Rogue's Passion (28 page)

Jennifer? Ben?
 

“Um…uh…”

Asher must’ve caught on to what was going on faster than she did because he was already backing toward the door. He put a hand up, indicating they were to stay here. Then he jerked his chin toward the front.
 

The car. They were to make a run for it as soon as they could. Okay.

He made a swirly motion with his finger. Keep talking. Then he slipped out the sliding glass door and into the backyard.

Olivia had to think fast. “He’s…uh… He couldn’t make it. Had to work.”

Her mother shifted a few pots around the stove. “He works too much. This is Saturday, for God’s sake.”

“Mother,” she mouthed silently. “What. Is. Going. On? Is someone downstairs?”

Her mother opened her eyes wider, indicating yes, then went back to stirring the pots again.
 

They continued this line of fake small talk until they heard the sound of breaking glass. Was that their cue to go? She grabbed her mother’s hand and they ran for the front door. The house wasn’t large, but tonight it felt as big as a mansion. Either that, or they were running in slow motion. But before they could even get out of the kitchen and through the dining room, the door to the basement opened and a man with a horribly scarred face stepped out.
 

The Fixer. The one who was after Asher.
 

Olivia shoved her mother behind her and backed away. She cast a glance toward the backyard, but Asher wasn’t there. She’d keep this guy occupied as long as it took for Asher to formulate a plan.

“Mrs. Crawford, you’re actually quite convincing,” the Fixer said to her mother. “For a moment there, I really did believe you that you were expecting a friend for dinner and that this wasn’t your daughter. I would’ve come up sooner, had I known. Although I’ve had my hands full.”

What was that supposed to mean?
 

Asher?

“Stay away from her,” her mother said through clenched teeth.
 

The man laughed.

“The army killed my husband and my son. I will not let you take her, too.” Her mom held her arms out as if to make herself appear larger, like you’re supposed to do if you encounter a bear in the woods.
 

“Hate to correct you at a time like this, but only your husband died. Last I heard, your son was still alive.”

Olivia gasped. How was that that possible?

“Whaaat?” Her mother took a staggering step and clamped a hand over her mouth. “Vince is…alive?”

“Yes, he’s one of us. But if you don’t cooperate, you’ll die trying to protect your daughter just like your husband did trying to protect your son.”

“Go, Olivia,” she whispered. “Run.”

The Fixer had left the door to the basement open. Damn it. Where was Asher? She felt a strong pulling sensation in her chest, as if she were a fish on the end of a line and someone was reeling her in.
 

And then she knew. It was Asher. He was hurt and he needed her.
 

She lunged at the door, but her mother caught her and held her back. “What happened to him?” she screamed.

“Your boyfriend?” The man smiled, but only the muscles on one side of his face worked. “Dead. Or, I should say, nearly dead. He’s bleeding out downstairs with a severed carotid artery. I give him, oh, about two more minutes.”

She twisted away from her mother and hurled herself toward the door again, arms and legs pumping. She had to get to Asher. The pull was almost unbearable. Much stronger than anything she’d ever felt before.
 

But this time, the man grabbed her arms and stopped her.
 

Asher. Oh my God. He’s dying. I need to get to him before it’s too late.
 

The Fixer was saying something, but she couldn’t hear him. Her brain was numb except for the fact that she needed to lay her hands on Asher and heal his wounds. Her arms jerked and her head snapped back.
 

“Calm the fuck down. I asked you a question. What is he? Former military?”

Olivia couldn’t even think straight. It was her mother who finally answered. “Yes.”

“Thought so. I can spot a soldier a mile away. He put up a decent fight even after I shoved that shard of glass in his neck.”

So he didn’t know Asher was Cascadian. He must not be the target, after all. Olivia was.
She
had endangered him, not the other way around. The man who was her heart and soul was dying because of
her
.
 

“Keep your filthy hands off my daughter.” Her mother was suddenly holding a lead crystal dish, the one her father had kept his stash of Jujubes in when he was alive. She swung, trying to hit the Fixer, but he deflected her easily and flicked her away as if she were a bug. She crumpled on the floor in the kitchen.

“Mom!” Olivia screamed.
 

Her mother grimaced in pain but waved her off. “I’m…I’m okay. I’ll be fine.”
 

 
“Please,” Olivia pleaded, as the man’s fingers dug into the flesh of her arms. She felt her knees buckling. She’d crawl to Asher if she had to. “Let me go to him. I…I can help him.”

“Oh, believe me, I know you can.” His sour breath was hot against her face. She turned away. “That’s why I’m here. You’re a hard one to find, Ms. Crawford. I’ve been tracking you since the explosion downtown, when the army got reports of an unregistered Healer-Talent and couldn’t find you themselves. Or should I call you Olivia Collins? Or maybe Olivia Hoffman? What name are you going by now?”

Collins was the name she’d used at the Grape and Bean. Hoffman was the one she’d used with David. Bastard. He
had
talked to this guy.

Movement to her right—his left—caught her eye. She didn’t dare shift her gaze to tip him off. It was her mother. She had something else in her hand and was creeping closer. Why couldn’t he see her? Oh, his eye. It was white and milky. He was blind.

As if he knew what she was thinking, he smiled. “So before we go on a little trip, you’re going to heal me. Think you can do that, Olivia?”

“Heal you?” Was that what this was all about? He wanted her to make him whole again? “I…I can’t. Your scars…they’re old. The injuries have already healed.”

“You love playing God, don’t you?” He grabbed her hands, turned her palms up, and looked at them with disgust. “Fucking Healer-Talents. Think you can play with people’s lives, picking and choosing who to help?”
 

He shoved her away. She stumbled, but didn’t fall.

“You don’t understand,” she said.

“Oh, I understand perfectly.” He took a menacing step toward her and pointed to his ruined face. “This happened to me when I was fifteen. Fifteen fucking years old. I knew a girl who was a Healer-Talent too. But unlike you, she planned to join the army when she turned eighteen. My parents pleaded with her to heal me, even offered to pay her, but she refused. Said she was too freaked out to even look at me, let alone touch me and share her healing energy. She must’ve called her army contact, because we were soon paid a visit in the hospital and told to stop harassing her. And that was that.”

From the corner of her eye, she could see that her mother was getting closer. And she was holding something, but Olivia couldn’t risk turning to see what it was.

“I was sent to a camp for special kids where I could learn to deal with my disability. Well, fuck that. And fuck all you Healer-Talents.”

A quick movement. Then a splash and a hiss.
 

The man screamed.
 

Her mother had thrown a pan of boiling water on him. The one she’d planned to cook the pasta in. He fell to his knees, clutching his face, and she clocked him over the head with the now empty pot.

Olivia didn’t wait to see more. She scrambled down the stairs to find Asher, lying in a pool of blood.
 

Chapter Twenty-Five

Asher had never been this tired in his life, every breath a struggle. The air around him was thick and it was like trying to breathe underwater. His eyelids were weighted down, making them impossible to open. Something heavy sat on his chest. He wanted to shove it aside, but he couldn’t move.
 

A voice. Someone was calling to him. It sounded far away…and sad.
 

A female? He tried to concentrate on it, but he couldn’t make out the words.
 

“Speak up,” he tried to say. “I can’t hear you.” But his lips wouldn’t move. With an enormous amount of effort, he was able to make his eyelids flicker open for a moment.
 

A swirling mist of gray surrounded him and he could make out a few vague shapes.

“Asher, please,” one of the voices called. He really wanted to go to her. He loved her.
 

Please, what? What did she want from him?

But then another voice called out to him. Another female, from the opposite side. It was much clearer, much easier to understand. “No, come to me, Asher. I’ve been waiting for you. We both have.”
 

Jenny? Was that her?

He tried to sit up, but that fucking elephant wouldn’t move. Something began to loosen inside him. He could feel it. Hidden tethers were coming undone. He had to get out of this body. It was broken. It couldn’t hold him any longer.

“Yes, that’s it,” Jenny called. “You can do it.”

“Asher, come back to me,” the first voice called.
 

Olivia?

“I love you, Asher,” she said. “Please come back. We have a whole lifetime to live together.”

A whole lifetime? But it was too late for that. He was too tired. He had to let go. He couldn’t do it anymore.
 

“The baby, Asher.” Jenny’s voice was loud in his ear. “It’s a girl. She looks just like you.”

He had a daughter? Jenny had been pregnant with a girl?
 

He coughed. How was that possible? Jenny was…dead.

Something hit his face. Hard.
 

Why was someone trying to hurt him?
 

“Leave me alone,” he wanted to say, but he couldn’t get his lips to move.

A burst of warmth raced through his veins like wildfire. An instant shot of something wonderful. Energizing him. Heightening his awareness. It was something he wanted more of. Something he desperately needed.
 

“Asher! Don’t you fucking die on me.” There was another slap.
 

“Olivia?” He wasn’t sure if he was talking or thinking.

 
Jenny was saying something else too, but he couldn’t make out the words. She sounded distant, standing at the end of a long tunnel.
 

The knots around the tethers were getting tighter now, not loosening. The weight on his chest…it wasn’t an elephant. It was…Olivia. She was trying to keep his soul anchored to his body.

“Goodbye, Jenny,” he called. “I’m not ready yet.”
 

Chapter Twenty-Six

“You sure he’s not going to be standing there, waiting for us to step through the portal?” Alexandra Crawford pulled the tie on her robe tighter. “I really don’t want my future son-in-law to see me naked.”

Olivia laughed. She and Asher weren’t officially engaged yet. There were a few things she needed to accomplish first before that could happen.

“Mom, he’s waiting, but he’s not going to be right there. I promise.”

“And if the lad is, I’ll kick his arse for you, Mrs. Crawford.” Rickert stood behind them, his hands on his hips. There was no mistaking that he was a Cascadian assassin, with that leather kilt and the two long knives affixed to his back.

Asher and Neyla had gone through the portal about an hour ago in order to have clothes and transportation waiting for them when Olivia and her mother stepped through. “It’ll just be Neyla there, along with her friend Petra.”

“I hope there’s not a fanfare or anything. This body isn’t what it used to be.”

Olivia snorted. “So you’re saying that when you were younger, there was fanfare when you were naked?”

Her mother rolled her eyes. “There are some things that are not appropriate for a mother to share with her daughter. Now come on. I’m getting cold standing here. Let’s get on with this. I’m anxious to meet the Cascadian branch of our family.”

When Rickert had first seen Olivia and then her mother with their mismatched eyes, he’d told them of a family in one of southern regions where all the women were born with eyes of different colors. Their village had been the target of several deadly raids by Pacificans decades ago and it was possible that Olivia’s mother had come from there.

“Ready, Mom?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Clasping hands, the two of them stepped up to the tiny alcove. Instantly the rock around them began to hum. The vibration seemed to seep under her skin and travel along her spine. Before she knew it, the wall in front of them was gone…it was now at their backs. And their clothes were gone, too.