Flirting With Fate (11 page)

A week ago, he’d been down at the Metro and
through the crowd he’d seen her. Or thought he had. He’d followed her and lost
her just as quickly as he’d convinced himself he’d seen her face.

Then this morning he’d met a woman who looked
exactly like his first love, and she hadn’t acted as if she recognized him at
all.

He wanted to drop this insane train of thought,
but he couldn’t. He couldn’t because when he’d called her Mallory, she’d
responded, and something like fear had flashed in her eyes.

He had to know. If there was any chance Josie and
Mallory were the same person—it was a ridiculous thought, but he had to know.

He needed to convince himself this woman wasn’t
the one he’d once loved. He scanned to file on his table and placed his finger
on her address. He knew where to find the proof he needed.

The Jumper frowned at Tanner. “I don’t know, man.”
He pulled his hand down over his face. “The SIA gets all pissy when I use my
power. They’re all like, ‘It changes everything. You can’t play God. Blah blah
blah.’” He cocked his head and slowly a grin replaced his stoner stare. “But
wait, that was you saying those things.”

Tanner took a deep breath, wondering for the
hundredth time why he was doing this. It was just a journal. But, without it,
Josie had lost her only connection to her family. As someone who didn’t have
any connections himself, he understood how important it was.

But also, if the bastard who attacked her had what
he wanted, Tanner might never find out who he was. And Tanner was determined to
find him.

“I’m asking you to make a one-time exception,”
Tanner said, dredging up the last of his patience.

“So you just want me to go and grab the journal?”

“From him. You have to take it from him, or he’ll
think she still has it and she’ll be in danger.” And God help the fucker if he
was stupid enough to come after her again.

“What else?”

Tanner shook his head. “Just take it and meet me
here at this time and give it to me.”

The Jumper nodded and reached behind him. “Easy
enough, dude,” he said. “Now my payment?”

“Okay, go ahead, but don’t change anything else,”
Tanner warned, knowing that wasn’t possible. All the Jumper wanted was to go
back and impregnate his wife before she got uterine cancer. They were childless
and it was a simple thing he wanted for his wife.

Tanner just hoped the kid wouldn’t be the next
Hitler.

“Here you go,” The Trapped said, pulling the
leather-bound journal from his bag.

Tanner blinked. Time travel hurt his brain, no
question about it.

“Now, I’ve gotta go. Little Joey is teething and
it’s wearing his mom out.”

Tanner flipped open the journal. “Thanks,” he
said. “Don’t tell anyone I was here.”

The Jumper chuckled. “Dude, they’ll never know it
wasn’t always this way.”

When Josie got out of the shower, the smell of
coffee filled her apartment, warm biscuits sat on the counter, and Tanner was
nowhere to be found. He’d left her a note under her mug:

So sorry I had to go. I need to take care of
something. I’ll check on you later.

She shook her head. She wanted him to do a lot
more than check on her, but that would have to wait.

She poured herself a cup of coffee and had taken a
single sip when the doorbell rang.

“That was fast,” she called, running to the door.

She was in nothing but her satin robe—which she’d
chosen because it matched her eyes and looked good with her complexion—and her
hair fell in damp waves around her shoulders. A quick glance down confirmed
that her nipples showed through the satin. Mission accomplished.

She was done playing games. She was done waiting.
She was ready for Tanner.

“I’m glad you didn’t make me wait,” she said,
pulling the door open. She froze.

Definitely not Tanner.
Shit.

On the other side of her door stood the man Tanner
had decked in the fertility clinic.

“Can I help you?”

The gray-haired gentleman gave her a soft smile
and extended a hand. “My name is Dr. Martin. I believe we met in my office last
night.”

Her heart pounded. She looked at his hand but
didn’t take it. “I’m sorry?” Playing the dumb blonde worked nine times out of
ten, but even as she took up the act, she covered her breasts with her arms.

“I don’t mean to intrude, but I assume you were in
my lab because you wanted to know about your parents.”

Josie’s breath caught. This was the one. She’d
found him. “What do you know about my parents?”

Martin chewed on the inside of his cheek and
flashed a nervous glance over his shoulder. “May I come in?”

Her hands shook as she pulled the door open wider.
“Okay.”

She led him to the living room, and he lowered
himself into a chair.

“I’m so sorry about what happened to your family,”
he said.

“It was a long time ago.”

He shook his head. “It was senseless.”

“What do you know about my mother’s plans?” she
asked. She needed to know.

“I know she planned on running away, planned on
making you a different person before you ran.”

“Were you the one who was going to do the
conversion?”

He sighed. “The procedure is very dangerous.”

“But you can do it?”

“I was going to try.”

She swallowed. “Can you still do it?” The words
tasted bitter on her tongue. It didn’t matter that it was the right thing to
do. Part of her prayed he’d tell her it couldn’t be done.

He shifted in the chair, leaning forward so he was
looking at the floor. “I could, but I won’t.”

“Are you working for them?

“Who—what? No.” He shook his head. “I won’t do it
because it’s not necessary anymore.”

“Her journal said I would be the catalyst for the
Ascendants’ rise to power. They want what? My blood?” She shook her head. Six
months ago she’d seen exactly what they’d had in mind for a world where
Ascendants ruled. “I won’t let that happen.”

Martin looked up at her. “Forgive me for saying
this, but you’re no longer a virgin, am I correct?”

Josie almost rolled her eyes. “I’m twenty-six.”

“Your blood is useless to them if you’re not a
virgin.”

“But I wasn’t a virgin when my mother was making
plans for DNA conversion. I’d just started having visions…”

“I didn’t know. Your mother didn’t tell me.”

She shook her head. “She didn’t know I’d had sex,
but I told her about my vision.”

“She didn’t know the significance of your
virginity, only that you were in danger.”

“Who? Do you know? Who killed my family?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“Could it be the same person who came after the
journal?” she said, but she was talking more to herself than to him.

Martin gave her a confused smile. “I’m sorry,
dear. What journal?”

Josie ignored him as ideas clicked into place in
her mind. “That’s why they didn’t come after me,” she said. “I was reading the
journal and didn’t understand why they didn’t come for me after the murders.
But if they knew I wasn’t a virgin…” She trailed off, feeling the weight lift
off her shoulders. She lifted her gaze and locked it with the doctor’s. “I
don’t have to do it,” she whispered.

Martin smiled. “No, dear, you don’t have to do
anything but live your life.”

Could he have known how much she needed to hear
those words?

Standing, Martin clapped his hands together. “Now
there’s also the little matter of what you were doing in my lab.”

Heat flamed in Josie’s cheeks. “I was looking for
answers.”

“And what did you find?”

Josie narrowed her eyes—had he seen them take
Tanner’s file?—but the man’s genial face roused no further suspicion. “I found
you.”

“Indeed, you did.” He turned to the door then paused.
“Listen, I was in the position to help your parents ten years ago, and I wanted
to, but there are people who would have done anything to stop me.”

“And it appears they did.”

“Yes, I’m so sorry.” He fidgeted with his tie,
then said, “I’ve never gotten over that feeling I was being watched, and I
don’t know how those people would respond if they knew I came here today.” He
attempted a smile. “If you see me again, could you…”

“I’ll act as if we’ve never met.”

His shoulders sagged with relief. “Thank you.”

She saw him to the door and shut it behind him.
You don’t have to do anything but live your life.

He was wrong, of course. There were still so many
unanswered questions, and she couldn’t stop searching. But not going through
with the DNA conversion meant she could continue to live as herself—meant she
didn’t have to risk her own life in the dangerous procedure.

Tanner materialized before her and she jumped.

“Jesus, Tanner, don’t do that!”

His face split into a grin. “You’d think you’d be
used to it by now.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.”

“I’m sorry I had to go.” Tanner lowered himself
into a chair. He studied her, concern furrowing his brow. “How are you
feeling?”

“It’s just been an odd week.”
Understatement of
the century.

He looked at his hands. “Listen, Josie, we need to
talk.”

She was ready to talk. Ready to tell Tanner all
she knew. “My mother’s journal held encrypted messages about their plans to
escape,” she blurted, and Tanner straightened. Clearly, he hadn’t expected her
to open up without some coaxing, but she saw no reason to hide this from him.
Not now. “I just discovered the code this weekend and had only cracked the
first twenty pages when it was stolen.”

He leaned forward, elbows on thighs. “What did it
say?”

Her throat felt thick and swollen, but she was
determined to tell it without crying. Martin had brought good news, and she
wanted to enjoy that feeling. “My parents were Ascendants.”

“Josie—”

She shook her head and held up a hand. “No. Don’t.
They were trying to leave. They were charged with a mission they no longer
believed in, and they were meeting with a geneticist who was going to alter
their DNA to permanently change their appearances.”

“I was here while Martin was talking to you,” he
admitted. “I heard your conversation.”

“I should have figured.” She shrugged, then forced
a smile. “I would be more surprised if the SIA stayed out of my business.”

He stood, his features hard. “My reason for being
there had nothing to do with my position with the SIA.”

She locked eyes with him. “Okay.”

He joined her on the couch and studied his hands.
“Josie, do you know anything about DNA conversion?”

“Only that it was important to my mother that I
have it done. My mother described the process as working in the same way a
Shifter can change shape and identity—only permanent.”

“Did you know Specials have been experimenting
with DNA conversion for nearly fifty years?”

She shook her head.

He turned and his eyes burned into hers. “They die.
It doesn’t work. Shifters shift, but the rest of us die.”

She’d known the risk was there, but Tanner made it
sound like suicide. “It’s a good thing I don’t have to go through with it then,
I guess.”

He pulled her against him and squeezed her to his
chest. “I stopped breathing when I heard you ask Martin about it.” He pushed
her away so she was looking at him. “Tell me you won’t consider it again.”

“I can’t promise that,” she whispered. “I’ve seen
what the Ascendants want. I can’t be responsible for that.”

He let out a long breath and pulled her against
his chest again. “Tell me about what you found in the journal. What was this
mission that your parents wanted out of?”

She settled into him, feeling his heart pound
against her cheek, and loving that he was so outraged by the idea of losing
her. “I don’t know. The code was...complex. It doubled back on itself and
relied on obscure patterns that changed periodically. The journal itself
appears to be about day-to-day goings-on of a middle-class American family. I
couldn’t tell you how many times I read it before discovering these hidden
messages.”

“And you think she intended the messages for you?”

“Yes. I think she knew they wouldn’t kill me and
she left the journal because she wanted me to follow through with the DNA
conversion. But I didn’t get a chance to finish decoding the journal, so I
don’t know. That’s the worst part. The journal is gone, so now I’ll never
know.”

He combed her hair with his fingertips. The heat
of his body warmed her cheek. “Martin said you aren’t a risk to anyone
anymore.”

She released her breath. “Yes, but it would be so
reassuring to know what else was in that journal. Just…to know what she wanted
for me.”

“Josie,” he said, “I think your parents would just
want you to be happy.”

She sighed. “I don’t want to keep secrets from you
anymore.”

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She
smiled. It felt so good to touch him like this. To have her head rise and fall
with the rhythm of his breath.

She looked up at him and smiled.

He opened his mouth, as if to say more, but then
only nodded, as if thinking better of it. Gently, he pushed her away and stood,
a pained look on his face. “You need to get some sleep. I won’t keep you.”

He was two steps to the door when she stopped him.
“Wiley?”

He turned. “Yeah?”

She didn’t want him to leave.
You don’t have to
do anything but live your life.
“Can you stay?” she asked. “I have some
wine, and I don’t want to drink alone.” She didn’t want to
be
alone. Not
when freedom to live her life as she chose stretched before her like a gift.

He studied her for a long beat. The air drew taut
between them, as if time alone had the power to pull them together.