The Lost (34 page)

Adam risked a glance at Bobbie, who stood at the end of the bed, battle-ready, as if she, too, believed that they were still not safe. And maybe they weren’t. Maybe he was deluding himself in thinking that tonight had been an aberration. Which meant that while they might have won tonight’s battle, he could still lose Bobbie, who had little taste for being in another war.

With a paternal pat on Salvatore’s hand, he said, “We’ll be back later.”

“I’ll be fine,” Salvatore said, nodding, and closed his eyes, drifting off.

Adam rose from the bedside and approached Bobbie. He wrapped her in his arms and laid his forehead on hers. “Are you okay?”

She shrugged and returned his embrace. “Feeling a little wired, but okay. I think Salvatore took the brunt of the blast.”

He lifted his hands to her shoulders, tenderly moving them to run this thumbs along the set line of her jaw. “I died a little when I saw you were hit.”

“Believe me when I say your lightning act scared the bejesus out of me. I thought you might be nothing but toast when it was all over,” she said, and swept a kiss across his lips.

“I wish I knew the how and why of it, but I don’t. I’m hoping my parents will have some answers for us,” he said, and deepened the kiss, wanting to taste her and savor the warmth of her breath, needing to celebrate the life that still pulsed through their bodies.

“Me, too,” she said, and grabbed his hand, pressing him to leave.

Salvatore listened to their footsteps on the wooden steps. Heard the creak of the front door opening and then the snick of the lock as Adam secured it. He had little time. His heart beat a frantic rhythm in his chest, and the icy grip of death in his body refused to go away. He had to act now or forever risk his son’s life.

Luckily he always kept the file within reach.

Gingerly he got to his feet, using the bedpost to steady himself as he walked around the edge of the bed.

His desk was just a short distance away. Shuffling from the bed like a centenarian rather than the robust fifty-year-old he had been before the orb of energy smacked into him, he somehow made it to his desk.

Plopping into the chair, sweat oozing from every cell in his body, he unlocked the side drawers and pulled out the paperwork for the Genesis project and his Texas Ranger file on the murders. From beneath the desk he removed a heavy-duty shredder and, hands shaking, fed each and every sheet from the files through its angry teeth. When he was done with the papers, he carefully destroyed the file jackets.

But even with that he didn’t feel it was safe.

Tossing aside the shredding unit, he lifted the receptacle with the heavy paper shreds and tottered back toward his bed and the fireplace opposite it.

The remnants of an earlier fire were still there, scattered ashes and bits of charcoal from the wood. The smell of it drifted to him as he opened the glass fireplace doors and covered the grate with the paper strips until the waste receptacle was empty. Then he opened the flue, lit a match, and flicked it onto the papers.

Flames flared immediately, bright and hot. As he stood there, watching twenty years of his life disappear, the warmth from the fire filled him. Or maybe it was the realization that he was finally doing the right thing giving him that warm fuzzy feeling inside.

As the last bit of paper crinkled into a red-white ember, Salvatore smiled. Although Sombrosa had been able to get the dummy NSA file that had been entered into their electronic systems, the real file and all the related investigations had solely been on paper since Salvatore
had little confidence in safeguarding anything electronic. Satisfied that it would take Sombrosa a lot more effort to find Adam, Salvatore trudged back to the bed.

It was done.

In the morning he would confide to Adam about Alexander Sombrosa. Perhaps with that knowledge, Adam would be able to safeguard himself, he thought. He closed his eyes and finally rested.

Adam sat across the table from his parents. It was almost too much for him to believe that after so long they were really there. It was even harder to imagine the kind of life he might have had with them as he listened to their detailed explanation about the Hunters, their clans, and the two men who had attacked them that night.

“You say they were Shadows? People like us?” he asked, just to make sure he was understanding the history of his people.

“No, not like us. At least, not anymore,” his father replied, and then continued.

“When the human smallpox brought by the conquistadores touched us, it forever changed our people.” Motioning to his two cadre members who stood by the door, he continued. “Hunters like Eduardo and Andres cannot absorb power on their own any longer. They rely mostly on the Quinchus to sustain them.”

“You and Mom,” he said, and glanced across the way at his mother. She was beautiful, although sadness had taken its toll. Besides the streaks of gray in her hair, lines of sorrow were etched along the edges of her beautiful almond-shaped gray eyes.

“And you,” she chimed in. “At all costs the power of
the Quinchus had to be preserved for the good of our people. It is why you were promised to the daughter of the Ocean clan Quinchus.”

Adam risked a glance at Bobbie. There had been tension within her during the entire ride to the large oceanfront mansion his family had leased for their entourage. The tension ratcheted upward at his mother’s words, and to allay her discomfort, he reached over and placed his hands over hers where they were laced together on the tabletop.

Selina watched the loving movement. A warrior like Bobbie would have been a good addition to the clan, but not for her son, because of her limitations. The Hunters needed their Quinchus to procreate for the good of the group.

“As you near the end of your first triad, the power in you will grow stronger. It will require a mate who can balance you by joining her power with yours. It’s called the Equinox,” Selina explained.

“I will not marry someone I do not love,” he said, only half-glancing at his mother, his attention fixed on the woman beside him. Bobbie gazed up at him then, her eyes traveling over Kikin’s features as if to memorize them.

“I love you, Adam. I know how important family is. I can’t deny you yours—your family, your people, your fate,” Bobbie said, and rose from the table. She walked to the far side of the room and stared out the large windows facing the beach. In the distance behind her, the hint of rosy light warned that the sun would soon rise to start another day.

Selina realized then that they had been up for hours since the attack, filling in Kikin on the missing pieces of his life and the history of the Hunters. Kikin rose, intent on following his woman, but Selina held up her hand to
stop him. She wanted to speak to Bobbie herself, to try to make the woman see reason, so that the decision would be simpler for Kikin.

She strode from the table to where Bobbie stood. Even at a distance the strength of her aura was apparent, only now it was blue-violet with the churning of her emotions. But within that hue was something else. Something Selina had not expected or noticed before when she had stabilized her after the energy blast from the Shadows.

Just to confirm it, Selina laid her hand on Bobbie’s shoulder, releasing seeking energy that explored Bobbie’s body, returning to Selina with confirmation just before Bobbie shrugged off her touch.

Selina stood close and wrapped an arm around Bobbie’s waist. This time she sensed the strong push of power similar to Kikin’s, along with a tiny pulse of nascent power.

His Equinox had already come and Bobbie had been the receptacle that had balanced his power. That exchange had also worked what some might consider a miracle. In time, Bobbie and Kikin would realize it as well, she thought with a smile. But she would leave that for them to discover on their own.

Leaning toward Bobbie, she said, “Do you love him, child?”

“With all my heart and soul,” Bobbie replied in a whisper choked with emotion.

“That is all that matters,” she said, and turned to the two men, who had risen from the table to watch the exchange.

As they stood side by side, the resemblance was undeniable. Father and son, although Kikin had a bit of her in the mouth and chin, she thought, and wondered whether his child would as well. Urging Bobbie to turn, Selina
said, “We will deal with our promise to the Ocean clan. I suspect the Quinchu daughter will be relieved that we are not forcing the issue of the arranged marriage.”

Surprise flared across her husband’s features and rippled to Kikin before they both contained it. She pressed forward.

“There is a spare bedroom we’ve been keeping in anticipation of your return. You and Bobbie should go get some rest,” she said, and motioned to Andres.

“Please show them to their room.”

With a salute, Andres immediately went into action, leaving Bobbie and Adam with little choice.

Adam tenderly grasped Bobbie’s hand as they walked down the long hall to a room at the far end. When they reached the door, Andres opened it and first checked the interior before assuming a position at the door.

“If there is anything you require, Quinchu,” he said with a deferential nod.

“No, thank you,” Adam replied, and quickly closed the door, wanting some privacy.

Everything in the room was luxurious, from the antiques to the expensive linens on the large four-poster bed in the center of the room. At one end of the chamber was a liquor cabinet with an assortment of top-shelf beverages, while on the other side French doors led to a balcony. Oceanfront, he assumed, but couldn’t quite care as he noted the tired droop of Bobbie’s shoulders.

He stood before her, reached up, and brushed back a wayward lock of her soft brown hair. “Are you okay?”

“Tired,” she admitted, and glanced lovingly at the bed.

He cupped her shoulders and gently caressed them. “Get undressed. I’ll be there in a second.”

He was tired as well, but thirsty. He walked to the liquor cabinet and poured some wine, his hands shaking as he did so. Bracing his hands on the edge of the mahogany bar, he inhaled deeply to quell the aftereffects of all that had happened.

He’d almost lost her. Almost lost Salvatore.

For sure he’d lost one thing—the life he had known before. With the arrival of his parents and their clan, he suspected nothing would ever be the same. And he once again feared what that would mean for him and Bobbie.

Grabbing the two wineglasses, he returned to the bed and handed one to her. She was bare, the sheets pulled up to just above the swell of her breasts. There was a bruise on one shoulder and it came to him that that was where the Shadow’s power shot had struck her after deflecting off Salvatore.

He skipped his fingers across the purpling mark. “Does it hurt?”

She shook her head. “No. I just feel weird.”

He placed his glass on a nightstand, eased off his polo shirt, and tossed it aside. Then he did the same with his pants and boxers, toeing off his shoes along the way in his eagerness to be beside her, because he couldn’t get enough of her. He rested against the massive headboard and pulled her into his lap. She tucked her head beneath his and lazily traced the whorls of hair on his chest with her index finger before raising that hand to take a sip of the wine from the glass she held.

He reached out and picked up his own glass, took a bigger mouthful of the wine before asking, “Why do you think Selina… my mother changed her mind so quickly about the commitment to the Ocean clan?”

Bobbie shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Adam rested his head back on the headboard, considering that answer. “Did she say anything to you?”

“She asked if I loved you.”

His heart caught on a beat, expectant, waiting for her to continue, and when she didn’t, he pressed forward. “So what did you say?”

Bobbie smiled and leaned over, placing her glass on the nightstand. She straddled his legs and faced him. Raising her hands, she laid them on his shoulders and caressed them before moving upward to hold his face between them. She covered his mouth with a kiss, determined to leave no doubt about her feelings for him. When they broke apart, they were both breathing heavily and passion rose quickly.

“Things may be very different now, Bobbie. If tonight was any hint of what’s to come—”

“More reason for us to be together. I will always watch your back,” she reminded him, and gently urged him to lie down, after which she proceeded to blanket his body with hers. Chuckling, she teased, “And whatever other part you want to share.”

Adam grinned, more enamored of her than ever. Seasoned warrior. Sexy woman. Unquestioned soulmate. Rolling her beneath him, he quickly sheathed himself in her, drawing a long, satisfied breath from her.

“How about we start with that?” he teased. He bent his head and kissed the side of her neck before playfully biting it.

“That’s a good start,” she said, and gave herself over to his loving.

C
hristopher and Ryan stood just beyond the police line, watching the law enforcement personnel traipsing along the sand, back and forth from the red-brick lighthouse to a spot at the far shoreline. Murmurs came from the crowd around them but he and Ryan remained silent, vigilant for any signs that might clue them to what had happened here.