Lightning Kissed (12 page)

LAW ENFORCEMENT
AGENCIES SHOULD BE CIRCUMVENTED IN THE CASE OF A CRIME.

I was sure it was Theo’s newfound disdain
for Collin that blinded him to the severity of Collin’s wounds.
Either that, or it was another one of Theo’s man things—where he
downgraded wounds, ticking them off his gory bucket list.

Collin had taken a real beating—for us, for
Theo. Those little Resin bastards must’ve had a stepstool or a
ladder. That was the only way I could imagine any of them reaching
his eye or his mouth for that matter. But not only had they reached
it, they’d had some real power behind their punches.

“How many?” I demanded.

“There were five of them. Two ran for the
hills as soon as they saw me. But the other three tried to take me
on. I left them unconscious. I didn’t want to…”

He didn’t want to kill them or render them
physically incapable. His reasoning didn’t have to be spoken aloud.
We had to get through whatever this was with as little Resin
casualties as possible. The more Resin who were alive—the more who
had the possibility of being restored by Theo—if he was what we
expected he was.

“Did you recognize any of them?”

“No. All girls of course—two of the damned
biggest Amazonian-looking females I’d ever seen. I swear they had
bigger biceps than me.” Collin took my chin between his thumb and
forefinger and drew my attention to him. “I wouldn’t hurt a
female—I’ve never hurt a female—I couldn’t let them get to you—him.
I couldn’t let them get to Theo. I have no suspicions left. I know
what he is.”

I reassured him with an insincere smile. “I
know that, Collin. I’m not afraid of you. You were just protecting
us.”

He offered a curt nod. Despite his obvious
strength, he hissed loudly when I dabbed his cut with alcohol. I
cleaned up the welt on his eye and offered him ice.

“No, we have no time. They have seen me and
will know soon enough that I am assisting Theo. There are enough
spies working in connection with the Synod—they will all know soon
what information we are searching for.” He grabbed my elbow and
implored, “Theo will need us—more than he knows.”

It was my turn to nod.

“All cleaned up.” Theo’s voice broke us from
the intensity of the conversation.

“Yes. Did you make the arrangements?”

I looked to Collin. “I am ready. Can you fly
the helicopter like this?”

Collin frowned. “Female, it’s a bloody lip
and a busted jaw. Neither are required for the operation of a
helicopter.”

“Oh, really? I thought you flew with your
lips.”

In lieu of answering, he hopped down from
the counter and began gathering his things. Theo’s foot was tapping
involuntarily.

“Let’s go,” I prompted. His attitude toward
Collin was grating on my last nerve. It wasn’t in Theo’s
personality to not show appreciation. It also wasn’t like him to be
so bitter all the time. I counted on him for those things. He was
encouraging and mindful of good manners where I was jaded and
bitter.

I didn’t like the shift of paradigm.

Not one bit.

Maybe it was my fault. I’d made him like
this—as much as one person can alter another’s personality.

His glare bore down on me as I contemplated
how to get him back to his normal self. Probably more feelings and
emotional vomiting and shit.

Theo handed me my bag. He took my hand,
showed me a quick visual, and offered a playful smile. “Wanna try
it together?”

“No!” I wretched from his grasp. What was he
thinking? His hurt expression told me he thought it would be some
kind of bonus to this whole ordeal.

I may have overreacted.

Just a little.

He flashed without me and before I followed,
I was enveloped by his wake, the tones displaying the emotions I
could already read by his sorrowful eyes and lips thinned in
disappointment. The colors were dark, muddy greens, murky like his
thoughts, no doubt.

We arrived in the middle of the picture he’d
shown me. My landing feet tapped on the teakwood floors. I groped
Theo’s shoulders for balance, nearly toppling us both over. It
wasn’t the most graceful of landings. Certainly not one for the
books.

“Sorry,” I shifted, regaining my
footing.

“Don’t ever apologize for using me to steady
yourself,” he said in a faint whisper.

There was too much meaning between our words
lately. Everything was a double entendre.

“So this is Tibet.” I made a three sixty.
The home was sparse but beautiful. Everything was built of the same
teakwood. I gave myself a tour of the place while Theo stood on the
porch which overlooked the landscape of peaks and valleys. The
further into the house I went, the cooler it got. And when I
reached the very back wall of the home, I realized why. The wall
wasn’t a wall at all. It was a solid sheet of mountainous rock. The
home wasn’t built on the side of a mountain as I’d first guessed.
It was built into the mountain.

The house boasted three large bedrooms and
one bathroom that rivaled some modern ones in the States.

I crossed through the living room and went
through the sliding doors. Theo hadn’t moved from his previous
position. I sidled up to him and made a childish attempt to make
conversation by pushing his shoulder with mine.

“If it’s not okay, we can find somewhere
else,” he said imperviously.

“Come on. I’m not that bad, am I?”

His lack of answer was my answer.

“I am not high maintenance.”

He cut me a look that argued otherwise.

“Name one thing that makes me high
maintenance.”

Theo turned in my direction and began to
tick off reasons on his fingers. “The soap, the Slush Puppies, the
dresses, the bikinis, the shoes, the shampoo, the fingernails,
the…”

“Okay, okay.” Maybe he had a point.

Doubt crawled into my heart. This wasn’t
exactly the kind of mission for a newly discovered fickle girl like
me. Did he need some stealthy woman with highly attuned senses and
at least decent manners?

“I’ll try not to be,” I swore the oath to
myself more than him.

He squeezed my waist and drew me in closer.
“You’re…particular. There’s nothing wrong with that. You know what
you want.”

Again with the two-headed meanings.

Everything became clouded in his presence. I
inhaled his exhales as if I survived on them. Had I mentioned how
divine his lips were? A freckle lay directly in the middle of his
bottom lip, and it beckoned me to relish once again in the feel of
his mouth and the things it did to me.

“You can’t do this to me,” he begged.

“Do what?”

“Always making me wonder where we are.” He
took advantage of our position and stroked my back. I could almost
feel the details of the pads of his fingers through the lightweight
material of my dress. A remembered heat built in my chest and
meandered throughout my torso, searching out his touch. “You can’t
let me touch you like this and not give me anything. You love me.
You said it.” He placed tender nips at my bottom lip and all
logical thought fell away.

“I did.”

“You’re mine again,” he inquired
sincerely.

I nodded. But I should’ve known the lack of
words wouldn’t suffice for him.

“Do I need to pin you down again?” He
teased.

I argued, “There’s more going on here. It’s
bigger than me and you.”

He narrowed his smoky eyes and tightened his
hold on me. His fingers pulsed, as though they were trying to draw
out more of a verbal reaction. When that failed to work, his lips,
those delicious, truth serum-like appendages descended on the curve
of my neck. The short hairs on the side of his head tickled my
cheek, bidding caged goose bumps freedom.

But when those lips reached my earlobe, I
lost it.

“I’m yours.” I finally relented. All
movement froze.

“Is it getting easier,” he asked in secret
next to my ear. I wish that expressing my emotions was like
recovering from surgery—the more you did, the easier it got. Nope.
Not for me.

No,” I answered truthfully.

“It will,
Querida
. I’ll help
you.”

Of course he would.

Must he be so damned—Theo all the time?

“There are more important things at stake
here,” I attempted to change the subject to anything but me.

“There are.” He again took up his luscious
assault on my neck. “And now, with all of this settled, I can
finally concentrate on it.”

Too bad I couldn’t concentrate on anything
but how low his hands had gone. He was going for the thighs. I just
knew it.

“I’m hungry.” I grasped at a straw, not
quite ready to jump all the way back into our relationship so
quickly. I knew it would throw him into ‘take care of me’ mode.

“Okay. Let’s go into the village for soup or
something.”

“Sounds good.”

We flashed down to a valley near the town,
courtesy of one of my satellite apps. Walking into town, I watched
the people go about their business. Each country had its own feel
and smell. Tibet, so far, smelled like candied incense and mustard
powder. Bells and the bustling of street vendors selling their
product filled my ears.

Monks dressed in orange garb paraded down
the street in a perfect line, chanting prayers, probably for
themselves at the news of who would arrive the next day—nosey
foreigners. One of the monks, the last one in the procession,
caught my eye. There was something not quite fitting about him
amongst his brothers. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what the
difference was. Thinner than the others, his carriage and gait
registered differently than his predecessors. He held my gaze and
immediately came to a halt.

“What?” Theo followed my stare.

“There’s something different about that
one.”

Theo popped a shoulder in nonchalance and
dragged me away. He was always afraid I was going to start a
cultural faux pas while in other countries—especially those where
caning was a prominent punishment. Really, I think he was saving me
from possibly setting the domino that would lead to WWIII, because
that’s something I would accidentally do.

No, really, it’s something I would do.

He was completely justified in that line of
thinking.

We settled on the only vendor who seemed to
speak some English. The enormous hunks of meat had me squelching a
gag. So when we sat on the curb of the street, our makeshift dining
table, the first thing I did was scoop out my hunk, which I swore
was a hoof, and plopped it into Theo’s bowl.

He chuckled at my blatant disgust for all
things meat related. I wasn’t a vegetarian as a rule. But eating
heavy foods usually stagnated my flashing and made me feel
sluggish.

“Should we call Collin?” I asked after
slurping some of the pungent broth.

“I don’t have his number.”

“Yeah, I guess we missed some of the basics.
So when are we going to the temple?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

“I need to call my mom. I need to call Ari
and Sway. I set up Ari on all of my jobs.”

He nodded, way too interested in his soup. I
sipped at mine, completely blasé about the whole eating thing. The
people around us scattered, taking their oxen and goats with them.
Theo now seemed to be in a different world, staring off into space
instead of eating.

“If you’re done, maybe we should get back.
The vendor woman is eyeing our bowls. She probably thinks we may
swipe them or something.”

Still it took him a moment to respond.

“Sure.” He took mine and nested it within
his and handed it back to the woman who received it with a smile
despite her previous foul expression. That was the effect Theo had
on women in general.

EMPLOYMENT
OPPORTUNITIES MUST BE PRE-APPROVED BY THE SYNOD.

It happened again. Colby was talking about
the monk at the end of the line. I don’t even know how it happened
or why it kept happening. I stared at the monk, not really noticing
anything different about him. And then while I was eating the soup,
I heard him speaking and somehow I knew it was him. It was similar
to when I’d heard Colby talking to Rebekah, but I assumed it was a
thing between the two of us.

The monk’s voice was hushed. He spoke not to
a person, but as a person recording something. It was too much.
Every time I turned around there was something else happening to
me. I had to find more information. No wonder most of the stories
centered on Eivan and his inability to handle all the powers being
bestowed upon him at one time. Wasn’t it enough that I was the
fluke male who could flash?

I didn’t want to put any more pressure on
Colby. She was so benign about most deep things. I thought that was
why she spent so much energy on superficial things—it was to deter
her from thinking about things that really mattered.