No Time to Cry (Nine While Nine Legacy Book 1) (27 page)

I think I liked
this. Now, what was the purpose of it? Did I have it merely for culling? I had
used it in culling; it’s why it was so easy for me. It had been more subtle,
but still, no touch was needed, and I could only wonder as to why I didn’t have
to speak, like the others.

Why didn’t they
have this? They didn’t or they would not have looked at me the way they had a
moment ago, right? That what-the- hell-is-that look.

I had danced
myself to the far side of the dance area and the last song segued into Lullaby
by The Cure. Another perfect melody to lose myself to.

“It draws you in
Gideon, make you see things in your head. Images, places not here, things you
weren’t thinking about. Makes your heart go light. What is it? What is she
doing? What is she?”

I could hear
Liam, his voice faint, but I could hear him all the same…though they were
nowhere near me. He sounded winded, exuberant. He was waiting for Gideon to say
something.

Gideon is here.

“Everyday she’s
changed, something changes about her. She becomes
more
. Why is she
different? Why is she like this fantastic, implausible, untamable creature?”

But Gideon
didn’t have an answer for him.

And I needed
answers of my own. So I picked out another test subject.

This one was an
intense
hottie
, a little older than the last. I
maneuvered myself closer, not making eye contact.

Could I do it
without meeting gazes? I relaxed my mind again, reaching into myself to find
that ability. I relaxed into it, breathed into it, I felt it quicken and light.

 This time
it made me shudder when it rose and extended out of my skin, from my center. I
opened my eyes to see it. It wasn’t amber this time. That surprised me; it
didn’t fit how I felt. It was a deep, dark red. It was burgundy. It was shot
with glittering black streams.

There was
something dangerous and raw to it, to the way I was suddenly feeling. He looked
at me. The guy I picked out. And there was nothing sweet in his smile. He was
danger…not the sexy-fun kind either.

I could feel,
from across the room, anger, rage, unbridled protectiveness. It was coming from
Gideon. He had a distinct imprint; I
knew
it was him I was feeling, his
energy I was sensing from across the room. He was pissed…beyond anything I’d
ever encountered from him. And I hadn’t even looked over at him yet. But I
could feel him.

My energy
reached out, and I locked eyes with the man in front of me. From behind me, a
motion in charcoal and pewter moved around either side of me…wings…my wings
moved around us and enveloped us. I was mesmerized and the power had taken me
over. I watched as the glittering black and burgundy streams stole around him,
beneath my wings, entered through his chest. The feeling of raw strength and
power surged through me and I felt momentarily supreme, like I was something so
much more than this creature in front of me.

The feeling from
Gideon was rising higher. He was seeing this and hated it.

“I don’t think
she’s supposed to be with us.”

I heard Gideon
as he finally responded. He said it quietly, simply, his voice tinged with
regret.

“So, do we get
to keep her?”

“I don’t know.”

What was that
supposed to mean?

I leaned into
the man I’d surrounded with my wings; I leaned in and breathed him in. Not his
actual scent, but the essence of him. I was scenting his mhésen.

That was new. It
startled me. It was second nature, as if I was supposed to do that. It was for
a reason. He sighed and his aggressiveness melted away from him, like I had
neutralized it. His head tilted back. My wings released him and I moved away
from him. I couldn’t help but smile, and I felt just ever-so-slightly wickedly
empowered. I felt energized and alive clear through. I had no idea what all of
that was about, but I liked it. It felt fierce and incredibly as it should be.

I felt a hand
touch my arm, fingers wrap around it, felt the glow rise, and I watched as a
rich golden light raced from my arm and up his, up Liam’s arm. But he didn’t
release me, even though a violent tremor ran through him.

He leaned in,
“Gideon is requesting you take a break and come have a drink with him.”

I could tell by
his tone, that there could be no refusal. Whatever. I felt too good to argue. I
had gone from sweet to ominous with such ease, and now balanced somewhere
between the two.

I stood at the edge of the table, our
table, their voices fresh in my mind.
I don’t think she’s supposed to be
with us.
His voice echoed on replay in my head.

I was feeling
flushed, happy, from all the dancing…and from that
whatever-thing
that I
did. Gideon had witnessed it.

“Sit, please.”
Gideon
motioned
towards the leather seat near him.

 I didn’t
move.

The look on his
face was straddling the line somewhere between wrath and
distress. It
was unsettling to me to see that in him. He’s always resolute.

He passed a
cocktail glass to me, filled with an Aviation. I accepted it. “Thank you.”

He stared at me,
that look warring on his face. I sipped my drink and let my eyes fall closed,
soaking in the music again and the feeling of my secreted away power. I saw him
in my mind. I saw myself kissing him. Softly, hesitantly…a first kiss. We are
racking those up…in my head. I could feel the kiss on my lips and it left me
breathless enough that I needed to open my eyes to ground myself.

I took another
sip. How had he come to mean so very much to me?

I was in my
element here, and he was so obviously out of his. It still shocked me that he
was here at all, but I was glad that he was.

I felt bold, as
though the parameters had shifted. I felt mesmeric. I reached out with a small
smile playing on my lips, and touched his brow, to smooth it, smooth away the
look of consternation etched there.

“Don’t look so
glum, Gideon,” I teased. “This is a fun zone.” His flesh was warm beneath my
fingertips, a slight current passed between us, I saw a faint spark in his
eyes, and I saw myself leaning in to him over this table, kissing him again, it
flashed through my mind. Just a hint of an image, like a brief glimpse through
a window.

I sat down at
the oval table with them, across from Liam, and to the side of Gideon. Liam
looked at us both, accessing the situation I suppose, before deciding to
withdraw from the alcove, excusing himself, to return to Serena I presumed.

Gideon was
holding the wine bottle, looking at the label. “Liam,” He called to him before
he could get more than two feet away. “What we discussed. It’s between us.” He
stated it firmly, his eyes unwavering, that oh-so-familiar threatening look
present. I loved that look, even when it was being directed at me. It held such
raw power, command.

Liam nodded,
said nothing, gave away nothing, and rejoined the clique on the dance floor.

 I turned
my eyes to Gideon, wondering what I’d missed. Or had I missed anything? Was he
referring to what I had ‘overheard’? I tasted my drink. “Never thought I’d see
you here.”

“It’s not where
I’d normally choose to spend my time.”

“So why are
you?”

Gideon shrugged.
“Guess I wanted to see what the lot of you gets up to.” He turned his enraged
eyes to me. “And when it comes to you, I’m not very pleased.” He leaned back in
the seat, crossed his arms over his chest. His look was pure, carefully held
back infuriation.

The electric
tide between us was crackling and popping.

“Why?” Let him
actually say it, say something.

“Your behavior
out there.” He nodded towards the dancers.

“What? Dancing?”
I knew exactly what he was referring to. He had seen it. That was why I’d felt
from him what I did while I was dancing.
How
I felt it, was the
mystery…in addition to how I did the other stuff of course.

His eyes flared
at me. When he spoke his voice was low, lethal. “How did you do that?”

“I don’t know.”

Why did you try
it a second time?”

“Because I
could.”

“Why did you
pick a killer the second time?”

“What?”

“Your second
‘dance’ partner, he was a
D
healramh
, a Disfigurer.
You need to not only be more careful, but stop screwing around with abilities
that you have no idea how to use, or what they even might be.”

“Because you
know what it is? If so, please tell me. And I did control it…the first time.”

“And the second
time it controlled you.” His chest was slightly heaving; he was grinding out
his words between clenched teeth. His face betrayed him. He’d been scared for
me. I’d been dancing with a killer? He’d used a word from that
other
language. Not just a killer, but someone who evidently took pleasure in
disfiguring his victims.

I felt my
disposition shift and intensify. I
knew
exactly what I’d done now. I’d
gravitated to him in particular
because
of what he was. “I knew what I
was doing. And I neutralized him.” When I spoke, I heard the sense of wonder in
my own voice. I had. My wings had spread forward, wrapping around, trapping him
as the filaments had spread across him and pushed into his center, into his
heart, his mhésen. He’d had a broken one. Gideon had mentioned that before.

“What I did…will
it last?”

He was just
looking intently at me, motionless …so very still.

“I don’t know.”
He held my gaze, and something in it made my breath catch in my throat. “Don’t
do it again.”

He didn’t have
to say please. It was in his eyes…even if he couldn’t, for whatever reason,
bring himself to speak it. It was there in his eyes.

“Okay.” I breathed
out softly.

He pulled out
cash from his wallet and left a couple of large bills on the table. “Next round
is my treat.” Don’t stay out all night. You have work tomorrow.” He slapped his
hand on the table to mark his point. “Don’t be late.” He began to slide out
from the opposite side. His look was back to all-business.

“Do you have to
go?” I asked. I wasn’t done being near him yet. “It’s not very late.”

 Why did I
suddenly have a sensation of panic grip me? I needed him to stay near. Was I
freaking out because I’d had a close encounter with a…whatever he’d said? I
suddenly didn’t want to dance anymore; I wanted to stay here tucked away in
this shadowed, protected, place with him.

He stopped and
looked back at me.

“It’s not so bad
here, is it?” I asked pleasantly.

“A little louder
than I prefer.”

I caught his
gaze and he smiled ever so slightly, it danced around the edges of his mouth,
before going back into hiding. I smiled at him, letting it reach my eyes.
Willing him to feel what I was feeling.
Please
please
please
feel it…see it.

“I guess I can
cope with it for a little longer.” He heaved a sigh.

Was that
playfully? Oh, how I loved his voice. Have I said that before?

“What’s on your
mind?” He narrowed his eyes at me almost suspiciously. I guess I couldn’t
exactly blame him for that—since I was usually in a rush to get away from him,
or causing some sort of complication for him. I’d never asked this of him
before, to stay.

I shrugged.
“Nothing special.” Wow! How untrue that statement was, since my mind was
consumed with thoughts of him. “Just think you could use some fun.” I looked at
him over the rim of my glass. He still wore the same expression. He wasn’t
buying it. “Do you ever go out Gideon? Or is it always work for you?” There was
a hint of jest in my tone.

Was I being
flirty? I didn’t want to come across as flirty?

“I have things I
like to do. Places I like to go. Both are quieter.”