Bent (The Gifted Series) (9 page)

              Self doubt lingered but Leah led the way.  It was time to
muster some stones
.

    *     *     *     *

             
Okay, so the 'stones’ line was a bit over the top
, Leah thought, cagily shifting from one foot to the other.  “Um … so what do you say we like … research this a bit.  Ya know, maybe watch Wanted?”  Leah yelled nervously, thirty yards away from Declan.

              His eyes narrowed. “The flick with Angelina Jolie?”

              “Well, James McAvoy’s the stand out for me, but yeah, that’s the one.”  She shrugged. “It couldn’t hurt.”

              “Leah, you’ve put this off long enough, and McAvoy’s way too short for you.  Stop stalling!” he barked, raising the gun.

              “Okay!  Okay!” her voice panicked. “Just give me a second to process—”

              With that, Declan huffed and shot.

              A second later, Leah rose from a shaky knee. “You jackass!  I didn’t say I was ready!”

              Declan smiled knowingly.  “Yeah, assassins hell bent to kill ya always wait for the ready signal.
 
So did I wing ya?”

              Wide-eyed and shell-shocked, Leah glanced down at herself.  She then ran desperate hands across her limbs, even palmed her breasts for Declan’s viewing pleasure—to which he snorted with laughter and asked for a complementary hip roll. 

             Perv!

              A monumental sigh escaped her before she yelled, “I’m good.” Seeming surprised by the notion herself.  She then winced at Declan. “But maybe you shoot for shit?”

              Declan’s smile instantly faded.  “Are you trying to piss me off?  Cuz ya just shanked my ego, girlie.”  Frowning, he raised the weapon again.

              A gurgled noise escaped Leah as her eyes widened.  “Not again,” she gritted, raising her hands, but it was too late, the shot was fired.

              Without thought Leah dove to the right, once again finding herself on bended knee.  Puzzled and panting, she rose up slowly while racking her brain to understand how she knew to duck this way or that, but it was beyond reason.  She just intuitively knew.

              A smile of utter astonishment cut loose, and although her body shook, she demanded, “Again!”  Curiosity trumped fear.

             Pop!  The gun sounded.

              Without dropping to the ground this time, Leah contorted her upper body sharply to the left.  She swore she could feel the bullet whizzing by, but that was crazy.  Right?  “No,” she laughed aloud.  Amazingly it wasn’t.   Confounded, she stood on shaky legs realizing that without a doubt, she was dodging
freaking
bullets. 

              Her smile shifted to one of triumph—of power. “Neo, you ain’t got nothing on me,” she muttered, the Matrix fluttering her thoughts.  “Again!” she yelled with challenge.

              Obviously pleased, Declan’s lip raised at her ardency and he raised the gun.  This time he shot twice, allowing a three-second pause in between.  Leah contorted her body sharply to the left and then whipped her head to the right.  The bullets whizzed past. 

              “Mary, mother of God, what the fuck are you doin’?”

              Both Declan and Leah swiveled toward the irate voice.  Bowen stood stupefied, seething.  He began to stalk forward, his eyes shredding Declan.  At this, Leah ran toward Declan too.

              “Bowen, stop!” she yelled.  “Let us explain.”

              Declan muttered the same rhetoric, raising his hands in the air with the glock hanging innocently off his index finger.  Once within reach, Bowen snagged the weapon.  “Explain!” he bellowed.

                Leah reached out and grabbed Bo’s forearm. “You saw for yourself.  I know it’s hard to fathom, but it’s true.”

              Bowen ran a hand through his short hair. “Nothing’s hard to fathom in the gifted world, Leah.” His head tilted, considering his next remark. “Shocked doesn’t begin to define what I’m currently feeling, but … nothing’s unfathomable.” He drilled her with demanding eyes.  “How many know of this ability? Who have you told?” His hand swung toward Dec as he continued, “Obviously, the boy here knows, but who else?”

              He was so grave that it made Leah shiver.  “No one. Dec warned me to keep silent.”

              Bo turned an appraising eye on Declan.

              Declan snorted. “I’m not the git you take me for.  I’m Tuatha De just like yer kin.”

              “Your man know?” Bo asked Leah.

              She gave a hard shake, guilt waves pummeling.  For one, this discovery was so unbelievably cool that she would have given anything to share it with Gracen, but she remembered Declan’s earlier warnings.  Any info Gracen had on Leah could be inadvertently discovered if he was ever captured.  If Gracen was tortured and gave away info about her, he’d never forgive himself.  She knew Gracen loved her that much, and she loved him enough to protect him by withholding information.  But she also knew that at some point he would find out—she had to use this gift eventually.  Hell, she already had.  This she discussed with Declan too, to which he offered sound wisdom: “With Marcus Landon’s death, we’ve all been targeted.  We must be vigilant.  Any of us could be killed … or worse, nabbed and forced to share all that we know of the agency.”  Leah mentally sighed; she hoped for a day when she felt it safe to fully open up to Gracen because the withholding was a killer.

              Bowen nodded with relief. “Good.  Keep it that way.”

              Declan spoke up, “I’m the only one who knows. Although I suspect Joss is aware.  She witnessed Leah dodging her shots, and if Joss is truly bent, then it had to have caused her physical pain when she missed her mark.”

              “Is that true?” Leah asked Bowen.

              “Wouldn’t know, I never missed a target,” Bowen admitted with reproach.  He continued, “But I can tell you it’s excruciating to fight against the hypnotics.  Fighting their hold is a gradual process—takes time, and some can’t fight it at all.” He looked toward Declan. “Being that she’s your kin, I’d imagine she tried to fight them and was in agony.  I have to ask, though, if Joss knows about Leah, what will she do with the information?”

              Declan didn’t hesitate. “We’re cut from the same cloth—she’s a strong shield and not easily manipulated.  She won’t hand over a damn thing to a Landon.”

              Leah then asked Bowen, “Why are you back, anyway? I thought you were gone for two more days?”

              Bowen sighed, checking Declan’s glock, more for something to do. “Nah... We haven’t got one bloody bead on them.  I um—” He abruptly halted, again toying with the gun.

              “You what?” Leah pressed, attempting to read his emotional grid.  All she got for her efforts was a sarcastic brow raise from the man. Damn, not once had she been able to sense his emotions.

              “You’re good,” she conceded.

              “Pure blood,” he flatly replied, “and it tickles when you do that.”

              “So what’s yer plan?” Declan pushed. “One doesn’t have to read or sense a blasted thing to see that you’ve got one.”

              Bowen’s eye flickered between the two with skepticism.  “First, answer me this.  What are you two doing out here?  Clearly your being secretive about Bullet-Dodger Extraordinaire.” He motioned toward Leah, continuing, “Otherwise the entire camp would know about Leah.  Hell, the entire agency would be in a fist-to-cuffs over who gets to use her first.”

              Leah didn’t appreciate the sound of this.  Yes, she wanted to be an agent, but she wasn’t a damn tool to be passed around and shot at.

              “That’s my doing,” Declan replied.  “Leah needs to be cautious.”

              “I agree,” Bowen said.  His gaze then narrowed on Leah and she gasped at the fluttering sensation that instantly filtered her brain. Bowen was reading her!
 
Broke right through her wall and helped himself.  Her face scowled at the violation.  Lord above, the man was strong.

              “Get out of my head!” she bellowed, smacking him in the arm and feeling vast amounts of guilt for all the individuals she’d intrusively tapped over the years—the shoe on the other foot didn’t feel so hot.

              He huffed and smirked.  “The fact that you can feel me fluttering around in there is a good sign of strength—many can’t feel me at all, particularly non-gifted.  Your man, Tiago’s strong too.  He knew the second I drift in … and how to block me.”  This he added with an air of respect.

              Declan urged, “What about me?”

              Bowen laughed impassively. “Nah, Gael.  Impressively, you’re a vault.”

              Declan’s chest puffed subtly as Bowen continued, “However, due to Leah’s weak mind,”—she rudely told him where to go— “I now know you’re planning to go after Carter and Joss.  So …” He shrugged. “Guess you’re coming with me.”

              Leah and Declan glanced at one another and smiled.  Their chances of finding them just increased ten fold, as did Leah’s chance of royally pissing off Gracen.  Instantly, her smile faltered.

Chapter 7

              Joss swore molten lave coursed her veins.  The way Carter’s tongue surged and retreated in slow fashion brought her temp to scalding and left her dripping between the thighs.  She didn’t care the reasons why he was kissing her, just that he didn’t stop.  Typically, she found her release in the quiet darkness, muffling her cries into her pillow, but she hadn’t had any privacy lately and being around Carter only increased her need.

              So far his uninjured hand remained above the shoulder, cupping her face and stroking her hair.  Although this was sublime, she wanted his fingers to retreat south.  Unconsciously, hers did.  She found her hand roaming down his taught belly and then shifting toward his hip before settling just slightly below.  With that, he accepted her open invitation to roam and began to travel.

             
Thank you powers that be
! Joss mentally cried.

              His hand made it to her side, then halted before making an urgent leap to her breast, as if he couldn’t hold out any longer.  She inwardly smiled. 

              He cupped her breast, testing the weight which made her mentally squirm.  She’d always wished she was fuller.  She also noted that he didn’t exactly groan with ecstasy upon touching her there, but he didn’t pull his hand away either.

              His lips halted against hers. “Is this okay with you, Joss?  I don’t want you to think I’m taking advantage.”

              “Yes,” she breathed.  “I want this.”

              He wasted no time, locking his mouth with hers.  Then his hand left her breast and trailed along her hip, quickly shifting to the apex of her thighs.  At this she sat up.

              He pulled his hand back and warily whispered “Second thoughts?”

              She chuckled, working her yoga pants to her ankles and then dropping them to the floor. “No.  They’re my only clean ones, and well … I’m extremely ready for you, so ya know … I don’t want them soiled.”

              “Wha—” he questioned quietly.

              “We can’t let on to Patrice that we’ve been together.”  She saw his shadowed face nod in recognition.

              “She’ll use it against us.”

              “Yes.”  Joss laid down again, a bit hesitantly. “So, do you want to continue?”

              Carter released a muffled snort.  “Sweet thing, I got a hard-on of steel over here needing some relief.”

              She eye rolled his crass descriptiveness; he certainly wasn’t a man of poetic prose, but she felt a surge of relief that he wanted to continue. Quickly, she stripped her tank top. “We’ll use this.” She laid the top above their heads. “For cleaning up.  I have an extra, so I can hand wash it.”

              Carter’s hand landed firmly on the side of her waist, causing her to shiver.  “Can we continue,” he jested, “or is there more pre-foreplay preparations that need attending?”

              She didn’t appreciate his mockery.  “Look,” she snapped, “I need this as much as ye, but we must take precautions.”  She couldn’t mutter another word because her mouth was smothered by his.  His hand, once again, cupped her between the thighs.  A bit more forcefully this time.

              “I love it—” His tongue thrust into her mouth. “When you—” Another surge. “Get ornery.”

              Joss offered no reply, she was lost to the feeling of his tongue intertwined with hers and his naughty middle finger lightly stroking her drenched folds, gently swiping her clit in a circular motion.  Her moan released in his mouth.

              “So close,” she barely whispered, slightly embarrassed to admit it.

              “And you feel incredible,” he grunted in return.  He then thrust his middle finger into her heat, and she clamped herself against him, burying her mouth into his neck as a whimper tore through.  With one hand, she gripped around his neck, trying to be mindful of his injuries.  Her other hand descended to his pants.  Without pretense, she slid into them and pushed the material down, freeing his sizable cock.  He grunted into her shoulder, never letting up on his finger thrust, but added a palm grind into her clit.

             Yes! The exquisite pleasure!  She muffled another cry, nipping his neck.

              Her trembling hand wrapped firmly around him and she began to stroke in time with his thrusts.  Her thumb swiped his pre-cum and she had the delicious urge to bring it to her mouth for a taste.  Instead, she used it to further stroke his desire, noticing that he began to tremble.  He was close too.

              Although she knew she was his only female option at the moment, empowerment filled her knowing that she was bringing a drop-dead gorgeous man to his ultimate release.  This further spiked her need—the feeling of sexual empowerment taking her over the edge.  The sweet build-up was a force like none she’d felt before.

              “Carter, I’m … 
Oh yes
!” she fervently whispered before plastering her mouth against the saltiness at his neck.  She was lost to the euphoria … utterly lost.