Darkness Divides (Sensor #3) (42 page)
Read Darkness Divides (Sensor #3) Online
Authors: Susan Illene
He was currently out back in the storage shed we’d bought for him to live in. It was a nice one with insulation and a window so he wasn’t too bad off. We’d even scheduled an electrician to come in and install lights. Add the cot, chair and desk we’d put in there and he had all he needed for now.
“We’ll find him, Lucas. At least we know which part of the country to look,” I tried to reassure him.
He stopped pacing. “I have contacts who may be able to help, but the phone numbers I have for them no longer work. It will require some traveling to locate them and I may be gone for awhile.”
“Let me go with you,” I said.
“No.” His expression hardened. “I need to be able to travel quickly and you’ll only slow me down.”
I winced. He wasn’t just implying I’d hinder him because I couldn’t flash with him, but also because I’d have to take Kerbasi along. Knowing that didn’t make his point any easier, though.
“We’ve been apart enough already.” I came up and put my arms around him. He couldn’t really mean to leave me this soon after getting back.
He sighed. “This is my brother, Melena. There is no way of knowing what Zoe ordered her minions to do to him. He could be suffering unimaginably as we speak. I’ve always protected him and I can’t stop that now—not even for you.”
I let go and took a step away. It was difficult for me to do, but I couldn’t keep him from searching for his brother. He had the freedom to move about quickly. I couldn’t do that—especially if I factored Emily into the equation. I could leave her with friends for a week or two, but any longer than that wouldn’t be fair to her.
“Fine. Go look for your brother,” I said, steeling my resolve. I couldn’t act like a clingy woman who couldn’t live without her man. If he needed his space to do what he needed to do, I’d give it to him.
He lifted a brow. “No more arguments?”
“No. You’re right that he needs to be found quickly.” I didn’t let him see any sign of my inner turmoil. After he was gone, I’d vent my frustration.
A flicker of admiration reflected in his eyes. That’s what he’d wanted me to do—prove that I could be strong even in his absence. Like I hadn’t done that enough already.
“If you wish to be helpful, continue to question the sensors. There could be something they know and don’t realize. Call me if you discover something.”
Too bad we’d lost the vampire. He’d tried to make a getaway and had to be put down after he almost killed one of his guards.
I nodded. “I’d planned to question them more anyway, but we have to let them go before long. Without Zoe giving them orders, they shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”
There wasn’t much else we could do with them. They were just followers who’d been brainwashed into the cause. Nearly getting themselves killed seemed to have woken them up a bit and I thought with a little time I might be able to turn the female sensor against the others. She’d seemed like she might be amenable.
“I’d rather you keep them here, but I’m leaving that decision to you,” Lucas said. It was a sign that he’d come a long way in his thinking to hand over control of the sensors to me. Nik hadn’t argued with it either, but he came from a line of them so he didn’t have the same prejudices.
“Thank you,” I replied.
He stepped forward and gave me a deep kiss. I swallowed my regret when he broke away and put several paces of distance between us. Something about the motion made me think it was harder for him to go than he wanted to admit.
“I’ll return when I can, sensor. In the meantime, do try to stay out of trouble.” He gave me an admonishing look.
I crossed my arms. “Don’t I always stay out of trouble?”
His laughter followed him as he flashed away.
I went upstairs and opened the safe in my bedroom closet. Inside was the fae device. Guess I’d be taking this back by myself.
About Susan Illene
Instead of making the traditional post high school move and attending college, Susan joined the U.S. Army. She spent her eighteenth birthday in the gas chamber — an experience she is sure is best left for criminals. For eleven years she served first as a human resources specialist and later as an Arabic linguist (mostly in Airborne units). Though all her duty assignments were stateside, she did make two deployments to Iraq where her language skills were put to regular use.
After leaving the service in 2009, Susan returned to school to study history with a focus on the Middle East at the University of Oklahoma. She no longer finds many opportunities to test her fighting abilities in real life, unless her husband is demanding she cook him a real meal (macaroni and cheese apparently doesn’t count), but she’s found a new outlet in writing urban fantasy heroines who can.
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Acknowledgments
I have to first thank Mary for her hard work editing this novel. How she puts up with some of my last minute requests I’ll never know, but she’s awesome for it. Thanks also to Kristy, Rachel and Heather who spent many hours helping me come up with the concept design for this cover, along with others in the series, and the promo material. You ladies are awesome and turned out to be more helpful than I even expected.
Thanks to my family for their support. My husband puts up with my craziness every time it gets close to releasing a book and suffers in silence as all household chores get put on hold. He often goes hungry too, but it’s not like there aren’t a lot of restaurants nearby who are happy to cater to his needs. My father and grandfather continue to be super supportive as well, letting me run plot ideas by them and making suggestions. Even when I begin to describe some of the horrific things I do to my characters they try to keep straight faces and just nod their heads as if such things are commonplace to discuss. My apologies if I ever caused you to lose your appetites.
A huge thanks to my cover design team (who also handles the promo material). Claudia at Phat Puppy art did the best cover yet for the series with the help of Ashley at Bookish Brunette who handled the typography. Teresa Yeh did yet another fantastic job with her photography for the model and I can’t begin to describe how pleased I am with how the shots turned out. Thanks also to Haley for portraying the look of Melena even better than I’d hoped. You really nailed it!
The list goes on and I can’t possibly thank everyone who has contributed in some way. There are so many of you. Just know that my gratitude is sincere.
A final shout out to my Facebook fans. Of all my readers, you all are by far the most enthusiastic and help keep me motivated to write more! Expect some giveaways in the near future ☺
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