Tribes of Man: The Beginning [Tribes of Man] (Siren Publishing Classic) (14 page)

Despite, or maybe because of, the fact that they had made love the day before, it wasn’t an easy fit. She worked herself down on him a few inches, and then had to lean up and work him in a few inches more. By the time she was fully seated on him, she was gasping, and he was sweating from holding back the need to come.

“Just sit there a minute,” Gideon instructed. He sat up a little to be able to pull her nipple into his mouth.

Raina groaned, and Gideon felt her grip soften a bit. He knew she was more comfortable than she had been. He lay back and grasped her hips, lifting her slightly. Bracing her arms on the headboard, she began riding him.

Raina set a rhythm of slow, shallow thrusts that was driving Gideon crazy. He needed deep, hard thrusts, but wanted her to explore this first...even if it killed him. To help her over, he began plucking at her nipple. That made her move a little faster. When his clever finger found her clit, she went wild. Her thrusts were still shallow, but they were frantic.

When she started to come around him, Gideon grabbed her hips and slammed them down on him. She let out a long scream and ground herself against him. He felt his cum finally release in long hot spurts. To keep both their orgasms going, he helped the grinding motion of her hips with deep short thrusts.

When the storm had passed, Raina collapsed on top of him. The occasional aftershock shook her body, the tightening muscles keeping him semi-hard inside of her.

They fell asleep like that.

“It’s been almost two weeks. I don’t think I can take anymore.” Raina couldn’t stop herself from griping.

“It’s only been a little over a week,” Kristano commented. “What did you expect?”

“I expected to be able to read the prophecy easily. I expected Adder to make a move. I expected to get a better hold of my power.” She knew she sounded bitchy, but she was so frustrated and out of sorts, she couldn’t take it.

Sweetheart, are you OK?
Gideon’s voice echoed through her head.

I’m fine
, Raina sighed,
just grumpy.

Their ability to communicate in their minds was no longer dependent on proximity. They could communicate from anywhere. Although he was at his office, she felt his arms around her. He was trying to comfort her, and she appreciated it.

It wasn’t working.

“Look,” Kristano said, “I know we thought Adder would have acted by now, but there must be a reason why he hasn’t.” She knew he was in the room. She also knew that he would be barely visible. The sunlight streamed through the windows, and Kristano wouldn’t have wanted to use the magic necessary to stay completely visible. Instead, he would look like a shimmery outline in the shadows and completely invisible in the sun.

“I know that, Kristano, that’s why I’m nervous. I feel like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.” She went back to gazing in the direction of the bowl of water in front of her. She knew it was there because she could feel it, but she didn’t see anything in it. She only saw something one other time. Adder and a young woman were in an office, and he was doing unspeakable things to her. Raina wondered if she was shutting off the power because she was afraid to see that again.

Just then, they heard the front door open. Raina relaxed as she got a flash of Bryce taking off his coat and hanging it on the hook. Her clairvoyance seemed to be improving every day. Thank goodness it wasn’t tied to darkness as her precognitive powers were.

“Hey, anyone home?” Bryce’s voice came down the hallway. Kristano’s presence became more distinct, and Raina knew he was making himself visible for Bryce’s sake. It would have taken less magic to make himself invisible, but then Bryce would feel like he could have that “heart to heart” talk with Raina that he’d been trying to do almost every day.

Bryce walked into the kitchen. Raina could sense his disappointment that she wasn’t alone.

“What’s up?” he asked casually. “Are you cooking again?”

The last time he came in to find Raina looking at a bowl of water, she said she was cooking. This time she said, “No, I’m getting ready to clean.”

“Oh.” Then he turned to Kristano. “Hey man, how you doin’?” The day after the shooting at the school, Gideon introduced Kristano to Bryce. Bryce was told that Kristano was an associate at the detective agency and that his job was to protect Raina when Gideon couldn’t.

“I’m fine.” Kristano projected a message to Raina.
I’m going to leave you two alone. I’m afraid that if he doesn’t talk to you soon, he’s going to do something drastic to get you alone. I don’t want to risk your safety. Don’t worry, I’ll be in the room.

I’m not worried. I just don’t want to do this,
Raina answered. She tried to close the door to Gideon’s mind subtly so that he wouldn’t notice.

Of course he noticed.

What are you doing?
Gideon asked.

Bryce’s here. He wants to talk to me.
Raina thought her answer was reasonable enough to get him to allow her to close the mental door.

So?
She didn’t miss the hint of jealousy in his voice.

So I don’t think you should hear this. It’s embarrassing enough for both of us.
With that she slammed the mental door shut. She pictured an elephant in front of it. When the door didn’t open again, she figured that either the elephant imagery worked, or he was giving them privacy.

The entire time this internal debate was happening, Bryce was chatting about school while getting a cup of coffee. Raina missed most of it. She almost panicked when he turned to her and said, “So what do you think?”

He’s asking you about whether he should focus on the languages or classical drama,
Kristano helped her out.

“They complement each other, don’t you think? Why don’t you try to balance them out?” Raina thought they’d had this discussion before, but she wasn’t sure.

“Since you’re not alone right now, Raina, I’m going to go make some calls,” Kristano said as he headed out of the room. A moment later she felt him return. He must have been invisible because Bryce didn’t say anything. Raina heard the chair of the table scuff out as he sat down. Just in case a vision snuck up on her, Raina pushed the bowl of water into the middle of the table. As soon as she did, Bryce took one of her hands.

The surprise she felt must have gotten to Gideon because she felt him try to push the door back open.
It’s fine,
she said. She felt his presence recede.

“Listen, Raina, I’ve been wanting to talk to you. I, um, haven’t because there are always people around.” Bryce paused to take a breath. “I know we’re good friends, but, um, I was wondering...” He trailed off.

Raina wanted to cut off what he was about to say, so she broke the physical connection, grabbed the bowl, and moved to the sink to empty it. “You’re one of my best friends, Bryce. I value your friendship more than anything.”

Instead of discouraging him, her little speech seemed to free his tongue. He stood up to stand beside her at the sink. “You’re my best friend, too, but I think there’s more there than that. I really like you. I think that we might be able to build something more.” Bryce gently took her arm and shifted her so that she was facing him. He touched her hair and face and pulled her into a loose embrace.

Raina felt the door between her mind and Gideon’s slam open. The elephant went flying. When Bryce bent down to kiss her, she felt Gideon’s roar. It was so startling that Raina jerked. Bryce took that as evidence of her desire and tried to deepen the kiss, pulling her into his body.

Raina, Gideon’s rage is building. He’s going to blow something up if you don’t get away from Bryce. Now!
Kristano’s voice was more urgent than she’d ever heard it.

Raina pushed against Bryce’s shoulders lightly, trying to get him to release her. When that didn’t work, she focused on pushing hard against him while she stepped back. She also heard the sound of Kristano walking down the hall toward the room, ostensibly talking on his cell phone.

Bryce released her.

* * * *

Gideon’s office was in chaos. There was paper all over the room, a burn on the rug where his rage leaked out, and he thought he might have fried all of his equipment. His door wasn’t locked, but he could hear Joanie in the outer office pounding on the door, unable to get in.

“Gideon, I’m calling the police.” Her words finally broke through.

“No, don’t,” he croaked. “It’s fine.”

“Let me in,” she demanded.

“I can’t, not yet.” He could feel the sweat all over his body. He had been so busy the last few weeks trying to find the other two keepers that he didn’t take the time out to work on controlling the Waterfire.

Joanie continued pounding on the door. “Open it now, Gideon, or I’m calling the cops.”

Gideon knew she wasn’t kidding. He took a deep breath, hoping his eyes weren’t red, and went to open the door.

Joanie stepped into the room and goggled at the destruction. “What the hell happened in here?” His eyes must not have been red, because she didn’t say anything.

“I got a package at Raina’s house this morning,” he lied quickly and smoothly. “I didn’t realize that it was an explosive until it detonated. I don’t even know what it was. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before.”

“Nothing exploded,” she said. “I didn’t hear a bang and nothing is burned.”

Gideon thought fast. “Maybe it was an EM pulse. Let’s check the computers.”

They got to work cleaning up, checking the equipment, looking for pieces of the “device.” They decided that it had to be a small, self-destroying electromagnetic pulse weapon. Gideon was pretty sure that there was no such thing, but it worked well to explain everything that had happened in the room.

When they were done, Gideon said, “Joanie, I think I’m giving you a month off with pay. Take a vacation.”

“No way, boss. I don’t mind taking a vacation, but it looks like you need me now more than ever.”

Gideon knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. He sat down with her. “Listen, Joanie, Raina is mixed up in something extraordinarily dangerous. I won’t allow you to get caught in the crossfire. I’ve got it set up that if anything happens to me or this business, you’ll have a few months’ pay to look for a new job. I don’t want you looking yet. I just want you to take a nice long vacation.”

“I appreciate it, Gideon. I don’t want to get hurt, but I can’t allow you to go without help for that long, especially if it’s dangerous.” Joanie’s loyalty was amazing.

“How about we compromise? You take two weeks’ vacation, paid, as a bonus. Start right after you replace everything that was fried. At the end of the two weeks, if things aren’t better, we’ll talk about what to do.”

Joanie was quiet for a long time. “OK, I’ll take the vacation. At the end of two weeks I’m coming back, and you’re telling me exactly what’s going on. I’m not quitting and you’re not firing me.” Her tone was implacable.

“Deal.” They shook hands. Gideon went to the side drawer of his desk. He took out the business checkbook and wrote her a check for three weeks’ pay. When he handed it to her, she looked at the amount and said, “I’m only taking two weeks.”

“I know. Think of the third week as a bonus.”

Joanie nodded.

“I’m going to have to go check on Raina,” Gideon said. He grabbed his coat and headed for the door. “Don’t bother replacing the intercom,” he said with a smile.

“You wish.” She smiled back. “Oh, and Gideon?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful.”

Gideon nodded and headed down the steps to his car. He wondered if he’d ever see her again.

* * * *

The tension was thick in the kitchen when Kristano walked in.

Gideon?
Raina was calling for him. He wasn’t answering.

He can’t answer you right now,
Kristano told her.
The Waterfire takes too much out of him. He’ll be OK. I think he’s headed home.

Raina didn’t question which home he meant. She knew that Gideon would need to see her in person.

Bryce sighed. “Hey, Kristano. Could you give us another minute?”

“Sure.” Raina heard the refrigerator door open and close, and then felt him leave the room. Just like last time, she felt his presence again a moment later.

Bryce tried to reach for her again. She moved out of the way. “Bryce, I’m sorry. I don’t think of you that way. I think a relationship like that would ruin our friendship.”

Bryce touched her arm. “I think it would make our friendship stronger.”

Raina wanted to tell him that she was in love with someone else, but she knew he’d figure out who too quickly, and she didn’t want to come between the brothers. “I’m not going to risk losing you as my best friend.”

“Is it someone else?” She knew Bryce was asking about Gideon. She didn’t want to lie to him, but she didn’t know what to say.

“Does it really matter, Bryce?” She figured no answer was better than the truth.

“Gideon isn’t a one-woman kind of a guy, Raina. He isn’t still single at thirty-six by accident.” Bryce’s voice was impatient. Raina could hear the hurt in it, too.

“This isn’t about Gideon,” she insisted and felt Bryce relax. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“I’ll have to change your mind, then,” Bryce insisted.

Before Raina could think of a response, she heard Kristano’s voice again, only this time it was projecting to Bryce as well.
You’ve done all you can. The groundwork is laid. Pressing now would be a mistake. Maybe you should leave and give her time to think about it?

“I’m going to head out. Why don’t you think about it? Maybe you’ll find that it’s not such a bad idea after all.” Bryce headed quickly for the front door before Raina could comment.

As soon as she heard the front door close, Kristano said, “I don’t think Gideon should see Bryce when he gets here. The jealousy might set him off again.”