Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
Mack, as team commander, was also present for the discussion. “Rory, we work better as a group. We fit seamlessly together.”
“But not me. I’m not part of you.”
Gideon nearly blew it by objecting. He just managed to keep his mouth closed.
Mack gave Rory a small smile. “You might have a legitimate argument, honey, if you hadn’t cloaked Rhianna so quickly and from a distance. You couldn’t see her. You didn’t really know her, and yet you took control and seamlessly fit with her. If you aren’t part of us, how did you manage to do that?”
Rory’s long lashes fluttered, and she turned her green gaze a little helplessly to Gideon as if asking him for the answer. He took her hand. “No one is hurrying your decision.”
Talk to me, Red. What are you thinking?
I’ve been giving this a lot of thought since you first brought it up to me. Why would I have such a reaction to meeting your friends when they’ve been helping me? You know I have nightmares and deliberately made a point of remembering every one of them. In all of them, Whitney berated me and told me I endangered the other girls. That I shouldn’t be near them. He said it over and over. Drilled it into me.
Gideon had shared a few of those nightmares with her. He knew Whitney reveled in repeating himself to Rory that she was useless and a danger to the others.
Intellectually, I know Whitney is still influencing me. I still have his voice in my head telling me I’ll endanger my fellow GhostWalkers if I’m around them, even if it’s subconscious.
Gideon groaned. Subconscious is worse than having him yelling in your face. And then I made it worse by adding to that worry, playing right into his hands by fearing you were programmed by him to kidnap Sebastian.
He had. He should have realized all along that he had reinforced Whitney’s assessment of Rory’s worth. He had made her feel that she would endanger the other GhostWalkers, that she was inferior to them, just as Whitney had.
I’m sorry, Red. I played right into his hands.
No, I did. I’m an adult. I’ve been stuck in my childhood.
We all carry the scars of our childhoods, thinking we aren’t worthy. He still did. He probably always would.
Rory’s green eyes moved over his face. I don’t want Whitney to have any influence on me.
Gideon smiled at her. “Let’s get it done, sweetheart.”
Rory took a deep breath, turned to Paul, and nodded. She’d already made up her mind to take down the shield. She knew she was going to spend the rest of her life with Gideon. She could barely bring herself to be away from him.
“You said one thing at a time. All right, let’s get it done,” Rory said.
Paul was an intelligent man, and he didn’t give Rory time to get nervous and back out. His palms moved up to the left side of her head, right over the spot where the sensation was always the worst for Rory.
Gideon merged with Rory, staying connected in her mind. He opened a telepathic circle to his teammates so they could join and begin a deep meditative breathing. As Paul carefully began separating the layers of skin, Gideon and the others felt the same sensations with Rory, the sickening horror of her skin cracking and splitting all over her body. The illusion was so real that Gideon twice looked down at his own skin to make certain he wasn’t becoming a lizard. That earned him a little giggle from Rory. How she could manage to be amused when it hurt like hell, he didn’t know, but he appreciated her sense of humor.
Blood began to trickle down the side of Rory’s head. Sweat beaded on Paul’s forehead. Gideon’s teammates breathed without stopping in that same rhythm. Rory twice began coughing, her lungs spasming. Gideon pressed her palm to his lungs with one hand to lead the way for her while he handed her the inhaler with his other. He’d made certain it was close. He knew pain could bring on breathing problems, and this operation was very painful.
As the skin separated from the shield, images tumbled into her mind. Gideon swept them to the side, keeping her memories away from the others, blocking them for her. Those were private—her past. If she ever wanted to share, that was for her to do. He would protect her until she decided what she wanted to tell others about herself. He’d broken trust with her once; it wouldn’t happen again. Rory was vulnerable right now, and while she was, he would guard her, stand in front of her and protect her even from the family he loved.
She used her inhaler, taking in the medicine while the GhostWalkers breathed for her. Once the first few thinning layers of skin were peeled away, Gideon could see how embedded the rest of the shield was. In places, it was thicker, stubbornly holding. Paul was patient, gently loosening the skin until he could cut around it as if he held a laser in his hands.