I smiled. “Then trust me, all right? This is a two-way street. If you want me to put my faith in you, then you’ve got to do the same for me. I’m not some damsel in distress, you know.” I stuck out my tongue.
Brodie laughed. “No, yer not,” he agreed, shaking his head. “Ye’ve got far too much fire in that bonny heart of yours to be anything but a warrior.”
* * *
“So how does this work?” I asked Jax as we settled onto the bed. The two of us sat cross-legged in the middle of the full-sized mattress, while Brodie leaned against the wall behind Jax. I knew he was trying not to glower, but his normally easygoing face was set into harsh lines, and he was close enough that he could reach out and snap Jax’s neck if he thought the situation warranted it.
I really hoped we didn’t get to that point.
“It’s pretty straightforward, actually,” Jax said. She held out her hands, palms up. “We join hands, and I let you into my head. Usually there’s a little more to it than that, but since you and I had such a close bond—” her voice tightened briefly, and I wondered if she was still resentful that she’d been left out of the loop about my death, “—there’s no need for additional fanfare. Our friendship should be enough to spark the connection.”
“Okay.” I placed my hands in hers, then met Brodie’s eyes over the top of her head. “It’s okay. You don’t need to look at me as if I’m going off to war.”
“Aye.” Brodie cracked a smile, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. I didn’t see why this bothered him so much. “I have every confidence in ye, lass. Go forth and conquer.”
I rolled my eyes at his theatrics, but a smile twitched at my lips all the same. Satisfied that he wasn’t going to freak out on me, I locked eyes with Jax. “All right, now what?”
“Close your eyes and relax.”
I did as she said, letting my shoulders drop and my muscles loosen as much as I could while remaining upright. “Just take deep breaths,” she said, her voice low and soothing. “Let the energy flow through you.”
Was that a Star Wars pun?I wondered, and I almost asked before I remembered I was supposed to be focusing. Pushing the thought out of my mind, I took deep, calming breaths, in through my nose and out through my mouth. In. Out. In. Out.
I expected to feel some sort of gradual trickle of power. But it hit me like a tidal wave—a rush of energy that shot straight from Jax’s body into mine. I gasped as images began to flit through my head—images of me. I was a little girl, running through a courtyard surrounded by walls that towered above me. There were more children darting around as well, playing tag or engaging in mock sword fights, all wearing school uniforms with hunter green and black, with the celestial brand stamped onto the breast like a logo. Knowledge soaked into me along with the memory—this was the academy Lucas had mentioned. Where Watchers sent their children to train as Sentinels.
The scene vanished, replaced by another, and then another. I watched myself grow up, through Jax’s eyes. We’d been raised together, she and I—not the closest of friends in the beginning, but female Sentinels were rare, and we both lived in the Los Angeles area, so our families knew each other. My throat tightened with tears as I watched us play outside in the front yard of a grand-looking house. Just beyond my shoulder, sitting on the porch, was my mother, sitting in a wicker chair and reading a book. She was just as beautiful as I’d remembered, wearing a rose-colored dress, her dark hair up in a bun, and faint laugh lines on her otherwise smooth, tanned face. A smile tugged at her lips as she glanced toward us, and my chest ached with longing. I missed that smile more than words could describe. But Jax’s memories told me she was alive, at least as far as she knew. My mother wasn’t a Sentinel—she was just a loving mother, steel tempered by sunshine, and one of the wisest women I’d ever known.
That scene too evaporated, replaced by more. Scenes of Jax and me fighting side by side, ridding the streets of Demonkin and liberating innocents from the demons who tortured them. Her celestial weapon was a flaming purple sword that she wielded with deadly precision. She did all the close-quarter fighting, while I stood on rooftops or behind open windows and took down targets from afar. We were a perfect pair.
That was, until Lucas came along.
My heart swelled and twisted, pulled and pushed with equal parts hate and longing, as this next memory flashed into my mind. It was of Lucas and me standing in a darkened hall in the Watchtower, necking. His blond head was bent as he nibbled on my earlobe, and a flash of arousal, unwanted, lit me up from the inside. Jax was watching from around the corner, staring at us in profile, as his hand slid up my denim-clad flank and began to coax its way up my shirt. She’d been looking for me—we were at the end of our shift, and we had paperwork to fill out before she could go home.
“Hey,” she snapped, finally walking around the corner. I watched myself stiffen, but Lucas didn’t move.
Those lips trailed lower, down my neck, that hand snaking around to my back, and the arousal in my lower belly suddenly turned to anger. What the fuck? Why was he being so disrespectful?
“I’ve been looking for you!”
“Sorry,” I said in a husky voice, pushing Lucas away. He frowned, but backed off, turning those icy-blue eyes toward Jax. There was such contempt in that gaze as it met Jax’s that I wanted to punch him in his too-perfect face. What the hell was his problem?
“What the hell is your problem?” Jax asked, echoing my thoughts. She brushed past Lucas as if he didn’t exist, going straight for me. “You were supposed to meet me in the bullpen half an hour ago.”
“I was going to,” I insisted, looking both guilty and annoyed. “But I ended up in a conversation with the captain, and then—”
“That is bullshit,” Jax growled, jabbing her finger into my chest. “You weren’t talking with the captain, because I was talking with him. You were up here, making out with Mr. Douchebag!”
“Excuse me,” Lucas said in a voice like ice. He grabbed Jax’s arm, sending a jolt of surprised anger through her, and to me through the bond. “If you have a problem with Arabella, you can take it up with me. It’s me you’re angry with, right? For monopolizing Arabella’s time?”
Jax whirled around, slamming her fist into Lucas’s face with lightning speed. Bone crunched beneath her knuckles, and blood sprayed through the air as he staggered back. His eyes were wide with surprise and outrage, and his face turned an ugly red.
“Oh, I’m angry with you all right, but I’m also angry with Arabella,” Jax spat. “I don’t need to ‘go through you’ to have a conversation with my partner, Moranius. She’s a grown woman who can take responsibility for her own actions. And just because you’re a superior officer doesn’t mean you can get away with this shit forever.” She grabbed my elbow. “Let’s go, Bells.”
“Don’t grab me like that!” I snapped, yanking my arm from her grip. I gave her a venomous glare of my own, then glanced over her shoulder toward Lucas. I hated the way my face softened with apology. “Don’t worry about Jax. She’s just over-protective. I’ll see you later, babe.”
“I look forward to it,” Lucas said, his voice silky with promise. I didn’t see his expression, though, because Jax stalked off down the hall, fury riding at her heels. She was sick of Lucas’s manipulative nature, sick of my flakiness and lies. She just wanted her best friend back, and I couldn’t blame her.
17
