Temptation in Shadows (6 page)

Shock poured through him because she, too, was heading for the car. Armed as she was, he expected the men to speed away. That’s what any sane person would have done. Instead, they opened their doors and stood, shocking him further.

He looked them over but didn’t recognize them.
The driver was five nine or ten, the passenger easily six one, putting him a little under Sean’s six three. And still, without the shield of metal, neither seemed fazed by Gabby’s gun.

Did she know them?

“Pervert,” she growled. “You should be in jail, rotting with other disgusting offenders.”

With her words, understanding dawned. Sean realized what had happened—and knew what was going to happen. The men were there for Gabby. Rather than attack her, frightening her, they’d put files they knew sickened her on a laptop to draw her to them.

Clearly, Gabby’s secret had been leaked.

Shit
. Shit! He was on his own with this. Rowan, trapped in the car and darkness as he was, still had no idea what was going on.

“Hello, Gabrielle. I knew those files would get your attention,” the driver said with a grin.

Gabby stumbled, paled. “Wh-who are you?”

The passenger lifted his arm, his own weapon suddenly gleaming in the muted light. No, not a gun, but a tranq. Sean didn’t think; he simply acted. Rushing forward and withdrawing his SIG Sauer, silencer already attached, shadows holding him close, he fired.

Pop. Whiz.

The man grunted and fell as the driver whipped around. But it was too late. Sean had already adjusted his aim and fired a second round. This man fell, too, muscles spasming as his shoulder absorbed the bullet.

Still in motion, Sean sheathed his gun and grabbed the tranq that had been dropped. Gabby was rushing to the car to see what had happened and he met
her halfway. A scream tore from her mouth as he jerked her into his body, and he hated himself for scaring her. Knew it was dangerous, but it couldn’t be helped.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “So sorry.” And then he pressed the tranq into her neck and squeezed the trigger. Strong as the drugs inside were, the blood-brain barrier was immediately broken and she collapsed, sleeping deeply, and he hoped peacefully.

He swept her into his arms and held her close. Even though he knew she was safe now, his heart had yet to slow down. “Rowan,” he called. “You can come out now.” Mentally, Sean commanded the shadows enveloping the car to part.

Rowan jumped out, scanning, trying to take everything in at once. He sprinted over to the fallen men, both of whom were moaning and crying. “Sean? Where are you?”

Sean shooed the shadows away from him and Gabby with only a thought. “Here.”

“What the hell happened?” the agent demanded, staring wide-eyed at the carnage.

“I only wounded them, so you might want to disarm them before you allow yourself to be distracted.”

With a grunt, Rowan frisked them and tossed their weapons out of reach.

“They wanted Gabby,” Sean explained.

“Hired hands?”

“Probably.” Which meant, whoever wanted her was still out there.

“Shit,” Rowan said.

Yeah. That about covered it.
“Get them in the car and take them in for medical care. Just make sure
they’re under lock and guard at all times. I want to know what they know.”

“Consider it done.” Rowan scooped up one man, carried him to the Tahoe, deposited him, and then did the same to the other. Both continued moaning and crying, but only one tried to fight. Him, Rowan used the tranq on.

In the distance, Sean could hear sirens. Someone inside the building must have heard the screams or watched from their window and called the police. He settled back into the SUV, Gabby in his lap.

“Get us out of here,” he told Rowan when the agent claimed the wheel, “and let Bill clean up the rest of the mess.”

The Tahoe shot forward, tires squealing.

“And to hell with waiting,” Sean added. He glared out the window. “The abduction happens now. When she wakes up, I want to be with her.” Earning her trust and keeping her safe from attacks like this.

Present day

Warm—but hardly safe—in a sedan Sean had stolen in front of a grocery store after ditching the one he’d “found” in the forest, Gabby clutched her arms around her middle and peered into the night. Where they were headed she didn’t know. She didn’t recognize the expanse of fenced pine or the tar-topped roads.

She had willingly stuck with him up to this point, numb from everything that had happened. Being kidnapped, watching a man die, hearing Sean’s confession:
I’m the one who abducted you.
Now, her adrenaline was crashing, her mind was clearing, and a sense of dread was settling in the pit of her stomach.

“Explain what you meant back there when you said you were the one who abducted me,” she demanded, finally facing him. “Why would you abduct
yourself,
too?”

His profile was carved from steel, his neck rigid, his jaw clenched, his lips pulled down. “I’ll tell you only if you promise to remain calm.”

“I’m not promising you a damn thing.” Not until she had answers. And even then, that didn’t guarantee she’d keep her promise.

“Then I’m not
telling
you a damn thing.”

She gnashed her teeth together.

“You may not know this, but fear is detrimental to your health. More so than with normal people.”

Normal people,
he’d said, which meant he knew
she
wasn’t normal. He also knew about her headaches, then. If she allowed herself to wallow in fear, or any negative emotion really, she would develop a migraine. And only when she calmed herself down did that migraine go away.

Thankfully, she hadn’t reached that point. Yet.

“I’m getting more scared by the minute, so you had better tell me what the hell is going on. How do you know about me?”

There was only a moment of silence before he said, “I work for an agency called Rose Briar, and if you dare try to open that door and fling yourself out, I will follow you and you won’t like what happens when I find you.”

Didn’t take long to read between the lines. “You’re government,” she gasped out, paling. She’d lusted after the man, for God’s sake, and he’d been out for blood.

“No. We aren’t
officially
with the government. We’re . . . independent, though national security is the reason we were formed.”

“Unofficial.” A very dangerous word. “You think that makes you better? Well, news flash. It doesn’t. It makes you worse. ‘Unofficial’ means there’s no red tape to get in your way. You have no rules, no regulations. And you and I both know there’s no such
thing as independent. Someone on the inside has to have their fingers in your pie.”

He flicked her a dark glance. “We do government work when asked, yes, getting into places their people can’t, getting information, apprehending terrorists, but our duties do not include experimenting on people with unusual abilities. And you and I both know that’s what you’re thinking. We actually protect people from that.”

Please.
She liked to think she was too smart to believe him. At least today. No use arguing about it, though. There were other things to discuss. “What do you want with me, Sean? If that’s your real name.”

“It is.” A sigh pushed from him, seeming to drain his tension. “Look, when you were a little girl, your parents died in the car accident and you went to live with your aunt and uncle. Six months later, you bolted.”

Tiny ice crystals formed in her bloodstream, cutting at her veins. “Yes. So?”

“So you were living on the streets.”

“Again, yes.” She heard the unspoken question in his voice. What had happened at her aunt and uncle’s house to make the hunger and unmerciful elements of the streets easier to bear?

“Tell me,” he beseeched. “The truth, please.”

After everything he’d done, he expected her cooperation? “Why should I?”

“Because I just got you out of that house. Without getting shot.”

“Yeah, well, I could have done it on my own.”

He rolled his eyes. “Because you’re bored, then.” He reached out and placed his hand over hers, his
skin as warm and callused as she remembered. “Please, Gabby.”

Maybe she still wasn’t thinking straight. Or maybe the tenderness in his voice mixed with the gentleness of his touch was too much to resist. Either way, the story spilled from her before she could stop it, the details of her terrible past dragged out of the shadows and into the light.

“They couldn’t have children. They were so happy to have me, made me feel so welcome. But every day he seemed to watch me more. Then, when it was just the two of us, he started touching me. Innocent touches at first, as if he was trying to console me.”

Sean’s hands tightened on the wheel, his knuckles bleaching white. “Shit. I hate him already.”

Sean’s anger on her behalf spurred her on. “I told my aunt he was creeping me out, and she told me I just misunderstood his intentions. She also told me to watch my mouth, that accusations like that ruined people’s lives. She loved me, I knew that, so I believed her and felt guilty for almost getting my uncle in trouble for something he hadn’t really done. After that, he was distant with me and I felt even worse about it. About how wrong I’d been. Then, I came home from school one day and he was the only one home. He’d been drinking. He barged into my room and told me I owed him. That he was the reason I had a place to stay, food, and clothes, and how could I have almost destroyed his life like that? He unfastened his pants, told me to get on my knees and kiss him all better and that he’d kill me if I told anyone.”

“What happened?” Sean croaked out.

She shrugged. She’d expected this unveiling to
hurt. Strangely, it didn’t. The memory was distant now, like watching an old movie unfold. “I got on my knees and bit him until I tasted blood. He had to backhand me to dislodge my teeth. While he was stuffing himself back into his pants, I bolted, as you said. Only had the clothes on my back, but I didn’t care.”

“If he’s still alive, he’ll be in custody by morning.”

Sweetest. Words. Ever.
“I meant to go back, to tell the police what had happened so they could stop him, but then . . .”

“You were taken.”

“Yes.” And those first few days, locked away by a stranger, blood taken every few hours, she’d wished to God she’d just stayed with her aunt and uncle. That thought had angered her, though, and that anger had given her the strength she’d needed to survive. “You know what happened to me there, I’m sure.”

He nodded stiffly. “You were experimented on, your brain turned into a computer.”

“Basically.”

“A long time ago, Bill found the guy who did it, and he’s been looking for you ever since.”

“But how did he finally find—my arrest,” she said, understanding dawning.

“Yeah.”

Stupid temper. It always got the best of her. “And the doctor?”

“He escaped. No one knows where he is. I’m sorry.”

So many times she’d dreamed of killing the guy. Slowly, painfully. The moment she saw him, that dream would become a reality. She knew herself well enough to know she would attack. So maybe it
was best no one knew where he was. It certainly saved her from committing murder.

“You’re here to what, Sean? Take me in, lock me up? Earn my trust and convince me to do something for you?” She pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth. That’s why he’d kidnapped her, she realized. To save her and earn her trust. God, she was a fool.

“No. No!” he added with more force. “We just want you to work for us. Willingly.”

Willingly. Ha.
She knew how these agencies worked and that’s why she had ruined her life in an effort to avoid them.

“Rose Briar agents are very much like you, Gabby. They’re different. We can do things other people can’t.”

“Oh, really. What could Bill do?”

“Photographic memory.”

“That’s not an ability.”

“Actually, it is. But anyway, Rose Briar is the only place I’ve found where those like us are accepted rather than condemned.”

Yeah. Right.
He was just trying to relate to her, to get her to do what he wanted. He was trying to lure her into a false sense of security. Trying to get her to crave that kind of acceptance. Well, she already craved it; she just didn’t believe it was out there. Some people might pretend to admire her ability, but the moment she invaded
their
space, learned
their
secrets, they would turn on her with claws and fangs bared.

“And what’s your power?” she asked dryly. “Putting innocent girls in dangerous situations?”

Tensing, he rubbed at one of his tattoos. “I . . . I control the shadows.”

“Oh, please,” she said, but then she thought back to their kiss, there in the club. Shadows had enveloped them, blocking them from view. Then, back at that house, shadows had again enveloped them and kept them safe from prying eyes. While she was locked up in that bedroom, shadows had thickened the air, preventing her from seeing anything.

Her stomach twisted.
Dear. God.
Sean was telling the truth.

Though she hadn’t asked for more proof, he said, “Come to me,” in a seductive whisper. The shadows rose from the ground outside the car and floated swiftly to the windows, keeping pace.

Suddenly she couldn’t see out. A gasp escaped her. “Sean!” They were going to crash!

“Go,” he said.

She thought she heard a moan of disappointment as the shadows whisked away, clearing the window and allowing her to once again see the road. “You can . . . you just . . .” Her jaw dropped.

“Yeah. I did. And now that we’ve established that, let’s get back to you. There were nine other kids taken and experimented on.”

“You’re changing the subject?
Seriously
?” He was the first person she’d ever met who was as different as she was. She wanted to know everything about him. Had he been teased as a child? Chased and tormented? When had he first learned of his ability, and how had he mastered it? What did he do when there were no shadows present? Could the rest of his family manipulate the darkness?