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)
“You were right,” Rhianna said. “There was no other way to handle it. It would have been ten times worse if Gideon had lied to her about telling us.”
Javier ignored the byplay between them, suddenly anxious to get back to Gideon. As a rule, Gideon was one of the most patient of all the team members. He could always be counted on to put things into perspective. But ever since he’d been shot so many times and the wound wasn’t healing as fast as Gideon thought it should, he’d been acting differently.
Javier knew Gideon had almost died. No one, not even Paul or Marc, had expected him to live, and Paul was a brilliant psychic surgeon. Marc was an incredible medic. Had Paul not been in the field with them, Gideon wouldn’t have had a chance. Even now, Javier could tell Paul worried. Whatever he had done to save Gideon, no other surgeon could have done. Paul was aware the repair was still fragile. He didn’t want Gideon moving around the way his patient was doing. That made Javier nervous, and Javier wasn’t the type to get nervous.
Gideon was still standing in the same spot facing the bar where Javier had left him. He didn’t turn around when Rhianna, Paul and Javier joined him.
“I felt a threat to her entering the bar just a few minutes ago,” he announced to the others.
“How close?” Rhianna asked.
Gideon tapped his fingers against his chest over his heart. “He’s a distance away from her, still close to the door. I’m losing him in the crowd.”
No one would ever question Gideon’s assessment of a threat. He was right too many times. If he said there was an enemy close, they took it as gospel.
“I’m leaving now,” Rhianna said. “I’ll sit at one of the back tables with Jaimie. If I spot anyone who looks like a threat, I’ll let you know. If you can dial him in, you let me know.”
“Mack and I will sit at the bar, and I’ll see if I can get a sense of whether Whitney has done anything to make Rory a threat to Sebastian or even to herself,” Paul added.
“Is it a good idea for Jaimie and Mack to be in the bar at the same time without appearing to be together?” Gideon asked. He still didn’t take his gaze from the building several blocks down. “They give off fairly heavy energy when they’re in the same room. She’s sensitive to energy.”
Rhianna bit down on her lower lip. “I hadn’t thought of that. You’re right. I’ll text her that we should take second day. We’ll send in Jacob and Lucas. She’s never seen either of them. I’ll let them know they need to go in now and expect to hear from you if you spot any threat getting close to her.”
Paul was already moving toward the trapdoor, and Javier shadowed him.
“Can you tell if the threat is from Whitney?” Javier asked.
“I have no way of knowing where it’s coming from, only that someone entered the bar and their attention is centered on Rory, and not in a good way.”
Gideon focused completely on the building in the distance. It wasn’t an easy thing to do. It took a great deal of concentration and was very draining. He was weaker than he wanted to admit to himself, let alone the others. He’d always been extremely strong, both physically and mentally, as well as psychically.
As much as he despised Peter Whitney and his experiments, the man had increased his abilities to aid his family a thousand percent psychically. The unexpected additions of animal and raptor DNA had been difficult to adjust to. Once he was able to get most of the predatory instincts under some semblance of control, he could concentrate on the more useful aspects of his new, unwanted genetic makeup. Even those traits helped to guard his family, although there were multiple downsides to them.
He hadn’t considered that he would find a woman he would want to spend his life with. That meant he hadn’t considered what it might mean to have children with her. Kane and Rose had clearly passed on their genetic and psychic traits to Sebastian. The child was very advanced for his age already, both physically and psychically. He displayed the skills found in a much older child. He was coordinated and had fast reflexes. He already seemed to have a feeling for danger.
Gideon pressed his fist closer against his heart to focus his thoughts on Rory. When she was very busy, she couldn’t keep her mind blocked against him. Once he had a clear path to her, more and more he was becoming adept at pushing his way into that narrow conduit that took him into her mind, where he could catch glimpses of what was happening around her. What she was thinking. What she was feeling. He shared the pain he’d caused her. The devastation she felt.