Unknown Touch (21 page)

While the team split up and went their separate ways for the day, Daniel and Abigail dove back into business as usual. Daniel had some normal resort responsibilities to catch up on and needed to check in with his other business ventures. He hugged me once more and said he'd look for me later. I touched at his mind and almost laughed out loud as he was literally going through a long list of to-do's and concerns. He was undeniably thorough, organized and intelligent.

Dom and I moved to the conference room. I was starting to not like that room very much, but since there were a few guests in the lounge, we couldn't go in there. I thought it was ironic how Daniel had his to-do list and Dom and I had our own checklist to work on, too.

I suggested we drop in on Stephen's mind for the morning and make sure he wasn't up to anything bad yet. Dom was not sure that would be a good idea with only the two of us. I convinced him that I was not going to try anything intrusive on Stephen. Unless, of course, the opportunity was wide open for me to access his mind, and then it would be considered foolish if I passed up the chance. I doubted very much that I would get that lucky. Dom reluctantly agreed. He reminded me to stay on the outskirts of Stephen's mind, and to completely cloak myself.

We sat on two chairs facing each other, holding hands. Our eyes closed at the same time, and our minds joined together, which created a strong, virtually unbreakable link. We made sure our concentration was solely placed on Stephen's mind, his aura and his emotions. Quietly, carefully, we found what we were searching for. We stayed a safe distance away from making complete contact with Stephen. We constantly masked our presence. He wasn't aware of us, yet. And I could tell at this degree of touching his mind, I would not be able to attempt any mind manipulation on him, unless I got closer. Dom knew what I was thinking, and firmly indicated that I should not try that trick as it would immediately make Stephen aware of us and enrage him even more than he already was.

I tried to absorb any emotions or images that flowed from Stephen's mind. He seemed to be running in wolf form. Another wolf was with him. Probably David. Lots of trees. I sensed Stephen was releasing pent up energy. And anger. Always anger. He stopped moving. An intense feeling of hunger. Meat. He was salivating as he gazed at an elk. A peaceful, beautiful elk. And then he attacked. Dom and I quickly, but cautiously, pulled away from Stephen's thoughts.

I said, "Well, that was just sad. That poor, defenseless animal doesn't have a chance against Stephen, and I'm guessing, David. I'm sorry, but I didn't want to feel his emotions at that moment and have those disgusting images in my mind."

Dominic added, "I'm with you on that. At least he isn't sitting around obsessing over some devious plan of attack on us. Yet."

We were still sitting on the chairs when I felt something strange. I even looked around the room to make sure we were the only ones in there. No one else was in the room, just the two of us. I scrunched up my face, concentrating. I could have sworn I heard my name. I cleared my head, trying to have a blank slate. Tessa. Tessa was screaming my name! I grabbed Dom's hands again and he immediately merged with my mind to understand what was happening to me.

Tessa! It's Kara. You did it! I felt you, I heard your call for help. I'm in your mind. Are you okay?
I was thrilled with this accomplishment.

Now that I had connected to her mind, she could talk to me.
Kara, I did it, didn't I? We are totally fine. Zac and I had an argument about what was the best way to camouflage ourselves. I realized how ticked off I was and felt like screaming at him. So, instead, I blew off steam by screaming for you. Cool, huh?
Tessa was definitely not upset anymore. In fact, I sensed her giving Zac a hug because of her achievement.

I pulled Zac into this group mental link.
Zac, ol' buddy, Kara and Dom here,
Zac was startled, as usual, with this form of communication.
I want to congratulate you. Because of your bullheadedness, Tessa was so mad at you, she issued a call for my help! Ta-da - it worked!

Zac, you need to try this sometime, too. If Tessa was able to get through to Kara, I'm sure you'd be able to reach out and call for her the same way,
Dominic was encouraging him.

Zac replied,
Okay, okay. If we're done having a gabfest inside our brains, I would like to get back to the job at hand here. Remember, we have a violent werewolf on the loose?

That comment made me recall Stephen's current activity. I proceeded to tell them what images and emotions we had gathered. I did not know Stephen's actual location, though. But if they came across a dead elk, most likely it was of Stephen's doing. Dom and I wished them luck for the day, and drifted gently away from their minds.

We continued to review different psychic skills. My stumbling block was in gaining full access to Stephen's mind. He was resistant and not a willing participant in this intervention. He had thrown up a strong mental barrier to prevent anyone from entering. I was at least able to touch the edges of his thoughts. I had an idea to try on Dominic. I basically wanted him to do the same thing Stephen had done to me, to us. Erect a solid mental block. Don't let me in. While Dominic was preventing me full access to his mind, I would, of course, be trying to break through.

Dominic was ready to play. He thought it was a great idea, but he also knew the chances were slim of it working. He and I were friends, not enemies. We had plenty of mind reading experiences between the two of us. Neither of us had the mindset of Stephen or his life experiences that had shaped his attitude in the first place. The anger Stephen held against us, against me, was not something that Dominic could just recreate. It wasn't in him. But, we thought we'd try.

In the first attempt, we both sat on our chairs staring at each other. I totally blew threw his mental block. It didn't help matters any that we were about to burst out laughing during that try.

In the second attempt, we decided to move to different locations in the room so we weren't eye to eye with each other. Hmm...I thought I might have felt a bit of a resistance on Dom's end; but, I still blasted through his flimsy wall. All of this reminded me how I would try to put up mental blocks against Dom when Daniel and I wanted privacy. My mental blocking ability must have been fairly good, because I don't think Dom broke through. Then again, when he sensed I was blocking him, he didn't push the issue, and backed away.

In the third attempt, I tried a different angle. I flared at him, "Dom, I am going to pick your brain about your old girlfriends and any wild flings you might have had. I will know every private and embarrassing detail about your endeavors down to the color of your underwear or lack thereof."

The look of panic was on his face. Perfect. Maybe this would work since I'm sure he didn't want me to know any of that stuff. I walked to within a few feet of where he stood. I focused on entering his mind and purposely seeking out those memories. I couldn't get through. I hit a brick wall. I could sense his emotion of self-satisfaction. I lifted my eyebrows at him, giving him the look that I was really going to try hard now. That wall budged a little, but he was quick to concentrate on keeping me out. Hmm.

"Well done, mister. It seems I touched on an area you'd rather me not know about. That's fine. Because the idea is, I have to discover a way to hack through, just as with Stephen. I still don't think this is exactly the same as with Stephen, but it's something to work with," I commented.

Dom replied, "Let's see what you're capable of."

I noticed Daniel was standing within the conference room, trying not to disturb us. He shooed his hand at me to continue. I'm not sure how long he had been standing there, probably long enough to understand what Dom had been able to do and that I might be on the verge of a breakthrough.

I mentally sent Daniel a message,
I am trying to break through a mental block Dom's put up, comparable to what Stephen has done. I think I know at least one way to break it down. I will not say what it is in case he is monitoring my thoughts. So, don't freak out.

Dom was wondering why I shared a mental link with Daniel at that moment. Regardless, he reinforced his concentration, and was ready for my attack. I wandered over to Dominic and stood about one foot in front of him. I reached out and straightened Dominic's collar on his shirt, caressing his neck as I did so. I let my hand slowly slide down the front of his chest, his stomach and then stop at the waist of his jeans. Without breaking physical contact with my fingers, I traced along the top of his jeans and headed back up his torso to his neck. With my fingers holding his chin, I leaned in as if to kiss him, paused and smiled, and just in that split second, his mental block came crashing down. I pulled back from him, and flicked him on the shoulder.

I declared, "Mission accomplished. The art of distraction. And by the way, do you recall skinny dipping with a well-endowed, blonde girl?"

He looked defeated and mortified. Maybe I shouldn't have used a seductive tactic, but it did break his concentration and the mental block. I realized that was probably mean and unfair of me to do that to him. I started to feel guilty. Daniel was having his own conflicting thoughts over the situation. Jealousy and yet proud of my cleverness in what I had done.

I told Dom, "When your barrier broke away, I let the first memory, your strongest thought, enter my mind and then I backed out. Don't worry, I don't have all the dirt on your past. You still have your privacy intact."

He seemed to breathe easier and sigh with relief after I revealed that I didn't invade those thoughts and memories. Then, he smiled.

"Distraction. We know you're not going to seduce Stephen, but if we can come up with some type of distraction, maybe he'll let his guard down long enough for you to break through and create some soothing, calm thoughts and images in his head. Let's think hard on that one. Oh, hey, Daniel, do you think Abigail would have a problem with me using the kitchen? I'd like to make supper tonight in honor of Kara's birthday. And I've really been feeling the urge to cook lately. I haven't done it in a while and I don't want to lose my touch," Dominic waited to make sure Daniel didn't have an issue with it.

Daniel chuckled, "I don't have any problem with that at all. I'm sure Abigail will be thrilled to have a break from being the cook. She's in the front office right now if you want to alert her so she doesn't start preparing anything in the kitchen."

Dominic rushed out the door with concern that he had failed to mention anything to Abigail about this earlier in the day. He hoped to catch her in time. Daniel coolly walked over to me, happy that Dom had left the room. He circled his arms around me and playfully lifted me up, about a foot off the floor. I had my arms around his neck. At the height he held me, I could look directly into his eyes.

Daniel innocently asked, "So, when are you going to experiment on me, birthday girl?"

"How about right now?" I teased as I leaned in for a deep, sweet, long-awaited kiss.

After several seconds, Daniel gently pulled away from the kiss. He confessed, "You know, Kara, when you were touching Dominic and almost kissed him, I thought I would explode with jealousy. But I didn't want to make a fool out of myself and I knew you were working on an experiment, so I kept quiet. Dominic is my friend and I would not want to hurt him. Or, heaven forbid, make you mad at me."

Chapter 17

Sparks

The meal for that evening was outrageous. Dominic, with a little assistance from Abigail, created a feast plentiful enough to feed an army of hungry werewolves. Dom had preferred to work on the majority of the dishes himself. Abigail had no qualms and enjoyed letting someone else do most of the work. He quickly established his first-class aptitude and comfort level in playing the role of a chef. With time ticking away, she had politely offered to bake my birthday cake, as long as that didn't infringe on his creativity in the kitchen. She found the whole thing to be very amusing. Dom had to think about that offer, since he had planned to bake the cake himself, but he feared he would run out of time. He decided to graciously accept her help.

We ate to our heart's content. Dominic was very pleased with how the meal had turned out. He noticed the satisfied reactions on people's faces as they ate the various items he made. I touched at his mind and sensed fulfillment, happiness, and the joy in being able to give back, to offer his services without reservation. Dom turned to look at me, and I mentally showered him with my thankfulness.

Abigail brought out the birthday cake, complete with twenty-one flaming candles. It was a chocolate cake covered in thick, creamy icing. I had such a sweet tooth that my mouth watered just from the sight of it. She revealed, "Dominic gave me his permission to bake this cake. Just wanted to let you know that this was my own little creation."

Everyone chuckled knowing how in charge Dom liked to be in the kitchen. I was wished a happy birthday for the second time that day. I openly relayed my sincere appreciation to all of them as tears made my vision blurry. I took a deep breath and went to blow out the candles. Of course, Dominic couldn't help but play a little joke on me. Using his telekinesis, he stopped my airflow from reaching the candles, therefore, the candles did not get blown out. I knew what he did the second I realized my airflow was disrupted and not one single candle went out. I gave Dom a sideways glance with one eyebrow up, and proceeded to try again. This time, he let me blow them out.