shadow m ade his way around the office planting dev ices, his

m ov em ents so m ethodical there was no need to concentrate. This

was his calling, m ov ing undetected in and out of the darkness. And

only one person understood his
need
for such a talent. Claire.

From the m inute Steele brought him hom e on leav e to m eet

his fam ily , Shadow forged a connection to Claire. Fam iliar,

com fortable, accepting. And then things began to change.

Shadow opened a sm all com partm ent on the edge of the

com puter m onitor and attached the last listening dev ice. Just as

he snapped the panel back into place, m ov em ent at the front door

caught his attention. With a leap that would’v e m ade Superm an

look like a sissy , Shadow landed both feet on top of the desk and

boosted him self back up into the rafters. His heart pounded a

jungle rhy thm as he repositioned the ceiling tile and crawled

double tim e into the darkness.

***

Claire knew the m inute Shadow loaded her and Holly into his

truck that he wasn’t exactly thrilled by his assignm ent.

She waited until after he put Holly in the back seat and

clim bed behind the steering wheel to question him . “You drew the

short straw?”

Shadow gav e her a sm ug grin. “Actually , I v olunteered.”

Claire raised an ey ebrow? “Really ? Because I’m getting som e

pretty belligerent v ibes from ov er here.”

“Claire,” he growled.

“I’m just say ing.” She turned to Holly . “What color is he?”

Holly ’s ey es twinkled. “You really want m e to answer that?

Shadow released a heav y breath. “Knock it off. Sav e y our

energy for the prick responsible for this m ess.”

Claire winced as Shadow’s em otion shot spears through her

nerv e endings. He was m ad alright, just not at her and Holly .

Wav es of anger pelted her like hail stones. She rubbed her arm s in

an effort to soothe the pain but his em otion was too strong. She

clam ped her teeth around her bottom lip to stop a whim per, but it

escaped any way .

Shadow’s head jerked her direction. “Gee-zus, Claire.” He

reached to squeeze her thigh. “I’m sorry .” He rubbed his palm from

her kneecap to her hip sev eral tim es, finally stopping at the curv e

of a v ery heated section of her body .

Claire finally realized her earlier pain had disappeared.

Probably because she was now extrem ely stim ulated. When his

thum b stroked the inside of her thigh, she knew she had to stop his

apology
. “I’m good now.” She brushed his hand from her body .

Holly giggled from the seat behind her.

Fearful of being exposed, Claire gav e Shadow an exasperated

stare. The cocky sucker just sm iled and pulled into the parking lot

of Fitness in the Buff without so m uch as a second thought to how

achy she felt.

Holly led the way inside and to the pool area. Im m ediately ,

Claire fought the urge to seek shelter in Shadow’s arm s.

After sev eral m inutes, Holly spoke. “Do y ou feel any thing?”

“Ev il.” Claire kept her v oice steady . “Pure ev il. Whoev er was

in here was totally pissed. What about y ou?”

“Black. Pitch black. The walls, the floors, ev ery where.”

Shadow cursed under his breath as Claire began to sway .

Stepping behind her, he laid a hand on her shoulder. Her v ision

cleared and the nausea subsided. She slowly turned and looked into

his ey es as her burden lifted.

“I knew it,” she whispered.

“Knew what?”

“I’m not sick any m ore.”

She felt his inner battle to restrain his em otions. It wasn’t

until he was positiv ely sure he could fool her that he spoke.

“Good.”

Except he couldn’t fool her. “You’re an anchor, like Brett.”

“Hardly . I just didn’t want to m op y ou off the floor.”

Claire glanced at Holly . “Do y ou hav e a headache?”

Holly shook her head in denial.

“See?” Claire gav e Shadow a sm ug grin. “You’v e blocked her

pain.”

Shadow’s ey es flashed a brutal warning and she knew better

than to push. This tim e.

She turned back to Holly . “Any thing else?”

Holly twisted her fingers. “Yeah, the scarlet ring around y ou

two is blinding m e. Do I need to explain what that m eans?”

Shadow cocked an ey ebrow.

Claire crossed her arm s ov er her chest. “Don’t get too excited,

Shadow, som etim es she’s wrong.”

Claire took a deep breath and focused on the pool.

“Claire,” Shadow warned, “that’s enough for today .”

“Sshhh,” she hissed. “I need to concentrate.”

Holly cleared her throat.

“A m an,” Claire said. “Jealousy and anger follow him . He’s

greedy , alm ost possessiv e. And sly . He’ll say whatev er it takes to

get what he wants.” She swallowed nerv ously . “He wants y ou,

Holly .”

Holly wrinkled her forehead. “Me or the form ula?”

“I’m getting m ore of a personal attachm ent. What about y ou?”

Holly glanced around the room . “I see rainbows.”

“Traditional rainbows?”

“No. These colors are not happy . Red-brown and orange on the

top lay ers. Anger and im patience. The m urky pink in the m iddle

m eans he’s dishonest. I’m confused by the bright lem on y ellow on

the bottom , though. He feels he is losing control of som ething.” She

glanced back at Claire. “Control of what?”

“You.”

“Why ? No one controls m e.”

Claire didn’t hav e the answer and the em otion had taken its

toll. She rubbed her tem ples and reached for a chair.

“Enough.” Shadow stepped forward and circled his fingers

around her wrist. “You’re m aking y ourself sick.”

She lifted her gaze to his face, reading the concern that pushed

past his attem pted m ask. “This is what I do, Shadow. We hav e to

find him .”

“You’v e giv en us a starting place. Let us take it from here.”

“I need a break too, Claire.” Holly gently nudged her back into

the lobby . “We’ll talk tom orrow. Go hom e and get som e sleep.”

Once back in the safety of Brett’s house, Claire m anaged to

conv ince Shadow to go to bed. She needed space. Space to process

the em otion that surged through her. Space away from the

incredible force that pulled her toward him .

Yet, hours later she still suffered.

Claire dropped her head into her hands and sighed softly . The

negativ e v ibes she’d picked up earlier at the gy m still pum m eled

her. Som ething ev il was close. Too close. She squeezed her ey es

closed and stifled a m oan.

Seconds later, she felt Shadow’s presence in the hallway . His

walls were down. Her quiet anguish angered him and he ached to

com fort her. The battle in his head was fierce, fam iliar to him . She

knew the exact m om ent his resistance broke and he crept into the

room to brace him self against the far wall.

She opened her ey es and raised her head. “Did I wake y ou?”

“No, I was still awake.”

She allowed her gaze to trav el the surface of his bare, chiseled

chest and then down his tight, taut abs, until she focused on the

sexy v -cut of his obliques. Since the waistband of his jeans

prev ented further perusal, she raised her gaze and grinned.

“Liar.”

He pushed him self off the wall and stepped to the sofa. “You

woke m e up.” He lowered him self to the cushions and gestured for

her to sit on the one next to him . “Do y ou need som ething for y our

head?”

She stood and then m et him on the sofa. “Ty lenol won’t help.”

She glanced at the front door. “Is the door locked?”

“Yes, and the alarm is set. Don’t worry , no one will discov er

y our guilty pleasure.”

A satisfied sm ile split her lips and heated her body . She

reclined with her head in Shadow’s lap, her hair splay ed across his

m uscled thighs. Within seconds, he wound his fingers in the

tresses.

“Does m y brother know about this?”

“No. Just y ou and I.”

Tension slid from her shoulders and she relaxed into Shadow’s

healing power.

“What’s got y ou so worked up?”

“I don’t know.”

Shadow’s silence didn’t surprise her. He understood her

uncertainty . How rem ained a m y stery . He nev er questioned her

m otiv es, nev er pushed her to explain.

She tilted her head back and attem pted to analy ze his m ood.

Her scalp tingled from his tender touch, her headache long gone.

“Your walls are up,” she said finally .

He chuckled. “Protection.”

“From what?”

“You.”

“You don’t need protection from m e.” She frowned. “Are y ou

scared of m e?”

“No.” He gav e her hair a tug. “Why would y ou think that?”

She processed his denial.
You are scared. Just not of me
. “No

reason.”

She watched a series of em otions cross his face, ones he had no

idea dared expose him . Another inner battle raged within him , one

to which he would succum b again.

Shadow gav e a m uffled curse and m ov ed one hand to caress