“He threatened you,” I said.
“So? You really think we can’t handle a problem like this? You should have more faith in your espers,” Carter said, not a speck of humor in his tone. “Weneverwant you to suffer just to try to help us. Got that?”
I nibbled on my bottom lip, knowing the answer he wanted, the one I couldn’t give. If the same thing happened again, I knewI’d make the same choice, that I’d give whatever I could to save them.
It was the same reason I’d reached out for Shear, even as his mind had nearly shattered beneath his own pain, why I’d done it despite the risk. If he’d truly lost his mind, he could have easily broken mine at the same time.
“Don’t lecture me,” I said. “I’ll do what I need to.”
He crossed his arms, but did he think that would intimidate me? He’d shown his hand too many times for me to have any real fear of him.
“I just—” I stopped myself before I uttered the question that had haunted me. Part of me just wanted to keep moving forward, to pretend I hadn’t felt what I had before they’d left. I knewwhythey’d gone, now. Clearly they’d set the whole thing up, and I didn’t know how exactly they’d done it, but my mind still went back to the sense that Shear had gotten guiding from someone else.
“What?” Kenyon asked, his voice soft, coaxing.
“Nothing.”
“Out with it, Spark,” Ingram snapped.
I sighed, knowing they wouldn’t let it go. “I thought you were going to throw me away,” I admitted, sidestepping therealquestion. “You left out of the blue, didn’t want me to come, were acting weird.”
“We didn’t want to risk telling you in case that fucker figured it out,” Carter said. “I just didn’t think he’d have you when he found out. You should know better than that, though. Clearly we don’t plan on letting you go anytime soon.”
I pressed my eyes closed, the words spilling from my lips no matter how much I tried to hold them back. I didn’t want to be pathetic, but I couldn’t stop it. “Someone else guided you.”
All four of them froze, as close to a confession as a person could get.
“I felt it, before you left, so I thought you were leaving to see them.”
“Fucking hell,” Ingram muttered, shaking his head.
“I was guided,” Shear said, voice still unsteady from everything he’d gone through. “We met with Kaidan because we could tell something was wrong with you. When we were talking, the command that Mr. Yorn had left in me triggered, and Kaidan guided me to settle it. I didn’t tell you because if I had, I’d have to tell you why it happened, and we couldn’t risk you.” He didn’t shy away from the truth, and nothing in those words felt like a lie.
I didn’t love the idea that Kaidan had guidedmyesper, but I also knew better than to think it would never happen again. It was the life of espers, of guides. At least I understood what had happened and why.
It lifted a weight from me, clearing away the rest of the doubt.
It meant we were all there, together, just us. No secrets, not anymore, nothing between us threatening to tear us apart.
“You sure you’re up for that?” Kenyon asked.
I didn’t bother to misunderstand him. “I am.”
“You had a rough night,” Carter said, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck. It was rather charming, the uncertainty there. “Maybe we’d be better off waiting.”
Except I knew just how fast everything could go away, how fast a person could lose it all. I wouldn’t waste a minute, not when we still had our largest fight before, not when The Pitt could open at any time, when we could all lose our lives to it.
“Stop arguing and strip,” I said instead, channeling what confidence I had into my voice, trying for femme fatale but pretty sure I missed that mark entirely.
Even if I had, though, they didn’t seem to care.
Each of the men stood and removed their clothes, rushing as though trying to win who obeyed the best. It made me wonder just how far they’d go to follow my orders.
It might prove a fun game to play in the future.
Each inch of skin revealed made me more certain that tonight would prove one hell of a good memory. Their bodies were carved from fantasy, just hard lines and flawless skin, all different, all tempting.
It only took a minute, tops, before I had the four sexiest men I’d ever seen nude, hard, waiting for whatever I wanted like a sacrifice all for me.
