In His Keeping (Slow Burn #2) (38 page)

She squeezed her mother’s hand, tears pricking her eyelids. These were her parents. Biological or not. These were the people who loved her, protected her, stood by her always.

“But I allowed them to,” Ari continued. “What I have to say, what you must hear from me will be very hard for you to hear. And even harder to accept. But I’m asking you to trust me. If you’ve ever loved me, as I know you do. If you’ve ever had faith in me, as you always have. Then trust me now and listen to what I must tell you.” Ari sucked in a shallow breath so her body wouldn’t betray a larger motion. “And accept what I must do.”

Worry flickered in her father’s eyes, raw emotion etched in his features. His back was to the cameras and he stood there a long moment before visibly composing himself and then straightening as if he’d simply shared a private, intimate moment with his wife and shared his worry for their daughter with her for the briefest of moments.

“I allowed them to overload me,” Ari said. “So much has happened since you went missing. So much I’ve learned about myself. My powers. Still so much untapped. Undiscovered. And yet I know there is so much I can do. More than I ever would have thought possible.”

Though her mother didn’t voice her question aloud, Ari could see it clearly in her eyes.

“I went through a series of tests that were in fact very easy,” she explained. “But I purposely thought of things that would put unbearable strain on me so they would see me in psychic overload. So they would see me experiencing a psychic bleed. I needed them to be disgusted or perhaps disappointed or even believe I was worthless to them. At least until I could find you and Dad. Because when they come for me again—and they will—you have to be ready. And you must do exactly as I tell you. It’s the only way I can keep you both safe when I bring the rest of this place down and reduce it to rubble, taking every sadistic son of a bitch with it.”

Shock registered in her mother’s eyes, and she quickly dropped her gaze to hide her response. Though Ari could no longer see her father, she could feel him close, could feel the instant coil and snap of tension within him. It went against his every instinct to willingly allow his daughter to go into a dangerous situation while he hung back waiting to be “saved.”

He would be the one hardest to convince and this is where she had to win her mother over so she could rein him in.

She sent her mother a pleading look, begging her to understand. Begging her to trust Ari. To have faith in Ari’s abilities.

Her mother’s hand tightened around Ari’s, squeezing just a little.

“Go on,” her mom said without moving her lips.

“I am very powerful,” Ari said honestly. “These men are no match for me and I need you to trust in that. To know I’ll be safe and to understand that the way I came to you was my
choice
. I had to know where you were. That you were still alive. Because when the time comes, I’ll be able to provide a protective barrier around you, but you
must
stay. No matter what you see, what you hear, what you think. You have to stay here while the house is destroyed around you.”

She could hear her father’s sudden expulsion of breath and then the acceleration of his respirations. Again, she glanced pleadingly up at her mother, asking for her help in convincing her dad.

Once more her mother squeezed her hand, this time with no hesitation. And what Ari saw reflected in her mom’s eyes staggered her. Love—of course. But also trust. And . . .
pride
. It shone like a beacon in her mother’s eyes. It lit her face, etched into every facet of her expression.

Ari blinked back tears, squeezing her mother’s hand and holding on. Simply holding on to that tangible link between mother and daughter. A bond like no other. Irreplaceable. Unwavering. Old as time itself. There truly was nothing like the love of a mother. Unconditional. Solid. Indefinable and limitless. Capable of surviving anything. Able to triumph over the impossible.

And Ari
would
triumph. She believed in herself, just as her mother believed in her. She wasn’t a freak of nature. Some accident of birth to be studied, examined or controlled. She did have a purpose. She
was
special.

It had taken her twenty-four years to understand her purpose. To accept it and embrace it. Not to shy away from it, duck it, or suppress or ignore it. Never again. It was an integral part of who and what she was.

And now it would save the people she loved and the people who loved her more than anything in the world.

Blood didn’t make a family.

Love did.

“Dad,” she called softly, not loud enough to be heard but enough that her mother would somehow let him know to get within hearing range.

“Gavin, come here, please,” Ginger said in concern. “Did you see she bled from her ears? Why on earth would something like this happen?”

Ari wanted to smile. And then she felt the warmth seep into her chilled body as both mother and father flanked her once more.

“Dad,” she whispered again.

“I’m here,” he murmured.

“You have to protect Mom.”

It was a manipulative, dirty trick, but she knew by appealing to the protector in her father that while he might be forced to stand down and not take an active role in his daughter’s protection, he certainly wouldn’t do anything that would bring her mother harm.

Her mom’s lips twitched suspiciously as though she knew exactly what Ari was doing. But then her mom had given her useful information over the years on how to handle a male. Particularly his ego.

“You have to make sure she doesn’t move once I leave,” Ari continued, driving her point home to her father. “If she were to move even a little, if a gap formed between the two of you, then she could very well end up outside the barrier and she could be killed.”

Though she was certainly trying to do anything she could to convince her father of the necessity of his remaining behind, she was not lying about his need to protect her mother.

Her mother was fierce when it came to the defense of her only child, and God help them all if she thought Ari was in need or danger, or worse . . . hurt and defenseless.

She felt rather than heard the soft expulsion of his breath in a resigned sigh.

“It was never an issue of me not trusting you,” her father said gruffly, emotion thick in his voice.

And there was something else in his tone. Something that warmed her to the bone, warding off the aching chill that seemed a permanent part of her now.

Pride.

She could hear how proud of her he was just by those few words he spoke. It was often the way he spoke of her mother, talked to others about her mother, though God knew, they didn’t exactly cultivate any social acquaintances.

“No matter what happens, know I love you both. There is no one in the world I’d rather have as my parents—my family.”

She swallowed back further words before she exposed what she knew to be true.

They shared something far more precious than blood. Something she’d never take for granted again.

They shared love. And family. More than anything she wanted Beau to become a part of her family. Her dad would hate him on sight—of course. He wouldn’t be doing his fatherly duty if he didn’t scowl, threaten and try to intimidate the man he’d swear wasn’t good enough for her.

“And there is no one other than you we’d love more as our child,” her mother said fiercely.

Once more, her father leaned down to brush his lips over Ari’s cheek. And then he whispered as he pulled away.

“We are not going to say our goodbyes and our I love yous like one or all of us is going to die,” he reprimanded. “By all that’s holy, Ari, if you don’t get your ass back to this cell and let me and your mother out so we can escape this place together I’ll follow you to heaven and fight God himself for you. He’ll get his time later. But for my lifetime, you belong to me.”

Ari closed her eyes, peace settling over her like the warmest, most soothing blanket.

“When they come for me, be ready,” she whispered, her heart thumping, not in fear, but in anticipation of what was to come. “When they take me, you must stand together and remain in the exact spot you are when I last see you. It’s the only way I can save you. Trust me. Have faith in me. I
won’t
let you down.”

THIRTY-THREE

THEY
came sooner than Ari expected, but she was glad for it. She’d rested against her mother, surrounded by her warmth and love, and then she’d roused from sleep, but she had remained stoic and silent, not wanting to give anything away to the silent observers she knew were there.

The only concession she’d made was to tell her parents she was fine. Just a little tired. But that was for the benefit of her observers. Because she was
ready
.

Not even a half an hour later, they came for her.

The same two guards came striding down the hall, stopping at the cell door, both holding guns again, but these were real. Or at least they looked real to her. Holding real bullets capable of killing in a matter of seconds. She knew it was a silent message to her not to resist. A not so silent message to her father when one of the guards simply held a gun to her mother’s head and coldly told her father that unless he wanted his wife’s gray matter splattered all over the walls he’d stand down and not make any trouble.

As Ari had requested, as soon as Ari “surrendered” herself to the guards and went without a fight, her father gathered her mother to his side and stood directly in front of the cot, his arms firmly around her.

Ari stared back at them as she was roughly shoved through the cell door. She memorized every marker, every detail, taking mental measurements of as much of a barrier she’d need to encompass them both and keep them from harm.

Then she smiled and mouthed “I love you” just before one of the guards yanked on her arm and hauled her out of view of her parents.

It was hard for Ari to act resigned, afraid, and tentative. Like she
feared
these bastards. When what she wanted to do was rain hell down on them with a fury they’d never experienced in their life. What life they had left, that is.

But she forced herself to be patient, knowing she needed this to go off without a hitch. She needed to be far enough away from her parents so that the most devastation would occur in the center of the compound and not the periphery where the cells were positioned and where her parents were being held.

She focused on and anticipated seeing the shock and the eventual realization that they’d seriously underestimated her. That they had fucked with the wrong woman. Revenge was thick in her mouth, a coating on her very soul. Not a taint. Not a scourge. Nothing she would ever be remorseful over.

It was
sweet
. Or so the saying went.

Because the world was a better place without people like these. People who thought nothing of death, intimidation, hurt and fear to achieve their twisted objectives. The hell of it was she still didn’t know what their primary goal was. Only that they wanted to use her—her powers—in a way she
knew
was evil.

It could be said she was as twisted and as evil as they were, and she supposed there was some truth to that sentiment. But at the end of the day, her actions, her conscience, the
consequences
for her choices were between her and God. And she was okay with answering to the higher power who’d gifted her with her own “higher power.”

She was once again shoved into the sterile, blindingly white laboratory with the same two goons—this time she was going with Pete and Repete—and the smarmy “medical professional” who no more had a medical degree than she did.

“So what now,” she said tiredly, purposely injecting extreme weariness—and resignation—into her voice.

The lab rat rubbed his chin in an exaggerated fashion and studied her intently, his eyes flashing with irritation.

“So far you’ve proven to be a major disappointment,” he said in disgust. “And considering the time and money that have gone into the careful cultivation of gaining access to you, disappointment is an understatement.”

“Gee,” she said with heavy sarcasm. “I feel so insulted that a lab rat and his goons find me a major disappointment. What’s the matter? Were you expecting me to be able to achieve world peace? Or maybe fix the ozone issue. Oh wait, there’s also the issue of all the starving children in Africa.”

She began to press each digit of her hand to count down each point.

“Or maybe you wanted me to find a cure for Ebola. There’ve been at least ten cases reported in the U.S. over the last month or so. Want me to annihilate all the African nations on the Ebola watch list for you?”

“For someone who seemed willing to do anything to save your parents, you show none now,” “Pete,” aka Goon A, said in an icy tone.

She sent him a mocking smile that had him furrowing his brow in brief confusion.

“You can’t touch my parents,” she said softly, satisfaction forming her smile.

“Clearly the brain bleeds leeched most of your intelligence,” the lab rat said, shaking his head. “Perhaps a demonstration is in order.”

He turned to Repete, Goon B, and issued an order that would have made Ari’s blood freeze in her veins if she wasn’t
certain
that she was capable of pulling this off. Now more than ever, as much as she’d asked her parents to believe in her, she had to have absolute faith in
herself
. There was no room for error or a breach in her concentration. This was the most important stand she’d ever take in her life. She’d
die
before failing her family.

They turned on the monitor, and to Ari’s relief, her parents were still standing in the exact spot, in the same position as when she’d left them. She breathed a silent thank-you that they’d trusted her and prayed that they wouldn’t react to whatever this asshole had up his sleeve. Because shit was about to get real.

Goon A barked an order to execute her mother through his radio and mere seconds later, without even opening the cell door, two minions appeared on the periphery of the monitor and opened fire.