His lips quirked. "Jonas managed to pull another small bit of information out of that Coyote you let live. We're going to check the canyon because evidently the Coyotes hadn't made it there yet. That was their next stop. But we suspect Mark and Aimee might have stopped there. "
"And you know this how?’ she asked again.
"GPS tracking was turned off in their vehicle, but they kept a directional and mileage recorder on. Analysis of the electronics indicates they were in that canyon for as long as twelve hours. Alive. "
She stared back at him silently. She knew what he wanted. He wanted her to use the Empathic abilities she possessed to find the answers the others couldn't.
"It won't work," she told him softly. "If it would work, I wouldn't have to run to this desert to hide. I would have gone to my superiors and let them help me find a way to make it work. "
"I'm not your superior, Megan," he reminded her, his voice dangerously deep now. "And the situation has changed. Because, baby, I can do more than just mute the emotions flowing around you. I can amplify them. Today we will find answers. "
"Hold on just a damned minute. " She rushed through the bedroom, determined to catch up with him as he moved down the stairs, obviously ignoring her.
"Braden Arness, you hold it right there," she snapped, grabbing the rail and taking the steps two at a time as she rushed after him.
He stopped all right, turning just in time for her to slam against his chest. She grunted at the hard contact, silently cursing the hard muscles before pushing back from him fiercely.
"What the hell are you talking about? You can amplify them?"
He arched his brows.
"Get your boots on and I'll show you. It's time to find answers, Megan.
It's obvious the Coyotes are not going to attack again any time soon and give me a chance to force the answers from them. And we can't stay here, hidden in the desert forever, waiting on them. We find our answers on our own now. "
She stared back at him, fighting the fears rising inside her. She knew what it was like, the struggle to sift through the bleak emotions, the violence of lives forcibly taken. It was hell, slicing into her brain with torturous strength. She had never managed it before, had never found so much as a glimmer of hope that it could be done. Even her grandmother, with her experience in controlling her abilities, had never truly been able to do it.
"And if I can't?" she asked, hating the thought of failing him, of failing them both. "I've tried before, Braden. "
"Not with me you haven't," he pointed out coolly. "There comes a time, Megan, when you have to stop hiding and start fighting. I can help you if you'll let me. "
Or he could force her to do it his way, whatever it took.
She saw i
t in his eyes, in the grim set of his mouth. She could feel her stomach twisting with nerves, her mind already rebelling against the coming pain. The emotions and horror attached to a violent death took years to recede from the area in which it occurred. It would be just as
strong now as it had been when she first met him.
"Do you want to die like them?" he asked her then. "Do you let the Council win, Megan? Or do you fight back?"
She fought. The answer was instantaneous. She had never given anything up without a fight, she just didn't know how to fight this battle.
She moved around him carefully, stepping into the kitchen where her boots sat by the door, her holster and belt hanging on the coat rack on the wall. She stared at the Glock strapped into its protective holster before picking up her boots and pulling them on quickly. The belt went around her hips, the velcro anchors around her thigh. Moving to the hall closet, she opened the hidden door and lifted several sheathed knives from the velvet-covered shelf as well as a powerful snub-nosed machine gun.
"You're expecting them to be there," she said. She could feel it. Not in any sense of emotion or thoughts coming from Braden. but with an inborn gut-deep knowledge she couldn't explain.
"They've been watching the house. " The information didn't surprise her.
"I suspect they haven't attacked because they're aware of the team of Felines watching from one of the points above us. They'll follow though. It's even possible they have a team in place. "
"So how do you expect to get around them and into that canyon? And if we do, how am I supposed to figure anything out?’ It seemed a recipe for disaster to her. "I can't function in those circumstances, Braden. " The emotions would attack her if she abandoned the defenses she had built against them. Slight though they were, they allowed her to function for short amounts of time.
"You did fine in the gully the other day," he pointed out, his voice never deepening nor warming.
"You helped me. " She knew that, realized it with an aching sense of failure. "I hid in that shield you have around yourself. "
"Because I let you. " His voice was lower, dangerous. "I've let you use the shields, because you needed them. Your mind needed to learn how they worked, even if it did so subconsciously. As powerful as I suspect you are, you'll learn quickly how to create your own shields by using mine as a guide. "