Mary Wine (16 page)

* * * * *

“Why?”

Jared’s forehead creased in confusion at Roshelle’s question. The woman sure did dress quickly. His shirt was only half-buttoned while she sat completely clothed, boots included.

Her eyes moved over his face waiting for an answer to her question.

“Why should I be afraid of you?”

His face went stone-hard. Roshelle watched the transformation in blatant fascination. It was a complete wall that included his mind as well. When he was making love to her, Jared would invade her very soul, linking them together so tightly she lost where she ended and he began.

Yet the second she asked for any sort of explanation, her dream specter returned with his armor solidly in place. The change was completely unsettling. Her emotions felt unsteady as she watched his eyes become hostile in response to her question.

“Colonel Jacobs has some questions for you.”

Her jaw fell open as Jared just walked out of the room. She stared at the wide shoulders a second before snapping her teeth together. Ohh…she was a fool! In trusting innocence she gave herself up to him. While she had asked nothing in return, Jared seemed inclined to offer nothing.

Her temper boiled and Roshelle welcomed the rise of heat. Her entire life was hung out to dry and the suspicion that it revolved around Jared had grown too large to ignore. Obviously there wouldn’t be armed men hiking around this house if the man didn’t have something worth killing for.

At the moment she was the one paying the price. Standing up, she moved through the house with the purpose of a hunter. It was time for a reckoning.

* * * * *

Roshelle got her wish. It sat glaring up at her as the all-terrain vehicle she sat in crested the top of the rise. Whatever suspicions her mind might have concocted, the reality was far more incriminating.

Jared was completely aware of his companion’s thoughts. He pulled to a halt and waited while her eyes scanned the main compound. To a civilian’s eyes it defied rational explanation.

The automatic rifles displayed at Jared’s home had overwhelmed her. They seemed almost children’s toys compared to what she looked at now. Two homes sat in the niche of the next peak. One was rustic and built of solid tree trunks while the other was more modern in its framing. Sitting almost directly between the two were six helicopters. Not the sort of aircraft Roshelle had seen making runs to the hospital. These were coal black hunters. The muzzles of large guns protruded from the fronts of the things as sentries patrolled the area directly around them.

The machines looked almost unreal ‘til her eyes took in the details that confirmed this was their normal resting place. The forest grew thickly here, the redwoods reaching a hundred feet into the air. The forest was clipped back to accommodate the aircraft. Large structure beams were driven into the ground to support a camouflage net that hung over the landing pad.

“I’m an operative with the United States Army. These air units support both my mother’s and my Ranger Units.”

“What do you mean by operative?”

Jared turned those green eyes onto her before he very deliberately invaded her thoughts. His meaning was crystal clear even if the exact application wasn’t. This man was a trained hunter. His psychic abilities made him surpass any others. The Army wasn’t about to let someone with his capability slip away from them, nor would they allow the public to discover their secret.

“Why here? Shouldn’t all this be sitting behind some gate with the words classified printed on it?”

“My mother’s abilities seem to be enhanced by these mountains. I don’t care for the confining walls of a base full-time, either.”

While her mind was struggling to take in the evidence her eyes read, Roshelle didn’t doubt Jared’s claims. There was simply too much evidence to support it. There was logic to it as well; Jared was not the sort of male that would tolerate confines well. You could place a predator into a zoo but they lost their zeal for hunting. The animal would survive but not thrive.

“Why are you showing this to me?”

Jared truly admired the way her mind would work to solve a puzzle. He doubted she was going to like the answer she found this time. Allowing her to return home was a death sentence. If permanently blocking her ability to exit his world was the only way to ensure her safety, Jared would use it.

When you fight for survival, there are no rules and the loser ends up dead.

Jared’s lack of response made Roshelle consider jumping out of truck. There was something so…trapping about tonight. She jumped as he turned the ignition over and began a steady approach into his parents’ home. The lights of the area grew brighter with every foot they put behind them. Roshelle sat frozen in her seat despite the fact that Jared had parked the vehicle. Stepping outside almost seemed like an irreversible action. Once she stepped into this world, the doorway to her own would evaporate.

No, she wasn’t going to allow that to happen. Her hand sought out the door handle. Fear would not control her.

Roshelle had recently discovered just how well determination could sustain a person. Especially when the alternative was to abandon yourself. Exactly two minutes later, she found herself seated at a kitchen table. Roshelle forced her back to remain straight as Colonel Jacobs set about interrogating her.

Funny, but the word “interrogate” had not really held its true meaning before this last month. What the silver-haired giant was putting her through just didn’t qualify as an interview.

His razor-sharp eyes picked her tiniest movements apart just as he dissected her every word. Guilt was attempting to rise up inside her but Roshelle pushed it aside. She was just as baffled as her current company.

Or was she? So set on trying to solve the dilemma of this nightmare was she overlooking a few facts? The look of disapproval on the colonel’s face suddenly bothered her intensely.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Excuse me?”

“Absolutely not!” Roshelle ran her eyes over the other people in the room. Sheriff Campbell had taken a chair at the table while Jared was propped against the wall behind her. His mother would shift between the doorway and the back counter.

“I didn’t mess up here, you did.” Her accusation gained her a guarded look from both men. “I deal with reluctant fathers, nervous mothers and the occasional violent grandparent. Not gun-packing, fire-setting, and kidnapping criminals. By the look of things around here, I get the idea that you people deal with this sort of thing rather regularly.”

“Your point?”

“This guy is looking for you. Or perhaps I should say, he found you.”

Both men exchanged a look before they leaned back in their chairs. A slight grin crept up over the colonel’s face.

“You’re a very clever girl.”

“Somehow, I don’t think I should thank you for that compliment.”

“Maybe not, but we have managed to keep you alive.”

“I’m not disputing that.”

“You’re just making it difficult for us to keep you that way.”

Roshelle tipped her chin up before answering that. Their lives were difficult? Well, hers had been demolished.

“I do beg your pardon! Maybe you should consider introducing just who you are if you expect normal people, such as myself, to not confuse you with the bad guys. Being hauled about between different groups of armed men, it tends to become rather confusing just whom a person can trust.”

“Sorry, honey, but you were out cold when I pulled you out of that fire.”

Jared’s words hit her like a bucket of icy water. Many an hour had passed as she tried to understand just how she ended up outside her house that night. The fact that Jared was responsible made far too much sense.

“But I shut you out earlier that day. How did you know…” Her words trailed off as she realized just what she was discussing. The colonel’s eyes sharpened into pinpoints as he considered her. Jared slowly grinned before he moved closer to her.

“You’re very strong, but not trained. I heard you loud and clear.”

“Are you speaking about telepathy?”

Colonel Jacobs asked the question with a voice that demanded an immediate response. Roshelle refused to give it to him. She firmly pressed her lips together as her mother’s face sprang up in her memory.

“Leave it alone, Jacobs.” Grace Campbell issued her warning in a whispered, but sharp tone. She glared at the colonel while the giant glared back at her. “Some things don’t need to be discovered. She’s built herself a life. Leave the girl in peace.”

“In case anyone’s missed this, someone is trying to kill her!” Jared planted his palms onto the table as he glared at his mother. Grace didn’t even blink in response, instead the woman stared her son down without a hint of indecision.

“Yes, but I wonder if Roshelle doesn’t have a better idea about that than the lot of you. I find it rather interesting that whoever’s name is on that land deed finds themselves murdered. Or close to it. And you, my son, really have no clue just what you are thrusting this girl into. This is a man’s world, being a woman around here can be an uphill climb.”

Jared stood up and crossed his arms back over his chest. There was a flame of anger burning in his mother’s eyes that he’d never seen before. But Roshelle’s safety wasn’t something he’d budge on. She was staying on his mountain, one way or another.

“You can feel her, too.”

Jason Jacobs turned his hazel stare onto his partner. Grace stared back before he turned that look onto Roshelle. Roshelle flung it right back at him. Suddenly, her mother’s panic made perfect sense. There was a horrible sinking feeling racing down her spine. A raging need to run almost overwhelmed her.

Colonel Jacobs invaded her vision as the man leveled his head exactly five inches from her face.

“The world out there is full of people that would enjoy getting their hands on a high-level psychic. You’d be a whole lot wiser to lay your skills out on this table so we can help you. I think it’s time to decide just who you’d be better off with.”

“I don’t belong to anyone.” Roshelle struggled to pull air into her chest. It felt like a solid block of concrete was sitting right on top of her. Slowly crushing her to death. She struggled against it. She knew exactly who she was. “I am a doctor and just as soon as you solve
your
problem, I am going back to work. It’s called normalcy.
That
is where I live my life.”

The battle was showing on the girl’s face now. Grace watched it with a heavy heart. Her son was born into this life. Jacobs sought it out and earned it with sheer will. But she remembered a time when innocence ended and her own choices were yanked away from her hands. Just as she was pulled away from her own mother and any manner of normal life.

But her son did have a very good point. Not much mattered if the girl ended up dead. But death wasn’t what the girl really had to fear. Her psychic abilities were worth far too much on the black market. Grace found reality ugly, too, but she was far too knowledgeable about the fate that could befall Roshelle. Jared was correct. But Roshelle crossed her arms across her chest and glared at Jacobs with a face that said the girl didn’t trust any of them. That wasn’t something Grace could fault her for but the world could be rather unforgiving.

“Roshelle isn’t a telepath. She and Jared have formed a link that gives each of them the ability to feel each other. She is an empath.”

Colonel Jacobs slowly nodded his head. His eyes were razor-sharp as they traveled over Roshelle’s face. The giant seemed to completely understand Grace Campbell. He took her words as solid evidence.

The silence in the kitchen was deafening. Roshelle could feel the walls closing in on her. She couldn’t stay here! She had to get out! Her brain refused to accept any sort of future in this lifestyle. Her mother’s voice was echoing inside her head so loudly, Roshelle couldn’t think beyond its panic.

“No, no, no. I am not one of you!” Her feet pushed away from the table as she sought to escape the almost brutal confinement she felt wrapping about her. Jared stood in front of her but she darted under his reach before he realized her intention to flee. Reaching the porch, she dragged huge lungfulls of the night air into her body. The frigid temperature burned the warm skin of her cheeks but she pushed herself further into the night.

Why were there no good choices? Staying here would destroy any further use of her skills as a physician. To never unite another family at the moment of birth caused her heart to ache. But leaving Jared behind tore at the fabric of her being. It just wasn’t fair.

But life rarely was fair.

Roshelle came to an abrupt halt as the simple truth hit her. Wherever the fault lay, it just didn’t matter. She was here and Jared already knew about her secret.

Now several other people knew it as well. Tipping her head back she looked at the stars that filled the night sky. Until tonight, Jared had very carefully kept her isolated. There was some purpose to tonight’s meeting, she was certain of it. The man never did anything without a reason.

Each piece fell into place as she searched her memory for Jared’s warnings. Discovering too much about who he was would cost her a very heavy price. Her eyes snapped to the helicopters as her feet moved her closer to them.

The only source of light was small blue lamps set into the concrete that made up the surface of the landing zone. Six identical circles cast their light onto the machines that sat there. Even at rest there was an eerie edge to the things. Despite the shadows, the weaponry adorning the aircraft stood out.

Jared wanted her to see these. There was no other explanation for her being here. The hard certainty of his eyes before they left his house crossed her memory. He had known just how much she wanted to return to Benton. Instead he brought her here.

“Now I know too much.”

“Yes.”

Jared securely wrapped his jacket about her shoulders. The fabric was still warm from his body. He stood with his hands firmly anchored to her shoulders while their minds mingled. Instead of anger, she only sensed purpose. Clear, direct intent.

In a brutal maneuver, Jared was protecting her. Not having the means to neutralize her kidnapper, he moved on to the option of ensuring she could not leave the protection of his life.

It was harsh and permanent, but her emotions surged forward as the last of her walls were swept aside. Admitting to loving him was one thing, feeling it flood her entire soul was breathtaking.

There was no one she would rather have protecting her right now.

“I think I understand.”

The relief that flooded his body caught Jared by surprise. He had made his decision. Finding himself vulnerable to Roshelle’s opinion of that judgment was surprising. The way she managed to blend into his life truly baffled him.

Turning her away from the evidence of reality, Jared pulled her into his body and the sanctuary he could offer her. Surrounded by the night he picked up the sweet scent of his female. Bending his head down, he took the taste that scent promised him.