"At odd times. " He nodded. "Two of the teams I brought with me were
searching for them. I've called them back in closer to the house for full surveillance until Jonas arrives. We're not taking any chances. "
"I'm not scared," she assured him. "But I can feel them. They're watching now. "
She couldn't feel their emotions, just a sense of being watched, of being targeted.
"My men are waiting for them too. " He moved from where he stood by the doorway, pacing over to the coffeepot and pulling two cups from the cabinet. "We need to eat. I want you at your best tonight and before you go over those pictures. Your system moves more slowly when it's hungry. "
The words were very domesticated. The man moving around her kitchen wasn't. She could see the tense lines of his shoulders, the prepared readiness of his body. He was on full alert.
He poured her coffee and sat it on the table, waving at her to sit down before he turned back to the counter. As she watched him and sipped the dark liquid, he put together a quick meal of eggs, sausage and toast. Eating was a silent affair as Megan fought to find balance. Again.
She could handle the danger. The chase the day before had been exhilarating, despite the chances of death. Pitting her wits against those
bigger and tougher than she was and coming out on the winning team was a high she found she craved. But that dream had thrown her as nothing else had so far. The knowledge that someone she knew could kill so cruelly was tearing her apart.
"I need to dress. " She pushed her plate back, satisfied that she had nearly finished the huge portion he had put out for her.
"Go on. Shower while you're at it. " He nodded to the doorway. "I'll make a few more calls and we'll go through the pictures when you come back down. "
"You're trying to protect me. " She sighed wearily as she came to her feet, staring back at him as he came toward
her. She watched his expression closely as he reached out, his fingers caressing her cheek.
"A different sort of protection," he assured her gently, his voice rumbling with emotion. "I can feel your confusion; hell, I can see it. And your pain. It_" His gaze flickered with a small amount of his own confusion.
"It affects me, Megan. I would kill to hold back what I see haunting your eyes. It breaks my heart. "
He was breaking her heart. Her throat tightened at the emotion in his
voice, the sincerity. The bonds holding them to each other were only deepening. Tightening. And rather than running as she had always done in the past, she wanted nothing more than to rest in his arms. Just one more time, before fate had a chance to tear him away from her.
The thought of that terrified her.
She nodded without speaking and escaped. She needed silence. She needed to feel alone, unwatched. She needed a shower, because as sure as she was standing there, she had finally realized why the grief from that female Breed, Aimee, had been so strong. And it made her sick to the very core of her soul, because she was terribly afraid she wasn't wrong about the face materializing in her memory.
Mac Cooley. Her father's best friend. And Aimee's rapist as well as, most likely, the reason for her death.
Chapter Nineteen
He could feel her crying.
Braden stood at the kitchen counter, his arms braced on the edge, his head hanging low as he fought the tightness in his chest.
She was breaking his heart and she didn't even know it.
Hell, he hadn't imagined this could happen, but he could feel her pain. There were no blocks, no shields strong enough to allow him to escape it. Just as he had felt her elation, her triumph during the chase the day before, now he felt her grief,
He had never allowed himself to let others' emotions in. Staying separate, keeping that part of him unhindered had been imperative if he was going to survive in a world where littermates were killed in front of your eyes, and depravity was the norm rather than the unusual.
But he couldn't escape his mate.
Whatever the dream had been, it was such a shock to her mind that recovering from it was now taking all her strength.
He had felt her need to escape him, the need for silence, and had allowed it. This had been hard enough on her, but now that the truth was so near. she was off balance, unwilling to accept whatever truths she had been shown.
An Empath's dreams were rarely pretty. No matter how hard one tried to block the darkest parts of a human's thoughts and fears, it never fully worked. At least, not for a human Empath. The natural shields the Breeds had been born with, courtesy of their animal DNA, changed the rules just a bit for them. Megan had none of those natural blocks. Her senses were getting stronger though.