Seeker (Shadows) (11 page)

Give me a taser and whole hoard of shadows and someone to chase, and I’m fine. But have a guy openly flirt with me at a restaurant, and I’m not sure what to do with myself. It seems a bit pathetic, and I’m trying so hard to play this cool. Ocean just seems to see through me in a way that I’m not used to. I’m used to people seeing what I want them to see about me.

“Just trying to be friendly.” I take a drink of water the waiter just placed in front of me and stare out at the street to avoid his steady gaze.

“No. No girl. And Alabama’s my home. Has been for years. Mom kept us firmly on the west side of the state, but I’d felt the pull to West Palm Beach since I can remember and she finally let me go. I think she knew exactly what I’d find.”

“Why do you think that?” If that were the case, and she knew about us, then I’d know about him.  Who he is. Where his talent is from. Also, probably who his mom is… Unless she’s on some protected list or something. But I’d think that if he were to be my partner, Mom and Dad would have said something.

Ocean shrugs
at my question. “Just a feelin’ I got. But my mom’s…” His brow furrows up and now it’s him who’s staring out at the street. “Not always all there.”

I’m suddenly feeling embarrassed for him, so I try to let on that his statement didn’t really sink in. “You two talk much?”

He shrugs. “We talk when we need to. Sometimes that’s a lot, sometimes not much at all. But I’ve only been gone from home a few months.”

Our food arrives, but I don’t even remember ordering and the night is getting darker and the music is getting louder
. I still feel the two people not far from us, and it’s not terrible. A million times better than I thought it would be when Ocean and I were first assigned.

A change in energy hits me, and we both tense at the same time.

“They’re moving.” He stands.

I drop a few bills on the table and let him take my hand, but the crowd’s getting thicker as we get closer and I’m wondering where all the people came from. They’re everywhere.
And I’m okay with us touching. I’m glad for it even.

“Check it.” He points. A
band is lined up on the sidewalk and small lights are stretched back and forth across the street and the whole section of road is closed off, for no reason than to dance. Guess this is what happens on the off-season.

“They’re there.” He steps up behind me, almost pressing our bodies together, and half lighting mine on fire with his nearness.

I squint through the couples to see Dean and Addison swaying together, eyes half closed, foreheads together, and an ache spreads through me at the sight of them. Tuning out everything but each other and the moment. I can’t remember the last time I had that outside of a chase, or a report, or finding a new talent, or…
work
.

“Let’s dance and see if we can make it closer.” His body starts to sway behind mine, but I don’t know how to move to this music, how to dance.

My feet remain firmly planted because I don’t know what to do.

“If you want us to blend so we get closer, you will have to actually move,” he whispers in my ear, his breath spreading goose bumps down my neck and across my collarbone.

“I don’t…”

“Don’t what?” His hands start to slide around my waist to my stomach as he moves, keeping the smooth rhythm of the steel drums.

I spin to face him and step back putting distance between us as my heart hammers in my chest. “Dance. I don’t…” I gesture between us. “We can just be the couple who is slowly walking to the other side of the crowd. We don’t have to be the stealthy dancing couple.”

Ocean doesn’t slow at all in moving toward me. “What’s the fun in that?”

His hand presses into my lower back, bringing our stomachs together and sending every part of my body into insane flutters of energy, nearness and excitement. This wouldn’t be easy with anyone, but with someone that my body reacts to like it does to Ocean, this is really going to be hard.

He steps into me, moving our hips together and I’m forced to step back, and then I’m moving forward as
he
moves back.

“Just relax, Kara. A little trust here. Move with me. Salsa. Simple.” He slides his hand down my shoulder and his fingers make a burning trail across my skin until our hands are together.

My brain has turned to complete fuzz as I think about the fact that we’re close enough for him to see every small freckle on my pale face, to feel my hair on his cheek and his breath to graze over my shoulder as we move.

If I wasn’t so scared about being this close, and we weren’t chasing anyone, this might be nice. Too close, but nice.

I feel eyes on me and turn to see the dark-haired girl and guy looking at us.

“I won’t look,” Ocean says. “Maybe you smile and wave and then we just keep dancing. Throw them off a little.”

It feels so wrong. They’re right
here
. We could take just them and it would at least hold off them moving forward to what the shadows would want—if that’s what they’re doing. Instead I wave, smile, and before I can gauge their reaction I turn back to Ocean. The feel of him is swiftly sweeping me into this dizzy, moving, dancing place again.

“I love the way I feel with you. The way you feel next to me,” he whispers.

I love it, too, but I’d never say that out loud. It overwhelms me the way I feel around him. The way I can feel the edges of his aura melting in with mine because something about us is on the same frequency even though we’re so different.

The song changes into something a little slower, and all I can do is keep myself as close to him as I can because this is my chance to be pressed against him and have it be okay. We’re on a job. This is not a date. We’re trying to blend. To get closer. To not be noticed.
Undercover…sort of.

“Kara.” He stops and slides his hands across my body until my face is in his hands. “Do you have any idea how rare this has to be?”

“What?” I’m breathing in these short, gaspy breaths that I can’t seen to control and he’s getting closer.

“You know what.” His breath runs down my
neck again, and I shudder in response.

Of course I know what because my body’s about to explode when I stand next to him much less when he’s touching me and we’re dancing together. I have no idea what an orgasm feels like, but my guess is that it’s the explosive end to whatever I’m feeling now.

His lips touch mine and the warmth of him echoes through me in bursts, and his lips find mine again as I pull him closer until I realize how insane this is and that not in a million years should we be touching this way because not only are we working but I’m not going to let whatever weird thing that hums between us make me decide who I will and will not kiss.

I jerk away, holding my hands up between us.

“What? I…” He steps forward concern filling his features, but I push him away.

“No. I get to decide. Me. Not you. Not whatever weirdness we have between us.
Me
.” Now that clarity has pushed in, I’m frantic to feel in control of my body and my emotions again because I’m all over the place. I can’t even focus enough to track people right now, and that’s not like me.

His eyes are wide, apologetic. “Kara, I just… I’ve never wanted to kiss someone so bad in all my life. Not even for my first kiss.”

“Yeah?” I want to tell him this was my first kiss, but at eighteen, I’m not nearly ready to admit that to him. “We’re supposed to be doing a job!” I sputter and turn and start to walk away, knowing I need to get myself under control if I want to track anyone tonight. And needing to do my job because I can’t deal with whatever’s between us because I don’t know what it is. Only that it’s too much too soon.

“Fine.” His voice is tight behind me. “We’re doing a job. Let’s do it. Let’s find them now.”

I pull in a few breaths hating that it happened this way. Hating that my first kiss was just
taken
because we don’t know better or can’t control ourselves.
Dancing? Really, Kara?
Stupid, stupid, stupid.

“This way.” He starts to walk, his whole body rigid. “Best not take my hand. I wouldn’t want to offend.”

His pissy attitude just irks me further so I ignore him and focus. This is what I do. Not him.
Me
. I know how to track, find and bring in.

TWELVE

Kara

The crowd is thinning and the subjects, Dean and Addison, are still oblivious that we’re following them.  That’s good. Exactly what we need. Screaming in the streets isn’t going to help us stay low profile.

I pull out the plastic zip ties that I’ve been taught to use as cuffs, but never put into actual practice, my heart hammering. Ocean’s mouth pulls into a frown.

“I’ve done this before. You haven’t,” I hiss. The problem is that I’ve only sort of done this before. It’s almost never that we bring someone in who doesn’t want to come.

Just as we move into a narrow alley, the first shadow sweeps by me on the right. This always happens. Always. I pull out my taser, and swipe it making the shadow burst and fade away. They come back, but the taser almost always gives me a reprieve. The noise spins Addison around.

“You!” Instead of running away like I expect, she leaps at me. “What happened to my dad?”

I tase her arm just as her fist connects with the side of my face. I take her wrist and use her momentum to push her to the ground, leaving me with my knee on her back, holding down her arms. So much for subtle.

She’s gasping for air as she wiggles beneath me, trying to shove me off, but I just squeeze my legs more tightly, keeping her arms to the side and letting my dress ride up way too high. She’s using her talent, and I can feel her trying to make me move.

Get off. Let me go.

“I can feel you trying to make me get off you, and I know how to stop it. Just relax.”

Ocean grunts next to me and when I allow my eyes to leave Addison, Ocean and Dean are sparring so fast I can barely see their arms. I had no idea Ocean could fight like that. Or Dean for that matter. But even I can see that Dean’s street-fighting, and Ocean’s got some skills.

With one swift move, Ocean has his arm and pins Dean against the wall. “Move and your finger will snap,” Ocean says as he gasps for air. “We just wanted a chance to talk. That’s all.”

“You can take me. Just let her go.” Dean yells into the wall.

Addison’s pushing her thoughts into me over and over.
Get off. Let us go.

Finally, her whole body relaxes in defeat.

“We just want to talk, Dean,” Ocean says.

“Yeah, that’s obvious by my swelling face.” Dean gives a jerk, but Ocean’s go
t him. “Get your piranha off Addison. Now.”

“You’re not really in a position to be making demands.” Ocean chuckles and wrenches Dean’s arm a little further, which makes Dean grunt again.

I slide the plastic cuffs onto Addison and climb off her back, helping her slowly stand up. The side of her face is a bit scratched, but she’ll be fine. Rage fills her features, and I’m half waiting for a stream of cuss words or for her to spit on me.

“Let’s go back to our room and we can talk there,” I say. Best to get out of here before… I feel him too late. Damn. Landon’s shield is amazing.

Landon steps around the corner with Micah looking completely unsurprised, and I touch my fingers to my taser again. Two more shadows are lurking off to the side running a shiver through me, and I’m not looking forward to possibly fighting them off at the same time I’m dealing with the group.

But then I realize. This is Landon. Right here. Close enough that I could touch him. I hate that we’re meeting again this way. Does he remember me? Nothing in his face says that he does, but I was a kid last time we met. I’m waiting for a flicker of recognition that never comes, and my chest aches
at how different this is from what I’ve imagined it would be like. Landon should know me, or there should be something like the energy between me and Ocean, but there’s nothing.

W
hen Landon steps closer, I remember that we’re on opposite sides here, and now I’m assessing our odds of taking all four together. It’s better than thinking about how many ways I wish this situation was different. We’d have to find a way to cuff Dean and keep those two secure while getting the other two… Odds aren’t great, but doable.

“Well…” Landon says. “I was going to let myself get caught by you, but this works too.”

He glances at Dean and then Addison whose hair is half covering her angry face.

“Sorry guys.” Landon shrugs. “Micah’s timing must be off.”

“Not me.” She’s trying to mimic Landon’s relaxed stance, but failing a bit. “I think you got smug and lazy.”

He gives her a peck on the cheek, which I already want to erase from my memory. It’s so relaxed and familiar.

Ocean and I glance at one another, and Ocean drops Dean’s hand putting both his in front of him. “We’re more than happy to come with you. We just want to talk.”

Ocean let Dean go. What the…?

“Let me take care of something first.” Landon pulls a roll of metallic tape out of his backpack and grabs Ocean’s hand, wrapping the tape quickly over his watch about six times. Ocean just lets it happen—his face un-readably relaxed.