The Acceptance

Chapter 7

Still seething, but also . . . scared, Gaby strode into the hospital. She wasn’t afraid for herself.

She feared for Bliss.

From the day she’d met the young girl, she’d felt compelled toward protectiveness. Gaby had first saved Bliss from a despicable john who had grossly abused her, and wasn’t done.

One look at Bliss, and anyone could see the lifelong sadness in her blue eyes, the despondency emanating from her smiles. Her life had been hell—much like Gaby’s.

Gaby had felt an immediate affinity to her.

But whereas Gaby had strength of purpose, Bliss still wandered, clinging, needing . . . as yet unloved.

Until Gaby, no one had ever protected Bliss. No one had ever really cared for her at all.

How Gaby knew that, she couldn’t say, except that when she looked at Bliss, she saw herself.

And it hurt.

Now Bliss needed her more than ever, but she’d found out nothing. The animus remained at large, out there somewhere, pursuing, conspiring.

Unless Luther had better luck with witnesses, which she doubted, they’d have zilch to go on.

A dark car.

An attack.

Nothing more.

Gaby’s head pounded, her guts churned, and her eyes burned. She would not let anyone or anything hurt Bliss. She wouldn’t.

Somehow, some way, she’d—

“’Bout time you showed up.”

At that carefully even voice, Gaby spun around, and there stood Luther, tall, powerful.

Furious, despite the lack of venom in his words.

Unconcerned with his mood swings, Gaby turned and headed toward him. “How’s Bliss?”

His nostrils flared. His gaze all but seared her. Turning sideways and indicating a hallway, Luther said, “This way.”

Well . . . regardless of how he’d modulated his voice, his aura burned scorching hot, so Gaby didn’t know if she wanted to follow him. More cautious now, she asked, “Are you taking me to see Bliss?”

He didn’t look at her. His hands landed on his hips and his chest expanded. Fury worked his jaw. “Come. With. Me.”

Uh-oh. Sounded like he meant business. Truthfully, she was too damned enervated to spar with him right now. Never, not once, had she ever feared Luther. She sure wouldn’t start now.

“Fine. Whatever.” Gaby sauntered past him. “Don’t get your boxers in a bunch.”

Her sarcasm must’ve tipped the scales, because Luther imploded. Snatching up her arm, he lifted her to the tips of her toes and propelled her forward before she could even think to object. When they reached a private room, he practically slammed her inside.

“Hey!”

He shut the door and with theatric temper, lifted his hands up and off her as if he thought touching her would inspire mayhem.

Something had gotten to him, and that worried her. An invisible fist clenched her heart and compressed her lungs. “Is Bliss okay?”

Scorn distorted his features. “Do you even care?”

The rancor slapped her with blinding force, almost bringing tears to Gaby’s eyes. It almost hurt too much to speak, forcing her to a whisper. “You miserable prick.”

God, how she wished she didn’t care.

Wanting to escape, to be alone with her detestable self, she reached for the door.

Luther wrenched her back around. “Don’t.”

Keeping her head down, Gaby didn’t dare look at him. Usually she’d be in fighting form. Under different circumstances, Luther’s audacity would find him flat on the floor.

But this time . . . she didn’t have it in her.

Everything she knew herself to be—her only purpose in life—did her no good right now. Bliss was vulnerable, and she couldn’t figure out how to help her.

“If you care, why the hell did you run off and leave her? Why did you abandon her?”

Explanations weren’t her strong suit, but for some reason, Gaby needed Luther to understand. “I wanted to find whoever tried to take her.”

“That’s my job.”

A pressing weight stooped her shoulders. “Then . . . that leaves me with no purpose at all.”

He edged closer, vibrating with rage, ready to lose his control. Leaning down, each word sharp with contempt, he said, “You could have consoled her. You could have been her friend.”

Damn, those tears were determined to spill over. Gaby shook her head—and felt like a fool. “The thing is . . . I don’t know how to do that.”

Silence stretched out. Muffled voices drifted over the intercom. People passed by in the hallway. In the distance, a faint siren intruded.

Luther’s hand tangled in her hair, smarting a little, but so what? He sounded hoarse and despondent as he cursed her. “Damn you, Gaby.”

Yeah right. “I was damned long before I met you, cop.”

Bending down, he touched his forehead to hers. His breath rushed against her cheek. His voice softened. “Don’t say that.”

Fine. She’d say nothing at all.

“Damn it.” He pushed her head to his chest and held it there, then locked his free arm around her.

She’d gone from accepting his scorn to caught in his secure embrace. He held her tight, crushed her close. His heartbeat pumped against her cheek. Heat, scented by his big body, wafted around her.

Why did he want to comfort her now? He’d been so angry, on the verge of truest rage. What event could possibly inspire both emotions . . .

Oh God.

Thoughts and images raced through Gaby’s consciousness. Had Bliss . . . died?

Bliss had shown a bad reaction to the drug used on her. People died from adverse drug reactions all the time. Who knew what had been injected into her, how much, or how toxic it might be?

Just as Gaby started to collapse, Luther set her back from him. “She’s fine, Gaby.”

She heard him, but after such numbing fear, she had a hard time grasping the truth. “You’re sure?”

“As sure as I can be at the moment. I stayed with her until she was in the ambulance.”

Gaby’s eyelids sank shut. Luther said she was fine. Hurt, certainly, but not expired as he’d made her think.

Fury replaced the remorse, and Gaby slugged him in the ribs with enough force to repay him for that awful panic. “Thanks for scaring me half to death!”

He barely grunted. “I can’t make any guarantees on how she fared after she reached the hospital, because I had to chase after you.”

So now it was her fault that he was so nosy? “No,” Gaby said, “you didn’t.”

“Yes,” Luther said, grabbing her shoulders and rattling her witless, “I did.”

Being manhandled didn’t sit well with Gaby’s temper at the best of times. This sure as hell wasn’t the best of times. “Get your mitts off me right now.” She tried to shrug him away, but he didn’t budge.

“Oh no you don’t, not this time.” Luther’s grip held her secure.

“I’m warning you . . .”

“You want a battle, Gaby?” He released her and stepped back. “Well, come on, lady. Bring it. I’m more than fucking ready.”

Wow. Gaby eyed Luther up and down. Seeing that his temper was more frayed than her own, she no longer had any desire to pulverize him. “Did you drag me in here for a reason, or just to expend some anger?”

Luther’s pointing finger nearly poked her in the nose. “We’re coming to an agreement, you and I, one you’ll abide by.”

“Is that so?”

“Damn straight it is, or so help me, I’ll—”

“Arrest me, I know.” Gaby flapped a dismissive hand at him. His threats had never carried much weight, and right now, they meant less than nothing to her. “That’s your answer to every damn thing that happens, isn’t it?”

“I’ll arrest you,” Luther confirmed, “and you won’t get a chance to visit with Bliss.” He stared her in the eyes, unrelenting, firm in his resolve. “How do you think that’ll make Bliss feel? Or do you even care how she feels?”

Low blow. “Bastard,” she hissed.

“Sticks and stones, Gaby.”

Her biceps twitched with the urge to brain him. Just one solid sock, right in his handsome face. He might not be so appealing with a crooked nose.

But no, she couldn’t, wouldn’t, do that. Even now with his fury boiling over and red-hot anger tingeing the outer perimeter of his aura, shades of pure altruism encompassed him.

Luther epitomized all that was good and pure.

She, on the other hand, epitomized the cold slam of justice. “So tell me the damn terms of this agreement, and make it fast, before I lose my good humor and flatten you.”

Luther took a calming breath. “I want you to work with me on this, not on your own. That means that whatever you know, I want to know.”

Huh. He wanted to play partners? Ridiculous. “And vice versa?”

He surprised her by saying, “Yes.”

Dropping back against the wall, her eyebrows raised, Gaby blinked at him. “No shit?”

Running a hand through his hair, Luther paced away from her. For the first time, Gaby noticed his disheveled state. Wrinkles marred his untucked and sweat-stained shirt. Dirt splotched his slacks. He looked haggard and tired and fed up.

Guilt gnawed on her. But what could she have done to make any of this easier on him? She had her own hardships to deal with.

“It sickened me,” Luther said, “to find Bliss in that shape, drugged and hurt and scared half to death.”

“Me, too.”

“I keep seeing that tortured corpse on the riverbank, knowing how badly the woman suffered.”

“Me, too.”

He caught Gaby in his gaze. “I know it’s going to happen again.”

Gaby wasn’t a mind reader, but this time, she didn’t need to be. “Hold up a minute. You’re thinking it could happen to me?”

“If you keep charging in without caution—”

“I don’t do that, but even if I did, you don’t need to worry about me. It’s Bliss, and women like her—”

“Like her?”

“Helpless.” Ordinary. Normal. Real. Gaby choked down the damning words. “Women who, because of their lifestyles, are vulnerable to sick pervs like our guy who’s still running loose.” Because she’d failed.

“If it’s a guy,” Luther pointed out. “Bliss was pretty confused about it all.”

“She’ll be able to tell us more when she’s recovered.” Gaby was counting on it.

“Maybe.” Luther waved that away. “But unless I stop it, we’re going to be finding more corpses.”

“Yeah.” More likely, Gaby thought, she’d be the one to put an end to things, but she didn’t want to devalue Luther’s contribution, or his sincerity. “I take it you have something in mind?”

“If we work together, me in my official capacity, you with your street information, we have a better chance to catch the guy responsible before anyone else gets hurt, or killed.”

Hell no. Gaby’s eventual success depended largely on Luther staying unaware of the scope of her metaphysical, even supernatural, ability. But she couldn’t tell him that. “Sounds like a plan.”

He straightened, moved closer to her again. “You said I didn’t trust you. Well, I’m going to trust your word that you’ll tell me everything you find out.”

Shit. “Luther . . .”

“I’ll trust you to be careful. I’ll trust you—but you have to trust me, too.”

Damn it, did he have to drag her nonexistent integrity into this?

A voice over the PA called for Detective Cross. Luther didn’t move. He waited, and Gaby, seeing so few choices, accepted his offer. “Fine.”

He nodded and reached for the door.

When he had it open, Gaby said, “But Luther?”

He looked back.

She felt on the precipice of something insane, unimagined—something once so far out of reach that now loomed within her grasp.

If she went through the threshold, it could liberate her.

Or kill her.

Luther turned to fully face her. “What is it?”

Taking a huge leap of faith, Gaby whispered, “Believing what I tell you isn’t always going to be easy.”

For a long moment, he said nothing. Then he reached out his hand for her.

An olive branch. Acceptance. Maybe more?

Hating her own weakness, Gaby took his hand.

His fingers curled warmly around hers. One corner of his mouth lifted with humor, with relief, and with promise. “I’ve found that where you’re concerned, Gabrielle Cody, nothing ever is.”

A plump, gray-haired doctor met Luther and Gaby in the hallway outside of the room where Bliss rested. “You’re her family?”

“Not quite.” Luther showed his badge, then introduced himself.

The doctor held out a hand. “I’m Dr. Bolton. I apologize for your long wait. The patient—” He referred to a clipboard. “—Bliss, was drugged with a high dose of Midazolam.”

High dose. Gaby seethed. When she found the one responsible, she’d get her retribution.

Well, except that Luther hoped to tag along, and he might be averse to her chopping up the jerk and feeding him to the carp in the river.

Unaware of Gaby’s frothing anger, Luther asked, “Midazolam? That’s one of the date rape drugs, right?”

The doctor nodded. “It’s a powerful anesthetic used in minor surgery because it leaves patients unable to remember what has happened to them.”

Luther glanced at Gaby, then back to the doctor with frustration. “In other words, it’s perfect for kidnapping someone.”

“I’m afraid so.” Dr. Bolton took off his glasses and rubbed tired eyes. “In this patient’s case, she had an adverse reaction to the drug, which affected her breathing and caused the vomiting. We flushed out her system. Her stomach is calmer, and she’s resting easier now, but I’d like to keep her overnight for observation. I don’t expect any problems, so she should be able to go home in the morning.”

Both men excluded Gaby from their discussion, which suited her just fine. It gave her time to let her thoughts connect into some sort of coherent order.

Luther rubbed the back of his neck in a show of exhaustion. “Is Bliss able to answer some questions about the attack?”

“Physically, she’s stable. Other than some bruises and scratches, which I gather she sustained while escaping the car, she doesn’t have any serious injuries.”

“So I can talk with her?”

The doctor tapped his eyeglasses against his thigh. “It won’t hurt anything, but I don’t know how much help she can be at this point. Emotionally, she’s still very confused and upset. Midazolam often has a residual ‘hangover’ effect. Your young lady was given such a large dosage that she’s still suffering the effects of sleepiness, impaired psychomotor and cognitive functions. Overall, she seems very confused about what happened to her.”

Every word caused Gaby more pain. She could only imagine Bliss’s discomfort and fear.

“How long till her head clears enough to tell us what happened?”

“Hard to say.” A nurse came to the doctor with a message. He read it, then returned his attention to Luther. “It may persist into tomorrow. In fact, she could feel drowsy, tired, or weak for two days or more.”

“Jesus,” Luther swore.

The doctor commiserated with a pat on Luther’s shoulder. “Don’t push her. The quality that makes Midazolam medically valuable, namely clinical amnesia, is precisely what enables others to use it as an effective date rape drug. Victims are unable to give an accurate account of what happened to them, and testing for the drug is difficult. It breaks down rapidly and disappears from the system within forty-eight hours, making its detection in criminal cases problematic. In this case, because of her reaction to the drug, we were able to do a blood test right away.”

Remembering the violent way that Bliss heaved, Gaby asked, “It’s uncommon for most people to get as ill as she got?”

The doctor studied Gaby only a moment before replying. “Fortunately for surgery patients, yes. But because of how she reacted, I’d like someone to stay with her for a few days, just to keep an eye on her.”

“She won’t be alone,” Gaby told them, vowing it as much to herself as to anyone else. “Can we go in to see her now?”

“By all means. But be patient if she falls asleep on you.”

Luther thanked the doctor as Gaby moved to the door.

She abhorred hospitals. Too much of her time had been spent trapped within the sterile walls, her ears assaulted by the clinical concern of staff. Father’s disease had left him lost in his own misery, a stranger in a disease-defiled body. But Gaby, hale and hearty throughout it all, had obtained a visceral detestation of all things related to hospital care.

Father had died a slow, agonizing death, and Gaby, with her special ability, had felt it with him.

She felt it still—whenever she entered a hospital. Her pulse raced, her skin became clammy. Her throat ached and her stomach burned.

But this was a different situation. This was Bliss, and she would be okay.

Pushing the door open, Gaby strode in with the feigned comportment of a person in charge. At the first sight of her friend, she stalled.

Bliss lay limp in a sterile white bed, her brown hair clean but matted, her makeup smudged everywhere it shouldn’t be. The faded, striped hospital gown swallowed her feminine frame, making her look like a small, defenseless child.

“Hey,” Gaby whispered, unsure if Bliss slept or not. Equally unsure if she wanted to wake her.

Bliss’s eyes opened with drowsy delay, focused on Gaby, then filled with glistening tears. “Gaby.”

It was the oddest thing, to be wanted like this.

To be needed. Trusted.

Propping her hip on the side of the narrow cot, Gaby scowled down at Bliss, but kept her voice soft. “Now, Bliss, don’t you dare start bawling. There’s no reason. It’s okay. You’re safe now.”

“No.” Her bottom lip quivered as she clutched at Gaby’s arm. “Please.” Casting frightened, leery glances at Luther, she implored in a low, hushed voice, “Get me out of here.”

Standing at the foot of the bed, Luther studied her. “How old are you, Bliss?”

As if in great pain and immeasurable panic, Bliss groaned aloud and dragged the bedsheet up to her chin.

Gaby rolled her eyes. “Relax, Bliss. Luther’s no dummy. He’s already figured out that you’re underage and likely a runaway.”

Luther said nothing.

Gaby patted Bliss’s hand. “He’s the heroic sort, which means he’s not going to let anyone send you back to a situation worse than the one you’re in now.”

With mocking irony, Luther agreed. “Worse than this? That’s hard to imagine.”

Bliss groaned again.

“Luther,” Gaby warned, “you know what I mean.”

He touched Bliss’s small foot tenting the sheets at the end of the bed. “You can trust me, Bliss. Gaby’s right. I just want to know that you’re safe, and I want to catch the person who did this to you. Those are my only concerns right now.”

Hope filled Bliss’s expression. “But . . . they keep asking me questions about my real name and stuff.”

“You’re confused,” Gaby told her. “The doctor said so. You don’t have to tell anyone anything, not if you don’t want to.”

New tears filled her eyes. “I am confused. I know you want me to tell you what happened, but . . . I can’t really remember nothing important.”

Appreciating Luther’s silence, Gaby took Bliss’s hand. “Just tell me what you can remember.”

“I sort of remember talking to a boy.” Pain flashed in her blue eyes, but her aura coruscated around her, dancing in shades of yellow—the color of mental activity.

Gaby glanced toward Luther. She hadn’t forgotten the boy that Luther let escape her. And seeing the guilt on his face, she knew that he hadn’t forgotten either.

“A boy? What did you talk about with him?”

Bliss shook her head. “I don’t know. And . . . I’m not even sure it was a boy.” She pressed fingertips to her temples. “I can almost see him. But I remember a woman’s voice.”

A boy and a woman? “Can you tell me what she looked like?”

Bliss shook her head.

Luther stepped closer. “What did she say?”

Her fingers curled into fists. “She was really sick, telling me awful things. Cruel things. But . . . some of the things she didn’t say. I just . . . knew them.” Bliss looked up at Gaby, shuddering anew. “I sound like an idiot.”

“No, you don’t. You sound like someone who was attacked and hasn’t gotten it all together yet. That’s all.”

Bliss hesitated, breathing hard, then she reached for Gaby’s hand. “I remember thinkin’ that I had to get away from her any way I could. Because, Gaby, I knew if I didn’t, I’d . . . die.”

The bitch had really scared Bliss. Gaby wasn’t sure how to calm her, except to say, “I’ll find her, Bliss. I swear I will.”

Bliss squeezed her eyes shut. “I want to leave here, but I’m . . . scared of going, too. Dumb, huh?”

“Not dumb at all.” Gaby leaned down. “But I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, Bliss. I want you to believe that.”

“We’re not going to let anyone hurt you.” After frowning at Gaby, Luther circled the bed to stand opposite her. “Bliss, do you remember how old the boy was? What he wore? Anything about the car?”

Bliss’s brow puckered as she struggled with her thoughts. She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Luther.”

“You said the woman said sick things to you. Do you recall any of it?”

“She . . . she told me I’d need my strength.” Saying it aloud leeched more color from Bliss’s face. “That’s it. I can’t remember nothing else.”

“Did she have an accent of any type?”

“She sounded really happy. She was almost giggling. That scared me more than anything.”

Luther touched her shoulder. “One witness said he saw a woman driving away from you, but he didn’t see anyone else. He didn’t see a boy.”

Bliss shook her head. “Maybe it was just a woman, then. But I ain’t sure. I’ve been trying and trying, Luther, I swear. But I can’t picture him or her or nothing. I can’t picture no one.”

Again, Bliss cast an unsure glance at Luther, then leaned in closer to Gaby. “I remember knowin’ what would happen to me. But I don’t know how I knew it. I just . . . did.” She chewed her trembling lips, looked at Luther, then away. “There’s a room . . .”

An eerie sliver of dread snaked down Gaby’s back. “A room?”

“I sort of . . . saw it. But I didn’t.”

Gaby leaned closer, cautious and curious. “It’s okay, Bliss. Just tell me what you saw.”

“It was awful, Gaby. A room full of stuff to hurt people. Places to tie them down. Things to use on them. Like a dungeon maybe.”

“In a house?”

“I think so, but I ain’t sure about that. I just . . . well, I know the room is there.”

Gaby sat up a little straighter. Did Bliss have the curse, or was it just her reverence of Gaby that made her believe such things?

Aware of Luther standing beside the bed, frozen in disbelief, Gaby tried not to give herself away. “Can you tell me what it looked like, specifically? Concrete walls, or paneling, or plaster? Painted walls? Lights?”

“It’s a big room.” Bliss closed her eyes. “Dark wooden walls with fancy trim on everything. Really bright lights. Blood and flesh and . . .” Her eyes opened, stark with horror. “A lot of people have died there.”

Looking like a thundercloud, Luther stared at Gaby, then at Bliss. “How would you know this, Bliss? Did the woman maybe say something?”

“No.” Bliss continued to fret. “But I remember seeing it real clear, and knowin’ that’s where she wanted to take me.”

“It’s okay,” Gaby told her. “A lot of people have special sight in a situation like yours.”

“Special sight?” Luther repeated.

Gaby ignored him.

So did Bliss. “I also knew you’d come to help me, Gaby.”

“I’ve been your protector—”

“No,” Bliss said. “Somehow, I knew that if I got outta that car, you’d come to help me.”

Luther went rigid.

Gaby squeezed Bliss’s hand. The poor girl shook all over. It was a dilemma to be solved later, she decided. For right now, with Bliss so muddled and afraid, she wouldn’t draw any conclusions.

Except that . . . “Luther, I wonder if it’s the same boy.”

He looked relieved for some sound logic instead of psychogenic phenomenon. “The same kid you were chasing when I found you again?”

“Could be.”

“I guess that depends on why you were chasing him, doesn’t it?”

Allowing Bliss to retain her death hold on her hand, Gaby settled more comfortably on the side of the bed. “I sensed he was up to something. That’s all.”

“Murder? Torture?” Luther scoffed. “You sensed he was up to that?”

“If I had, he wouldn’t have gotten away from me.” In no mood for Luther’s lack of faith, Gaby smoothed back Bliss’s hair. “I’m going to take you to Morty’s for a while. You’ll be safe there, and it’s not too far away, so I can visit you whenever you want me to. What do you think of that?”

Bliss said nothing.

She’d fallen back to sleep, her hand still clutching Gaby’s.

“It’s a strange coincidence,” Luther said, thinking aloud as he paced the small room. “For you to be after a boy, and for a boy to be after Bliss.”

“Tell me about it.” Gaby only wished she had a sound connection to share. But she didn’t.

Was it the same kid? She wasn’t sure. But she didn’t believe in coincidence.

Luther rounded the bed to stand in front of her. “Where did you know him from?”

“I didn’t. Until that day, I’d never laid eyes on him before.”

Hands on his hips, Luther said, “So you just saw a kid, disliked him on sight? What the hell would you have done if you’d caught him?”

“He was where he shouldn’t be, and I didn’t like it.” She thought about that, about her intentions that day, and her dead certainty that something was wrong. “Until he ran, I’d only planned to talk to him.” Gaby loosened Bliss’s hold, then pulled the sheet up over her. “But he did run, which seems real suspicious if you ask me.”

“Me, too.” He nodded toward Bliss. “At least now it does.”

“I’ll know him if I ever see him again.”

“That’s a start.”

And a dead end. Knowing Luther wouldn’t let it go, Gaby stood without touching him, brushed Bliss’s cheek one last time, and walked out of the room. Though her hands were steady, vengeance and rage commingled inside her.

Freed from the confines of Bliss’s room, Gaby breathed in the cool hospital air and drooped against the wall, eyes closed as she waited for Luther.

When she heard the quiet click of the door and felt him beside her, she said, “I want to kill someone.”

“I know.” He smoothed her hair. “Me, too.”

He knew. Gaby looked at him. He hadn’t remonstrated with her for her bloodthirsty desire. He’d . . . commiserated.

“You want a truth, Luther?”

“That’d be nice.” His fingers continued to play with her hair. It was something Gaby had noticed early on, this strange fascination Luther had with her unkempt, mostly forgotten hair.

“This is hard for me.”

“I know. Me, too.”

She shook her head. He didn’t get her meaning. “No. I’m not like you, Luther. I’m hardwired to react.” Fisting a hand, Gaby pressed it against her abdomen. “Here, inside me. Everything that is me is screaming for me to do something.”

“But you don’t yet know what to do?”

She put her head back again and squeezed her eyes shut. “I don’t have a fucking clue.”

“Me neither.” Luther’s hand left her hair and instead curved around her neck.

His palm was hot, a little rough. Exciting.

Lost in a vortex of extraordinary need, Gaby opened her eyes to look at him. “Sucks, huh?”

“It’s frustrating.” He crowded into her space, big and powerful, sharing his heat, his scent. “If we’re patient, if we work together, we’ll get it figured out.”

“Being patient means someone else could die.”

“That’s an impasse cops face often. It takes persistence to solve a problem, but all the while, you know someone’s life could be on the line.”

Gaby trusted that eventually she’d get the one responsible—but how many women would be hurt first? The only thing she knew with any certainty was that the bastard who’d tried to take Bliss would act again.

And again.

Somewhere along the way, he’d screw up and then she’d have him. God willing, that’d happen before another woman was tortured and murdered.

“Gaby?” Luther now had both hands on her neck, his thumbs stroking along her jawline.

How could thumbs on her chin turn her on? Maybe she was a degenerate of some sort. A sexual deviant.

With every breath she took, her chest brushed Luther’s, heightening her strange tension.

Her innate reactions sickened Gaby; she shouldn’t be thinking such carnal thoughts while Bliss lay drugged and frightened in a hospital bed.

Unwilling to look him in the eyes, Gaby said, “Yeah?”

“There’s been a lot said today that I’d like to understand.”

She snorted. “I can imagine.” Her endogenous perception to all things evil would confuse a saint. Of course a solid citizen like Luther would be confused by it. “Shoot.”

“What do you mean that you’re hardwired to react?”

That got her gaze on his. He tried to look passive, when Gaby knew Luther was anything but. “Can you handle the truth?”

In some infinitesimal way, he hardened all over. “Yes.” Gaby twisted her mouth. Maybe Luther believed that calumnious statement, but she knew better. If she gave him the whole truth, he’d be calling for the guys with the straightjacket.

A quarter-truth would serve for now. Later, if he didn’t freak out too much, she could share more.

Oh God, what was she thinking?

“Don’t think,” he said, as if he’d read her mind. “Just open up to me.”

“You asked for it.” Slipping her fingers through his belt loops, Gaby urged him closer. Feeling Luther, being with him, filled her with copious emotion and turned his aura effulgent. She liked that.

Watching him, Gaby nudged her pelvis into his hips— and saw the slight tightening of his facial muscles, felt the quickening of his pulse.

No time like the present. “When evil is near, I know it.”

Jerked from her deliberate enticement, Luther studied her face, nodded. “Explain evil.”

“Why? You know evil, Luther. You’ve dealt with it plenty of times.”

“I want to hear your definition.”

“Fine. There are bad people, and then there are true corruptions passing themselves off as humans. They don’t deserve to breathe the same air as others. They don’t merit rehabilitation, or a life in prison, or even an easy death.”

Some of the erotic energy flowing through his aura began to fade. His hold now felt more restraining than tender, his fingertips pressing into her nape.

Gaby defied him with a look. “What’s the matter, cop? Too much for you?”

Challenged, Luther held silent for a heartbeat, then he relented. “Yes, I’ve known evil like that. It’s a sad hazard of my profession.”

Poor Luther. He wanted so badly to accept her, that he tried to find correlations in their lives and attitudes. “Did you know that evil as soon as you saw it?”

Distant memories passed over his features. “On occasion. Most often, no.” His eyes narrowed. “People can be deceiving.”

Not to paladins. Not to freaks like her. “They don’t deceive me, Luther.” Just to keep him off balance, Gaby lifted to her tiptoes and kissed his mouth hard and fast. “Ever.”

Wary now, Luther set her away from him. “And when you recognize evil, what do you do about it?”

“Me?” Leaving him no illusion as to her facetiousness, Gaby said, “But Luther, I’m just a woman. Whatever could I do?”

Rather than take the bait, Luther dragged her back to him and this time the kiss was slow and deep, scorching hot, mesmerizing.

Claiming.

Gaby thought about struggling . . . but what the hell?

She needed this.

She needed more. Of him.

Little by little, she understood that sexual need caused at least part of her frustration, sleeplessness, and fractious demeanor.

For Luther.

When he ended the kiss, Luther also ended all contact. He released Gaby, stepped back two paces, and watched her.

Collapsing against the wall, Gaby touched her now swollen and tingling lips.

And sighed.

Maybe sharing with Luther wasn’t so unthinkable. Maybe, just maybe, she could ease him into the abomination of her life.

“Wow. I’m starting to like that more and more.”

He didn’t smile. “When Bliss said that she knew you’d be there, what exactly did she mean?”

With sexual awareness coursing like hot lava through her veins, Gaby watched Luther with new eyes. “You’d have to ask her.”

He tried a different tack. “What do you think she meant?”

Oh no. Not so soon. It was time to get out from under Luther’s spell.

Willing strength into her bones, Gaby pushed away from the wall. “Bliss was drugged, disoriented.” Gaby turned and started down the long corridor. “Who knows what she might’ve meant? Maybe she said that just because . . . I’m a friend.”

“And her description of the room?”

“She fantasized it because of her fear. For her, that’d be the worst to happen, so in her mind, she knew it would happen.”

“You believe that?”

No. She believed Bliss. “Maybe.” In only a few steps, Gaby decided, What the hell? He wanted to know more, so she’d tell him more. “I do believe in mind reading, though I’m not a mind reader myself.”

Rather than doubt her, Luther nodded. “How does it work?”

“I’ve never really studied it, so I’m not sure. But I do know that people have auras, and a lot is revealed through an aura.”

“You’ve mentioned auras before.”

Gaby peered up at him. “Right now, your aura is a muddy shade of violet. Want to know what that means?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Violet usually represents the ability to handle affairs with practicality. But that darker shade is pure erotic imagination.” Gaby tilted her head at him. “You’re asking about Bliss, but your thoughts are divided.”

“Guilty.” Not the least bit ashamed or hesitant, Luther said, “I always want you. I’ve told you that. But now’s not the time, so back to Bliss . . .”

Wow. He did know how to keep her off-kilter. “My theory is that fear naturally heightens sensory perception, so even someone unfamiliar with reading auras could pick up on them when scared witless. Bliss said the woman who took her giggled. That sounds pretty fucking sick to me, so I figure she was giving off some glaring vibes on her intent.”

“And the room?”

“If there is a room, and the demented bitch was thinking about taking Bliss there, she might have picked up on that.”

He chewed his upper lip before saying, “Okay, I can buy that, I suppose.”

“Yeah, right. People like you are the reason that the abstract prospects of the human mind and the intangible realm behind matter are treated as hocus-pocus.”

Luther whistled. “All that, huh?”

Her temper sparked. “Don’t poke fun at me, Luther.”

“Actually, I was thinking there are many depths to you. Some of them are a little loony, but somehow you make it all sound reasonable, and believable.”

She stayed silent, but Gaby felt the nearly tactile sensation of his narrow-eyed attention on her face.

“So, let’s try this another way.”

Oh shit. Why couldn’t he just give it up?

“How did you know Bliss was in trouble?”

Gaby’s heart tripped. She walked faster, harder. Questions on Bliss she could handle. Questions on her own preternatural acuity were hitting too close to home. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“When she was being attacked, somehow you knew it.” Stewing over his own memories, Luther thought it out without Gaby’s help. “You couldn’t see her, and you couldn’t hear her. But somehow you knew what was happening all the same. And that isn’t the first time it’s happened with you.”

“Don’t be—”

“We were talking,” Luther reminded her, “then you suddenly went on alert. I saw it in your face that something was wrong. I didn’t know what—but you did.”

Gaby kept walking.

Luther kept pace with her. “At first, your movements were a little jerky, as if you hurt all over. But then you were facile, and so fast, I could barely keep up.”

“You’re a slowpoke wimp, what can I say?”

“No, Gaby. I’m in good shape, and you know it. My legs are longer and stronger than yours. I have more power. But you outran me.”

Gaby snorted. “If this is about wounded ego, Luther, I don’t have time.”

“It’s about you, Gaby.”

“A boring subject.”

But Luther wouldn’t let it go. “You somehow knew Bliss was being threatened, didn’t you?”

No, no, no. “No.”

Luther snagged her arm and they both stopped.

“Tell me another truth, Gaby. Did you know that evil had her?”