Deadly Game (GhostWalkers, #5)(90)

“Get up, Mari.” Sean extended his hand.

Slowly she unfolded her legs, refusing to be intimidated because she had no clothes. Why are you doing this, Sean? Please just talk to me so I can stop shaking. I’m afraid of you. I don’t like being afraid of you.

With a show of reluctance she put her hand in his and let him help her to her feet. He tugged until her body brushed up against his. She couldn’t stop herself from going rigid, but she did manage not to fight.

Why are we using telepathy? Sean pushed her ahead of him into the bedroom, taking a careful survey of the walls, looking for a hidden camera.

I’m pretty sure Whitney has audio surveillance in here. Things he’s repeated to me he could only know if he heard them in my room. Sit on the bed with me, just for a minute, Sean, let me get used to the idea of this.

Didn’t he say you blew all the audio when you took out the cameras?

I don’t want to take a chance. You know he lies all the time.

She felt Ken moving in her mind when she stepped back from Sean. He was studying the energy field, the traces of Sean left behind. She felt the sudden surge of energy entering her mind, gathering everything she was and tying the two of them together into one powerful unit. It frightened her so much she nearly pulled back. She wasn’t Mari, standing on her own, but part of Ken, open to him, all her fears and hopes and every memory she had. It was shattering to be so close to another human being, so completely vulnerable to him.

She allowed her body to sag onto the bed, reaching for the thin blanket to try to protect her body from the lust in Sean’s eyes. Why did it repulse her so much? When Ken had looked at her with a hundred times that hunger, she had melted for him, melted into him. Self-preservation demanded she pull away before her mind released every secret fantasy, every secret desire, real and imagined, and Ken’s responded in kind.

A tremor ran through her. His mind was already filling hers with so much information, and along with his memories came power. Their energy fused into one steady stream, one powerful flow, a current so strong she feared she might pass out before Ken could take complete control of it.

Sean tugged at the blanket. Mari resisted, but it slipped enough to reveal the swell of her breasts. He jerked harder on the blanket, his elbow pushing her back until she was half-lying across the bed.

I don’t want to wait. You’ve known me for years, Mari. You belong to me, you always have. I’m just taking what’s mine. His mouth clamped hard on her breast, one hand circling her throat, fingers digging in to remind her not to struggle.

“Sean, you’re hurting me.” She slammed both hands against his chest, trying to push him off of her.

She expected Ken to lose it. She was aware of the rage in him, a living entity, black and vicious and brutal. Use telepathy, make him answer you.

Sean, please, that hurts.

Don’t fight me then.

She felt Ken’s instinctive reaction, the emotions pouring in, swirling together to make the rage even more powerful. But he grew as cold as ice—colder even, utterly still and focused, pushing away the rage as if it had never been, until his mind was the calm eye of a whirling hurricane.

She heard the soft cadence of his voice, mesmerizing, commanding, low and gentle but so insistent there was no denying it. The words slid by her, impossible for her to grasp, riding on the current of energy slipping from her mind into Sean’s.

Sean sat up, his face shocked. He shook his head several times as if to clear it. The voice never stopped, never rose, never changed tones. It was relentless in its assault—pushing and pushing at Sean’s mind, demanding obedience. Sean’s face paled significantly, his eyes glazed over. She recognized the heaviness in his mind. She experienced it to a much lesser degree. Ken had gripped Sean’s mind hard and refused to let go.

Sean stood up, shuffling backward, staring at her with a wild, helpless fear. She was afraid to move, afraid she would break the spell Ken was weaving with his voice. She didn’t know how it worked, but the energy it took was exhausting. Sean resisted, fighting the continual murmur of that relentless command. Each step he took away from her dragged on the floor as if he resisted lifting his foot.

Mari held her breath as Sean swiped his keycard through the lock to release the door. To her shock he tossed the card on the floor before he shuffled out. The door slammed shut behind him, but he kept moving, heading away from her. She could hear his footsteps fading.

Still, the enormous flood of energy continued. Exhausted, Mari lay back, pulling up the blanket, her entire body trembling uncontrollably. She heard the ticking of the clock and her own heartbeat. The energy crackled around her, crackled in her mind, surging with such power it frightened her to think what Ken and she could do together if they were bent on destruction.

The voice continued, and she tried to catch the commands, determined to find out what Ken was demanding of Sean. She couldn’t interrupt, afraid that Sean would come back, that he would know she hadn’t been alone in driving him off. She saw the keycard on the floor but couldn’t find the strength to even crawl to it. Everything she was went into that river of energy.

She lay with her eyes closed, feeling the swelling surge, and realized she wasn’t alone anymore with Ken. Jack had joined them, throwing his psychic energy into holding Sean in their command. Sean’s mind was no longer his own, but had been wholly taken over by the Norton twins. She tried to pull her own energy back, afraid of being so exposed to Ken’s brother, but the melding was too strong. She was drawn farther and farther away from her mind, walking through a maze of corridors, searching with a deadly, dark purpose.