Touched by Lightning (8 page)

“Brit, make out a list of everything you’ll need to house a full T.U. while you’re out there, get it to Ethel and make sure she orders everything to make the next eight weeks possible. Now I have to go wake up some men and let them know we have work to do.”

The words were an obvious dismissal and the slight pop in the air a final farewell to avoid any arguments as Joe and Mr. Dimples disappeared. No doubt she was teleporting to her private office at her house. Brit glanced at Murphy, who stood with Troy at his side. The big man nodded and left the room. Brit was actually glad to have his friend on his side. Murphy would do his best to protect Gyda as well as give her some much needed training. He also didn’t doubt for a second that Joe would go to bat for the fragile woman in his arms. She might have come off as bitchy and cool, but Joe had the biggest heart of any person in the O.T..

Well, with the possible exception of the woman sitting on the sofa watching him with Gyda as though she were afraid he’d devour her. “I’m not going to let anything happen to her,” he finally growled when the silence in the room grew heavier and Estelle looked as though she’d wring her hands to the bone. “She’s…” How did he explain what Gyda felt like to him? Would Estelle and Leo think he was out of his mind if he admitted he was possibly in love with her? Despite never having had a conversation with her? That his power was drawn to her the same way lightning was drawn to lightning rods? “She’s safe with me,” he finally said. “I would never hurt her.”

Leo stood, drawing his wife to her feet, keeping his arm around her waist. “We’ll stay until the decision is made. That’ll give Estelle time to visit with Gyda, pick her up a few things she might need.” He began to walk out of the office, pulling Estelle with him. They paused at the door and the Sensor looked back. “By the way, we’re not worried about you hurting her so much as her hurting you.”

With that cryptic statement, the Alpha Void and Sensor left Joe’s office, leaving Brit with Gyda. He looked down at her to see her looking up at him, her eyes beginning to glow with awareness and sworn vengeance.

Cuffed and shackled and sandwiched between two huge motherfuckers, Gyda glared at the van full of people who were taking her someplace quiet and serene for her own good. She didn’t bother memorizing their faces because there was only one person in this frigging vehicle who’d feel the full wrath of her pissed-offness and he was driving like the hillbilly he was. And dammit, it looked good on him.

The baseball cap was tugged low over his eyes, shadowing them. He sat slumped to the side a little, left arm out with his wrist hanging over the steering wheel. He was perfectly relaxed, perfectly sexy and he knew it. His gaze caught hers in the rearview mirror yet again, the corners of his eyes crinkling as though they shared a secret or something. She looked out the window again as Tora snapped and snarled, even more pissed than Gyda and it had to do with something Leo had done to them back at the O.T. Headquarters. And Sixteen was oddly quiet.

She lost some of her anger at the thought of her rescuers. Time had treated Estelle and Leo very well. They looked as happy and perfect and beautiful as they had the night they saved her from hell. Estelle, fuck. Estelle was still as wonderful as ever, as loving and compassionate as she’d been that night. And it was compassion the Void felt toward Gyda, not pity. Why that made such a huge difference she couldn’t say, but it did. Leo, though, was still as powerful and dark and protective as ever.

And she had no idea what he’d done to Tora. Sure, Gyda felt her lurking in the back of her mind, pissed off and raging because she couldn’t come out and handle up on these mothers, but there was no fight to keep Tora down. Her protector was effectively under wraps and Gyda didn’t know whether she should be freaking out or not. With Tora as a voice in her mind, not a presence, it was almost… Well, almost like being normal again. The way she’d been way back when.

You ungrateful bitch!
Tora screamed in her mind.
After everything I’ve done to keep us safe, you’re
glad
they locked me away? This is my fucking life at stake as much as it is yours.

Just relax, Tora
, Sixteen inserted in a calm voice.
Remember, Gyda, you need us as much as we need you. We’ll let you lead when we think you can, but if you put us in danger…

This shit was beginning to freak her out. Her gaze darted around the van at the bulk of the group that was moving into the woods with her and found no comfort there. Besides Brit and the behemoths, the others were fresh-faced recruits who looked as though they cried watching
Bambi
. Like Estelle, they looked as though they were untouched by anything bad and they were supposed to be, what? Protecting her? Protecting the world against her?
Yeah right.

Even without Tora, Gyda could chew them up and spit them out and not break a sweat. Well, the young ones. Brit and the big guys would probably be a little harder to handle. Sixteen would have to put her bullshit plan aside and take care of business if needed.

“Is it true you can’t talk?”

The words, unexpected in the silence of the van, nearly caused Gyda to jump. Only being hemmed in by the big boys kept her from going anywhere. She craned her neck to look at the bench behind them, her gaze landing on the young recruit in the middle. He was the logical choice since the other two wouldn’t meet her eyes, pointedly looking away from her even as they tried to get away from the kid sitting between them.

She arched an eyebrow at him, noting he looked about a century younger than her with hazel eyes and a corn-fed cuteness that could only come from the Midwest. He beamed when he had her attention, not seeming to notice how the air in the van carried an electrical charge. Without turning back around she knew everyone was looking at them, wondering what she would do. Which wasn’t much considered they’d wrapped her up as tight as Hannibal Lector.

The kid leaned forward, getting
closer
to her. “Is it true you took down Brit, Troy and almost had Murphy too? And that you took a vow of silence in order to concentrate on your martial skills? Did you study with monks and Green Berets?”

Gyda blinked at him, doing her best to keep her jaw from dropping. She’d never heard someone ask so many questions, all of them obviously drawn from gossip, at once. She stared at him in complete dismay until movement next to him drew her attention.

“Seriously, if she took a vow of silence, she isn’t going to be able to answer one of those questions,” the kid to Curious’ left muttered. This guy looked a little older, a little wiser and sent a chin lift Gyda’s way. “’Sup. Don’t mind Gomer here, he’s fresh off the farm and believes everything said in the barracks. I’m Pyro, that’s Slick,” he said, pointing to the kid on the other side of Curious.

“Your name is not Pyro.” The voice was deep, like a bottomless well and Gyda swiveled to look at the behemoth to her right. “That’s Paul and the other one is Steve. I’m Murphy, that’s Ted,” he introduced the other behemoth with a tilt of his head.

He rattled off more names, of those in the vehicle with them and those in the other until her head whirled with them. She’d never been a social creature even before her captivity and wasn’t sure what to do other than study the faces turned toward her, looking for threats.

Murphy rounded up his introductions with a, “Everyone, this is Gyda. She don’t talk much.”

“So you
did
take a vow of silence!” Gomer—that couldn’t be his real name—shouted in triumph. “I knew it. That’s cool as shit.”

“I wish
you’d
take a vow of silence,” one of the girls muttered under her breath before she turned a blinding smile on Gyda. “Where did you get your jeans? They’re kick-ass.”

“God have mercy,” Murphy mumbled next to her. He glanced at Gyda. “They’re young. Think this shit is fun and all that. They’ll learn better.”

Gyda’s gaze bounced between the girls—who felt it was a good time to wax poetic about her clothes—to the giants on either side of her, feeling as though she’d stepped into a freak show or something. The boys in the backseat were arguing about who trained her and Brit was watching her in the rearview mirror again. Anxiety that had nothing to do with fear and everything to do with not knowing how to handle the sheer
niceness
of these people made her hands sweat.

Sure, they’re nice now, but wait, they’ll want something too. They always do. You know that. But we don’t give anyone anything, right?
Sixteen’s reminder was a lifesaver, or at least a panic attack saver. She was able to push the confusion away and concentrate on the facts.

These people had captured her. They hadn’t let her go. Yes, Leo and Estelle had both assured her nothing was going to happen to her, but Leo had wrapped Tora up tight to prevent her from coming out. Someone in this vehicle was a Void and they were tamping down her empathic abilities, because she couldn’t feel anything from anyone. That meant they didn’t want her to know what was going on. Her heart pounded, adrenalin scalding her veins like acid.

They’d locked her down with shackles. That wasn’t the act of people who were planning to ask you to join their little club. They’d planted her between two massive men who could crush her without thinking twice.

Tora flashed pictures to her. Pictures that urged her to get mad.

That wasn’t difficult to do. She’d been minding her own fucking business, handling her life the way she wanted before they showed up and started sticking their noses in her shit. She peeked up at Brit as he guided the van off the highway to a narrow trail. He still appeared relaxed, laughing at something the dude in the passenger seat said. Everyone was talking as though they’d been waiting for that moment the entire trip. As though it were normal to be taking a woman to her, what? Death? Incarceration?

Her nostrils flared at the last thought, panic and fury escalating until some of the restraints on Tora relaxed. She’d never felt this much anger, not even when she’d been trapped in that cage all those years ago. Anger was an emotion that Sixteen handled and handled well. But just the thought of being locked up again…at the mercy of her captors, sent that rage humming through her body. She wasn’t going to jail. They’d have to kill her first. She was not. Going. Back.

“What’s wrong?” Murphy asked in a harsh whisper, his breath stirring the hair next to her ear.

Gyda hunched her shoulder, shying away from him, trying to shove the memories aside, but Tora dragged her demons out of the dark. She wanted out. Now. And she didn’t care how it happened. Gyda felt this, knew what Tora wanted and understood that she needed to be smart about how she got away. But knowing and doing were two different things. Because those demons Tora brought out were eager to get a piece of her.

She had a second to do her best to lock it down, to fight before they surged into the light, their fetid breath scorching the air around her, their slimy, painful hands grabbing at her skin. And then she splintered.

* * * * *

Everything had gone well. It surprised Brit how easily they’d managed to get Gyda into the car without her losing her mind. Leo swore the lock he put on her feral mind would not only hold against anything, but also prevent their maverick from doing anything crazy. He wasn’t too keen on her being locked up like a criminal, but it was the only way Leo would allow him to leave with her. Joe had backed the Sensor, stating she couldn’t put raw recruits in a vehicle with a known killer without some precautions in place.

So Gyda had been locked up and down with Murphy and Ted as a failsafe in case she got out of her chains. Which was ridiculous. Each glance in the rearview mirror made his gut clench. She looked like a kitten surrounded by Rottweilers. Her green eyes were huge and shadowed, scared. Her skin paler than usual. He tried to assure her everything would be fine by catching her gaze, but her expression never changed.

At least not until Paul and Steve started their shit. He glanced down at his watch. They’d made it this far without anything happening which had to be a minor miracle. As soon as he led the caravan of vans and SUVs up the path, their four-hour trip to his cabin would be over and he could finally talk to her about what was going to happen. He’d wanted to do it before they left, but the instant Gyda “woke up”, she’d gone stone-faced and ignored him.

It’d taken a lot for him to let it go, but he had, knowing when a woman got that stubborn look on her face there was no way in hell she’d hear what he had to say. He hadn’t wanted to lead the charge up his mountain. He’d wanted to sit next to her, to maybe hold her hand like some idiotic teenaged boy with a crush.

Brit rolled his eyes at himself as he entered the curve leading to his cabin. This wasn’t some military-type dating game. Gyda was a danger to herself and others. There was no doubt about that. And if Leo was to be believed, she was a danger to Brit. He glanced in the mirror again to see her looking down at her hands, her lashes thick fans on her cheeks. Despite the ass whipping she’d handed to him and the evidence he’d seen firsthand of her skills with a knife, he couldn’t see her as anything but a vulnerable woman who needed his protection. It was what his heart told him she needed.

Then he saw Murphy lean over to whisper something in her ear and the atmosphere in the van grew heavy. The hair stood on the back of his neck. He glanced at the others in the vehicle. They seemed oblivious to the tension thickening the air, the girls chattering like magpies, the guys arguing about nicknames. Only Murphy and Ted appeared uneasy, their bulk locked tight. He had a split second to watch Murphy’s skin morph into titanium before the big man suddenly slammed through the side window of the van.

Metal groaned and glass shattered, throwing the balance of the van off. The girls screamed in surprise. Ted barked something before he too disappeared from the backseat. Brit hit the brakes, doing his best not to kill anyone and the van responded with squealing tires, but by the time he brought it to a halt, Gyda had disappeared through the window on Murphy’s side.

“Fuck,” he breathed as he threw the van into park and opened his door. “Is everyone okay?”

His shouted words seemed to penetrate the panic surrounding the recruits. They quieted down a bit, checking themselves over. He climbed out of the driver’s seat, his mind already on finding Gyda. Murphy and Ted were slow to pick themselves off the ground, but the group of recruits who’d been in the van following them trotted over to help the big men up.

“You guys okay?” he shouted back to them, receiving nods in return.

“We’re fine too.”

Brit glanced back at the van to see it was Laura who’d answered him. “Good. Stick close to Ted.”

Without waiting for another response, without waiting for backup, or to discuss strategy, Brit darted into the woods in the direction he’d seen Gyda disappear. He didn’t know what set her off and he wasn’t even sure he cared. She’d scared a group of kids, could have hurt them. His temper, usually hard to rile, rose to the surface in a rush of energy so intense it manifested in a force field of solid electricity. And because his powers were so attuned to Gyda, he didn’t have to expend much thought to tracking her ass down.

She wasn’t moving fast, hampered by her shackles, but she’d managed to put a good bit of distance between her and the path. Brit, having made a point of learning the woods surrounding his home, moved with silent stealth, purposely pulling his electricity back into himself to keep her in the dark about his approach. He heard her long before he saw her, the jangle of the chains combining with the thrashing of her moving through the brush. Obviously his Gyda was not an outdoorswoman. That was fine with him.