“She wants to move faster than he’s prepared to. He wants to build their relationship, before they are completely intimate. She wants to make their connection now. She wants to see if they could increase their gift levels if they do. He thinks it’s for the wrong reasons,” I said carefully.
Troy groaned. “Tell Jemmy no and she’s like a dog with a bone, she won’t let go, and she’ll keep pushing until she gets what she wants.”
“Which will only drive Gavin further away,” Jace said pragmatically.
“This is his first real relationship, so…” my voice trailed off.
“So, in comes another pretty girl, that may give him the time and space he needs, and she’ll win his affection,” Noah sighed.
“You think she’s pretty?” I jokingly teased him.
“Well…” Noah stuttered.
I began to giggle and heard a few of the guys chuckle. “Got you,” I whispered to him, then shrugged. “She is beautiful, and she’s almost the exact opposite of Jemmy. How does that even work with connections? Has the nucleus preferred one connection over the other? Has it hurt their overall relationship?”
“Do you prefer one of us over the other?” Troy wickedly joked, but I could hear the seriousness in his words as well.
“No,” I didn’t even hesitate with my answer. There was no thinking about it. “You each fulfill a different need within me. You all share similarities, but it’s your differences that set you apart and draw me to you in other ways.”
Noah groaned. “Why did we all agree to this self-imposed celibacy? I want to be fulfilling other needs,” he teased.
“Shut up,” Jace and Remy bit out simultaneously.
We all laughed accept for Noah and Jaxson.
Jaxson cleared his throat. I hadn’t noticed how quiet he had gotten. “Dad preferred mom over Megan and it hurt their relationship. Mom was all glitz and glamour. Megan was—"
I gasped. I never knew Will had two connections—and they had been sisters—until that moment.
“Megan was younger, sweeter, she was in way over her head, with those two. They were toxic together, and they didn’t belong together. They poisoned everything they touched. Megan knew that, and she had to leave for her own self-preservation,” Jace said gruffly but I heard a true fondness for the aunt he had been cursing just weeks ago.
I saw it as a step in the right direction. He still hadn’t talked to me about the whole situation, but I saw a growth in him since he had last talked about her.
We had just fallen asleep when we were rudely awakened. I heard the panic screams of the kids as a bright flashlight was shown in my eyes. I could hear the guys yelling and grunting around me.
“We have the subject,” I heard a gruff voice say as he leaned over me.
“Leo, what the hell,” I heard Troy curse before I felt a sharp sting in the side of my neck. Then darkness.
Chapter 30
I woke up in a cinder block room. I gasped in panic as I looked around. This room reminded me of the cells we were kept in when I was in the mental institute. It had a single door with a small glass window in it. It was no better than a prison cell. There was a toilet in the corner of the room and a sink beside it. I was laying on a cot, on a thin mattress.
I sat up quickly. My head spun with dizziness, and my mouth was extremely dry. I clasped my head as I noticed I was now wearing a white jumpsuit and a pair of matching white shoes. I was no longer wearing Troy’s t-shirt and Jaxson’s sweat pants.
Where was I? Did Horatio finally find me? I needed to get out of here. I couldn’t be separated from my guys…again!
I needed water. My body was demanding it. On shaking knees, I stood up. I gripped the wall and started to stumble to the sink. I turned the tap on and bent down to drink the water, straight from the faucet.
The door behind me opened, and I spun around quickly, immediately regretting it as my head spun once more. When the world righted itself, I opened my eyes and glared at the two men standing in the doorway. They were dressed in all black; black cargo pants, black tshirts, and black combat boots.
I immediately tried to compel them and tell them to take me to the guys. I groaned as my head pounded on and my gift wouldn’t come forth.
“Follow us,” one of the men said gruffly. “And don’t try to do anything funny. Your gifts are useless here.”
I stared at them obstinately and leaned my head against the wall. “Nah, I’m good,” I snorted.
Why should I listen to them? They kidnapped me from my home in the middle of the night and now they wanted me to follow them?
“Follow us, or we’ll just carry you out,” he rolled his eyes at me. They were both bigger and a lot taller than me, so I’m sure they could easily carry out their threats.
I tried in vain to call my gifts again and my heart sank when I realized he spoke the truth. I couldn’t call upon them.
I gaped at him. When he advanced towards me, I held my hands out towards him. “Fine, fine I’m coming.”
I knew I was being childish as I dragged my feet behind me. I was led to a door not too far from mine. When the door opened, I was gently pushed inside. The room was dark, but at least it looked more inviting then the room they had put me in. There was one of those two-way mirrors located to the left of the room. Two men sat at a table. One was dressed smartly in a suit and tie, and the other one was dressed like the other two that brought me here. They were sitting at a nice mahogany table with a small flat screen television sitting on the end.
“Hello, Blake,” the man in the suit smiled warmly at me. He reminded me of a younger version of Robert DeNiro. “My name’s Paul.”
I heard the click of the door shutting behind me. I leaned against the wall, warily eyeing him. “Are you one of Horatio’s minions? He’s dead you know,” I said snidely.
Paul frowned as his ‘body guard’ snorted. “I wish that were true,” I thought I heard him mutter before he indicated the seat across from him. “Please sit, there’s a bottle of water right there. If you’re hungry, I can get you some food,” he grimaced slightly. “Our operative had the wrong tranq in his gun, so you’re probably parched.”
I stared at him with a deadpan expression, making no move to sit down.
He sighed. He was looking at me kindly, but I didn’t trust him. How could I trust anyone that took me against my will? “Well then.” He cleared his throat. “Stand if you like. I don’t work for Horatio. I own a private company contracted out by the government. I’m sorry if you feel we can’t be…trusted, but you must understand that you were in danger and we had to remove you before Horatio got you. We thought if we helped you and your family out of your situation, you would be able to help us out. We didn’t have time to call you in or ask. As it was, we barely extracted you in time.”
“Horatio’s dead,” I stated again. “Where’s my family? I want to see my family.”
“I will take you to them shortly. I assure you, they are safe. I wanted to talk to you and see if you would be willing to help us out. They are talking to some of my men at the moment, too,” he explained. “If what I have heard is correct, I know that if you’re willing to help us, they will agree to it as well.”