Gideon smiled at her. “Let’s get it done, sweetheart.”
Rory took a deep breath, turned to Paul, and nodded. She’d already made up her mind to take down the shield. She knew she was going to spend the rest of her life with Gideon. She could barely bring herself to be away from him.
“You said one thing at a time. All right, let’s get it done,” Rory said.
Paul was an intelligent man, and he didn’t give Rory time to get nervous and back out. His palms moved up to the left side of her head, right over the spot where the sensation was always the worst for Rory.
Gideon merged with Rory, staying connected in her mind. He opened a telepathic circle to his teammates so they could join and begin a deep meditative breathing. As Paul carefully began separating the layers of skin, Gideon and the others felt the same sensations with Rory, the sickening horror of her skin cracking and splitting all over her body. The illusion was so real that Gideon twice looked down at his own skin to make certain he wasn’t becoming a lizard. That earned him a little giggle from Rory. How she could manage to be amused when it hurt like hell, he didn’t know, but he appreciated her sense of humor.
Blood began to trickle down the side of Rory’s head. Sweat beaded on Paul’s forehead. Gideon’s teammates breathed without stopping in that same rhythm. Rory twice began coughing, her lungs spasming. Gideon pressed her palm to his lungs with one hand to lead the way for her while he handed her the inhalerwith his other. He’d made certain it was close. He knew pain could bring on breathing problems, and this operation was very painful.
As the skin separated from the shield, images tumbled into her mind. Gideon swept them to the side, keeping her memories away from the others, blocking them for her. Those were private—her past. If she ever wanted to share, that was for her to do. He would protect her until she decided what she wanted to tell others about herself. He’d broken trust with her once; it wouldn’t happen again. Rory was vulnerable right now, and while she was, he would guard her, stand in front of her and protect her even from the family he loved.
She used her inhaler, taking in the medicine while the GhostWalkers breathed for her. Once the first few thinning layers of skin were peeled away, Gideon could see how embedded the rest of the shield was. In places, it was thicker, stubbornly holding. Paul was patient, gently loosening the skin until he could cut around it as if he held a laser in his hands.
The moment the entire device dropped, the GhostWalkers erected a barrier between Rory and the outside world, jamming the dust chips installed in the tattoo on her ankle. Mack scanned the tattoo, looking through the leaves and berries to find the hidden trackers so they could destroy them. Paul did the same throughout her body, meticulously searching for any other trackers Whitney may have secreted in her that he would have to remove. Once Mack had destroyed the ones woven into the tattoo and Paul declared her free of any internally, Gideon’s teammates left the breathing circle one by one.
Mack helped Paul to one of the guest bedrooms, and Marc Lands attended to the bleeding laceration on Rory’s head. After he left, Gideon simply lifted her into his arms and put her into their bed. She was so exhausted, she didn’t do more than cuddle into him and close her eyes, drifting off immediately.
Rory woke twice, crying, clinging to Gideon as he pulled her over his body, holding her close, his hands framing her face both times.
“I remember him. I remember him.”
“Look at me, Red.” Gideon waited until her wild gaze settled on his steady, calm one. “I’m right here with you. Whitney can’t get to you.”
Another sob escaped. “What if he gets to you? What if he takes you away from me?”
“He can’t take me away from you.”
“He knows people high up in the government, people who will have you go out on missions. They can set you up, Gideon. I know he does that kind of thing when he wants soldiers to disappear.”
She had too many memories rushing at her too fast. He wrapped his arms around her and rocked her gently. “Sweetheart, my team sticks together. You know how Javier is with me. Do you honestly think he’s going to let anyone hurt me, especially now that I have you?”
Gideon brushed caresses down the side of her head until she fell into a fitful sleep, her body sprawled over his.
The second time she woke, she came awake fighting, trying to roll off the bed, calling for him, her voice strained. Choking. Coughing. In her mind, it was Gideon choking, not Rory, and she couldn’t get to him. She tried breathing air into his lungs the way he’d done for her, but he was too far away.
Gideon easily subdued her, holding her to his chest with his arms, wrapping his legs around hers. Pushing his way into her frantic nightmare.
Red, open your eyes. Feel me with you. The real me. You know my voice. You know my touch. Whitney can’t separate us. He doesn’t have any idea you’re alive or that we’re together. Even if he did, he knows what I’m like. He thinks he’s the smartest man in the room.Because he does, he also has a very healthy fear of the kind of predators he created.
Rory stopped struggling and lay passively over his body, her heart pounding against his. Very slowly, she lifted her long lashes, as if afraid that when she did, she would see something besides his blue eyes.
“That’s right, sweetheart,” he coaxed aloud. “Look at me. See me. I think we should have had Paul peel back the shield a little at a time rather than the entire thing at once so you wouldn’t get swamped with so many childhood memories.”
Her eyes searched his for a long time before she laid her head on his chest again.It’s like reliving my childhood all over again. Whitney is a horrible man. He really hated me. I tried not to think about him or the things he said and did to me before I fell asleep so I wouldn’t have dreams, but I couldn’t help it.
“I can make you chocolate, Rory. We can go up to the roof and sit outside. Paul won’t be happy, but if it stops your nightmares, I’ll risk his wrath.”
She pressed a kiss over his heart.I think it’s good to get it over with. I’d rather sift through all the memories with you right here to help me sort through them. You keep me from losing my mind.
Gideon was grateful she trusted him enough to rely on him. “Go back to sleep, then, sweetheart. Whitney can’t get near you here. He can’t get to either one of us.”
?Two weeks later, Paul was back sitting on the rooftop with Gideon and Rory. Marc Lands and Javier were with him, and Gideon had a sinking feeling he knew why Paul had come. Gideon had installed a long lounger so he could stretch out with Rory, and they could be comfortable in the evenings. He’d built a cabinet so her nebulizer and several warm blankets could be stored as well.
They had agreed not to entertain friends on the rooftop, but he was renovating one of the floors so that Cindy’s boys would have a large area to play in and the women would be comfortable visiting Rory. Ellen liked to be in the same room playing right next to them while they talked.
Rory looked up at Paul with a welcoming smile. She was recovering fast and was able to speak aloud, although Gideon noticed her voice was huskier than before. She spent time playing music and writing songs, but she didn’t sing, even though he told her he found the lower register sexy. She just laughed at him.
