“No, it isn’t.” His amusement deepened. “Guess your dossiers on demons didn’t tell you everything, now did they?”
She shook her head, still feeling as if he had his hands inside her skull. “That’s crazy.”
He nodded. “It’s a rare skill, I’ll admit.”
She narrowed her gaze, ignoring the storm gathering around them. “What am I thinking right now?”
“That the color green is your favorite,” he murmured.
Damn it! Did he know how sexy she found him? How she’d dreamed of him from the first moment she’d seen his picture in a research dossier? “Can you read everyone’s mind?” How freaking awful would that be?
He slowly shook his head. “No. In fact, it’s unusual. When I attack a brain, sometimes I can get a thought or two, but normally I can’t read minds at all. Most people, even humans, have shields that protect their thoughts. You don’t.”
Well, crap. She hadn’t realized that was a skill she needed to develop. No Fae still alive knew how to do that. She couldn’t let him know the full truth about her people. But she was a quick learner. She imagined a big iron shield slapping around her brain.
His smile deepened. “Nicely done. You could learn to do it.” Slight pain pierced into her temporal lobe. “Not tonight, unfortunately.”
This really wasn’t fair. Not at all. Of course, neither was kidnapping him or his brother. She sighed. Tears swam in her eyes from frustration. He wasn’t hurting her, not really, but he could. She couldn’t stop him. A tear rolled down her cheek.
“Damn it,” he muttered.
Suddenly, the pain receded, as did the pressure.
Her mouth gaped open. Were they done? Did he know everything?
He fixed his dark eyes on her, and his face went tight. But his voice softened. “Here’s the deal. I ask, you answer, and I’ll stay out of your brain.” He held up a hand when she started to protest. “If you don’t answer, I’ll wander through there as gently as I can, but I will know every thought you’ve ever had. The choice is yours.”
How was that even a choice? The man had gotten his way without lifting a finger to harm her. She’d been sure he wouldn’t hit or torture her, but this was different. He hadn’t even hurt her when getting her thoughts. Still, this sucked.
“Come on, Mercy. You know you want to tell me everything, anyway.” His gritty voice was almost a low croon.
She hated that he knew that. Of course, she hadn’t hidden much from him even at the beginning—except the full truth about the Fae nation. If she had a brother, she’d want to save him. If Trina or Sandy were taken, she’d do whatever she had to do to rescue them. She couldn’t really blame Logan for insisting she help find Sam, and the last thing she wanted was for him to see her thoughts about his hard body. How embarrassing. “Fine,” she muttered.
The air shimmered behind Logan.
“Hell,” he bellowed, planting one hand on a rock and leaping over to land on the swirling leaves.
Frank and Jocko appeared, disappeared, and reappeared behind him. Both were bleeding from head wounds, and their uniforms were torn and ragged. Man. Sam Kyllwood must’ve put up an incredible fight while they transported him.
Logan leaped at the Fae, taking both wounded soldiers down hard. The air sparked.
“He can stop you,” Mercy yelled, splashing across the hot springs and reaching the rock Logan had bounded over. The soldiers didn’t know Logan could halt a teleporting. She climbed over the rocks, and the cold air instantly puckered her skin.
Logan punched Frank in the face so hard that the bones audibly cracked. Frank’s head bounced twice on the ground, and his eyelids fluttered shut.
Jocko hit Logan in the mouth and kicked up, trying to get the demon off him.
Logan backflipped, stood, and brought his foot down on Jocko’s neck. The younger Fae slumped, instantly out cold.
The fight was over before Mercy even found her footing on the chilly ground. She couldn’t let him kill them. They were friends, and the Fae were few. Way too few.
Logan turned around, his eyes so dark they were almost black. “They must’ve been teleporting all over the island to find us. How many times can your people do that without resting?”
She looked at the prone soldiers as the clouds opened up and rain started pummeling the ground. “Four, maybe five or six times. But if Sam fought them, they were weakened anyway.” Only a highly trained and gifted demon could fight during a teleport. Or stop one, for that matter. “Don’t kill them.”
Logan gave her a look of disgust. “They’re young and untrained. Don’t worry.”
She tried not to wince. They were her age, and they were among the best trained of the Fae. Only a couple of older soldiers still lived, and they worked tirelessly to train the younger ones. All ten of them, including her. “They got your brother,” she reminded him.
