Javier knew Gideon had almost died. No one, not even Paul or Marc, had expected him to live, and Paul was a brilliant psychic surgeon. Marc was an incredible medic. Had Paul not been in the field with them, Gideon wouldn’t have had a chance. Even now, Javier could tell Paul worried. Whatever he had done to save Gideon, no other surgeon could have done. Paul was aware the repair was still fragile. He didn’t want Gideon moving around the way his patient was doing. That made Javier nervous, and Javier wasn’t the type to get nervous.
Gideon was still standing in the same spot facing the bar where Javier had left him. He didn’t turn around when Rhianna, Paul and Javier joined him.
“I felt a threat to her entering the bar just a few minutes ago,” he announced to the others.
“How close?” Rhianna asked.
Gideon tapped his fingers against his chest over his heart. “He’s a distance away from her, still close to the door. I’m losing him in the crowd.”
No one would ever question Gideon’s assessment of a threat. He was right too many times. If he said there was an enemy close, they took it as gospel.
“I’m leaving now,” Rhianna said. “I’ll sit at one of the back tables with Jaimie. If I spot anyone who looks like a threat, I’ll let you know. If you can dial him in, you let me know.”
“Mack and I will sit at the bar, and I’ll see if I can get a sense of whether Whitney has done anything to make Rory a threat to Sebastian or even to herself,” Paul added.
“Is it a good idea for Jaimie and Mack to be in the bar at the same time without appearing to be together?” Gideon asked. He still didn’t take his gaze from the building several blocks down.“They give off fairly heavy energy when they’re in the same room. She’s sensitive to energy.”
Rhianna bit down on her lower lip. “I hadn’t thought of that. You’re right. I’ll text her that we should take second day. We’ll send in Jacob and Lucas. She’s never seen either of them. I’ll let them know they need to go in now and expect to hear from you if you spot any threat getting close to her.”
Paul was already moving toward the trapdoor, and Javier shadowed him.
“Can you tell if the threat is from Whitney?” Javier asked.
“I have no way of knowing where it’s coming from, only that someone entered the bar and their attention is centered on Rory, and not in a good way.”
Gideon focused completely on the building in the distance. It wasn’t an easy thing to do. It took a great deal of concentration and was very draining. He was weaker than he wanted to admit to himself, let alone the others. He’d always been extremely strong, both physically and mentally, as well as psychically.
As much as he despised Peter Whitney and his experiments, the man had increased his abilities to aid his family a thousand percent psychically. The unexpected additions of animal and raptor DNA had been difficult to adjust to. Once he was able to get most of the predatory instincts under some semblance of control, he could concentrate on the more useful aspects of his new, unwanted genetic makeup. Even those traits helped to guard his family, although there were multiple downsides to them.
He hadn’t considered that he would find a woman he would want to spend his life with. That meant he hadn’t considered what it might mean to have children with her. Kane and Rose had clearly passed on their genetic and psychic traits to Sebastian. The child was very advanced for his age already, both physically and psychically. He displayed the skills found in a much older child. He wascoordinated and had fast reflexes. He already seemed to have a feeling for danger.
Gideon pressed his fist closer against his heart to focus his thoughts on Rory. When she was very busy, she couldn’t keep her mind blocked against him. Once he had a clear path to her, more and more he was becoming adept at pushing his way into that narrow conduit that took him into her mind, where he could catch glimpses of what was happening around her. What she was thinking. What she was feeling. He shared the pain he’d caused her. The devastation she felt.
The intensity of her loneliness matched his. She had wanted their relationship every bit as much as he had. She had cared for him. She still did. That was one of the worst things he faced each time he touched her mind—knowing she was well on her way to developing strong feelings for him. It hadn’t been all about the intense chemistry. Their bond had been emotional.
Whitney may have influenced them sexually, but he hadn’t created the emotional connection between them. They’d begun to build a foundation. Part of that had been because Gideon’s wounds had prevented him from acting on his desire for her. He had also been very aware of her fear of trusting anyone, and he’d wanted to take it slow with her so she knew he was someone she could count on. Just thinking how he’d let Rory down disgusted him.
Gideon caught the image of faces staring at him. Eyes. Some laughing. Overbright. Streaked red. Others starkly depressed and sorrowful. Flushed faces. Mouths forming smiles. Frowns. Calling out. Heads turned toward one another or toward the front of the bar looking at Rory or another bartender.
The bar was down more than one bartender, and Rory was extremely busy. She was thinking of her customers and each order, keeping them separately in her head, coming up with the most efficient way to make several drinks at once. Prioritizing them. Awaitress leaned over the bar and called out more orders. Rory didn’t lose her calm or patience but became even more focused, adding them into her list of drinks to make.
Rory lined up glasses and began pouring syrups and alcohol. Gideon was amazed at how fast her mind worked. She was like a computer, generating recipes and implementing them like a machine on autopilot. Drinks that were the same were done almost as if she were simply making one drink for a single person. If other drinks had ingredients she was using, she poured those.
She had eighteen drinks made in a matter of minutes and sent out to the waitress and customers, then was on to drinks made in blenders. While those drinks were in three different blenders, she was shaking two others. All the while, she was carrying on a conversation with a couple of different people sitting at the bar.
Gideon found the way Rory’s mind worked interesting. She filed away the things the customers said to her as if they were in categories. Things about families. Facts about weather or history or the city. Personal information. Flirting. If they were a repeat customer. Everything said to her was compiled and arranged unconsciously for her use. She responded instinctively, without thought, as she worked.
Gideon tried to feel around her for any threats. While Rory worked, she wasn’t thinking in terms of threats, especially now. Her boss was very upset that she’d turned in her two-weeks’ notice, and a part of her felt guilty for leaving him when she knew he needed her. She was an excellent bartender, and the place was very popular and growing even more so.
Gideon didn’t believe the bar, her friends or anyone else needed Rory as much as he did. He was drowning. He hadn’t known how much until she had come into his life. He’d known things were bad with him. They’d gotten so much worse since he’d been shot. She’d filled all those lonely places and given him laughter. Someone toshare life with. Someone to make his life worth living, because he hadn’t been doing a very good job of it.
He felt the moment Mack and Paul found their way to Rory’s section of the bar. It hadn’t been easy to make their way through the dense crowd. With only a couple of bartenders, the customers had realized fairly quickly that she was extremely fast at making drinks for them. Gideon already knew there was no way Paul was going to be successful at reading Rory. She was moving too fast, and they could stand between those customers seated on the barstools for only so long. Others would want to order drinks and expect Mack and Paul to move out of the way once they’d been served.
Mack ordered for both men, engaging with Rory, his voice low, the noise of the crowd nearly swallowing the sound. Gideon should have told him that wouldn’t work to buy them more time with her. She had acute hearing, just as Gideon did.
Paul leaned into the bar, his gaze moving over Rory, hands reaching, palms outward, looking as if he were trying to get to the napkin dispenser. Rory bent slightly toward him as she pushed the napkins closer. At the same time, she gave an icy beer to a man behind him.
Gideon felt Paul’s frustration as he tried to read beneath the surface in the very short time he could before they had to move. She had already stepped back to make the drinks Mack had ordered.
