Predatory Game (GhostWalkers, #6)(55)

A heartbeat went by. A second one. Logan sighed. “You didn’t answer me, Jess. Wanting isn’t the same thing. I’m not going to let her kill you. If she makes a wrong move…”

Jess shook his head. “I’m not suicidal, Logan. I never have been. I lost my legs, not my mind. I’m better off than most, everything else is in working order. And I’m making some progress with the other thing, enough to think there’s hope. But if she turns out to be Whitney’s, I don’t know if I’d know how to face that, or if I could let you take her out. I just don’t know. And it’s f*cked up to be talking about this like she’s not going through enough as it is.”

Logan shrugged and walked away, leaving Jess wanting to hit something. In the end, Jess went to find Saber. She wasn’t in the kitchen or his bedroom. He knew she wouldn’t be out in the open. She didn’t feel safe. In his home—in her own home—she didn’t feel safe. He wanted to yell at someone, hit something. Preferably Logan. Because Logan was right and he was wrong. And damn it all, that sucked.

He knocked on the bathroom door. “Come out of there. I want to take another look at that bruise on your face.”

There was a small silence. “I’m fine, Jesse,” she finally answered. “I just need a minute alone.”

“You’ve had your minute.”

She pushed the door open and glared at him. “I’m the victim here, dragon king, so get over being angry.”

“I’m angry because a GhostWalker found me in my own home, lived here, and I didn’t even suspect for months. I usually spot a GhostWalker within seconds of meeting one. Sometimes even before.”

“Because of the energy.”

“Exactly. There’s a feel to it.”

“Well. Then I get to be angry too, because I didn’t know about you. How’d you figure it out?”

“You slipped up and spoke telepathically.”

She put her hands on her hips. “I did not. I don’t make mistakes like that.” She’d been making mistakes ever since she’d met Jess. She’d never felt such a physical attraction to a man, and then, as time went by, such an emotional attachment. Jess was easy to love. And God help her, she was in love with him.

“You did.”

She bit at her lower lip, tapping her foot with her restless energy. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“For the same reason you didn’t say anything.”

“All right. I can accept that,” Saber conceded.

Jess sighed. “You know this can’t be coincidence that you’re here, Saber.”

She closed her eyes briefly. She’d known the conversation was going to circle back to Whitney. “How many lives do you suppose Whitney has ruined in his quest for the perfect soldier?”

“Too many. So you know this wasn’t some mystic coincidence,” Jess said. “He must have known you take announcing jobs at small, local radio stations.” His throat squeezed tight and his chest hurt as he realized the full implications of where he was going with it. And he had to be right. “He orchestrated that accident. He killed three of my workers to create an opening for you.”

“Patsy’s fiancé.” Saber sank down onto the floor and stared up at him in dismay. “He killed Patsy’s fiancé in order to put us in the same place at the same time. How could he know you would take me in?”

“How much do you know about his experiments?”

“In our labs, quite a bit, but other places, not much. I know he trained soldiers, that that was his ultimate goal. He did a tremendous amount of psychic research, and he seemed to be very accurate with his placement.”

“We’re fairly certain he has some psychic ability. How else would he know which infants to choose, which children? Not by looking. He has to do it by touch. He has a breeding program, Saber. When he does his experiments, he strengthens the pheromones in his couples to match them.”

“You’re saying I’m attracted to you because of something Whitney did?” The thought of that sickened her. For once in her life she had found something that was free and clear of Whitney and the endless tests and observations. Someone good and decent.

“There’s evidence that he does that, yes. In our case, we can’t know for certain, but it would make sense. He would plan to throw us together and let his work do the rest.”

She pressed her fingertips to her eyes, calling on every bit of discipline that had been drilled into her to keep from screaming and throwing things. Even this. Even her love for Jess Calhoun hadn’t been free will.

She caught movement and lifted her head as Logan came up behind Jess. “I can’t take all of this in. I think Logan wants to talk to you.” For once she was grateful for the interruption, because she was not going to have an emotional breakdown in front of anyone. “I need to just go somewhere quiet and think about this.”

“Saber…” Jess waited until she looked at him. “Whatever he did doesn’t matter. I love you for who you are, not for how my body reacts to yours. And he can’t make love happen. Remember that, will you, when you’re thinking? I’ll be in my office.”

She couldn’t talk with tears flooding her eyes and choking her throat so she turned and went back to the only sanctuary left to her—Jess’s bathroom.