Unknown Touch (32 page)

I was very proud of Stephen, he was using his surrounding resources to aid him, which included me.
Yes, if you focus very strongly on linking to my mind and think my name loudly, I should hear you. You need to keep your mind open to me, too, as you're doing now. I may check in on you myself. I promise I won't be nosy or intrude in your privacy. I am proud of you, Stephen. Keep thinking good thoughts. Okay?

Okay,
Stephen smiled, gave me a thumbs up sign, and lastly said,
Thank you.

Everyone was completely aware of the psychic conversation Stephen and I had from the looks on our faces. A sigh of relief rippled through the room when Stephen's expression revealed that he still retained his emotional control and would be fine throughout the night. Daniel motioned for everyone to get ready to leave. I thought it only polite and respectful to walk over to Abigail before I left and briefly chat with her.

"Abigail, stay close to him. I'm sure you were planning to do that anyway. Like I said before, you can connect to my mind, too, if something is an emergency. Then again, we do have phones. I almost forget about those things!" I reached out to give her a hug and with sincere gratitude and thankfulness, she hugged me back.

She said, "Kara, we owe you big time. You are a miracle worker. Thank you so much. Now, maybe you can have a nice, relaxing evening with Uncle Daniel. I need to call my parents and tell them what's going on. Mom will be so relieved about Stephen. Tell Daniel he doesn't have to call them since I will, okay?"

"No problem. I'm sure we'll be seeing you again tomorrow, unless the weather is bad," I said.

Daniel was waiting at the door for me. Everyone said their "goodbyes" and we walked out to the truck. It was snowing and like Isaac sensed earlier, the temperature had dropped. I felt like I could sleep for a week, but I knew my job wasn't completely done. As Eli had mentioned, over the next week, we'd be conducting meetings with all the werewolves to discuss anger management techniques and basically to determine if we had any other wild cards on our hands. I was tired but my spirits were soaring. I leaned against Daniel in the truck, snuggling up to his warmth, as we drove back to his resort. Isaac had his own truck with a few passengers that needed to be dropped off at Daniel's before heading to his resort for the evening.

It was odd arriving at the resort without having Abigail standing at the door, as she usually did, arms crossed, waiting for the latest report. And her meals that were always ready for us to devour. So delicious. Dominic realized that he had full reign of the kitchen, and was almost beside himself with excitement. Daniel told Dom to make himself at home, the kitchen was his since Abigail was now with Stephen. I was very happy to see Daniel treating Dom so kindly. We had an idea that Abigail might not be returning to work for Daniel, but nothing was set in stone yet. She would most likely stay with Stephen at Simon's place, but this was one of the things that needed to be worked out over the next week.

Daniel and I walked to his personal room, exhausted. What a day. Most of us were still full from the mountains of food Lydia and Rachel had prepared, so we didn't plan to eat again. I had a feeling Dom was whipping up a snack for himself and Zac, though. It was now mid-evening. Daniel and I stood looking out his window as the snow silently, softly fell to the ground. He stood behind me and had his strong, muscular arms wrapped around the front of my body.

"How are your 'ouchies' doing from the fight today?" I teased him. "Can I see?"

He peeled off his shirt and miraculously whatever wounds he had received earlier in the day from Stephen's claws and teeth were almost nonexistent. I would be forever amazed at how fast the werewolves healed. And I would be forever captivated by Daniel's gorgeous, sexy chest. I ran my fingers across what appeared to be the remnants of his wounds. His chest and stomach muscles rippled from my touch.

"Let me take a shower to rid myself of the grunge from today's fighting match," he bent to kiss my lips, as my hands refused to move off his chest.

I let him go, finally, and flopped on his bed to wait for his return. I flipped on the TV and within two minutes, drifted off to sleep from pure exhaustion. But, I dreamed quite vividly about Daniel and what I would like to do to that bare chest of his...among other things.

Chapter 25

Sessions

I woke up peacefully, letting my mind replay the last thing I remembered. I was still in Daniel's room, on his bed, blankets tucked up under my chin. I had fallen asleep waiting for Daniel to return from taking a shower. He couldn't have been in the bathroom for very long. I must have been totally worn out from the day's events. I glanced around the room trying to find an illuminated clock to see what time it was. 1:00 A.M. We had entered his room at about 8:00. I couldn't believe I had been sleeping for just under five hours. I wondered what the rest of the team thought about me spending the night with Daniel. Oh well.

And there he was, in all his glory, laying flat on his back, right next to me. He only had one, thin blanket covering his body. He must have come out of the bathroom, saw that I was out like a light sleeping, and dug out extra blankets to cover me up so I could get some much needed rest. I suppose he carefully slid onto the bed, attempting to not wake me, and fell asleep himself.

I hadn't made any real movements since waking up. Only my eyes and head had slightly surveyed my surroundings. I ever so gently propped myself up on my elbow, and stared at Daniel as he slept. He was so masculine, so sexy, it made my insides flip flop and my heart race. He didn't have any type of shirt on and had the blanket pulled up onto his stomach, which exposed his entire upper body. One arm was tucked behind his head, the other rested just below his rib cage. His long, dark hair flowed back onto the pillow, with a few wisps that had slipped down around his neck.

I could not stop myself. I placed my hand tenderly on his chest, and hoped I wouldn't startle him. My touch immediately brought a grin to his face as his eyes opened and he turned his head to look at me. He pulled me over to him with his arm holding me snugly against his body. It felt wonderful being there with him. So protected and loved. And he was so hot. Literally. He was putting out so much body heat, I actually shoved a blanket off myself. He chuckled.

Daniel joked, "Yep, I'm sooo hot, aren't I?"

I rolled my eyes and admitted, "You are hot. In both ways. Which I immensely love about you. Daniel, I know we have to be very careful when we're alone and fooling around. You have to stay in control and not let the wild animal loose on me since I'm still human. Well, you appear to be very relaxed, and I'm about to explode, so let's see if you can handle me now."

I caught Daniel off guard as I climbed on top of him. I was at a better angle to see his face and capture his mouth. My hands were slowly traveling all over his chest, tracing intricate patterns with my fingertips. I leaned over to kiss him, letting one hand slide into his beautiful hair. The kiss was passionate, deep, our tongues played with each other. His body was building with power, tension. I bent my head to kiss his chest. Daniel moaned with pleasure. But I sensed it would not be wise to push this act much farther.

I pulled up and seductively smiled down at him. "See, you're doing pretty well. But it looks like I'll be having my own one-on-one sessions with you, which I take it you won't mind a bit. Although it's not anger management you need, but more along the lines of "make-out management to keep from ripping your human girlfriend apart" sessions. I'll have to check my schedule, but I think I'll be able to fit you in here and there. Especially these late night get-togethers seem to work out rather well for me. How about you?" I was having so much fun with this.

Daniel yanked me back down to his mouth for one last, hungry kiss. His voice and body were filled with need, but he maintained control and said, "I love you, Kara. And, yes, please give me as many sessions as you can possibly fit in to your busy schedule this week. Ha-ha. Practice makes perfect, you know. I'm sure you did the right thing stopping when you did tonight. Now, let's see if we can manage to fall back to sleep. But I want you right here next to me, baby. You're not going to escape me. I want to feel your touch against me, hear you breathe, smell your scent, see your face, taste your skin and to know in my soul that you're mine."

I exclaimed with tears in my eyes, "Oh, Daniel, you are amazing and say just the right things. I love you, too. But do you think I could go to the bathroom first?" We both burst out laughing.

* * * *

Daniel woke me at 6:00. I got cleaned up and we walked over to the kitchen where the team was assembled. Dominic was the acting chef on duty and had proved his worth with a fantastic breakfast layout. No one gave me a hard time about spending the night with Daniel. I suppose everyone had been observing this relationship develop over time. They could tell it was inevitable that something like this was bound to happen. Although, nothing had really happened. I just spent the night. I wanted to clear the air on the topic of Daniel and myself with the group as a whole.

"Okay, guys," I began, "Enough speculation on your part about Daniel and me. Dominic knows pretty well everything, but I want to make things clear. First, Daniel and I are in love. I know, it probably freaks you out and you're worried. I have also decided to stay here in Kentucky with Daniel. Hopefully, you don't try to abduct me again. Just ask if you want anything this time. I'd hate to have the new car from Eli end up in some lake like my last car did. I want everyone to remain friends and in contact with each other, too. And, if you have more covert, soul-saving missions to go on, please give me a call. I want to continue helping. I feel very satisfied using my psychic skills in the way you taught me. Lastly, and I'm sure everyone's holding their breath, I have not decided on whether I will go through a conversion and become a werewolf. But I'm definitely keeping my mind open to that possibility. So, there you go."

Everyone seemed to accept my decisions. I was surprised there weren't any arguments, but maybe since Daniel was sitting right there, they chose not to pitch any fits in front of him. They were thrilled that I wanted to continue going out on missions. I explained that Daniel would be accompanying me, and how he would be a huge added benefit to the team, with his speed, strength and heightened senses. Zac actually shook Daniel's hand as a fellow soldier and comrade after hearing that news. Zac had been extremely impressed when Daniel gave him first aid and stitches after the brawl with Stephen left some nasty gashes on his arm. A bond had been formed.

Tessa mentioned that it was about time to call my parents again, as many days had passed since I had last talked to them. I always dreaded calling them. I was still leading them to believe I was out in California, and remained elusive with any real details on where I was staying or phone numbers to call. I couldn't believe I was able to manipulate their thoughts and emotions enough to prevent them from calling the FBI or some agency to locate me. I borrowed the special, untraceable, cellular phone Tessa always carried with her and dialed my parent's house number. It was the normal conversation, with them wanting more information about where I was exactly. And when was I coming home. I had to push firmly into their minds that I was perfectly fine, healthy, and enjoying myself. Once again, I implanted calming thoughts and modified their behavior a little to ward off depression and anxiety about my being gone so long.

I felt that once this week had passed, I could not keep up this charade much longer with my parents as we were getting closer to Christmas. I wanted Daniel to drive up with me and visit them. Maybe have Christmas up there together. And if that happened, I would have to come up with a new story on how in the world I ended up in Kentucky after spending "time" in California. Not only that, but to end up at the same resort my family had stayed at in the fall. To top it off, I had fallen for the owner of the resort, Daniel. That was going to be very interesting on how I would try to pull that off. Some of it was true. Some of it was made up.

Eli reminded us that we needed to check in on Stephen and give him a pep talk and have a counseling session. My God - I hadn't bothered mentally touching Stephen's mind all night long or yet this morning. Shame on me. Although I had specifically told Stephen and Abigail very firmly that if they needed me at all to reach out psychically for me. Or for that matter, pick up the phone and call.

I wandered over by the counter in the kitchen, to get away from all the chatter, and to connect with Stephen.
Stephen, it's Kara. Are you there?

A few moments passed, where I imagined Stephen was gathering his wits from my mental invasion. I understood that when I entered people's minds with no forewarning, it would obviously feel intrusive and even confusing. Stephen replied,
Kara, yes, I'm here. It's strange this mental talking thing. I made it through the night without anything bad happening. Having Abigail with me made a huge difference with my state of mind. I still feel somewhat lost and mixed up at times.

Stephen, we'll be coming for a visit this morning to have a sit down session with you. In the meantime, I want to praise you for behaving so well and keeping the aggression away. See you later!

We fiddled around cleaning things up and preparing to leave to drive over to Simon's place where Stephen and Abigail were staying. One of the other werewolves, Phillip, was just pulling up outside to help Daniel run the resort during the time we'd be gone. At the same time, a delivery driver arrived with a box. It was my new laptop that Dominic had ordered for my birthday present. I was excited to have received this gift, as I had been without my very own computer for a while. To show my sincere appreciation, I gave Dom a smothering hug that about squeezed the air out of him and thanked him several times. The laptop would have to wait till later to play with, as the rest of the group was ready to drive to Simon's.