You’re taking this rather well, considering I’ve been away for months and might be a Sig mole.Sloppy, Cath.You should be holding a gun on me and looking for signs of pursuit.
He held up the room key.“Is the room clear?”
“You bet it is.Knew you’d show up.”She wore a cute pair of heart-shaped sunglasses, veryLolita.He was surprised she wasn’t smoking.Cath without a cigarette hanging out of her mouth was strange indeed.
Del suppressed a flare of irritation.“Then get the keys turned in and let’s blow this Popsicle stand.You got a medkit?”
The telekinetic shrugged.“She won’t need it.Already closing up.”
“Get me the goddamn medkit, kid.And then go and turn the room keys in.We’ve got to get out of here.”
CHAPTER15
The pain was incredible,spearing her left leg, twisting with white-hot pincers.Rowan bit her lower lip, flesh yielding between her teeth.Her leg hurt so badly she didn’t notice the trickle of blood sliding down her chin until Justin wiped it away, fingers gentle under the rough paper of a McDonald’s napkin.
They’d stopped for lunch, and Rowan had managed a few sips of Sprite before her stomach closed.She sucked on a chunk of ice Justin slid between her lips, shook her head when he tried to give her more.
The desert scrolled by in pale brown bumps and sagebrush blurs outside her window.She was in the back seat with Justin, Cath driving and smoking like a fiend.As the city fell into the distance she felt a great relief, when she could think through the waves of agony.
A bad hit—one she was almost sure could have been fatal, if not for her freakish ability to heal.She’d even managed to try to walk.She barely remembered Justin dragging her to a car, saying something in a low, fierce voice.
When the breaker of agony retreated, she opened her eyes just a crack to find Justin staring at her.His gaze had come alive, instead of the flat darkness she remembered, depths curtained by a screen of indifference.Now his eyes were terribly present.He stared at her face as if he wanted to peel it off and take it home with him.
What a gruesome thought, Rowan.
But the intensity was nothing short of frightening.His entire body was focused on her, while Cath drove with the windows down, Johnny Cash blaring, bright scarves of music and cigarette smoke furling into the jetstream.
“Hey” he said quietly.“Still hurting?It’s stopped bleeding again, and it’s closing up.”
She didn’t look down.His hand was clamped over hers.This was not at all how she had expected a possible reunion to go.“Justin,” she whispered.“I knew you were alive.”
“I didn’t.”With such a straight face she wasn’t sure if he was joking.His eyelashes were so dark, she had forgotten that.Had forgotten the way he made her breath catch, the way her skin felt alive with electricity.He was sweating, too.“You’ve been a busy girl, haven’t you?Had their tails tied in knots looking for you.All over the damn country.”
A ghost of a smile.The next big jolt was coming.She could feel it gathering like rain on the horizon.“Had a good teacher.”Her mouth wouldn’t quite work right.“Always keep moving.Do it by the book.Never leave a man behind.”
“You better believe it, angel.”He was smiling now, but it was a pained expression.“Rowan.”
The pain swelled, crested over her.She bit her lip harder not wanting to cry out.It would frighten Cath, and if Rowan let her guard down even for a moment she might broadcast, give Sigma something to latch onto.
“Scream if you need to,” he whispered in her ear.He’d taken his seatbelt off to lean closer to her.She wanted to chide him for it, but couldn’t find the breath.“I’m here, angel.Not going anywhere.”
Oh, but you’ve said that before.Agony roiled again and she succumbed, down into the depths without so much as a murmur.But this time, he was with her, his mind wound in hers.Rowan could feel his own pain and unwilling need.
Ah.They had addicted him to Zed again.
Which meant he might still be a Sig after all.They might have broken him.It didn’t seem likely, but…
Rowan fled into unconsciousness.
Warmth, close and unfamiliar.A deep sense of comfort.
The hotel room blurred around her.The edge of pale curtains keeping sunshine out, a mirror fastened above the dresser where the dark eye of a television crouched.A small table near the window, two chairs looking more suited to a hospital waiting room than a hotel.
The curiously naked feeling of dampers roared over her skin.How had Cath gotten her inside?
Gingerly, she moved her left leg, and let out a sigh of relief when it was only tender, not screaming.
Then came the clichéd question.
