Lightning Game (GhostWalkers 17)

“Stay still,” Rubin ordered in the same mild voice. “I’m figuring this out. The human body certainly produces electromagnetic fields. In organs. In cells. In varying degrees. Your body clearly produced those fields in much higher amounts, and then Whitney in his usual godlike manner boosted those amounts to an alarming rate. How your body keeps from overheating is another mystery altogether, but that is something else to figure out. Right now, at the very basic level, what we’re dealing with is an electromagnetic field. Do you always need a gathering storm to conduct lightning?”

His tone, that same dispassionate, calm tone coming out of this handsome man, upset her beyond comprehension. He had thick dark hair that could use a cut, spilling onto his forehead, accenting his very dark eyes. His shoulders were wide, his body toward the lean side, but all muscle. She’d been attracted to him from the first moment she’d laid eyes on him at the conference, and she’d never been able to get him out of her mind. It was strange that she didn’t feel the same way about his brother when they looked almost identical. She could tell them apart easily and always would be able to.

Rubin’s energy was low-key, which was a good thing. Sometimes when people were angry or violent, or just overly excited, her body absorbed their electrical energy rapidly. Unfortunately, she seemed to feed off a variety of different types of energy, siphoning off dark tendencies and fear as well as flat-out rage. Neither Diego nor Rubin gave off enough energy to even detect it, let alone absorb it. That was good so she could be in their company, but bad if she wanted to know they were around.

“Jonquille?” Rubin’s dark eyes met hers. “Do you need a storm to conduct lightning?”

“You’ve indicated that you can’t help me,” she said, “so there really isn’t much point to these questions.”

The way his eyes remained on hers made it impossible to look away. Her stomach did a strange little flip. She felt, rather than saw, Diego turn to look at her over his shoulder. Apparently he didn’t like the way she refused to answer his brother.

“I’d like to understand what he did to you. How it works.” Rubin’s dark eyes were velvet soft, fathomless, an endless pool one could get trapped in.

She shrugged her shoulders. She made every attempt to look as if it didn’t matter that he couldn’t help her. That he hadn’t shattered her with his casual denial or his treating her like she was a science project.

“I’m sure you understand that after years of being Whitney’s experiment, I’m over having anyone even consider me in that light. I’m really sorry for invading your space. I wouldn’t mind something to eat if you have enough. In the meantime, I can pack fast and be out of here tonight. I’m used to traveling.”

Rubin shook his head. “You didn’t finish telling us about who you thought might be following you.”

“Whitney? You must have escaped his laboratory,” Diego guessed. “He doesn’t like his girls to get away from him. You had to be one from the first group with Lily, Dahlia and Flame, right? They’re all married now.”

Jonquille didn’t react to the news. That was twice they’d referred to Dahlia. She wasn’t certain if they were trying to trick her or not, but she wasn’t going to give anything away. Maybe she shouldn’t stay for dinner. She could go a day or two without food. She’d certainly done so in the past. She could use her hunting and fishing skills once she put distance between them.

“I have no idea who might be following me, but I don’t think it’s Whitney. His supersoldiers have never been very patient. I’ve given these men the slip a few times, and they always work out my back trail, and the next thing I know, they find me. I knew I wouldn’t have too much time here before they worked it out.”

“Your best guess?”

“We aren’t the only government with insane scientists who want to use weather for weapons. I backtracked and laid up on a hillside a couple of months back just to get a look at them. They’re carrying weapons I’ve never seen before. I was privy to some of the top secret military weapons we have, but these guys …” She shook her head. “I didn’t want to tangle with them. I laid down partial tracks that would be extremely difficult to work out, so very believable. They would have to spend time unraveling that trail before they lost it completely.”

There was confidence in her voice because she was confident. She knew she’d been careless around Rubin’s cabin for her own reasons, but there was no going into those reasons with either one of them. There were no tracks leading to the cabin, and none of the locals had seen her.