Warrior: The Elect, Book 3 (2 page)

“We picked up a few things before the rescue. I forgot about them in all the excitement.” She stepped forward and held out her hand. “I’m Esme. Carter’s sister?”

“He spoke of you.”

“I bet,” she said dryly. “All lies, I promise.”

Jamie laughed and stood, wrapped the blanket around her waist and escaped into the bedroom to dress hurriedly. She dumped the contents of the shopping bag on the bed and arched her eyebrows. There were jeans and T-shirts—no big deal. But the sexy underwear and bra? Jamie rather doubted Carter’s sister would buy those for a woman she didn’t know. Which meant he had. Was he planning—assuming—they’d resume where they’d left off? No, that was crazy. Unfortunately, her gift didn’t allow her to read minds—only the truth or lie in a statement. She pushed the thoughts away for now, yanked off the tags, and got dressed.

She could hear the murmur of voices in the other room. The quiet conversation came to an abrupt stop when she returned, and four sets of eyes turned on her. She felt like a bug under a microscope. Finally, one of the big men stepped forward. “I’m Zach, the lead doctor here. You shouldn’t have removed the IV,” he said, not quite snapping but definitely disapproving.

“Knock it off, Zach,” Carter growled and led her to the couch. This time he sat next to her. The doctor took a seat across from them and leaned forward.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

She shrugged, reluctant to answer him. He was a little scary and a lot asshole. “Like I got run over by a truck.”

His lips curled with the slightest hint of amusement, and she relaxed a fraction. “You should feel better in a few days. I can give you something to help with the pain, if you like.”

She shook her head. No way in hell would she be drugged up again. “I can cope.”

“I figured you’d say that. Anyone who can handle Carter has to be stubborn as hell.”

She didn’t respond to that. Her way of coping with Carter had been to cut off their nonrelationship.

The last man in the room sat on the other chair, and Esme perched on the arm. Jamie didn’t need to see the rock on Esme’s left hand to know they were together. It was clear by the way they looked at each other.

“What can you tell us about your captivity?” the man asked.

She looked at Carter, wondering how much to share and suspecting they knew more than she did.

“That’s Brax,” Carter said. “My soon-to-be brother-in-law and the boss around here.”

“I remember signing in at the hospital in Tampa and waking up at the hospital y’all took me out of. After that…” She shook her head. “It’s kind of one big blur.”

Brax pinned her with a look she was hard-pressed not to squirm under. “I understand you don’t know us or if you can trust us, but lying about it won’t help matters.”

Carter wrapped his arm around her shoulders and leaned in to whisper in her ear. “You know you can trust me. Let us help, sweetheart.”

“For some reason,” she started, not quite believing she was going to tell them, “Stine, the doctor in charge, got it into his head that I’m a telepath.”

She waited for everyone to laugh, and her stomach twisted when they didn’t.

“Are you?” Brax asked.

“I get rescued from one madman to get handed off to another, is that it?”

Unbelievable. They couldn’t really believe in telepathy, could they? That one person could read another’s mind? Sure, she knew when someone was lying to her, but she had to focus on them—study them carefully. That was just a lifetime of observation, right? Of watching facial expressions, listening to speech patterns and cadences. But…she knew there was more to it than that. Knew she was lying to herself. Still, telepathy? It seemed so farfetched. Crazy. If she didn’t feel like shit, she’d get up and pace.

“No. I’m not,” she snapped.

But Brax just gave her that searching look again. “We checked you out. Youngest detective in TPD history. Highest solve rate. What is your talent, then, if not telepathy? We know you have one, Jamie.”

She read the truth in his statement and cringed. What the fuck was going on?

“What is it, baby?” Carter asked. “Kaden is a precog, right?”

Precog
…precognition? That seemed the most likely definition for
precog
. Why would Carter let these people drag their son into this?

He sighed. “These people are protecting him, Jamie. I would never do anything to endanger our son.”

“What can you do?” Brax asked again, his voice gentle—cajoling with steel underneath it.

“I hear the truth.”

Brax leaned back in his chair. “Interesting.”

“It comes in handy sometimes,” she said carefully.

He grinned. “No doubt.”

“I think it’s your turn now, Mister…”

“Braxton Lee, but call me Brax. My turn for what?”

Braxton Lee, a very familiar name to anyone from the Tampa area, was the secretive, filthy-rich owner of Lee Enterprises.

“You know more about this than I do, Brax,” she countered. “You know why Stine came after me. And…” She cocked her head to one side, her intuition kicked into overdrive. “Something else I’m not quite getting yet. But I will. I always do.”

Carter squeezed her shoulder in warning, but she shrugged him off, stood and walked to a spot near the door where she could keep everyone in sight.

“You can do a little more than just hear truth, can’t you?” Brax asked.

“Call it a hunch.”

“Are your hunches ever wrong?”

“Rarely,” Jamie answered.

“Did you ever ask Stine why he took you?”

She huffed. “Of course. He said he was interested in studying parapsychology.”

“That was the truth,” Brax said.

Jamie shook her head. “Only part of it. What’s the rest?”

“We don’t know.”

She gave him a shrewd look. “Also only part of the truth.”

He laughed. “Forget lying. Hell, Carter. God help you if you ever try to keep anything from her.”

Figuring she needed every advantage she could get, she didn’t tell them that she had to be focusing on getting the truth for her ability to work.

“It wasn’t just your talent that brought you to Stine’s attention,” Brax said, serious now. “It was your DNA. Kaden’s DNA, to be more accurate. We don’t think Stine had yours before he kidnapped you.”

She didn’t read any deception. “What’s so interesting about his or my DNA?”

“It’s not human. Neither of you is human.”

She heard nothing but veracity in his response, which was the only reason she didn’t laugh out loud. “That’s insane.”

“Funny, Carter said the same damned thing. But you’re the truth reader. It might sound like fantasy but it’s real.”

“The rest of you?” she asked. She wondered about the others in the house and the people that she’d glimpsed moving around outside.

“Most of us here are the same as you.”

“What is that precisely?” Her mind was reeling and she was already seeing patterns, but they weren’t clear yet.

“We call ourselves the Elect. Humans are our evolutionary ancestors. Cousins of a sort.”

That actually kind of made sense. It wasn’t like evolution would cease with the rise of Homo sapiens, right?

“You said here. You mean in Tampa?”

“There are a handful who live in the city, but most of us are in the compound.”

Interesting. She’d have to ask more about that later.

“Go on,” she said. “Tell me about Stirling.”

“The Institution was founded by three scientists,” Brax said. “Stine, Orly and Lingstrom. Their grandsons run the Institute now. Anyway, in the fifties they were in charge of a secret military project researching parapsychology. When the project was mothballed, the subjects scattered or banded together here under my grandfather’s leadership. The Stirling scientists formed their institute to continue their research and later branched into genetics research.”

“They found you and Kaden because one of his doctors had his DNA tested. We think they faked your death to get complete access to you and Kaden. They didn’t know about me,” Carter finished.

The energy rushed from her body and her knees went weak. The world tilted. Carter caught her as she stumbled. She’d felt secure a few minutes ago, but hearing that Stine wanted her son too changed everything. She’d go to any lengths necessary to protect him.

“You’re sure he’s safe here?” she whispered.

“He is.”

“I want to see for myself.”

He nodded. “I figured you would, but you need to get some rest first. You’re a long way from recovered.”

“No, now.” Carter got the same obstinate look she’d seen so often on her son’s face. For a minute it silenced her. Then she shook her head. “I won’t rest until I see for myself.”

“We gotta work on this trust issue of yours, sweetheart.”

She turned to make the demand of Brax, who sighed when Esme elbowed him. “Stubborn women,” he muttered. “You better show her Mason and Gabe’s setup.”

The look Carter gave him made it clear they’d have words later. Jamie didn’t care. She’d love to crawl back in the big, soft bed and sleep for a week, but she couldn’t do that until she knew Kaden was safe. Everyone filed out of the suite, Carter and Jamie bringing up the rear. They walked down a hall and a wide, curving staircase to the first floor. If she weren’t so wound up, she would have looked around in awe. She’d figured it was a mansion, but it felt more like an exclusive hotel.

Carter steered her to one of the many open doors she saw, but she wasn’t prepared for what was inside the room. It looked like the nerve center for a major war. There was an entire wall of TV screens, and computer stations were placed everywhere. He led her to the wall, gesturing to the top row.

“The gates,” he said.

She began to relax. They were high, heavy and locked. She saw the small box that contained the keypad for access. He pointed out other screens outside the estate recording the roads that led to the entrances. There were more cameras on the outside and inside of the house and the other properties inside the estate.

“My God,” she murmured. “Must have cost a fortune.”

“No doubt,” Carter responded. “Satisfied?”

For now. Later she’d want to look around. “Yeah.”

“Good. You’re going back to bed.”

Before she could protest he swung her up in his arms and hurried out. Moments later he had her back in his bedroom. He set her on her feet, and she took one step toward the bed, then reconsidered.

“Um. Maybe I should stay in Kaden’s room,” she suggested. Nerves tightened her chest when he glared down at her.

“No. You belong in here. With me.”

What the hell? Sure, she felt the same intense attraction she’d always felt for him, but he’d disappeared from her life without a fight. It had been seven long years. Did he think they would just pick up where they’d left off? That wasn’t possible—though it was tempting.

“I think that would be a bad idea.”

“Do you?” He gave her a smile that was one part sexy and one part mean. “I think it’s the best idea I’ve had in seven years. I
know
last night was the first full night’s sleep I’ve had in seven years. No nightmares I can’t get out of my head of you in some other man’s arms. For the first time, I know exactly where you are, and I’ll be damned if I let you walk away from me again. So get used to it, sweetheart. You’re here, and here you’ll stay.”

With that he turned and stalked out, slamming the door behind him. She could only stare at the air he still seemed to fill. She hadn’t been using her skill at reading the truth, but she knew she’d heard it and she was confused. And hurt and pissed the hell off. She wanted to charge after him. Wanted to know, if he’d felt that strongly about her, why he hadn’t searched for her? She wanted to ask, but she was so damned tired and everything hurt. She decided to wait until she was stronger. She took her new clothes off, put his T-shirt back on and buried herself under the covers.

Chapter Two

Carter was afraid his fury would consume him, but it faded away as soon as he saw Kaden running to him. He scooped the boy up in his arms, to Kaden’s delighted laughter, and spun around.

“Dad,” Kaden said, still giggling. “This is a baby game.”

“I won’t tell if you don’t.” Carter winked, burying the regret he felt over not having been there when Kaden was a baby. Hiding his other regrets too. He shouldn’t have let Jamie go, and he shouldn’t have snapped at her like he had upstairs.

Kaden wiggled until Carter set him down. His son grinned up at him. “I met Grandma. She said when she’s feeling better we’ll make cookies.”

“She did, huh?” he asked as Esme stepped out of Zach’s lab. “Have you talked to her yet?” he asked his sister.

She nodded.
“She couldn’t give us much. Stine had her for years, but apparently he thought she wasn’t useful, so he kept her pretty drugged up,”
Esme answered telepathically.

He felt the anger rising in his blood again. He’d blamed his mother, Merilee Durand, for a lot of things that turned out weren’t her fault or under her control. He should have been a better son. A more sympathetic man. A better mate and father. He felt like a failure all the way around.