Twisted Miracles (22 page)

The light winked out. Shane got to his knees and pulled me back, settling my shoulders against his chest. His hands slid along my arms until our fingers were laced gently together and his jaw was pressed to my cheek.

“
Relax.
” His voice came in my mind, soft and deep. “
Let me do the work.
”

I took a deep, halting breath. Shane’s mind brushed against mine, asking for entrance against my shields. I was so used to having them up around him, I wasn’t sure I knew how to let them down. Shane’s lips were next to my ear and he whispered, “Just let me in. I would never hurt you.”

“
I
don’t know how
,” I said, and Shane shifted behind me, pressing his body closer to mine. He stroked my arms and nuzzled my neck. The pressure of his mind grew more insistent, sharper.

“
Do you trust me?
”

I could feel the strength behind his words, and I knew he’d be able to push past my defenses whether I allowed it or not. I hesitated for a second, then I decided. “
Do it.
”

I expected him to break through in a single, powerful thrust, but it wasn’t like that at all. He nudged through my shields softly, layer by layer, his mental touch as gentle as his hands roaming over my arms and shoulders. He kept going until I felt him in every part of me, until I was shuddering with the intimate intensity of his mind filling mine completely. It was as though I was gently possessed, invaded by a familiar spirit.

“
Like this
,” he said, and my hands rose up, palms curved and facing each other. I tensed, unnerved by the feeling of another consciousness controlling my body, but I made myself let go, made myself surrender. My hands moved closer together, and a sensation like pressure built in the hollows of my palms. Shane guided my mind, showing me how to focus my power, and the pressure grew. My eyes flew wide open as the first motes of light appeared. They multiplied and collected into a tight ball, floating in the space between my hands. I gasped, and the ball of light crackled, white with energy and pulsing.

“
Hold it.
You take over now.
” He began to slide away from me, his control receding.

“
No!
I
don’t know what to do.
”

“
You’ll be fine.
” He relinquished his hold on my mind, forcing me to take control. I concentrated on the ball of light in my hands, willing it to hover a few inches from my nose. It was like trying to hold a full beer bottle with only my pinkies—I had to focus to keep it from rolling out of my mental grasp. The ball spun and wobbled, throwing strange shadows onto the sides of the tent and shrinking as I struggled to keep it motionless. I could only manage it for a few minutes. When I released my focus, the light dissipated in a burst of sparks.

I slumped back in Shane’s arms, exhausted.

“Harder than it looks?” he asked, amused. It was completely dark in the tent again.

“Much,” I said, panting.

“It gets easier.” He smoothed sweaty strands of hair away from my face. “You did great.” He began to retreat, slipping out of my head. It was an aching, empty feeling, and it took a moment for me to recognize it as the same pain I’d lived with for years in San Francisco. For the first time, I realized what it was. Loneliness.

“
Wait.
” I laced my fingers through his again.

Shane went perfectly still.

“
Stay.
” Before I could change my mind about it, I turned my head and kissed him.

He was shocked motionless for an instant, but then he was kissing me back, hunger and surprise in the possessive pressure of his mouth. It was easier this time to let him in, and I shuddered as his presence steeped into me, his anticipation and excitement stoking my own. Our thoughts tangled together until I couldn’t tell them apart, and I realized that he was in deeper than before. There was nothing of mine he couldn’t access, no secret I could keep. My head was full of painful memories—the confusion after I’d killed Andrew, the countless nightmares I’d had in San Francisco, how I’d sobbed sitting down in the shower, wanting to go home and hating myself for it. My memories called up his, and I saw unfamiliar images of Shane jogging through the Quarter at dawn, trying to chase my face out of his head, the pain of missing me like pressure on an old scar. I had to fight down a sob, and I couldn’t tell if the remembered sadness was mine or his.

“Shh,” he murmured, and I felt how his chest filled up being near me, how he trembled with hope that I’d stay for good. “That’s over now,” he said, but it was a question.

I couldn’t form words, but I could form an answer. It was less a statement than a conviction, a realization of what I’d always known but could only now admit: I was his. Shane kissed me again, then broke away as his hands slid under my shirt and lifted it over my head.

“
Do you mean it?
” He moved his mouth to my neck and rubbed the sensitive skin below my ear with his lips. I arched my back and tried to twist my arm behind me to unhook my bra, but my hand went back to my lap of its own accord. Shane’s mouth, pressed against my shoulder, curved into a smile as he unhooked my bra himself and threw it to the side. My breath started coming faster, a mix of lust and panic making my heart race. I tried to lift my hand again, but it was like the signal didn’t make it from my brain.

Shane’s lips whispered over my jaw. “
Do you
really
mean it?
”

I tried to speak, but my voice wouldn’t come, and, my hand, totally out of my control, slid under the waistband of my jeans. It stopped just below my belly button, teasing me. I could sense Shane everywhere, from the movement of my breath to the scrape of my toes against the tent canvas. I was afraid my heart would stop beating if he withdrew.

“
Yes
,” I said, and I was answering him and pleading with him at the same time.

He laid me back against his chest. My fingers slid to my center and parted it, and I drew in a sharp breath. I was wet, and Shane gave a low moan as my fingers stroked softly, slick with arousal. I felt him grow hard against me, pressing against the small of my back. His erection was hot against the skin of his belly, trapped not quite comfortably against his waistband. He reached forward and unbuttoned my jeans, sliding my hand farther down. My other hand lifted up and cupped my breast, then gently squeezed the nipple.

It made me gasp, and Shane gasped, too, twisting with the same sharp pleasure. His arm banded around me, holding me against him, and I moaned, caught up in the strength of him, loving the warmth of his hard chest at my back. I felt him smile.

“
I
like feeling what you like.
” He increased the speed of my fingers, testing. I cried out, and he tipped my head back and answered me with a full, searching kiss, his tongue flicking out to swirl against mine. He groaned as the twin sensations of his pleasure and mine came over him.

I wanted his skin on mine, and even as I thought it, Shane was pulling off his shirt. He used his mind to strip off my jeans and underwear, arranging his legs on either side of me. My legs spread farther apart, and his hands ran over my hips, my waist. The skin of my thighs was pressed against the denim of his jeans, and the roughness of the fabric made me shiver.

“
Yeah?
” He ran his hand lightly over my belly and shifted his legs, chafing them against me. His erection was hard against the curve of my ass, and the pressure of it made me yearn for him. But he didn’t move to take off his jeans.

Instead, the hand he’d been using to touch me came up, and he took my finger in his mouth and sucked, swirling his tongue over the pad. I moaned as he made my hand trace a damp line from my neck back down to my center. It was an erotic rush, letting him take control of my body so completely, feeling him quiver just as I did.

“
Please
,” I said, almost frantic with desire. I wanted to arch my back and press against my hand. I wanted to throw him down and straddle him and see how it felt to take him in again. Shane chuckled, then gasped as he thrust my own finger inside me. He wasn’t prepared for the strength of my reaction any more than I was, and we both cried out as the tingling warmth of a building orgasm spread out to the tips of my toes.

“
So this is what it’s like for you.
”

“
It gets better.
If you’d keep going...
”

“
So impatient
,” he said, but I felt him wanting it, too, and he reached down with his own hand to touch me.

“
So good.
Oh
,
God
,” he said. As he worked my clit, he guided my own fingers deeper inside me, searching for the spot he knew would make me crazy. Feeling what I felt, knowing instantly what gave me the most pleasure, he found the perfect pressure, the perfect rhythm, and maintained it, not relenting for a second. My body jerked uncontrollably, but he held me fast against him, whispering in my ear, “That’s it, baby. I want to feel you come.”

I moaned as he nuzzled my throat. I wanted to tell him to keep going, that I was close, but he already knew, even without the gasping cries coming from my mouth. As my climax came closer, he turned my head and kissed me, using his tongue and taking me over completely as I rose to the edge. When I came in a hard, glorious explosion, my eyes flying open, my limbs going limp, I heard him cry out in harmony with me.

He collapsed backward and withdrew from my mind slowly, leaving me with the sensation of his satisfaction. I lay down across his chest, my head tucked under his chin. “
I
love you
,
Cass
,” he said, so softly I barely felt it.

Right before we drifted off to sleep together, I said, “
I
love you
,
too.
”

Chapter Twenty-Three

I woke up warm and happy.

Shane wasn’t in the tent, but I felt the touch of his mind, and I could tell he was out fishing for breakfast.

“
Morning
,” I sent to him, and in his head I sensed his smile. “
Any luck?
”

“
Heaps of it
,” he said, then, “
Oh
,
you mean with the fish?
”

“
Oh
,
shut up
,” I said, but I was smiling.

I packed up the camp while I waited, using my powers so I could stay by the fire. I couldn’t help feeling disappointed as I rolled the tent up and shoved it into its nylon case. I’d been hoping for another vector, and I was afraid our rogue converter would strike again when we got back to the B&B. Useless.

“
You think it would be all right with Lionel if we came back out in a couple days?
”

“
Anything you want
,
baby
,” he replied, and I caught an image in his head of the two of us tangled together on a sleeping bag, a clear night sky above us.

I smiled. “
Your priorities—
” I began, but I didn’t get any further. I was cut off mid-sentence by the awful, stomach-churning feeling of a pulling surge cutting through me.

I had to lean against a tree for support. The pull was strong, almost as strong as the one I’d felt at the B&B when Mina had been attacked for the second time. I hadn’t called him, but Shane was already running back as I scrambled through my bag for the map. He must have felt the impact of the pull in my mind. He came up to my side, still holding his fishing pole and breathing hard, and I grabbed the compass and marked the vector.

“That’s where it came from,” I said, pointing at a peninsula jutting out into the lake from the western shore. On it was a little town labeled Briny Point. “I’d bet money on it.”

We looked at each other, and Shane said, “Let’s go.”

We had the boat packed in under ten minutes. Shane piloted, and I concentrated on the diminishing feel of the surge, adjusting our course as we went. The trail faded completely as we reached the center of the lake, but with the other two vectors coming close to the spot, I was fairly certain of our destination. As we drew near the shore we saw a weathered wooden dock jutting into the water from a marshy bank, and Shane tied the boat off while I tried to sense any lingering aftershocks. There was nothing.

There wasn’t much to Briny Point, either. From the dock, I saw a gas station, a post office, a shop selling fishing tackle and bait, and a ladies’ clothing store called Briny Point Fashions, featuring a headless mannequin wearing pale yellow leggings and a large floral-print T-shirt. To the west was a cluster of one-story houses and trailers next to a largish church. From the number of cars parked on the dredge shell lot out front, the place was packed.

“Must be some service. Do you think it draws from the neighboring towns?”

“I definitely don’t think all those folks are Briny Point natives,” Shane said. “Let’s go check it out.”

We stepped off the boat and walked quickly to the building. It was shaded by a stand of live oaks along one side. The exterior walls were salmon-colored stucco, and the door was huge and painted white. We slipped in, trying to make as little noise as possible, and found an open spot at the back. I smiled nervously as heads swiveled our way and back to the front again.

We’d arrived in the middle of a sermon. A man on stage was pacing back and forth and holding a cordless microphone. He was handsome in a nondescript sort of way, bland and nonthreatening—blond hair parted to the side and tamed with a lot of product, white teeth that had seen braces, neatly shaped eyebrows. He looked like the type who got manicures. He stopped pacing and faced the crowd, looking pensive.

“There’s a lot of folks out there right now who’ll tell you not to fear God.” He steepled his fingers and tapped them to his lips. “They say, ‘God doesn’t want to be feared, God loves you, God wants you to be happy.’” He shook his head and started moving again, more slowly this time. The audience murmured and shifted in their seats.