LogansEmpath (12 page)

Logan had said that the demons fed on negative energy.
Nothing could be more negative than the fury building at that table.

Those damn monsters didn’t need any more food.

She reached out with her emotions again, sending out a wave
of calm and serenity. It was more difficult this time, like pushing through a
bog. The struggle left her shaking and the effect wasn’t immediate or complete.
But the anger dimmed down to distrust and ire. Slowly that melted away as well.

Bree’s heart raced and her breath came in short gasps from
the strain. But she didn’t care. She could hardly believe what happened. How
could she have had this power for so long and not known about it?

If one night with Logan increased her strength this much,
what would happen if they stayed together?

Would it be worth the risk? Bree had sworn she’d never give
away her heart. She didn’t want to have someone else in her life who meant as
much to her as her family, not after what happened to her parents. How would
she be able to survive losing another loved one?

And the more loved ones she had, the more she had to lose.
If Logan were a jerk, it’d be easy. But she couldn’t find fault in him, at
least nothing that she couldn’t deal with.

Bree shook her head, wiped her sweaty palms on her apron and
went to the counter to pick up an order. Time enough to think about that later.

Whirling around, she deftly slipped plates onto tables, took
orders and refilled drinks. Work always made it easy to empty her mind. Keeping
busy had always been a magic spell, something her mother taught her as a child.
If you don’t have time to think or worry, everything else would pass in a blur.

When the bell on the door jingled, Bree didn’t look up to
see who it was. The Please Seat Yourself sign was posted. She just grabbed a
couple of menus and headed in the direction of the only empty tables.

As she came into sight of the redheaded man who’d opened up
a whole new world to her the night before, Bree wished she’d paid more
attention. A little warning would’ve been nice.

Logan smiled at her, a smile that held a spark of male
pride.
He’s picturing me naked, I just know it. I don’t need to tap into his
emotions to know that. I have five brothers. It doesn’t take psychic powers to
know when a man is picturing a woman naked.
She stopped short of the table,
shuffling the menus in her hands to give herself a moment to recover.
The
fact that Logan got the full view last night only means he has a really vivid
and true image of me in the buff.

Great, just great.

Bree licked her lips and had to clear her suddenly dry
throat. “Good afternoon. You want to try the special again? It’s turkey and
gravy, biscuits and your choice of fried okra or poke salad.”

“I missed you this morning.” Logan grinned, eyes flicking up
and down her body. “It’s disconcerting to fall asleep with a woman in your arms
and wake up alone. Not very nice of you, if you ask me.”

“Hush up.” Startled, Bree slapped the menu down in front of
him and looked at the nearest tables. No one seemed to notice his comments.
“You’re just lucky I didn’t run you out of my room. You’re sleeping in the
guest room from now on. Let’s get that straight.”

He just kept grinning as he made a show of picking up the menu.
“I’ll have that special with the polk whatever, since I’ve never heard of it
before. And some iced tea. It’ll probably rot my teeth with all that sugar but
I’m developing a taste for it.”

Bree ignored the flirtatious tone of his voice, focusing on
his order. “The way Ty cooks polk salad, it’ll remind you of spinach or mustard
greens.” Maybe it was that boyish grin of his or maybe she just wanted to get
back at him a little. Bree couldn’t resist teasing him. “Don’t worry, he boils
it more than just three times.”

“Why’s that important?”

She struggled to keep her face straight. There were stories
about polk but she wasn’t sure if they were true or not. But he didn’t know
that. “‘Cause it’s toxic if you don’t. Least that’s what I’ve heard. The
berries are definitely poisonous.”

Logan had to realize she wasn’t entirely serious but he
played along. “Wow, and here I didn’t believe all those stories about the crazy
people living in the mountains. Eating poison veggies seems a bit over the
top.”

“Hey, you said you lived in Japantown in San Francisco.” She
slipped her order book in her apron pocket. “I heard some restaurants there
charge a fortune to eat fish that are poisonous if you cut them wrong. Least
all you got to do to polk is boil and drain it a few times.”

“Okay, you’ve got me there.” He handed her the menu, his
fingers lingering over her hand. “And I’ll be sure to stay in the guest room
from here on. The bed there looks big enough for both of us and I won’t worry
about your brothers if I sleep in. I nearly ran into Wes slipping out of your
room in the same clothes I wore last night.”

Thank god he was
almost
caught. I’d never hear the
end of it otherwise
. “Who said there’d be another time?”

He just smiled at her again. Not a leer but a sweet, open
smile.

As she walked away to put in his order, she couldn’t help
herself. She had to have a little peek. What girl could resist using her newly
strengthened powers when the man she’d just slept was with grinning at her?

She looked at his emotions.

A bit of fear and insecurity created a thin coat around him.
While that surprised her coming from such a confident-seeming man, it was the
emotion boiling underneath that had her rocking in her tracks.

Love. Deep, abiding, long-standing love poured out of him
like a tidal wave, all aimed at her.

Her hand trembled as she ripped out and hung his order over
the counter window for Ty. She gripped the counter, her back to all the
customers, as she tried to get a hold of herself.

He can’t love me. He barely knows me, at least the me
that exists now. Lust is one thing but love can’t be possible so soon. He just
remembers the feelings he had for Sabine.

But the emotion was there. She couldn’t deny what her own
powers showed her. But what did it mean? What did he really want from her?

She couldn’t afford to love someone. She refused to. But
could it be too late?

What was she going to do now?

Chapter Fourteen

Dusk came early to the mountains. Not that Logan could
really tell with the cloud cover and rain. An eerie darkness fell, almost heavy
and thick. It’d been raining solidly since sometime the night before and showed
no sign of letting up. It seemed to echo whatever Bree was feeling. Something
was wrong with her, something more than just the day-after jitters.

She was avoiding him.

Not that he was terribly surprised, especially after how
she’d spoken as little as possible to him at the cafe that afternoon. She’d
served his meal in silence and didn’t even smile at him once afterward. After
coming home and having dinner with the family, he hadn’t seen her at all. While
he’d half expected it, her reaction still stung. They were staying in the same
house.

That kind of avoidance took work.

Well, he’d had enough of it. Avoiding problems never solved
them. He tracked Bree to where she was sitting on the front porch watching the
rain fall.

He plopped down beside her in one of the four wicker gliders
that lined the wall. “So, are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

She stared off into the evening, not even acknowledging his
presence.

Logan sighed, kicking the glider into motion as he waited
for a response. Slow and easy had always been the best approach to use with her
but sometimes it truly sucked.

“You were right about my powers getting stronger.” She drew
her knees up into her chest, her bare feet curling over the edge of the seat.
“I could tell a big difference.”

He didn’t know where this was leading. Everything was going
as he’d explained to her so what caused the change in her attitude? “I wouldn’t
lie to you, not about something like that.”

She nodded, staring down at her blue-painted toenails. “I
think I was able to project my emotions, use them to calm people down.”

“Yes, you should be able to do that. It’s one of the keys to
making the Ritual of the Three work.” He closed his eyes and listened to the
rain hitting the roof and the sound of distant thunder. The smell of wet earth
filled his every breath. “If we keep getting closer, physically and
emotionally, our powers will continue to increase. If we find our Catalyst, the
increase will become tenfold.”

“Aren’t we strong enough now?” she muttered, reaching over
for the glass of tea sitting on a small side table.

Logan stopped the glider, his heart feeling like so much
lead weighing down his chest. “What do you mean? We’ve just started. Once we’ve
built up enough power, I can teach you mage magic. Now is barely the
beginning.”

Bree calmly took a sip. “I told you that this wasn’t about
emotion, that I didn’t want a relationship.”

Where is this coming from?
“I don’t remember pushing
you for one. I’ve only talked about building our base.”

She slammed her glass on the table at her side, threatening
to knock over the small pot of colorful flowers perched on it. “It’s not what
you’ve said that’s the problem. You’ve been very good at telling me what I want
to hear, at agreeing with me. But that isn’t how you feel.” She faced him,
scooting as far away from him as the glider would allow, her back pressed
against the armrest. “You’re getting attached to me. You can’t hide what you
feel from me, never from me.”

Logan had to fight to keep from reaching out to touch her,
pull her in his arms. Her expression was so lost, so tragic. “You can read me
now, better than before. You can tell that I love you.”

“Don’t
say
that.” She clapped her hands over her ears.
“I don’t want to hear that. We have to stop. I don’t want you to love me.”

He pulled her hands down and held them in her lap, not
letting go. “But it’s too late for that, Bree. It’s been too late for that for
many lifetimes. I’ve loved you for centuries, maybe longer. I will love you for
centuries more. Denying it won’t change that fact.”

“But that wasn’t
me.
” She pulled out of his grasp,
wrapping her arms around herself. “That was some other woman that I don’t even
know.”

“It’s the core of you, the boiled-down essence of you. Your
experiences are different and I’m certain you’ve changed with this life just as
I have. That only makes me want to get to know
this
version of you even
more.” He cupped her cheek, forcing her to meet his gaze. “I like this you. You’re
strong and independent. You’re loyal and caring, especially when it comes to
your family. You’re as beautiful and sexy as always, with a confidence that is
the biggest turn-on ever. How can you expect me to resist you?”

She jerked out of his hold, coming to her feet. A boom of
thunder seemed to punctuate her anger and fear. “That’s your problem, not mine.
I’m not that woman. I won’t
be
that woman. I can’t risk it. You can stay
in the guest room since we need strength in numbers right now. But don’t expect
anything more from me.”

Logan stayed in his seat as she slammed back into the house.
He stared out into the night and wished for a break in the rain. When he was
troubled, he liked to gaze at the stars.

And troubled was an understatement.

He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.
Brandr, I
miss you. I’m screwing up here, with her. I’m not good at this emotional stuff.
You were always around before to smooth things over. I’d hate to lose her for
the both of us.
Logan leaned his head over the back of the glider.

What am I supposed to do now?

Logan shook his head, trying to clear out all the negative
thoughts.
Can’t be negative. Nothing’s over yet.

He pried himself up, wicker squeaking under the movement,
and went inside. He didn’t want to talk to the brothers and he obviously wasn’t
welcome where Bree was concerned. So he went straight to the guest room.

Throwing himself on the bed, Logan considered digging out
his cell phone and calling Ryuu, Eric or Janice. Talking to a friend who could
understand where he was coming from had definite appeal. At the same time, he
didn’t have the energy to try to explain. He felt drained, too much going on at
once. And the peaceful rain didn’t feel so peaceful anymore, the constant
patter becoming more of an irritant than a calming influence.

Maybe if he slept, a vision would come and give him an idea
of what to do next. It should, especially after the boost to his magic.

Of course, sleep didn’t come easy. The vision came less
easily than that. But after hours of fitful tossing and turning the tenor of
his mishmash of dreams turned from fantasy to memory.

~Sabine lay on his mattress, her rich brown hair spread
around her. Her smile lit the dark and hollow places in his heart, places once
filled by pain and bloodshed. It was the two of them, just the two of them
together. With Brandr volunteering for patrol tonight, Sabine was his and his
alone.

“Are you afraid of me?” she teased, hunger in her eyes.

Laughlin sat down next to her, eyes feasting on the beauty
beside him. “Why would you ask such a question?”

She smirked and placed both hands by her head, wiggling to
draw his full attention. “Because you have yet to touch me, a naked woman in
your bed. What else am I to think?”

Laughlin touched her plump, satiny lips, flinching as she
nipped them before sucking his thumb into her mouth. The image of her cheeks
hollowing as she suckled set his heart racing. He had to pull his hand away or
risk losing his head.

“You should think that I am taking my time to savor the
beauty laid out before me.” He slid his hands down her body, tracing her
curves. She closed her eyes with a sigh and arched up into his touch.