Page 6

H e was, by God, getting some answers tomorrow morning or there’d be hell to pay.

Jesse leaned against the doorjamb, staring into the darkened room beyond, to the bed where Destiny slept. A long, thin rectangle of light from the parking lot slipped through the crack in the drawn shades, illuminating her face. Sleep had relaxed the lines of worry etched there during her waking hours and her pink pouty lips were parted as if waiting for a lover’s touch.

Where the hell did that come from?

He shook his head and turned back into his own room, stopping at his bed, where he sat down, propping his back against the headboard. He didn’t get involved with clients. No exceptions. Not ever. Destiny Noble was a client, just like any other, even if Coryell Enterprises didn’t know she existed. The fact that he was doing this on his own time, without company sanction didn’t change anything.

In truth, she wasn’t exactly like any other client. Most of them were so anxious for help they spilled their guts the moment he met them, sharing every scrap of information they had to help him do whatever it was they wanted done.

She had been absolutely unwilling to answer any of his questions tonight. Even when he gave her his “it’s not good to keep secrets from me” speech.

No doubt about it, there were secrets Destiny was keeping. Secrets he needed to know to keep her safe and to find her sister.

Maybe when he heard back from Peter he’d get some of the answers he sought.

He rolled his head from side to side, the resulting crack of his neck the only outward show of his tension. For now he’d have to be patient. And he hated it like hell.

If the door between their rooms wasn’t open, he’d flip on the TV to distract himself while he waited for Peter’s call.

But the door was open, and, oh man, had Destiny ever been pissed about that.

Leaning his head back against the thinly padded wood that passed for a headboard, he smiled at the memory as he reached for the glass of water next to his bed.

When he’d pulled into the motel parking lot, she’d had her helmet off before he’d even dismounted, scrambling off the back of the bike to follow him into the office.

“We need a room for the night,” he’d told the sleepy-eyed woman at the counter.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Destiny had demanded. “Two rooms. We need two rooms.”

“How about a double?” He’d attempted to bargain, knowing the longer the discussion continued the bigger the impression they’d make on the clerk. Something he wanted to avoid at all costs. The Nuadians might not pick up Destiny’s trail, but he didn’t want to bet her safety on that.

“No. No, that’s not happening.” She’d crossed her arms and her perky little mouth had gone all hard line. “Two rooms.”

“Fine, you win,” he’d said, relenting, and she had walked away, taking a seat in the lobby. “Two connecting rooms.”

The opening he glanced toward now had been the second argument of the evening.

“What do you mean we’re leaving the door open?” she’d squeaked. “I don’t know you from Adam. How am I supposed to sleep with a strange man able to just walk in my room any time he wants to?”

“Better me than that guy in the parking lot, don’t you think?” He’d seen the fear dance through her eyes and momentarily felt guilt at his words. Still, it was for her own good. “I can’t protect you if I don’t know what’s going on. You still have your privacy, but I need to know if someone tries to get to you. Understand?”

She’d nodded mutely and taken the T-shirt he held out for her, disappearing behind the door to her bathroom.

The same T-shirt she slept in right now. His T-shirt, wrapped around those naked creamy curves…

Only the rattling of his cell phone vibrating along the surface of the wooden bedside table kept his thoughts from following that dangerous path. He grabbed it and pushed the talk button.

“Yeah?”

“Hey, it’s Peter. I have the info you wanted, but…”

“But what?”

Peter Hale was the best researcher on the payroll at Coryell Enterprises and even better, Jesse liked him personally. They’d frequently gone out for a beer or two after a long workout at the gym. And although he could be a stickler for detail, once you got Peter on a trail, he didn’t give up.

“I can’t find any active file on this Noble woman. What’s up with that?”

“Let’s just say we’re flying under the radar on this one.”

“Okeydokey, boss man. Whatever you say.” Peter’s skepticism rang through loud and clear. “I have someone on the way to pick up the items you requested and I’m sending the text on what I found through to your phone now. Anything else off the grid you want?”

“Yeah. Patch me through to Ian McCullough.”

“You got it.”

The line hummed with music as Jesse waited for his call to transfer over. Ian was a Guardian like him, only Ian had been at this for centuries. He was also a good friend of the family and the quickest way for Jesse to get word to Dallyn about tonight’s strange encounter with the Nuadian Fae.

He hoped Dallyn would be able to give him some input as to what the hell was going on.

Because something told him, the way things felt, he was going to need all the input he could get.

A thick curtain of mist surrounded the car she rode in, but far from being frightening, it reassured Destiny she was back in the vision. Up ahead, the swirling gray tendrils cleared just enough for her to read the road sign they approached. A RIZONA , printed in block letters above a big yellow star and below that the words T HE G RAND C ANYON S TATE W ELCOMES Y OU .

The sign whipped past and Destiny became aware of a growing feeling of claustrophobia, as if she’d overstayed her welcome in this part of the vision.

As always, her body felt heavy, like she tried to move through thick mud. Think! What had she learned?

Leah was somewhere in Arizona, but that alone wasn’t enough information to find her sister. Arizona was a big place. There had to be more.

“Go on.” It was her own voice pressing for the vision to continue.

The mist roiled around her and suddenly she wasn’t in the car any longer, instead an enormous computer screen filled her mind. A computer screen showing a list of her incoming email. The words were jumbled, unreadable, as if they’d been typed at random with fingers on all the wrong keys. All but one message. That heading was clear, the words sharp and distinct, catching her attention and riveting her to it.

If you want to see your sister alive…

A hand, her hand, floated toward a keyboard and pressed the ENTER button. The screen flickered and the text of the message shimmered into view, only to be instantly obscured by a vividly bright light flashing over the screen.

“No!”

The word was torn from her as she tried to sweep the light away, one hand shading her eyes, the other fluttering in front of the monitor. She grabbed onto its sides as the light engulfed the screen. It covered her hands and burned its way up her arms, a hot sting sent as an unfriendly warning to leave now.

The solid form of the monitor slipped from her fingers. Gone. Panic overcame her as she flailed her arms around the brilliant white void in a desperate attempt the find the machine.

An exercise in futility, she knew. Once the light closed in, nothing she did would make the slightest difference until she’d fulfilled that part of the vision.

So close. She’d been so close to finding Leah this time.

Tears of frustration burned her eyes and trickled out the corners, slithering down into her hair as she lay on her back, trying to force the sleep to return and with it the vision.

But the vision was gone, leaving her helpless, frustrated, and alone, as always.

Destiny’s eyes flew open and she confronted a dark almost equal to that of her vision. Except that this dark quickly faded, pierced by a sliver of light. A tiny slice of illumination, as if curtains hadn’t been fully drawn.

Not alone. Jesse was here, no farther away than the opening in the dark that separated their rooms. The opening she’d complained so heartily about earlier to-night. The opening that now seemed her only connection to safety.

She lay still, straining to hear his breathing, but no sound reached her ears over the pounding of her own heart.

He wouldn’t have left her, would he? Surely not. Just her constant paranoia. After all, she’d dreamed he would help her. He couldn’t leave. Not yet.

She heard footsteps outside, a lone person walking along the sidewalk. She held her breath, terror overtaking her as the steps drew nearer. By the time the figure passed by her window, blocking the narrow strip of light for an instant, she felt as if she might scream.

Was it him? Had that awful man found her so soon?

The steps continued without a pause, moving farther away until at last she heard a door slam shut.

Someone in one of the other rooms. Nothing more.

She lay unmoving, sweat beading on her forehead until all was silence once again. Slipping from her bed, she stared into the dark hole separating her room from Jesse’s, indecision holding her captive. It would be so easy to run to him now. To stroke his hand just to feel the blanket of reassurance that came with his touch.

“No,” she whispered, instead forcing her feet to move in the direction of her bathroom.

She wouldn’t be dependent on any man, not even the one from her visions. Because vision or no, one day he’d leave. Everyone always did.

Once inside, she quietly closed the door and leaned against it, only then daring to flip the switch next to her. Harsh light flooded the room, bouncing off the mirror that reflected exactly what she had known it would. Her eyes were puffy and her cheeks blotched from having cried through the end of the dream-vision and from the terror she’d just experienced.

A splash of cold water to her face brought her fully awake. She dried off, burying her head in the scratchy cloth of the nearest towel. By the time she looked back into the mirror she’d come to her first decision.

The clue to her sister’s whereabouts was to be found in her email. Since Leah’s disappearance, Destiny hadn’t let her laptop out of her sight for more than a few minutes. Every scrap of information, every tiny clue, was in that machine’s memory.

She felt lost without it, as if her lifeline had been severed. She needed that laptop, and first thing tomorrow she was going back for it, no matter how angry it meant making the man sleeping in that dark room next door.