Omens (Dark in You 6)

Fire roared to life beside Harper, hot and bright. The flames died away, revealing Knox and Levi. Keenan could only assume that Harper had called out to her mate.

Radiating fury, Knox took Asher into his arms and held him close as he looked him over. “What exactly just happened?”

Keenan gave him a quick recap and then scrubbed a hand down his face. “I can’t reach Khloé telepathically—something’s blocking the connection. But Thea can’t teleport far. I might be able to find them.”

“I can see that you’re eager to go out searching for Khloé, but that’s not the best move,” Knox told him.

Keenan bristled. He felt his face go tight and wouldn’t be surprised if his skin looked like it had been stretched tight around his skull. “Knox—”

“Just hear me out. Thea may not be able to go far in one teleport, but she can ‘hop’ from place to place with that ability. There’s no saying where they are. Your best bet is to contact Khloé.”

“I told you, I’ve tried. So has Harper. It didn’t work.”

“Yes, but there’s someone who probably will be able to reach her, because they’re so interlinked with each other that no number of psychic blocks could keep their minds from connecting.”

Keenan frowned. “Teague?”

“No. Ciaran. Twins often have their own frequency, and it’s often far too strong to jam.”

Harper’s brows lifted. “You’re right. Let me call out to Grams and Ciaran.”

“Tell them to meet us at our home,” Knox said to her. “Asher will be safer there.”

Before Keenan could object, flames sprung to life around them all and licked at his skin. When the flames died down, they were all stood in the living room of the mansion.

Keenan felt his nostrils flare. “I need to look for Khloé.”

“I get why you’re raring to leave,” said Knox. “But it makes more sense for you to be here in case Ciaran can reach her. The moment I have her location, I can pyroport you to her. If you’re out searching, I’ll have to go without you.”

“You could pick me up along the way—”

“Which would take mere seconds, yes, but anything could happen to Khloé in those precious seconds. Do you really want them to be wasted?”

Keenan ground his teeth, hating that the Prime made sense. He wanted to move, act, search, kill. A chilling, incapacitating fear had tightened every muscle in his body and wound itself around every bone. But he couldn’t, wouldn’t, let it rule him.

“All right,” he said to his Prime, his voice strained.

Knox nodded, satisfied. “I’ll telepath Tanner and ask him to take Devon and Raini home before he joins us. They’ll have to—”

Just then, Jolene, Ciaran, Beck, and Khloé’s aunt Martina appeared in the center of the room. All looked as grim and infuriated as Keenan felt.

While Harper brought them up to speed, Keenan paced up and down the room, clenching his fists so tight his knuckles turned white. He couldn’t stand still. He felt too edgy, twitchy, and restless.

His demon was no calmer. Not much rattled the entity, but it was absolutely freaking the fuck out. Because this was Khloé—its mate, the only being whose life mattered more to it than its own.

Realizing his breaths were starting to come quick and shallow, Keenan took a long, centering breath—he couldn’t afford to lose his shit. But no matter how hard he focused on breathing normally, he felt as if he couldn’t get enough oxygen.

Being so helpless threw him back to another time and plucked at old memories. He shoved all that shit aside. This wasn’t about him. It was about Khloé. His mate. The only woman he’d ever loved.

“You think I can reach her?” Ciaran asked Harper.

The sphinx nodded. “She’s your twin. Khloé once told me that her mind used to automatically reach for yours all the time before she was old enough to control it, and vice versa. Tap into that frequency now, Ciaran. Ask her where she is so that we can go get her.”

The male imp’s gaze focused inward, and his eyes clouded.

Keenan went very still, watching Ciaran closely, his guts tied in knots. Seconds ticked by as the guy said nothing at all. Keenan didn’t realize he was holding his breath until he felt the strain in his chest. “Can you reach her or not?”

“I can reach her,” replied Ciaran without focusing his gaze on Keenan. “But there’s a lot of static, like when you’re trying to talk to someone on a cell phone and there’s a bad connection.”

“At least we know for sure that she’s alive,” said Jolene. “Can you tune out the static enough to understand her?”

“I won’t know until she wakes,” replied Ciaran. “She’s unconscious right now.”

Keenan bit out a harsh expletive. Panic threatened to make his thoughts go blank again. He couldn’t have that. He needed to think. Needed to focus. His mate’s life might very well depend on it.