The Travelers: Book One (10 page)

“This isn’t even half of what you promised me.”

“Look at your watch again and take the fucking money before I change my mind.”

The old man seemed to weigh his options before deciding that angering Carson anymore wasn’t in his best interest. He handed the DVD over and made a break for it just like Carson suggested.

“I thought you were going to hit him,” Gemma said as they descended the basement stairs once more.

“Me too,” Carson admitted.

“I’m glad you didn’t,” she said.

“I know.”

Carson popped the disc into one of the computers; Gemma hovered behind him with her hands on his shoulders. She hoped that this wasn’t a dead end.

“Oh, there I am!”

Carson nodded, zooming in on Isabel.

“There’s the weird guy…” she pointed.

Carson zoomed in again, trying to make out the shadowy figure.

“Do you recognize him now?”

Gemma frowned.

“I don’t know, it’s still really dark.”

Carson hated to do it, but he had to agree with her. The video was piss-poor quality and he should have known to check it before forking anything over to the old Italian.

“Well, we’ll just have to hope that Ty is able to clean it up for us and that we’ll be able to see something useful,” he said.

“Sounds good. Let’s try one more time,” said Gemma.

Carson tried to ignore the gnawing disappointment in his gut. He was resting a lot of hope in this surveillance video and without it, they really didn’t have anything else to go on. He didn’t know where they’d go from here, but for the time being, he was willing to focus on whatever was going on with Gemma.

Chapter 12

“I think we have to focus
less,
” Gemma said.

“What do you mean?”

“When we’re trying really hard to make it happen, it seems more difficult. The times that we’ve gotten the closest was just…”

“Us,” he finished.

“Right,” said Gemma, pleased that he understood what she was saying.

They found a secluded area and sat on the floor across from each other, their palms resting on top of the other’s.

Gemma tried to let her mind dwell on the warmth in Carson’s fingers, the gentle reassuring weight of his hands on hers, the steady rhythm of his breathing and she felt the tide roll over her again. Like walking into the sunlight from air conditioning, her body basked in the warmth, drawing him in, craving more and more.

Gemma opened her eyes and saw Carson seated across from her, motionless. His eyes were glazed over and she waved her hands in front of his face; no response.

She didn’t know what would happen when she let go of his hands. She didn’t know what was happening now. A sharp bubble of panic rose within her and she wanted to yank Carson back. What if he got stuck where ever he was?

After what felt like an eternity — but was in reality only five or ten minutes — Carson’s fingers twitched and his vision began to clear.

“So?” Gemma asked, nibbling on her fingernails anxiously.

“You didn’t see it?”

“See what?”

Carson frowned; he’d made a point of running around to catch her attention.

“Did it work?” She asked.

He nodded, “Definitely.”

“Why can’t I see it?”

“I’m not sure, we’re just going to have to try again,” he said.

Gemma stood and stretched, trying to keep her disappointment off her face. She wanted explanations. She didn’t want to end up even more confused. If Carson said he was turning into some kind of creature, she believed him. She’d seen his wounds heal before her eyes; there was no doubt that something bizarre was happening.

“Okay,” she exhaled, shaking off her anxiety before resuming her place next to him on the floor.

He took her hands again, giddy excitement flooding him. The transformation was addicting; each taste of it he got only made him want it more.

Her tiny fingers trembled in his hands and he clasped them tightly.

“What is it?” he whispered, the heady feeling of being next to her already waking up his senses again.

“What if… what am I supposed to do if something happens to you?”

He searched her eyes and found a heart-wrenching guilt deep within.

“Nothing is going to happen to me,” he said with a squeeze of her hands, “Trust me.”

She sighed again, before nodding and breaking eye contact.

He knew it was asking a lot of her, but he hoped that Gemma would be able to place her faith in him the way he could with her.

He watched as her eyelids descended over her mesmerizing gaze and almost instantly felt her breathing slow. Her image swam before his eyes, receding slowly into the distance as a tunnel of darkness closed around him. When she was only a pin prick of light in the distance, the illusion around him popped like a bubble and he was viewing them from outside of his body again.

He shook his entire body and felt his ears flop against his head. Gemma stared at Carson’s body now, not noticing the exuberant creature to her right.

Finally, he nudged Gemma with his long muzzle, trying to slip his head under her shimmering arm.

Gemma looked startled, for a moment looking straight through him, but her eyes finally seemed to grasp what was before her.

One of her hands let go of his and reached out to touch his furry counterpart.

“Is that really you?” she asked.

He licked her shining golden hand, his tail thumping heavily from side to side.

She giggled, giving him a scratch behind the ears. The sound reverberated like he was hearing her through a wall of water. Her touch felt more real than ever, though.

He loved every moment of it, but he could feel it drifting away from his grasp already. His connection to his wolf-self started to slip and he felt pulled back into his body like it was a vacuum cleaner. There was no escaping the suction even if he wanted to keep exploring his other half.

“That was crazy!” She said, jumping to her feet with a broad smile.

Carson had to agree. Helping her to see him when he felt most free seemed highly intimate, but he liked sharing it with her.

She pounced on him with a big hug, clinging to him with all her might.

“I would never believe it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes,” she said.

“Me either.”

“What do you think it is?”

“I don’t know,” he said, reluctant to let her out of his arms.

“But you think this has something to do with Izzy?”

He shrugged.

“I can think a lot of things, but that doesn’t mean any of them are actually right. I think if we can do this, we can’t be the only ones. I think maybe there are some people out there that know more about this than we do. I think there might be some bad people, too. But what I really think is that we need to get a handle on this just in case something even bigger is coming.”

Gemma agreed. They worked on their technique, trying to find the best mental pathways to access their powers. After three more successful tries, Carson was able to leave his body without touching Gemma at all. He found that if he got too close to his own body he was pulled in, but the only other way he’d been able to reenter his body was when Gemma panicked and severed the connection.

She was getting remarkably better at controlling that panic though. She was now able to push through it and focus on the connection to strengthen it. She imagined an invisible tether connecting them. When she started to let her fears and concerns pull her out of the moment, that tether frayed and weakened. As she relaxed and focused on Carson and his wolf-dog, the rope connecting them grew stronger and thicker.

She loved seeing him as the pale shimmery dog that pranced around. He seemed ethereal — otherworldly somehow, but he was still so much Carson. There were moments where he was nearly transparent and others where he was completely tangible; Gemma didn’t know what caused him to fade out of view, but she steadily worked to strengthen their tether.

“I want to try to go outside,” Carson said after returning to his body for the fourth successful time in a row.

Gemma’s eyes widened and she shook her head frantically.

“No. No way. We don’t even know your limitations or how far away you can go. What if something happens and you can’t get back to your body? What if something happens
to
your body? What if one of those lunatics is out there?”

“We don’t even know if other people can see me,” he said.

“Exactly my point! There’s so much we don’t know.”

“I know you probably think I’m crazy. I probably am. Shit, I’m sitting here jumping into a phantom dog’s body… I don’t know what that’s about. But I know that it’s something. I have to see how far I can push this.”

Gemma nibbled on her bottom lip thoughtfully. She wanted to find an excuse. She needed to talk him out of it. She didn’t like the idea of him leaving the clubhouse. The outside world was scary and dangerous right now and she wasn’t willing to sacrifice Carson to it just when…

When what? When she was starting to feel something for him? No, there wasn’t any time to think about that or dwell on the confusing eddies of emotions that he created.

His deep blue eyes pleaded with her and tugged at her heartstrings without the man ever having to utter another word. She couldn’t deny him what he wanted, even if she thought it was a horrible idea.

“Fine,” she said, crossing her arms across her chest.

“All I ask is that you don’t pull me back, okay?”

Gemma nodded, her teeth still clenched in defiance. She couldn’t tell him how scared she was for his safety. She just stood there mutely as he crossed the room to her.

His hands rested on her shoulders as he silently tried to explain his determination and gratitude. Her eyes welled up with tears; she didn’t need to hear the words any more to understand his motivations. He just had to remind her sometimes of what was at stake.

One of Carson’s hands slipped around the back of her neck, drawing Gemma closer to him.

She filled his senses — there was nothing else worth noticing around him. Her plump pink lips parted ever so slightly, beckoning him.

As the siren pulled sailors to their watery graves, Gemma pulled Carson in. She reeled him to the point of no return. He sealed his fate with a gentle brush of his lips against hers; there was no going back now — Gemma was in his system and he knew that he would never again be able to operate without the sweet taste of her lips and the welcoming embrace of her curves. She was as much a part of him now as any of his bones, organs or flesh.

Though the initial contact was brief, it didn’t take long for Gemma to hurdle her surprise and dive in for seconds. Her kiss was desperate, longing and full of so many unspoken things that she feared she would never be able to say. She hoped that Carson would be okay. She had to believe that he knew what he was doing. She had to trust him, no matter how hard that would be for her.

Carson responded to each move Gemma made, countering her and improving upon what she’d done. He made her dizzy with longing and delirious with the overwhelming intensity of it all.

He finally broke the kiss, resting his forehead against hers for a long moment as he struggled to catch his breath. Her lips were swollen and red from his frenzied kisses but that only made her more appealing to him.

“I’m going to come back to you. I promise,” he said.

Gemma nodded, swiping at disobedient tears again. The emotional roller coaster of the past few days coupled with the lack of sleep had her on a razor thin edge of stability. It didn’t take much to push her over one way or the other in her current state. The thought of Carson not coming back was enough to do it.

He gave her a tight hug and she sniffled before taking a deep breath, steeling her resolve.

“Let’s do this,” she said.

Chapter 13

After the kiss, they both found it much easier to slip into their connection and Carson’s trip was more seamless than ever.

Gemma’s heart thundered with trepidation. She did not have any faith that this would turn out well. As much as she wanted to trust Carson, there were just too many unknowns. Seeing him as the happy dog made her worried that someone would try to hurt him. If she took a moment to think about it and saw him as the giant hulking wolf-hybrid that he really was, she knew that he should be able to take care of himself.

Wolf-Carson rubbed his hand on her head before heading to the door. He reached the large slab of metal and nudged it with his forehead before realizing he could pass through it. He looked back at Gemma’s bright golden glow once more before he ventured to the other side of the door.

The bright sunlight outside was masked by a hazy fog. A gentle breeze blew through the air and Carson’s nose instinctively went into the air, his nostrils twitching as he inhaled a plethora of new scents.

His nose led him down the street, away from the clubhouse. Every few steps he stopped and took a look back, expecting to be followed. He knew that Gemma wouldn’t let him down, though. She would keep vigilant watch over his human body while his soul was traveling.

Soon, Carson began to see things differently. Most things looked fairly normal, but every so often he would see a dark cloud surrounding a person or place. The haze was accompanied by the acrid stench of vinegar and Carson kept following his nose as the scent grew stronger.

After trotting through the streets unnoticed for a little while, Carson decided to take a turn toward the neighborhood where they’d found Izzy’s credit card.

His spirit and the wolf’s were one and the same; he couldn’t pinpoint where one ended and the other began, but he never had to think twice about tracking a scent, running on four legs, or even growling when he perceived a threat. The wolf was happy to be free though; after so long of being caged and ignored, it felt incredible to be out exploring.

Carson began to see the dark shadows over people taking more shape. Instead of an amorphous haze, the shades that latched on to unsuspecting people were more distinct.

One man with a particularly crisp shadow turned on him, his eyes staring straight through Carson. The man looked around, trying to spot the source of his discomfort. The shadow wriggled and writhed within the man, growing as his eyes darted up and down the street.

Carson braced himself for the attack as the shadow lunged at him, dragging the man with it. His lips drew back, baring razor sharp teeth to his enemy.

In the next moment, powerful suction had its grip on him. He felt crushed under the force of intense gravity as he receded into the black vortex just before he opened his eyes back in his own body.

He was disoriented at first. He couldn’t tell which way was up or down. The suddenness of being slammed back into his body took his breath away. His bones felt brittle and he ached all over from the rough transition. He gritted his teeth in pain, trying to ignore the lurch his intestines took. 

“I’m sorry!” Gemma whispered, pulling him back into focus.

Carson blinked his bleary eyes, a wave of nausea crashing over him. The world spun and he clutched his stomach.

“Hey, Rip Van Winkle, we have shit to do today,” Aaron called from the stairs.

“I’m so sorry! He came down here looking for you… I said you were asleep, but he didn’t believe me. I didn’t know what would happen if I didn’t pull you back,” she whispered, hysteria tinging her voice. She felt horrible for doing the one thing he asked her not to. She felt like she’d betrayed him somehow.

“It’s okay,” he said. He didn’t want to tell her that she may have saved him from an attack. He wasn’t even sure he could be attacked, but he knew that being ripped through dimensions hurt like a mother and he wasn’t eager to ever do that again.

Gemma frowned at Carson’s pale clammy complexion. She knew she shouldn’t have pulled him back, but she didn’t know what other option she had. Carson made it abundantly clear to her that he didn’t want the other guys to know what they were up to. She figured he would rather her save his image with his friends than let him explore.

She let out a shaky breath, thankful that he wasn’t angry with her even if she was still concerned about him.

“Are you okay?” she whispered, tossing a glance over her shoulder at Aaron.

He nodded, the action making him wince in pain.

Gemma narrowed her eyes at him.

“Bull.”

He gave her a weak smile before leaning up off of the couch to give her a quick peck.

“All better,” he said with a wink.

Gemma’s jaw dropped, wondering if Aaron had just seen their kiss. She didn’t think she was ready for whatever they had to be public knowledge. She wasn’t even sure what was going on with them.

“If you two are done making out over there…” Aaron teased.

Carson rolled off the couch and flipped him the bird before giving Gemma another pointed look.

“Don’t worry,” he said under his breath before addressing his friend, “Don’t be jealous, Aaron. Just because no girl wants to touch you with a ten-foot pole.”

“I’ll show you my ten-foot pole,” he answered.

“That’s not what Frieda MacIntyre said about you…”

“Frieda? I never did anything with her!”

Carson laughed, the color beginning to return to his face.

“Right. Because you remember everything that happened Graduation Weekend.”

Aaron thought about it for a moment and then nodded his defeat.

“All right, you’re probably right. That weekend is a blur.”

“Probably doesn’t help that it was a nine-day weekend,” Carson said.

“Or the fifteen or so kegs our class went through,” said Aaron.

Gemma rolled her eyes, shaking her head as the two men met up and started climbing the stairs.

Carson stopped in the middle of the flight to look back at Gemma.

“What are you going to do?”

She shrugged, “I think I’m going to go home. Take a shower, sleep in my own bed for a little while…”

He nodded. He didn’t like the idea of her being away from the clubhouse, but he knew he had no right to keep her against her will.

“I’ll see if Dez can take you. How about I come over later and we continue this?”

Gemma didn’t know which ‘this’ he was talking about, but she nodded in spite of herself She couldn’t resist the excitement that Carson gave her. The connection they had, physical and otherwise, thrilled her and she was dying to see how far it would go.

At the same time, Gemma knew that the danger they faced was very real. This wasn’t just a fun little adventure. It was real life and bad things could actually happen to them if they let their guard down.

Still, she tried not to let that get to her. She thanked Desmond for the escort back to her car; she drove herself home and decided to move into her shower.

Slowly the hot water relaxed her stiff muscles. They unfurled and stretched from their tightly coiled positions. She hadn’t realized just how sore and tired her body was. Helping Carson ‘cross-over’ — as he liked to say — took a lot out of her. She only just realized how long she must have been running on fumes with him.

Her body thanked her for the shower, but screamed in protest the moment she tried to lift her leg out of the bathtub. She felt like she’d just had back-to-back crossfit classes and her body was just going to crumble from the effort of trying to stay together.

She made herself a cup of decaf before crawling into her inviting bed for a well-deserved sleep.

A few hours later, the doorbell woke her.

Gemma crawled out of bed, groaning and muttering to herself as she trudged towards the door.

She opened it without looking to see who it was — or how she looked.

For a moment she thought she was still dreaming. Why else would such a sexy man be at her doorstep? But she knew that man…

“Carson!” She frantically moved to smooth her hair down.

“Were you sleeping?” He asked with a smirk.

Gemma’s cheeks flushed with color as she realized she was only wearing an over-sized t-shirt and boy shorts.

“Uh… yeah,” she said, pulling the shirt down to cover her thighs.

“Should I come back later?”

Gemma’s eyes widened and she took a step back from the door, “Don’t be silly, come in, I’ll get changed really quick.”

“Don’t bother on my account,” he joked, admiring her bare legs.

Gemma’s blush deepened and she tried to hide behind her bedroom door.

“Nice try! I’m not falling for it,” she teased back.

“Damn,” he said with a snap of his fingers, making her giggle.

She came back a few moments later in a pair of denim shorts and a tank top. She probably wasn’t actually any less exposed, but it somehow felt more appropriate.

“So, what did you and Aaron do today?”

Carson’s shoulders tensed and Gemma regretted asking the question.

“Things have been mostly cleaned up. The Chief reported there was a gas leak at the station that caused the damage. I don’t know what changed, but whatever is going on with people seems to be under control. It’s not gone… I can still… smell it,” he said, diverting his gaze from hers. He didn’t want her to think that he was a crazy person for thinking that he could smell bad people.

But she didn’t judge him at all. She just nodded and plopped onto the couch next to him.

“So, someone’s working really hard to cover it all up…”

“Which makes me think that it wasn’t an accident…”

“But they may have lost control of it prematurely,” she said.

Carson nodded and slipped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her up against his side. He inhaled deeply, letting her subtle perfume wrap him in a psychological blanket of comfort. He didn’t realize how much he missed her until he had her at his side again.

“Until Ty cleans up that video, we don’t really have anything to go on,” he said.

“I know,” Gemma said with a frown, “I don’t know what we should do.”

“I have an idea.”

She knew by the way he said it that she wouldn’t like his idea. The subtle tone of apprehension in his voice told her that he was dreading bringing the subject up.

She raised her eyebrows without a word, letting him explain.

“I told you I can smell it? Well, I think I might be able to track Izzy. My sense of smell is crazy when I’m the wolf.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but his lips covered hers before a word escaped. Her head swam with the earthy scent of him. Kissing Carson made time speed up and slow down all at once. Everything happened too fast for her to react to it, but every sensual movement of his lips against hers felt like sweet ever-lasting agony. She wanted more from him and thought she would never be able to have enough.

His hands settled on her hips and pulled her into his lap without ever breaking the kiss. Gemma’s squeal of laughter sent his blood rushing southward.

It didn’t take long for kissing to turn to exploration of other kinds. Carson reveled in the feel of Gemma’s delicate fingers on his heated flesh. She gave him shivers when she raked her fingernails over the tops of his thighs. He ached to tear his jeans off, to press himself against her skin to skin, to hear her cry his name…

She didn’t know what came over her; he was intoxicating. Her fingers slipped under the hem of his shirt, flesh against finely muscled flesh. She explored every ridge of his abdomen, slowly pulling his shirt up as she did.

Carson’s hands roved her thighs, sliding around to cup her bottom. He pulled her tightly against him before letting one of his hands wander up her silky smooth back.

Gemma arched into him; her plaintive moans driving him onward as his tongue explored her mouth.

His hands brought her shirt up just as hers did his. They undressed each other, Carson’s eyes drinking in every inch of Gemma’s porcelain skin.

There was a knock at the door.

Gemma turned her head as the doorbell rang. Carson’s grip on her hips tightened, holding her in place.

“Ignore them,” he breathed, placing hot kisses down her neck and shoulders.

She shivered as the rush of cool air against her skin was countered with his warmth; goose bumps rose up on her arms and Gemma wanted very much to just ignore whoever was at the door.

The doorbell rang again and again in rapid succession.

Gemma looked conflicted again and Carson distracted her by drawing a lace-clad nipple into his mouth.

“That’s not fair,” she panted, squirming in his lap.

He groaned and tried to hold her hips still against him as the visitor knocked on the door repeatedly.

“Don’t go,” he whispered as she reached to pull her shirt down.

“It’ll only take a minute,” she said.

Carson sighed, the ache in his groin a painful reminder of what he’d almost had. He let her go and she skipped over to the door, clueless as to how irresistible he found her with swollen lips and crumpled clothes. Those things were his doing and he took a great deal of masculine pride in giving her that freshly ravished look.