Murder Game (GhostWalkers, #7)(104)

“I’m sure.” She was even more certain she needed a shower and actual clothes to face the other GhostWalkers after screaming her guts out. “Go make sure my father’s okay.”

“Don’t lock the door.”

“I have no doubt if I did and I fell, you’d have no problems breaking it down,” she said, teasing him.

Kadan wasn’t certain he was in the right frame of mind to be teased, but he managed a faint smile as she closed the door in his face.

“She all right?” Ryland greeted, snapping closed his cell phone as Kadan entered the room.

“Yes. I want to get in touch with Jeff. We may need him. How’s he doing?”

“He’s strengthened his right side, that was the damaged side, and he’s walking now. The right leg was unresponsive for a long time. He’s working out daily, sometimes too much. The tremors stopped in his hand and he’s no longer numb in his face. Lily thinks his right leg will always be a little weak, but his talents are stronger than ever. He’s had more time than any of us to practice, and Lily was particularly hard on him, working him as much as possible on exercises to keep him from seizing when he uses psychic ability.”

“If I needed him for dreamwalking, do you think he’s up to it?”

“I’ll double-check with Lily, but we’re not going to keep him on the sidelines much longer. You know Jeff, he’s a kamikaze, high IQ, needs a lot of stimulation. He’s thrown himself into his recovery, but he wants action.”

“Talk to Lily then. What did Tucker say?”

“Says all quiet, but if you’re worried, they can bring in Sam.”

Kadan frowned. “Not yet. Let’s see how things play out today. She’s going to try to lift impressions from a couple more pieces.”

“You’re not happy about it.”

“No, it’s dangerous. I might not be able to pull her back if the impressions are too strong. And we’ve got an enemy we can’t identify trying to track her. He knows who she is thanks to the news story. He’s smart, this guy. And he’s patient. He flies under the radar.”

“Is he working for Whitney?”

Kadan shook his head. “It doesn’t feel right to me, and Tansy picked up that he had worked for Whitney sometime in the past. She thinks there’s the possibility that he ran the psych testing for the candidates for the GhostWalker program. Can Lily access those files and get us names?”

“She’ll try. It’s much more difficult. We’re using a back door into Whitney’s computer as well as searching the computers he left behind, but most of those records were destroyed when the GhostWalker program was supposedly disbanded. No one wanted the news to get out that the government’s top scientist, still working for them, experimented on children that he bought and sold. We now know there were more girls than the ones he held at his home. This experiment has been ongoing for too many years, and you and I both know others had to have known about it.”

Kadan led the way to the kitchen. Nico had brought in groceries earlier, so there was coffee made. He set about making breakfast. Tansy wasn’t going to be standing on her leg, and she sure as hell wasn’t serving breakfast to everyone before she handled the game pieces. Ryland pitched in and helped him, and by the time the others came in, breakfast was ready.

Tansy came in, limping a little, very pale, her eyes taking up most of her face, but the fragrance of cinnamon and sin drifted through the air. She was barefoot, wore no makeup, and her mouth was devoid of lipstick. She wore a soft pair of sweats and a thin tank that hugged her breasts, and Kadan thought she was the most beautiful, sexy woman he’d ever seen. He went to her immediately, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her against him, inhaling her scent while he dropped a kiss on her upturned mouth.

You smell great. He couldn’t say it out loud, not in front of everyone, and he couldn’t stop himself from running his finger down the length of her arm, taking in her soft skin. Aloud he said, “Your father is fine.”

She looked up at him and smiled. “Thanks.”

He craved that look in her eyes. Soft. Loving. Reserved only for him. His hands found her hips and slid upward, shaping her body. She didn’t even flinch as his palms caressed her tucked-in waist through the tank, found her narrow rib cage, and went up the sides of her breasts. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and he resisted cupping the soft weight, but he couldn’t resist teasing her. No stripping you naked on the kitchen table and having my way with you?

She nibbled on her lower lip, her gaze holding his boldly. You’ll probably have to wait on that one until we’re alone.

The way her eyes ran over him, touching on the bulge growing in the front of his jeans, had him grinning like a fool—and he rarely grinned.

“Sit the hell down,” Ryland growled. “The two of you are killing us.”

Kadan pulled out her chair for her, waiting for her to adjust her leg for comfort before sliding into the seat next to her.

“I appreciate all of you for what you did for me last night,” Tansy said. “I had no idea those men could find me, and I’m very ashamed of my father for the part he’s played putting your lives in jeopardy. Believe me, if I could find a way to repay you . . .”

“You have,” Ryland said gruffly.

“I have?”