TWELVEAbsinthe pulled back, shocked that Scarlet was reading his mind. She was. He knew she was inside of his mind; he could feel her there. He had forgotten how quickly her brain adjusted to every possible puzzle presented. She was often unaware of how fast her mind solved enigmas for her, because once done, it would likely dismiss the mystery as solved and go on to the next new problem. But this would be different because this was all about him and why he was so fucked up.
He slammed down every hard shield he had and stood up fast, the water pouring off of his body as panic set in. “Stay right there.” His voice was low, a soft command that pushed its way into the brain and lodged there, forcing obedience even against will.
Her face registered distress and hurt, but she didn’t move, her green eyes on his face, still looking up at him over her shoulder.
He was tall and had long legs, so stepping out of the tub was easy in spite of the high sides. Catching up the towel, he glared down at her, daring her to move, all the while monitoring her brain activity through their connection. His order had failed to take hold in her brain. She obeyed, but not because she had to obey. She was choosing.
He could barely breathe, his lungs raw and burning. He knew she couldn’t possibly get at him even through that same pathway. He was too strong. Too experienced. Her brain might seek a way to do that for her, but he had shut down every conceivable entry. Now it was a matter of whether or not she actually responded to his voice in the way every other person he had ever encountered did, and she hadn’t. She just fucking hadn’t.
He backed away from the tub, toweling the water from his body, not paying attention because the only thing that mattered to him was whether or not she was lost to him. Why hadn’t he remembered how her mind worked so quickly to solve puzzles? That had intrigued him, drawn him to her. The mystery of her, the way she was so like him and yet not at all. She was soft where he was hard. She was submissive where he was dominant.
On the other hand, she was lethal as hell and he fucking loved that. Loved it. He loved that she was so intelligent, and he could discuss any topic with her, and she actually knew what he was talking about. Looking at her, touching her, thinking about her, made him as hard as a steel rod. He was already completely gone on her. She was the one for him. He knew it with absolute certainty and yet … she was thinking too much. Thinking. Her brain shouldn’t have been assessing his command. She should have been obeying blindly.
He turned away from her, pacing across the room because his body was restless, the panic of knowing he couldn’t control her, the most important person in his world, choking him. The bathroom was spacious, the steam from the hot water still curling through the air in places. Scarlet stayed very still, her green eyes following his every movement. She didn’t speak and she looked stricken. He processed that even as he rapidly went through every possibility he had to choose from.
He could cut her loose. Have the club watch over her, keep her safe and he could get the hell out of there and go as far from her as possible until this was over, and she was gone. He didn’t trust himself to be around her and not want to be with her. Adrik was right about one thing, she got into a man and wouldn’t let go. He already thought about her day and night.
“Damn it.” He swore out loud, furious with himself for being so careless. He’d been so eager to have her that he hadn’t guarded against her getting into his head. No one had ever been able to do anything remotely close to that. Demyan, his brother, was the only other human being he’d known with the same kind of psychic gift. While Scarlet didn’t have his abilities, she had some kind of talent that enabled her to build a resistance to his voice, to his commands, but more, to connect to his mind when he was open to her.
He stopped a few feet from her, standing over the bathtub, staring down at her. He couldn’t let her go. It was that simple. He’d found her after all this time of thinking there would never be a woman for him, and he couldn’t let her go. He just didn’t know if this would work between them. He needed to find out. To know for certain.