Maya Banks - Whispers in the Dark

 Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “You’re telling me that the place you lived, the place where some assholes murdered your parents and you fled for your life, is only a few hours from here? Mind telling me what the hell you’re doing so close to the area they almost got you in the first place?”

 Shea shot him a quelling look. “I’ve been all over the damn country in the last year. I’ve tried to be unpredictable. I’d hoped that this was the last place they’d think to look for me. When I first made connection with you, I was in the Midwest.”

 “That’s damn well where you should have stayed,” he growled. “Or at least as far away from here as you could.”

 She huffed impatiently, pushed him aside and rose from the bed. She picked up the Glock from the nightstand, checked the clip and then tucked it into the waistband of her sweats. As if the too-large pants were going to hold the damn gun.

 “Just where the hell do you think you’re going?”

 She eyed him steadily. “I’m going back to my parents’ house to find Grace. She’s there and so was someone else. Maybe it was nobody but I’m not going to wait around to hear from her.”

 “Christ, Shea. You’re not going alone.”

 “Then get your ass up so we can get the hell out of here. I’m going with or without you, so make up your mind.”

 Nathan stared at her, at the challenge and determination in her eyes. But he also saw that she was scared out of her mind. Her hands were curled into the legs of her sweats. She was terrified.

 She fidgeted under his scrutiny and then some of her bravado slipped and her eyes turned pleading.

 “I’m not being stupid here, Nathan. I have you with me. I just have to make sure she’s okay.”

 “And what about you?”

 Impatience flashed across her face. “I don’t matter! Grace does!”

 He bolted to his feet, anger flashing hot. He got into her face and gripped her shoulders. “You matter to me, goddamn it.”

 She went silent, their gazes colliding and holding. Then she dropped her head and sighed as all the fight seemed to go out of her.

 “We have to go, Nathan,” she said quietly. “Who else is going to help her? She’s all the family I have left.”

 He ran his hand through his hair and let out a ragged sigh to match hers. “I can call in my brothers. They’d help.”

 She clutched at his arms and returned her gaze to his, pleading and fierce. “We don’t have time! Yeah, sure, call them in, but we can’t sit around waiting for them to show up or come up with some plans. There’ll be questions. Questions I can’t even answer. And while we’re sitting around figuring out the best way to do things, my sister is out there alone and frightened.”

 Fuck it all but she had a point. And if she were the one out there, he wouldn’t wait around for his brothers to come charging in. He hadn’t done that. As soon as he’d known Shea was in danger, he’d done what was necessary to get to her as fast as possible. How could he ask her to sit back and do what he himself had been unwilling to do?

 “Yeah, okay, we’ll go. But you’re going to do precisely what I tell you. No questions. No arguments. You listen to everything I have to say.”

 She bit her lip as if to stifle immediate argument and she nodded her agreement.

 “And then, Shea? I’m calling in my brothers. If I call them now, they’re going to want me to stand down until they get here. For now, we do it your way. But then, it’s my way.”

 She nodded vigorously again and then threw her arms around his neck, pulling him down into a toe-curling kiss. “Thank you. I have no right to ask this of you, but thank you. I don’t have anyone else to turn to.”

 So maybe they weren’t at a point in their relationship where she felt it was her right, but Nathan was going to make damn sure she knew she had every goddamn right to ask it of him. He sure as hell wasn’t going to trust anyone else with her well-being. She was his. The sooner she realized it, the better the understanding would be between them.

 “Let’s get our stuff and get the hell out of here,” he muttered. “We still have to get you clothes, shoes, and I’ll need to pick up other supplies on our way.”

 ATTIRED in jeans, a T-shirt and a windbreaker, Shea had to admit she felt human again. She flexed her toes, happy with the fact that the thick socks prevented discomfort in the new tennis shoes.

 Nathan had stopped at an all-purpose store two hours out of Crescent City and they’d set a land speed record for buying the things they needed. He’d hustled her back into the jeep, his gaze constantly sweeping their surroundings.

 Even as they drove farther north, his eyes constantly rotated between the rearview and the sideview mirrors to make sure they weren’t being followed.

 She took the opportunity to study him unobserved. She hadn’t hesitated to ask him for help after she’d been able to escape her captors. It hadn’t even been a question. Who else could she have turned to?

 But even then, she hadn’t been sure if that deep bond between them would survive once they met face-to-face. And yet, it was instantaneous. Renewed. Stronger even than before.

 She’d looked at a man who’d been molded by the events of the last year and she saw strength. Endurance. He was, in reality, everything that she’d come to know during the time of his captivity.

 Honorable. Determined. Beautiful.

 Yes, beautiful. He’d hate that description. Her seeming obliviousness to his physical scars baffled and discomfited him.

 He was the kind of man who existed only in fiction. Confident and yet vulnerable. Determined to protect her at all costs.

 She was fascinated by him and drawn by an inexplicable force. But their relationship had been forged in the fires of hell. Already they’d endured more than most other couples would ever endure in a lifetime. They’d been tested, together and individually, and yet here they were, clinging to each other, each the salvation of the other.

 Yes, she was his. She didn’t refute it. And he was hers.

 It sounded so easy. So pat. And yet, their path still lay difficult and winding in front of them. She didn’t have the luxury of a relationship, a normal courtship, dreams of a life filled with love and children and family.

 How could she ever hope to achieve such a thing when she was doomed to always looking over her shoulder? She had to protect Grace. She had to protect herself and she couldn’t ask someone else to bear those same burdens.

 Nathan had already given more than any man should ever be asked to give. For his country. His family. Himself even. He needed the comfort and support of his family. And while she desperately needed his help now—she had no choice but to ask it of him—she could never hope to have any sort of a future with him when such a thing would place him in constant danger.

 She was a realist. Yes, the idea saddened her. She mourned for what might have been, but she wasn’t going to allow herself to dwell on it because it brought her nothing but sadness.

 Nathan would always be a part of her—the best part aside from Grace. But some things just weren’t possible or even plausible. For her, a normal relationship was one of those things.

 A year ago, she wouldn’t have imagined such a pragmatic attitude. She was a romantic. What woman wasn’t at her very heart? She wanted the same things other women wanted. Love. A husband. Children eventually. Things to fill her life and complete her.

 She’d spent years in denial over her gift. Never once had she imagined that it could interfere with having a normal existence. It was naïve of her. She could admit that. But who ever considered that violence would suddenly be thrust into their life, forever changing the course of it?

 Maybe it was irresponsible of her, never considering the repercussions of having telepathic abilities. But in her scope, her gift wasn’t world changing. It wasn’t even some great power with the ability to change the world. Yeah, she could talk to people in their mind. So what?

 Now she was facing the consequences of such denial. Her parents had paid the cost and so had Grace.

 She couldn’t be stupid any longer. And she absolutely had to find a way to take control of her life. She refused to spend the rest of her life running from some faceless, nameless enemy.

 She hadn’t wanted Grace to risk investigating, but she also realized that her sister was the smart one. She was being proactive because she wanted her life back. Shea had spent the last year running, hiding, just trying to survive and keep her sister safe. It was time to change all that.

 Shea raised her gaze to Nathan’s profile again. She had help now. She wasn’t alone. Nathan had resources she couldn’t even begin to imagine. No, she didn’t know whom she could trust—or if she should trust anyone. But she did trust Nathan, and by proxy, she’d trust whomever he chose to place his trust in.

 What other choice did she have?

“TELL me more about your childhood. How did you and Grace hide your abilities from your friends? People at school?”

 Shea started in surprise. She’d long since directed her stare out the window at the passing scenery. Her excitement and dread had grown as they drew closer to the house she hadn’t been back to since she and Grace had fled a year ago.

 “We just didn’t use them,” she said simply. “Our parents drummed into us from as early as I have memory that we had to keep our secrets. No one outside our family was to ever know.”