A Sinister Game (18 page)

But she was tired. She’d used quite a bit of power in Arthur’s lab. She’d just used a bit more to dry her clothes and put the fire out and heal herself.
She wasn’t at her best
.
She could use more food, too.

“Try some more of your bar. You should be okay to eat it now.”

Victoria glanced at him, surprised. “How did you know I was thinking about food?”

“We’ve worked together too long,” he said, smiling. “I know you.”

Victoria pulled the second half of her bar out and took a bite.

“It’s not like you to forget to pack,” Max remarked.

She frowned.
Yes
, I know
, she thought.
But they’d already been over that. She knew that she’d jumped the gun and fled the Field without planning properly and she
’d
already admitted that it wasn’t like her and was probably a little stupid.

How many times was he going to bring it up?

“Like I said,
I really didn’t think I had a choice,” she said stubbornly
. “Time was of the essence.
I barely made it
past the wall before nightfall
as it was.”

“You almost died as it was, too.”

Victoria
shot him an incredibly irritated look.
You mentioned that a few times
,
she thought, but refrained from saying out loud.
She was frankly tired of arguing. They’d been
at it off and on for almost two miles
now. She’d come clean and told him everything.
As she spoke, Max’s black-clad form became progressively rigid and t
ense. His expression
closed itself off from her, and his
eyes
took on the look of ice
. In fact, his touch
had
turned a little colder.

It was
probably just her imagination,
her perception of his sudden cold demeanor. But it was enough to make her let go of his hand. Reluctantly, he
’d
allowed her to slip away.

And then he’d started in on her. He was angry about the stakes that Victor had set on the Ga
m
e, obviously, but
he was also angry that she hadn’t trusted him or confided in him. He was upset that Victoria had not come to him for help when she’d needed him
most
.

She’d tried to counter by insisting
that it wasn’t his job
,
wasn’t his place
, a
nd that she was trying to protect her team, as was her duty.
That had only pissed him off more.

And so it went.

They would yell and then
settle down and yell some more.

Now they seemed to be los
ing their argumentative steam. A
nd Victoria was beginning to get worried
about something else entirely
.

They’d gone several miles and hadn’t
yet come to a settlement
. There should have been something there.
Anything
. Even one of those fi
shing villages that were
mentioned
so frequently in Simon’s ancient books.

But there was nothing but sandy shoreline, a billion white stars, and an unknown darkness that stretched off into the land and beckoned with its mystery.

Victoria
stopped and turned around, gazing over the dark Mare beyond.
Max stopped beside her.
She
wondered where Victor was now. Had he discovered that she’d left the Field? How far had he gotten?
How close is he?

S
he shivered.

“Cold?” Max
asked, his jaw rather tight.

She shook her head. “No. I was just…
.
”
T
hinking about Black.

Max waited, arching a brow. His expression told her that he didn’t exp
ect her to finish her sentence,
and that he was
once again disappointed at her unwillingness to trust him
.

Victoria tried to ignore him.
The tide was receding
,
and she could make out
round white
objects that were now visible in the smooth, wet sand.
I wonder what those are
.
Without explanation, she
head
ed back toward the shoreline
.

“Where are you going?” Max asked, his tone irritated.

“We’re not getting anywhere anyway,” Victoria told him, flatly. “And I’ve never seen any of this stuff before
.
” She blinked. “I think.” She had a funny feeling inside.
One of the white disc-like objects rested before her right boot
. Its edges had sunk a little into the sand, but it positively gleamed up at her.

She bent to pick it up and was surprised to find that it was very light. She shook it
. H
er suspicion that it was hollow was confirmed when something inside rattled.

There are angels inside.

Victoria froze. That hadn’t b
een her own voice in her head, a
nd she would recognize that accent anywhere.

There was a chuckle, deep and soft and oh, so familiar.
Five of them,
love
. Break it open and you’ll see for yourself.

Vi
ctoria spun around to face Max. T
he horrified look on her face must have told her captai
n all he needed to know because
in one fluid movement, he both pulled his sword and
grabbed
her wrist
to yank
her
protectively close
.

How
did he do that
?
she thought. Her
heart pounded. How could she hear Victor in her head? As a
D
ark leader, he could read minds – but project his thought
s? That had never been done
between a
l
ight leader and a
d
ark leader.

Between two
dark
leaders it was possible.

Victoria almost groaned inwardly, but was too frightened to make any sound at all.

Where are you, Black?

I’m here
.

She nearly gasped at the sound. It was so close. She yanked her wrist free of Max’s grasp
grabbed his wrist instead, turning him to get his attention.
“He’s after me – not you
. And I can run faster than you.
”
If she started running now, Black would follow her and ignore Max.
She was very fast;
was one of her strengths.

Max fully understood her unspoken intentions. “No way in hell,” he
growled, grabbing her by the upper arm this time.

She used her
l
ight leader stre
ngth to pull away from him a second time
. His gaze narrowed, his grip on his sword tightening. “Don’t you dare do this, Victoria.”

You breached the wall, c
lever girl. But bringing the captain
along
?
Black chuckled again and the sound vibrated through her body. Her nipples hardened.
Tsk, tsk
, he scolded.
This doesn’t concern him
.

Victoria stiffened, listening to the smooth, cool voice in her head. It was definitely louder now. Closer.
Much
closer.

She frantically glanced around, but saw nothing. That didn’t mean anything, of course. Victor Black could become invisible.
The bastard was too damned
powerful.

“I’m not arguing with you any more,” she told Max. And then, before he could object, she lifted him with her telekinesis and s
ent him flying twenty feet back
to land safely on a
sand
dune
. He was up on his feet with incredible, deft ease, but by the time he was racing toward her, Victoria had already broken into a ful
l-out run, heading for the darker, mysterious inland
.

She wished that she could fly. It was supposed to be a
l
ight leader ability, but she’d yet to learn of anyone
actually manifesting it
. How did Game Control know that it was a
l
ight ability
at all
if
they’d never
even
seen it done
?

Her mind was wan
dering, skating around in hyper-
chaos as she sped across the ground so fast that anyone watching from outside would have seen her form blur as it passed. She had no idea where she was going
,
and she ha
d no clue what she would do once
she got there.
She
wasn’t at all sur
e that leaving Max alone on the
beach had been the best plan. She just hadn’t wanted him to get hurt.

And Victor was so strong.

So she ran.

* * * *

Victor watched
with
both
keen admiration and
flagrant anticipation
as the object of his desire drew
steadily closer
. She
had no idea that she
was running straight for him.

She was probably mad as hell at him at that moment.
He’d invaded her mind. She might automatically
think he was breaking his word
that he wouldn’t use
any power she
didn’t also possess
.
But the truth was, he had
sensed her burgeoning
d
arkness
,
for lack of a better term
. Telepathic ability was
stirring
to life w
ithin her. He didn’t know why; maybe it was Arthur One and w
hat she’d been forced to do to him.
R
egardless, without that awakening talent
on her end,
he would not have been able to com
municate with her mentally
.
It took two dark leaders to speak in silence. He wondered if she would stop to
realize that
before accusing him
.

As to his invisibility –
that was a talent she did not, in fact possess. In that, he was
being a bastard.
He just didn’t care.

It was worth it.

As she gained ground, he focused his power
to see
through the blur of her
incredible motion
. She was dressed in a downtime uniform.
It fit snugly, perfectly outlining every curve of well-honed muscle, every ounce of delicate, womanly curve, and Victor felt himself harden at the thought of winning this Game.

But around her neck she wore a smoky quartz crystal on a delicate chain.

At seeing this, he inhaled sharply. H
is heart skipped a beat
in his broad chest as h
is hands came away from wher
e he’d been clasping them
behind his back.

Suddenly Victoria
stopped
running
,
coming to a fast and wary halt.

Victor swallowed hard and
instin
ctively went just as still
.

She was
a good thirty yards away from
him where he stood at
the tree line
to a deep and dense forest
.
Her
brow furrowed
, her expression troubled. She cocked her head to one side,
as if listening. Her
honey gold
eyes scanned the
darkness near the
tree line,
skating right over him. The
iridescent
color
in their lovely depths flashed brightly.

So beautiful
, he thought.

Y
ou
’re
there
!

Victor’s jaw dropped
, his eyes widening.
She was better at this than he’d thought.
She’d heard him.

I
can
hear you….

When his
initial shock subsided, his lips parted in a predatory smile. She was a quick study. He was again impressed.
This was fun.