Training Rain

A.S.
Fenichel

Having spent most of her life
avoiding people and hiding her psychic gifts, Rain is shocked when the new Psi
Alliance asks her to join. She didn’t count on the rigorous training or needing
all of her Native American knowledge to complete the course. And if only she
could ignore her attraction to her devilishly handsome instructor.

Jess shows up to train a new
psychic recruit and the crazy woman shoots him in the doorway. His new student
is the raven-haired beauty who once saved his life. Trying to keep his focus on
survival training is hard enough without the added stress of a rogue government
agency trying to kill them.

Escaping danger leads them directly
into each other’s arms. The only question is—can they survive long enough to
find comfort there?

A Romantica®
paranormal erotic romance
from
Ellora’s Cave

The Nevada sun warmed the dry earth, but winter had come to
the desert and a chill clipped the air. Jess was late getting back to Las Vegas
after his first official assignment working for the Psi Alliance. Exhaustion
tugged at him and a nice bed in a nearby luxury hotel called his name. Instead
of following his desire for comfort and rest, he’d done as he’d been told. He
walked up to the simple house used as headquarters for the Psi Alliance. Joshua
Lakeland and Tessa Clark had bought the inconspicuous home just outside the
city. It was modest and off the beaten path. No one would suspect a psychic spy
network was meeting at that residential locale.

He kept his hand on the hilt of the handgun holstered inside
his leather jacket as he knocked on the front door of the stucco house. Closed
doors made him nervous. It was always possible that the threat on the other
side was more powerful than he was. Jess was not a fan of the unknown. He kept
his mind tightly guarded, though he sensed the build-up of psychic energy
inside the structure.

Energy crackled from behind the door. It was a sensation he
recognized well. His grip relaxed on his weapon and he smiled before the door
opened.

“I didn’t think you were going to make it, Jess.” Tessa
Clark grinned from the open doorway and stepped into his open arms for a hug.

Only an inch shorter than him, she was strong, beautiful and
a gifted psychic. They had been partners for years and in the beginning, he’d
wanted there to be more between them. Tessa had always told him that sex would
complicate their working relationship. He’d been rejected so many times it had
become a joke between them. Of course she’d been right. Eventually she’d become
like a sister to him and any romantic thoughts had faded completely.

It had hurt when she’d gotten into trouble over the summer
and not contacted him for help. He knew she’d been protecting him by not
entangling him in what was potentially the end of her career as a government
agent. Still, he wished she’d come to him.

It turned out she was right about it ending her career with
the government. Once Joshua Lakeland and she had proven her innocent of any
wrongdoing in the deaths of her team members, the two had quit their jobs with
the government and opened their own agency. They were still in the process of
recruiting the best psychic agents in the country to work with the Psi
Alliance.

If Jess was honest, it wasn’t that much different than
working for the government agency, though he did feel as if Tessa and Josh had
his back. The government was known for cutting their losses and leaving an
agent hanging out to dry as they had done with regard to Tessa. If Joshua
hadn’t felt instantly connected to her when he’d been ordered to do a mind
probe, the outcome would not have been nearly as congenial.

He shuddered at the thought.

Tessa broke the hug and cocked her head to one side. “You
okay?”

It was impossible to hide anything from a telepath. “I was
just thinking about everything that happened over the summer. Seeing
you—brought it all back.”

She took his arm and led him inside the modest home. The
large open living room was likely the biggest selling point for the couple.
They could easily use it as a briefing room and fit a dozen or more agents on
the soft leather sofas and chairs.

The windows were treated with tan blackout curtains that
kept prying eyes from having a look in when anything was happening. They could
be pulled back at other times to reveal a normal home complete with stone
fireplace and flat-screen TV. At the moment, all the curtains were closed and
the room was filled with agents and artificial light.

Jess knew everyone in the room to some degree. He’d worked
with most of them when he’d been with the Psi Agency.

Wanda Avery lounged on one of the couches. She raised her
hand in greeting as he entered. The middle-aged redhead had never been very
psychically talented, but no one could gather information better. She knew
everything that was going on in the world and who was responsible. She could
pick important bits out of a coded transmission and decipher that data faster
and more accurately than anyone on the planet. Jess had not been surprised when
Josh and Tessa had asked Wanda to join the Psi Alliance though it had surprised
him that Wanda had come out of retirement and agreed to join.

Jess took a good look around the room. “You’ve done some
recruiting since I’ve been away.”

Tessa nodded. “I think you know everyone. We were lucky to
get Wanda. You met Kane, Joshua’s brother, but maybe you haven’t met his wife,
Lena. I’ll introduce you later.”

She pointed to a curvaceous Latina standing next to the
dining table with her hand casually draped over Kane’s shoulder. Kane sat, and
the couple spoke intently to Piper Martin, a young agent with impressive
clairvoyance as well as some other useful skills.

“Piper, Will and Don were with us when we lost Trip over the
summer.”

Jess’ stomach tightened. “You almost lost me that day too.”

He thought he’d gotten over nearly having his soul ripped
from his body. It had been months since he’d thought about the day in Las Vegas
when they’d been forced to kill Troth Banta. Of course the psi mercenary had
given them no choice. He’d been collecting power by ripping it from other
psychics. They had to stop him before he became unstoppable.

Seeing these people brought Jess right back to that moment
when he lay on the marble floor of the Venetian Hotel with Banta tearing his
psi abilities from him. Psychic power travels through a user via their aura on
a vibration. Having your aura taken away usually kills the victim or worse,
leaves him existing in a private Hell. That might have been Jess’ fate if the
Native American healer, Rain Silver, hadn’t risked her life to save him.

Trip hadn’t been as fortunate. Banta took his psi and his
soul was ripped from his body. There was nothing anyone could do. It had
happened too fast. They’d all mourned the loss of a good friend and a good
agent.

Tessa tightened her grip on his arm. “I know. I’m so glad
Rain was there in time. Remind me, after the meeting, I want to talk to you
about her.”

“What about her?” Warning bells sounded in his head. The
woman was safe on the Shoshone Reservation where they’d found her. It had given
him some satisfaction knowing she was safe.

The image of her smooth, cocoa skin and shining dark eyes
had filtered into his dreams many nights since the summer. Something in her
eyes soothed his restlessness and healed him.

Joshua made his way across the room and cleared his throat.

“I’ll tell you about it later,” Tessa said.

Joshua Lakeland’s tall, imposing figure made people turn and
listen. He stood at one end of the room and addressed the small gathering. “I’m
glad you could all make it. I wanted to take a moment to make it clear that
each of you have been invited into the Psi Alliance for not only your
individual skills but also because I trust you with my life and the lives of
the other people in this room. At the moment there are only ten of us, but I
envision there being a need to expand as time goes on.”

Jess looked around the room. He only counted nine people.
Strange.

“At the moment, our biggest problem is that someone wants us
all dead.” Joshua gave a short laugh, but there was no humor there.

A few others in the room also chuckled.

“I suspect this shift in our position at the old agency is
why many of you have decided to accept our invitation. I’m glad you’re here and
our first imperative will be to defeat those groups trying to eliminate our
kind of agent in favor of mercenaries and other more morally malleable
parties.”

Wanda’s scratchy smoker’s voice cut in. “I came out of
retirement for this, Josh. You and everyone in this room know I’d never have
left Key West if this wasn’t in our country’s best interest.”

“Wanda’s right. If we just disappear, which I know each and
every one of you is capable of doing, then the type of people who will be
populating our old jobs will bring this country to its knees. We can’t allow
the Troth Bantas of the psychic world to be manipulated by politicians and
their agendas.”

“What about Breckenridge?” Piper asked in her low raspy
voice. She had her long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and her eyes were
fixed on the man at the front of the room.

Jess had to bite his tongue to keep from spitting out a string
of curses a mile long. Senator Bradly Breckenridge had started an anti-psi
campaign in Washington D.C. that had taken hold. He’d brought several other
politicians on board. Luckily the president was still fully in support of loyal
Psi Agents. In fact Joshua had managed to get the stamp of approval from the
Joint Chiefs of Staff before officially opening the Psi Alliance.

Even Jess had been impressed by that piece of political
maneuvering.

Joshua didn’t miss a beat. “We are all going to have a part
in finding out how far the senator has taken his scheme to rid the world of our
kind. We need to prove that he was behind the incident with Banta. That would
be a big step toward lessening his credibility. It wouldn’t look good for him
after stating that the Psi Agency had no place in government to learn that he
was using psychics to destroy or discredit agents. Not to mention that it would
mean he had at least three agents killed in the Middle East.

“Each one of you has a particular skill that I believe we will
need to accomplish our goals, and going forward those skills will make us a
valuable asset for the United States. This time though, it will be on our
terms.”

“Here, here,” Wanda said as she lifted her glass and sipped
her wine.

“That’s really it. Tessa has assignments for each one of
you. Try to remember that we are all working toward the same goal. If you have
information or you believe you’ve uncovered something, no matter how small,
bring the information to me. I will analyze all the data each of you bring in
and share that data with our team. If you need something, Tessa or I will do
our best to make sure you have whatever it is.”

The official meeting broke up a moment later and people
drifted around the room. Tessa had promised them dinner and almost everyone
stayed. Jess hoped that the informal setting would let information flow more
freely.

“Jess.” Josh strode toward him with his hand outstretched
for shaking.

The two men shook hands. “Hi, Josh. Things are looking good
here. You said ten people. Is my math off?”

Tessa had joined them and Josh immediately directed the trio
to a doorway at the far end of the room leading to an austere office. “That’s
what we need to talk to you about.”

Jess’ muscles tightened slightly and his mind began to churn
while he waited for information. He was ready to flee or fight. “What’s this
about?”

“Rain Silver.”

Now he really was on alert. Rain had saved his life. She had
saved his soul. What kind of trouble was she in and why? She was no agent. Jess
had taken a lot of comfort in the idea that she was safely tucked away on a
reservation in the Nevada desert. Safe.

He waited. Both Joshua and Tessa had the ability to read his
mind and he was not making an effort to block them.

Tessa said, “I know you don’t like it, but she has a lot of
talent that was being wasted. Plus, she was not happy.”

Jess had a hard time keeping his temper from erupting. “So
the two of you decided to recruit a completely untrained woman who is just
going to get herself killed?”

Joshua leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over
his chest. “You underestimate her, Jess. She has skills and she’s one of the
bravest people I’ve ever known. That southern macho attitude has no place
within a psi organization. You wouldn’t say that about Tessa.”

“Tessa was a cop before she was recruited by the government.
She has paramilitary training, can shoot and fight. Rain lives on a
reservation. She’s been sheltered. There’s nothing wrong with a nice quiet life
where you help your community and don’t get yourself killed.”

He had no idea why he was so vehemently against Rain joining
the Psi Alliance, but he also knew it wasn’t his call.

Tessa walked over to the desk and opened a file. “You have a
good point. She needs training. She has a lot of natural instincts and she is
very capable, but there’s a lot she needs to learn.”

“That’s where you come in,” Joshua said.

Jess’s heart dropped. “Me?”

“We want you to be her instructor. Teach her how to be an
agent and most importantly, how to stay alive.” The head of the Psi Alliance
never moved away from the wall.

“Why me?” Jess ran his fingers through his hair. The
exhaustion he’d been fighting started to settle around him. Every instinct told
him to stay as far away from Rain Silver as he could.

It was Tessa who answered. “Rain isn’t sure that the Psi
Alliance is for her. She’s struggling with what to do. I thought you would be
the right person to guide her through that decision.”

Jess crossed his arms. “Then we can end this process right
now. I would tell her to run as fast and as far away from the two of you as
possible. In fact I’d include me in the group of people. That woman should not
be anywhere near any of us. It will only get her killed.”

Joshua grinned from across the room. “You say that, but she
saved your life. In fact, if she hadn’t blocked Banta from gathering auras, we
all might have been killed.”

“I recognize that, but it doesn’t mean I think she should
risk her life the way we do. What’s wrong with being a healer in Nevada?”

Tessa said, “Nothing, but Adianca informed us that Rain was
unhappy and had a different destiny.”

Adianca was the shaman from the reservation. She had helped
to save Tessa when her soul was lost between worlds. The old lady was wise, he
wouldn’t argue with that.
Still.