KanesBounty (14 page)

Her body shook as she came a second time. Her pussy pulsed
around him and he groaned deep in his chest. Her nails dug into the flesh of
his back as she gripped him through her rapture.

As she relaxed, he resumed his slow, consistent thrusts.
He’d move nearly completely out of her sopping slit before gliding back in and
stretching her wide. His pace quickened and he rose up on his hands. His biceps
and triceps strained against his weight as he slammed inside her.

She’d never liked it rough, but as Kane fucked her harder
and faster, her excitement grew and she thrust her hips up to meet his.

Her body careened for a third time just as he threw his head
back and grunted his release. He pressed in three quick times and his body
shook violently.

She gripped his arms and tried to catch her breath. “That
was…”

Kane lowered himself and rolled off, but not away from her.
His body pressed against her side. He kissed her temple. “You’re incredible.”

“I don’t think it’s me,” she said.

“I know it is.”

He’d told the truth when she’d questioned him bringing in a
condom. He’d been hopeful she would let him make love to her. He wanted her,
but if she had been even slightly reluctant, he would have backed off. Her
willingness and responsiveness brought him more pleasure than he could ever
have imagined.

She was in his arms, though still not sleeping, and he
couldn’t help how happy he was to have her there. He should be worried. In only
a few hours, she would be carted off to jail. Still, he was content with the
time they had and confident they would be together.

In truth, he barely recognized himself. What had happened to
the pessimistic Psi-hunter who thought humanity was a collection of hate and
depravity? He couldn’t find him anywhere.

He still had to deal with Thorn and Banta. He looked down at
her sweet face where it was tucked against his chest. A wave of possessiveness
washed over him. She was his and anyone who hurt her would have to pay.

“Lena?”

“Yes.” Her voice was sleepy and sexy as hell.

“You should sleep. Tomorrow will be another long day.”

She opened her tired eyes and stared up at him. “I wish I
could.”

He rolled onto his side so he faced her and her head shifted
to rest on his biceps. “I can help you. We are safe, and if you let me, I will
help you fall asleep, but you have to trust me.”

Her face was tight with strain. When they’d made love, she’d
been relaxed. She had let go of the demons in her mind. Now in the dark, they
were tormenting her.

“When I start to doze, he’s there.”

“I know. Let me take him away, just for tonight, just enough
of it so you can sleep.”

She leaned up on her elbow and moved just slightly away from
him. “You want to get into my head.”

It took all of his restraint to not move closer to her. “Do
you want me to tell you exactly what I would do?”

She nodded, looking as if she was a little girl who feared
the monsters under the bed. Except Lena’s monsters were real.

“You’ll have to let down your barrier.”

She stiffened, sat up and turned away from him, rubbing her
arms as if she were cold.

He sat and touched her cheek. Her skin was soft and warm. “I
will barely need to breach, Lena. Just enough to put a block up.”

She turned her head to look at him. “What kind of block?”

“It’s only temporary. You can remove it whenever you want
and I will help you do it in a few days. It’s not good to block the things that
torment us. We have to deal with them or they drive us crazy. But for now, I
think it would help if you could get some sleep.”

“I feel as if I’ve lost my mind and I’m terrified, Kane.”

He moved to sit behind her and she leaned back against him.
Instantly, he wrapped his arms around her. “You won’t lose your mind. You’re
the strongest woman I’ve ever met. You just need some time and sleep. Let me
help you.”

She nodded.

He maneuvered them so they were lying on their sides facing
each other. Her eyes were closed tightly. She looked ready to take some kind of
punishment. His anger at Troth Banta surged. He had to fight to suppress it.
Anger could not enter into what he was about to do.

“Look at me,” he said.

She opened her eyes.

Normally, he would take the person’s head in his hands, but
he didn’t want to frighten her. Resting his forehead against hers, he took a
deep breath. “Let down your wall, Lena.”

He felt the barrier strengthen for a moment before it slowly
lowered and disappeared. Kane couldn’t help the joy blossoming within him as
she showed her complete trust. He pressed forward with his mind, not invading
or sharing. He only searched for the darkness. It wasn’t hard to spot. Lena’s
natural mind was filled with love and light. When he found what Banta had left
behind, it was dark and angry. Kane used his gift to push the spot into a
corner. She would still have to deal with it at some point or let him help her
convert the energy into something else, but that would take time.

He built a psychic wall around the memories which were not
her own. As he backed out of her mind, he suggested,
Sleep
.

By the time he was out and his eyes opened, she was
breathing evenly in her sleep. He tucked her protectively against his chest and
closed his eyes.

* * * * *

As soon as she woke up, her wall went back up.

Kane opened his eyes and watched as she quietly pulled her
jeans and shirt on. He didn’t know what he expected when she turned and saw him
watching. Not the shy smile she gave him.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Better.” She looked as if she wanted to say
more. She was searching for words. Her eyes looked from one corner of the room
to the other as if the small room could help her with the answers. “Banta is
still in here.” She touched her head. “I can feel him, but it’s as if he’s in a
fog.”

He nodded, sat up and grabbed his pants.

“Is that what you did?”

She was adorable standing there with bare feet, looking for
answers.

“I tried to tuck him further back in your mind. For now, he
will seem like a distant memory.”

“You said you can get rid of him.” She either wouldn’t or
couldn’t look at him.

Kane stood up and pulled her hard against him. Her head
turned up. “When this is all over,” he said. “We’ll work on it.”

“Why can’t you just take it away?” A plump tear tumbled over
her lower lid.

He caught it with his thumb and wiped it away. “It doesn’t
work that way. Your brain is not like a library where I can pop in and remove a
book.”

“What then?”

“We can move the memory or turn it into another kind of
energy. Right now, behind the block I put up, Banta’s memories feel as if
they’re your own. We have to put them in their proper place. Since you’re not a
telepath, you never learned how to do it. I have the memories of several people
in my head, but I know how to organize them so I don’t confuse those thoughts
and images with my own.”

“I get it.” She seemed disappointed.

His entire body strained with regret. “I wish I could take
the memories away, Lena. If I could safely do that, believe me, I would. People
have tried it and they never manage it. The person is never quite right after
that kind of procedure. I could never risk losing you that way.”

She must have noticed his distress. Her hand touched his
brow, smoothing the spaced between his eyes. “None of this was your fault,
Kane. Stop blaming yourself. If anyone in this room is to blame, it’s me. I
should have seen Oscar for what he was long before he put us all in danger.”

The knock on the door ended the conversation. He reluctantly
released her and let Wade in.

“I have coffee. I didn’t know how Lena took hers. I brought
sugar and those little creamers. I also got a few donuts.” Wade’s smile was
bright and he looked very pleased with himself as he placed the pink-and-orange
box of donuts on the card table with the cardboard carrier containing three
covered coffee cups.

Lena plucked one cup out of the carrier, opened the lid and
poured a couple of creamers in. “Good job, Shamus.”

Wade actually blushed. Then the big man shuffled from one
foot to the other. “I’m sorry for hitting you back in Savannah. If it’s any
consolation, those bikers beat the hell out of me after Kane grabbed you up.”

Her smile went right to Kane’s guts. His stomach tightened
and so did his cock.

“It does actually make me feel a bit better,” she said.

Kane laughed. It made him feel better too. He liked the
image of the tattooed biker woman and her friends beating the hunter down until
the cops broke up the scene.

It took Wade a few minutes longer, but then he chuckled too.

They drank coffee and ate donuts. Kane was happy to see Lena
munching on a cruller and listening to Wade recount every kick, punch and pinch
they had inflicted on him in Savannah.

After fifteen minutes, Wade sobered. “I told the court I
would deliver you at nine sharp.”

She nodded and went into the bathroom. The water turned on.

Wade broke the silence. “You’re really with her, aren’t
you?”

Kane ran his fingers through his hair. “Yeah. I guess I am.”

Wade’s eyes widened. “I never thought you would fall for a
mark, Lakeland.”

“Me either.”

“She’s special, I guess.”

Kane liked the way Shamus said it. He wasn’t jabbing at
Kane. It was more like he was in awe of Lena.

“Would you have brought her in anyway?”

“Yes,” Kane said without hesitation.

“Does she know that?”

He got up and dug his hands in his pockets. He hated how he
and Lena had met, but he couldn’t change it. He was a hunter and she was a
fugitive. Neither one of those things had been his choosing. “Stop asking so
many fucking questions.”

Shamus put his hands up in surrender and didn’t say anything
else until Lena came out of the bathroom twenty minutes later.

* * * * *

There was no mistaking the federal agent who was waiting for
them in the room where they were led. Kane thought they were going to throw him
out as soon as they took her into custody, but they filled out the paperwork
transferring Lena from Wade to the courts and ignored his presence.

After Lena was asked some standard questions, they were led
down a hallway and into an interview room where a short man in a black suit
waited.

Kane stepped between Lena and the man.

The agent stayed in his place, leaning against the far wall,
and held up his hands. “I’m not going to harm Ms. Cruz, Lakeland. That’s the
last thing we want.”

“What’s the first thing?” Kane asked.

The agent laughed. “My name is Blake. I work for the FBI. We
want to help you, Ms. Cruz. We know you didn’t steal anything from Oscar
Thorn.”

Lena sat down on the metal chair and leaned her elbows on
the gray table. “What do you want from me?”

The hair on the back of Kane’s neck stood up. “Wait a
second. How long have you known Lena was innocent of the crimes she’d been
accused of?”

“Since the beginning,” Blake said smugly.

Kane rushed him and pinned him against the wall with his
forearm pressed against the man’s throat. “You knew from day one and yet you
let her sit in prison for all those weeks.”

The chair scraped on the floor behind him. Lena put her hand
on his shoulder. “Kane, let him go.”

Another agent burst into the room just as Kane let Blake go.

Blake rubbed his neck and waved the second agent off. He
narrowed his eyes and stepped back outside the interview room. “Jail was the
safest place for her. It never occurred to us she would escape. We had planned
to wait and then ask for Ms. Cruz’s help.”

“You mean you were hoping she would get desperate enough to
help you if you let her rot in prison long enough.” The biting accusation in
Kane’s voice was unmistakable.

Blake sat in the chair opposite Lena. “You know how these
things work. We have to use all the resources at our disposal to get the just
result.”

Kane narrowed his eyes on the agent. He had no discernible
psychic talent. He was just an FBI agent doing his job. “And you thought it was
just to leave an innocent young woman in the prison system while you tried for
your ultimate goal, which I assume is to get Thorn.”

For an instant, Blake’s eyes widened before he resumed his
mild, watchful gaze. “It was necessary.”

Lena watched both men. “What is it you want from me, Agent
Blake?”

“We want you to help us prove that your ex-husband is using
illegal methods to manipulate the stock market.”

“And you won’t use the fact that I helped him do it against
me.”

Blake’s face grew very serious. “We are well aware you were
coerced, Ms. Cruz. You cannot be held accountable for what Thorn forced you to
do under threat of bodily harm.”

“How do you know all of that?”

“We’ve been watching Oscar Thorn for a few years.”

Lena seemed to be processing the information. Kane wanted to
strangle the fucking guy. He’d known she was being abused, but did nothing
because he didn’t want to screw up his investigation.

“I’m sorry, Agent Blake. I no longer have the means to help
you.”

“You mean the glass beads you use to view the future. We
know you left them with your grandmother, Ms. Cruz. She’s been placed in
protective custody with the Flacks.” He looked at Kane. “Your brother requested
help when Banta came after them. He’d already gotten them to a safe house, but
agents were watching the Thorn residence and followed Banta to the Flack farm.
Once they realized who they were after, we contacted the other agency and your
brother was informed of the danger. He agreed to allow the three people under
his protection to be brought in as long as he was allowed to remain with them.
He was adamant on the subject. Ruffled a few feathers, I can tell you that.”

Kane had to suppress his smile. “Joshua has a way of doing
that.”

“My grandmother is safe?”

“Perfectly.”

Lena sagged in the chair for several seconds. She then sat
up straight. “If I help you, how long will Oscar go to prison for?”

“If we can prove some of the other things we know he’s done,
he could get fifteen years.”

“He’d only serve a few years,” Kane said.

“It’s not enough.” Lena’s voice was strong and definite.

The agent stammered. “I can’t change the sentencing laws in
the US, Ms. Cruz.”

“Well, I’m not going to put my family at risk so you can get
some money from Oscar and in a few years he gets out and kills me. You’ll have
to come up with something better if you want my help.” She turned her head
toward Kane, but her walls were still in place and he could read nothing from
her. Of course, Blake didn’t know that. All the agent knew was that Kane was a
telepath.