Claiming the Enemy: Dustin (Porter Brothers Trilogy 3)

“Go figure. All of us were surprised, too. I told him, if he wanted, just let Logan use it until he wanted it back, but he wanted him to have it. I stopped arguing about it when I saw how good Logan was at it.”

Setting the bag down next to Logan, she continued watching Logan while Dustin did the same to her. Feeling his eyes on her, she lowered her head again.

“What are you making, Logan?” She spoke so low that Dustin wasn’t sure Logan heard her until he stopped whittling to study the wood.

“I don’t know yet. It hasn’t come to me.”

“You can whittle without knowing what it’s going to look like?”

“The picture hasn’t come to me. When it does, then I can finish it.”

“What if it doesn’t come to you?”

“Then I put it in my room until it does. I have a whole box. You want to see it sometime?”

“I would love to.”

The humble way she accepted Logan’s invitation was very heartwarming as a parent … and heart-wrenching that he hadn’t let her into his life before.

Whenever he had visited Logan at her daycare, she had been professional, giving the same personal attention to all the children. He missed the special nuances of the way she talked to him, the gazes that caught everything Logan did, and the caring touches she couldn’t help but show. He was a fucking idiot.

“Is Greer as good at whittling as you are?”

“No, I’m better. Uncle Greer does better than me at everything, except whittling.”

“You love your uncle, don’t you?”

“Yes. A lot of people think he’s mean, but he’s nice to me.”

“I can understand that. A lot of people think my brothers are mean, but they’ve always been nice to me.”

“Can your brothers do things like Uncle Greer?”

“Like hunting, fishing?”

“Greer’s good at that, too, but he can do things that no one else can.”

“Like what?”

“Logan ….” Dustin sensed what his son was about to say.

Jessie looked at him curiously when Logan remained silent, looking chagrined.

She bluntly called him out. “What didn’t you want him to tell me?”

“It’s a family secret.” Logan quit whittling, frowning at the wood.

“My brothers have the same secret.”

Dustin knew Logan had no idea that he and his brothers grew pot. However, Logan spilled the family secret before he could stop him.

“They can heal people like Uncle Greer can?” Logan dropped the wood to his lap.

“Your uncle Greer can heal people?”

“Logan, she wasn’t talking about that—”

“I’m talking to Logan.” She shut him down like a lead weight.

“Yes. Can Asher and Holt?”

“No. They can’t do that,” she said, raising her eyebrows.

“Rachel can, too, just not as good as Uncle Greer. Do they hear the death bells like Uncle Tate?”

“No, they can’t do that either,” she said, her brows now rising to her hairline.

“Oh … Then are they like Dad? They dream someone is going to die?”

Shocked, Jessie looked at Dustin. Her myriad of expressions would have had him chuckling if Logan hadn’t been revealing his family’s secrets. Luckily for them, most of the town considered the rumors of their abilities as hogwash. Even Rachel, who had earned a reputation as a healer, wasn’t taken seriously.

“Is that true?”

Her question stunned him. Usually, people would laugh or be unable to hide their disbelief. Jessie didn’t do either.

He tried to laugh it off. “It’s as true as the little green men in Kentucky.”

“I believe in the little green men in Kentucky. So, do you dream about people dying or not?”

He couldn’t lie to her, even as much as he wanted to. “Yes.”

“I see. How …?” Casting a glance at Logan, she delved deeper into what he was able to do. “Is it a dream that you can see how they—” She cut her question off from the sensitive listening ears.

“More like nightmares, and I can’t see anything that happens,” he explained.

“Then how do you know someone … is gone?”

“Because I feel what is happening to them.”

She went pale in the firelight. Her eyes moved back and forth between him and Logan.

“Your brothers and sister have these gifts? Does Logan?”

He would be putting Logan’s life in her hands if he answered her. He had trusted her to care for him when he was younger and had never been disappointed in her. However, his family protected Logan’s ability as much as they did Greer’s, probably more.

“Logan can see pictures of something that is about to happen … Jessie, you can’t tell.”

“If Jessie doesn’t tell, that makes her family, doesn’t it?” Logan said simply.

Without words, Dustin tried to convey the enormity of her actions if she did. Evil would try to tarnish his gift and destroy him in the process.

That she understood had her leaning forward, placing her hand on Logan’s knee.

“Logan, your family secret is safe with me, I swear. But promise me you won’t tell anyone else, no matter how much you like them.”