Electric Storm (4 page)

Knowledge danced in his eyes.

She didn’t know how, but he knew she’d caused this.

Tires squealed. Headlights raced toward her, gaining speed. The Ogre moved, and she scuttled backwards, crablike on her ass. The car swerved around her, slid sideways, settling between her and the beast of a man and the boy.

The back door popped open. “Get in.”

 
Chapter Three

D
ominic. “Thank God.”

Her car forgotten, Raven scrambled forward and dove inside. Even before her butt hit the seat, he took off. One glance out the rear window showed the boy sprinting after them, his face illuminated in the red taillights. There was no fear, no anger or pain, just sheer determination to follow her.

“I see you’ve made some friends.” Humor danced in Dominic’s dark green eyes when their gazes clashed in the rearview mirror.

“Shut up.” The voice in the back of her head urged her to turn around. If she left without the boy, they’d kill him.

Fool that she was, she couldn’t do it. She’d seen too much death to leave him. She’d find a way to keep him safe.

“Stop.”

When the car continued, she cursed Dominic and his protectiveness. She yanked up the corner of the carpeting, revealing some loose gravel and scuffed sheet metal. The floorboard quickly warmed under her hand. She closed her eyes, allowed her mind to stretch along the frame of the car, seeking the source of the power.

A spark danced at her touch as she located the cable between the alternator and the battery. She drew down hard. Current jumped at her command, streaking through the metal. Her fingers eagerly soaked up the charge.

The engine clunked ominously, then died altogether when the battery drained.

The car instantly slowed, fishtailing as it rolled to an abrupt stop. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

She pushed the door open and stepped out. Even with the distance between them, the kid continued to run at a steady pace toward her. A little part of her wondered if he would’ve eventually found her anyway if they hadn’t stopped. When he drew abreast, he didn’t say a word, but slipped inside the car.

In the distance, a truck took the corner on two wheels and jumped the curb, the engine screaming. The Ogre. Damn, but the man was relentless. Without another word, she jumped into the backseat.

“A little help here.” Dominic’s fingers were wrapped around the steering wheel, his focus centered on the mirror and the truck rapidly closing the distance between them. 

Her hand settled against the metal. Electricity leapt from her body, slithering along the frame and hit the cable, feeding it just enough to turn over the engine. “Now.”

The car revved to life. Gears shifted. She hit the back seat hard enough to knock the air from her. Headlights grew brighter, lighting up the interior of the car. When she worried the Ogre would force them off the road, the car slowly pulled away.

“How’d you know where to find me?”

He didn’t spare her a glance, his dark head bent as he concentrated on navigating the streets. “Trish and Dina returned without you. Something about a slave auction. They assumed you’d return home. When you didn’t, I grew worried.”

Raven tossed her trashed cell on the front seat in silent explanation and resisted the urge to roll her eyes at his overprotectiveness. “You were the one who ordered me to go out in the first place.”

“Not with some ridiculous plan they concocted.”

Ouch, that stung, but hindsight proved to be true. “So you came to rescue me.”

“Let’s just say you have a way of attracting trouble. I grew concerned.”

A small frown twisted his lips, all the emotion he permitted himself. His gaze flickered to the boy in the back seat, and he dropped the subject despite the obvious desire to take her to task. He didn’t have to say a word. Endangering other lives to pick out a lover didn’t seem so bright now.

A look out the back window showed the truck keeping pace.

“We won’t be able to outdistance him. If we can find a working power grid, I should be able to lose him in traffic.” Dominic took the next corner with a chirp of the tires.

Her ass slid across the seat, plastering her against the boy. Despite her graceless sprawl across his lap, he braced them both. Though not built with bulging muscles like the Ogre, he was no weakling, supporting her without effort, the steady strength very solid under her touch. Instead of worrying, he focused solely on protecting her, seemingly pleased at the attention.

And practically naked.

Uncomfortable with the picture, she untangled herself and scooted to the other side of the car. The temperature in the cab seemed to have risen. The scent of woods, his scent, followed her, wrapped around her and wouldn’t let her mind shuffle him away. He had to be eight to ten years younger than herself. The Ogre said she was supposed to be his protector. In spite of her mental protests, delicious heat at the touch of his skin continued to lick over her body, inviting so much more.

Dominic met her gaze in the mirror. “We can take care of the threat back at the house.”

A public confrontation would only draw attention. Attention she needed to avoid if she wanted to remain hidden. Trapped, Raven gave a subtle nod, hating the feeling of being cornered. They’d take them both home.

God help them all.

* * *

The large house they pulled up to was technically not hers, not even in name, but the great white monstrosity welcomed her with a little hum of energy it stored within its walls ever since she moved into the place. Proof that nothing was safe in her life without her power trying to hijack whatever it touched. With the house, she didn’t mind too much. It felt like home.

When she and a group of misfits escaped the labs, they also took whatever they could with them. Computer data, information on the experiments, background on the organization, money accounts, deeds to houses, stocks, whatever they could grab.

They were trained to be fast, efficient, and deadly. In one day, they had almost everything of value transferred over to a holding company, then sold and filtered through a half a dozen other companies. This house was one of the properties. She claimed it as her own. Her refuge. It wasn’t stealing, not really, since the property had been taken from its paranormal owner when they were inducted into the program.

It seemed fitting somehow.

Angry voices from the house drifted to them when Dominic cut the engine.

The gang.

Dominic exited the car, and she followed suit, the boy not far behind.

After escaping the program, they’d agreed the best survival method would be to stick around and work together to protect others of their kind. They met once a month and worked through potential threats that endangered the tenuous peace between paranomals and humans. It worked in theory. Not so much in actual practice. She usually stayed for the debriefing and then did her best to disappear until they left.

Dominic’s face hardened, his shoulders drew back then fell as he sighed. Bristles lined his jaw, giving him a haggard appearance. “Are you going to be all right with them?” He jerked his head in the direction of the two men standing next to the truck. The Ogre was talking, gesturing, the boy shook his head, pulling a bag and a case from the back of the truck.

“I’ll be fine.” She tried to smile, but the tightness in her face made it impossible.

“I’ll expect a report when I return.” He hesitated and studied the guys through narrowed eyes. Without another word, Dominic turned and disappeared inside the house. She didn’t envy him his job of leader.

As the men continued to argue, Raven kept her back turned in a false sense of privacy. She didn’t care what they said. She had more pressing concerns like what the hell she was going to do with the both of them.

While she had time alone, rare in the last week and she had a feeling even more so now, she allowed a little of the current overload stored at her center to dissipate harmlessly into the ground. Her muscles had the consistency of rubber and instantly missed the loss of spark. The ache in her body eased as every ounce of heat left.

When she’d settled into the house, the first order of business had been to remove any dead remains from the property within a mile radius. The last thing she needed was to accidentally re-animate a corpse when excess energy infiltrated the ground.

So far there had been no mistakes, nothing dead trying to sneak into her house. No hysterical calls from the police she had to scramble to cover. At least not yet. She resisted the urge to rub her arms. Revealing weakness meant exploitation in the labs.

What little control she could muster over the living was by direct touch only. Objects were easier, people often too fragile to try such guesswork on without serious consequences.

“We need to get your hand bandaged.”

The boy. She blinked at him, surprised at his absolute silent approach. She followed his gaze to find tiny slivers of glass imbedded in the palms of her gloves. The excess energy had kept her from feeling the pain. All she felt now was a slight pull. Her body had healed with the slivers still inside her flesh instead of pushing them out.

When she reached to jerk the glass out, he caught her wrist. “We need better light. If you pull it out now, you might leave pieces behind. Show me where you store the medical supplies, and I’ll do it.”

Over his head, she caught the Ogre clenching his fists. Not removing her gaze from him, she answered. “I’m fine. Let’s get inside and figure out where we go from here.”

The old place had a Victorian feel, grand open spaces, large rambling hallways, and a staircase that curved along the wall to the second floor and opened up to a balcony. The acoustics were spectacular as they could attest to by the heated argument from the office to her left. Hunching her shoulders, she hurried to the back of the house. She had to settle the men before she could allow herself the luxury to relax her guard. 

She pushed open the swinging door to the kitchen. Tall, wide windows dominated half of the room to the left. Their images gleamed back at her from the darkened glass. Ignoring the guys, she turned on the faucet and ran her hands under the water.

She sucked in a breath then yanked out a large shard. Then two of the smaller ones in rapid succession. Sharp pain stung her palms. Flesh tore and blood filled the fingers of her gloves.

“Here.” When the boy reached for her hand, she jerked back.

“Stay away.” The tightness in her throat pitched the words harsher than she intended. The light in his eyes dimmed, but he obediently stepped back. Ashamed of her behavior, she worked the zipper of her gloves and yanked them down her arms and then off. “I’m sorry. I—”

“I overstepped my bounds.” He bowed his head, gazing down at his feet, so damned submissive her teeth ached.

“It’s the blood.” Heat filled her face when she blurted out the words. “You can’t touch the blood. I’m not sure what would happen if you did.”

Compassion softened his features. “Shifters can’t catch human diseases.”

“Not exactly.” She turned her back on them and fished out the last bit of the glass, watching the pink water disappear down the drain.

Warmth burned her palms, and the gouges drew closed, sealing themselves. Turning off the water, she picked up a towel and dried her hands, avoiding their gazes.

“You’re a shifter?” Wonder and excitement filled the kid’s voice. “I didn’t sense it at all.”

“Yes. No.” She tightened her lips and pressed her hands against the counter, bracing herself. “Right now, I’m more concerned about what to do with the both of you.”

“But you healed yourself.” The Ogre lumbered closer, a deep, puzzled frown between his brows. He leaned over and inhaled slowly, deeply, dragging in her scent, his thick, dark brown hair sliding over his forehead. “You don’t smell of death, no stench of vampire or shifter.”

A shiver crept down her spine. Her stomach somersaulted at his nearness and the deep, vibrant sound of his voice so close to her ear. Something in her very much liked his closeness. The beasts at her center shifted restlessly, but thankfully remained hidden. She gingerly stepped away, uncomfortable with her swinging emotions.