Lucy's Liberation [Elk Creek 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (38 page)

They had been riding for almost an hour without exchanging a word. Ki had been buried in his own thoughts as he had suspected Maia had been. He didn’t know what made him blurt the question just then except that it had felt right and past due.

“If you mean do I know that Prentice’s soul inhabits Ethan’s body, then yes, I do.”

“Do Cade and Thayne know?”

“I’m not sure. I only just realized it myself this evening at the shower. But since they’re both…gifted like me, it’s possible they picked up something, too, and just haven’t mentioned it to me yet.”

“Do you three do that sort of thing a lot? Pick things up?” Before coming to Elk Creek, he had only heard of such “gifts” between the pages of fantasy stories and fairy tales. Despite his wide travels and cosmopolitan life experiences he had never personally come across someone with genuine supernatural abilities, only charlatans and magicians claiming to have supernatural abilities.

“We’re all clairvoyant but with specific talents under the general umbrella of ESP. I see the future. Cade can discern a person’s past, present, and future by touching them directly or an item that belongs to them. Thayne can read people’s thoughts and feelings,” she explained before briefly turning to him, shaking her head, and chuckling. “I can’t believe I’m telling you all this. We’ve never mentioned to anyone in the town what we can do, not since we’ve been here, although I’m sure people all have their suspicions after what happened a year ago.”

“Have you…” Ki swallowed hard before going on. He wasn’t normally so inarticulate, but then this wasn’t the most normal of circumstances either, and even though she had told him a great deal, Ki sensed there was a great deal Maia had left out. He wondered if what she didn’t say had anything to do with Prentice and his apparently hostile, ill-fated history with her and her husband and brother-in-law. He wondered if Prentice had had any of the powers that Maia had just described, in his previous incarnation, or had he brought them back with him from the grave. “Have you forgiven him?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. This has all happened so fast, I haven’t had time to process it. I wouldn’t have come over to your place tonight except for my vision and…Lucy…” Her voice faltered on the name and Ki nodded, understanding her anguish as he was experiencing the same suffering twice over.

Maia pulled on her horse’s reins and brought the animal to an abrupt stop. She stared at Ki as he drew up beside her. “You love him, don’t you?”

“I love them both so much it frightens me.”

“I understand that feeling very well. That’s part of the reason I ran over to your place. I couldn’t not act. Not this time…” She closed her eyes for a moment and Ki sensed her wrestling with demons he couldn’t even begin to imagine.

What must it be like to know someone else’s future, to have that kind of information and power at your fingertips?

When Maia opened her eyes to look at him again, they were shiny with unshed tears. “If you love him, Ki, then it doesn’t really matter whether or not I or anyone else has forgiven Prentice, does it?”

He wanted to say no, it didn’t matter to him, but it did matter. He cared about Lucy’s friends as much as she did and he cared about what they thought. He also respected all of them for looking after and taking care of Lucy when he hadn’t been in Elk Creek to do so.

Even now Maia was putting herself in harm’s way to help Lucy
and
Ethan, knowing who he truly was, without a thought to her own safety.

Ki suddenly imagined what Cade and Thayne would do to him or anyone else who let any harm come to Maia this night. He knew he would do the same to anyone who harmed Ethan or Lucy and was in a bloodthirsty state when Maia whispered, “I think this is the place.”

“You
think
?”

“Shh.” She put up her hand and soundlessly dismounted her horse.

Ki watched, barely able to make out her shape in the dim light but still impressed with her equitation as he followed her lead and got off his mount.

Maia escorted her horse to the side of the road toward the edge of the woods, the animal so well-trained and responsive to her actions he quietly stood where she left him without moving.

Ki left his horse with Maia’s and quickly caught up with her, tempted to pass her and take the lead so that he could shield her from any danger. He was uncomfortable bringing up the rear, especially when he didn’t know what they were heading into. Maia had done more than enough, risked a great deal to get him to come with her. He did not want her to do or risk any more.

As they neared the clearing and the betraying glow of a lantern ahead, the sound of labored breathing and someone shoveling dirt reached his ears.

Ki quickly circled around Maia and blocked her from walking any further. “Go back to town and get the sheriff.”

“I’m not leaving you alone.”

“I’m not your responsibility. Neither are Ethan and Lucy.” Ki saw the determined look on Maia’s face, placed his hands on her shoulders, and softened his tone to appeal to her good sense. “Please, Maia. I can’t have any harm coming to you on my conscience. And I’m sure Thayne and Cade wouldn’t be too happy with me either if I let that happen, so I’m begging you to go and get help for us all.”

She stared at him for a long moment before finally nodding and turning to go back to her horse. Then she had a second thought and pivoted to look at him again. “What are you going to do, Ki? You don’t even have a gun.”

He hadn’t thought that far ahead when Maia had dragged him out of the house. His only consideration and main priority had been getting to the two people he loved most in the world. Evidently, Maia hadn’t calculated the consequences of her rash actions either. This or her vision hadn’t shown her the entire dangerous picture of what she and Ki had needed to prepare for.

“Don’t worry about me, Maia. I’m going to do whatever I have to to keep Ethan and Lucy safe until you get back.” Or die trying, he thought.

Lucy sat with her wrists bound behind her as she leaned back against a towering elm tree and watched Ethan plow a shovel deep into the earth, then toss aside the dirt he’d scooped up.

This ritual had been going on since Boone had first taken them from Winchester’s and ridden them to the outskirts of town in Lucy’s horse and wagon.

As soon as they had arrived, Boone had pulled Lucy from the front of the wagon, where he had been riding beside her, and at gunpoint had ordered Ethan to tie her hands as he tossed Ethan some rope.

Once Lucy was taken care of, Boone had tossed Ethan the shovel from the buckboard and directed him to start digging. Boone had taken a seat on a nearby boulder situated between Ethan and the tree Lucy was sitting against. He trained his six-shooter on Lucy the entire while to guarantee Ethan’s compliance.

Lucy wasn’t as afraid for herself as she was for Ethan, and she didn’t know why. Ever since she had arrived at Winchester’s and reunited with him, she’d sensed his…vulnerability. She knew it was a daft way to think about someone who had the kinds of powers that she knew Ethan had, but there was more at stake here than just his physical well-being and Lucy knew that better than anyone.

She worried about him physically, too, of course, glad that they were not out and about at high noon when the sun would be at its height and would make it very uncomfortable for a man to do any sort of hard work beneath it.

Hard work digging our graves
.

Lucy swallowed at the thought. She had been trying to deny it, but she knew exactly what Boone was going to do to them once Ethan was done. She knew that Ethan knew it, too, and wondered if he was planning anything, or had he just given up.

She stared at him, his lightly tanned face barely illuminated by the moonlight and the lantern, and she saw his chiseled jaw set, making him look hard and determined.

Determined to do what?

“So tell me, Ethan, because I’m curious.”

Boone’s deep voice jolted Lucy out of her reverie. She jerked her eyes to him, irritated by his nonchalant posture and tone when he was about to…do whatever it was he was about to do to them while Ethan toiled and perspired despite the cool evening air.

She had thought Cody had been the threat to them. There had even been a moment in time when she had considered Tanner Gray and Kurt McCall as Ethan’s killer.

How could she have been so wrong about someone? How had she trusted this man, a veritable stranger to Elk Creek? How had he woven his way into the fabric of the town without anyone questioning his appearance?

Lucy hadn’t even thought anything about him showing up at church the other day because like the rest of the town, she had become accustomed to seeing Boone around. He’d been at her reception, he was a regular at Winchester’s, and he worked at the Westyn’s ranch like any other decent cowboy. He was a charming sort all the way around, but Lucy knew that the color of his skin was a big part of why he had been universally accepted by Elk Creek when someone as good-hearted and trustworthy as Dakota Cooper was still finding complete acceptance as elusive as Lucy was finding complete happiness.

Now Lucy saw that everything he’d done from the moment he had arrived in town had been a calculated effort to fit in, to make himself seen, to dupe the town’s people into believing he was just like them and not a threat.

She could see how someone like the original Ethan—someone eager to impress, someone hungry for adventure and experiences out of the ordinary, someone who had never been out of Elk Creek a day in his life—had been drawn in by someone like Boone.

Lucy watched now as Ethan paused from his task, leaned against the shovel, and glared at Boone. “What is it you want to know?”

“Oh, c’mon now, kid. I would think that would be obvious.” Boone stood and approached Ethan, still aiming his gun on Lucy and not going close enough to Ethan that he risked being struck with the shovel. “You were dead, right and proper. I
saw
you. So how are you standing here in front of me, alive and well?”

Lucy held her breath waiting for Ethan’s answer. She didn’t think he would tell Boone the truth, but with Ethan she could never be too sure. He always had a way of surprising her.

Finally Ethan shrugged almost as if he was bored and didn’t have time to humor their captor, or as if he didn’t care to.

We’re going to get out of this, Lucy. Just trust me. I’m not going to let him hurt you.

Lucy shook her head and stared at Ethan.

His lips hadn’t moved and he hadn’t spoken, at least not out loud. She was sure of it.

So how had she heard what she had heard?

Do you trust me, Lucy?

She didn’t know how or why, but she was hearing Ethan’s thoughts.

Or should she say Prentice’s thoughts?

Either way, Lucy knew she wasn’t going to let their safety fall all on the shoulders of one of the men she loved.

You’re not doing this alone.

Lucy kept her eyes on Ethan to gauge his reaction to her thoughts and see if he had heard her as well as she had heard him. She was new at this, after all.

Lucy, this is my fight.

I’m not going to let him kill you again.

She heard his growl of frustration in her head and almost laughed.

After all those years married to Rance, bending to his will and letting him rule her body, mind, and soul, she must have finally snapped.

Right or wrong, crazy or not, she wasn’t letting Ethan handle Boone on his own.

Even if he had come back from the dead once, it didn’t make him indestructible.

Did it?

* * * *

Prentice felt the other presences out there in the dark. It was just a vague realization that two other people were nearby, and he didn’t initially recognize their personal signatures. It was hard to concentrate on trying to identify them and keep Boone busy talking.

As much as he hated the idea of indulging the barbarian, he had to at least be civil and diverting enough to take Boone’s mind off of the task at hand. Lucy’s and his lives depended on it.

Ki…Ki’s out there!

So he had the two of them to worry about in addition to himself.

The second person must have left. He didn’t feel her signature like he had before, just a vague notion of a female.

What did that mean? Who had come out here with Ki and why? He hoped whoever the woman, she was going for help.

Prentice closed his eyes and tossed out his psychic net, testing his strength and reaching for Ki’s consciousness in the darkness. He tried to conserve the bulk of his energy for the battle that was ahead.

He knew he’d have to use his abilities on Boone to get himself, Lucy, and Ki out of this. He would have already tried something but hadn’t found the right opportunity, especially with his powers being so uncertain since his return. When he struck, he had to know that he’d be accurate. More than corporate takeovers and power plays were at stake here. His loved ones’ very lives depended on his control and precision.

Prentice had just connected with Ki, touching his mind and recognizing his alarm when pain exploded through his own jaw from a hard blow.