“Wait a minute.” Mack scowled at her. “I thought you said Whitney wanted you dead.”

“Not him. Neither does Sergeant Major. Maybe the ones above them do, but they aren’t going to let anyone kill me. They want answers. I opened a can of worms when I began searching out Whitney’s supporters. They don’t want to be exposed. One of them wants me dead.”

“I want to try something, Jaimie. Just go along with me,” Mack said, hopping off the desk and holding out his hand to her.

She hesitated just one moment and then with reluctance put her hand in his and allowed him to tug her off the desk. Mack chose the center of the room where it was open, away from the windows and the spill of light around her computers.

She sank down onto the floor where he indicated and he settled across from her, sitting, knees touching.

“I want you to do it again, but this time, really concentrate on Kane and Javier. I want to see how much you can read what they’re doing. How they’re feeling.

Anything at all you can pick up.”

She frowned at him, but didn’t pull away. “I’ve never gotten anything other than happy or sad energy and a location.”

“I know. But I think you’ve grown stronger. I think you can do a lot more than you’re aware.”

“But what about the aftermath?” There was fear in her voice.

Mack framed her face with her palm. “I think when we’re together I’m stronger. I think our energies merge in some way. Do this for me. If you get in trouble and I can’t shield you enough, we’ll stop.” He wanted her trust. Even if it was just in that moment. He had to feel it again, the same way he’d felt her closeness. She was afraid.

She’d just gone through a horrific night and he was asking her to risk another one.

Jaimie took a deep breath and nodded. She closed her eyes and allowed her mind to expand, to encompass the two men above her on the third floor. She always remained aware of her surroundings, and this time she was particularly aware of Mack. His energy surrounded her as it had never done before. It felt masculine and warm, almost hot, like his skin. The feeling was tactile. Her body tingled, grew warm, and the heat spiraled outward to mingle and merge with her own energy as she directed it away from herself.

She encountered Kane first. She knew his exact position, bending over the stove, as if the energy surrounded him and sent back an echo so that she could “see” him. He was stirring something. “He’s overcooking the noodles,” she murmured, but the humor faded just as quickly. She felt Kane’s emotions. His sadness. His guilt. A huge burden that weighed on him. His fears for Jaimie’s safety. Kane could barely breathe as he dipped a spoon almost absently into the boiling water.

Jaimie jerked away from him before realizing she wasn’t really catching his thoughts and invading his privacy. It was the energy surrounding him she was reading. She took a breath and let it out, reaching further into the room to touch Javier. His energy was strong, but like Kane’s, a mixture of emotion. She’d never noticed those strands before, woven tightly together to form around each person. She had never tried separating the various threads to read them more in depth.

“I thought Javier would have a lot of humor in him, Mack,” she mused, “but he has a lot of violence and sadness in him.”

“Where is he?”

“He’s by the window, standing to one side, staying very still. I’ve never felt anyone so still, but he’s coiled for action.”

“Is he alarmed?”

“Not yet. But he’s watching the wharf. No, the water.”

“Can you encompass the water?”

She took a deep breath again and let it out. Usually by now, using so much energy, her head would be hurting, and she’d feel little pinpricks of pain throughout her skull. She only felt Mack’s energy. Stronger. Wrapping her up as if in his strong arms. She actually felt safe and secure, instead of spread thin, her energy slowly seeping out until she had nothing left.

The water gave off a cold rush that she felt flashing through her veins. It was almost electric, tiny sparks spreading over her skin, while her body temperature cooled. Instantly she felt the energy around her shift, adjust, blanket her to warm her.

She became so aware of Mack she actually felt the air moving in and out of his lungs and each separate beat of his heart. His energy immersed her in him until she felt a part of him.

Mack held his breath. His mind expanded with hers, locked together in some weird way he didn’t understand, but she was taking him with her out over the sea, as if the two of them were soaring free above everything. It was beautiful. Mystical. Like another dimension or realm she’d tapped into, yet he knew they were firmly anchored in that room.

The water’s energy sparkled like diamonds and he felt the lick of flames along his skin. The cold rush turned hot so that his blood surged and ebbed in time to her heartbeat. He could almost feel her skin brushing along his, inflaming his senses until he felt her very breath.

A boat rose and fell with the waves and inside two men huddled against the biting cold, peering through the fog, cursing their luck of drawing a bad assignment. Neither was happy, both miserable and both a little angry.

Jaimie looked up at him. “They’re watching the wharf, not this building, Mack. I think your Doomsday unit is tracking the weapons and found they were off-loaded on this wharf. Javier spotted them. That’s what has captured his attention.”

“You’re sure?”

“I don’t feel hostile energy, more like misery. They don’t like their assignment.

And one is feeling queasy. That will get worse soon. Both are very focused on watching the area, but my guess is, they aren’t alone. They’ll have sent someone to watch the street.”

“Keep going. Spread out to find the others and our team.”

Jaimie glanced at his face and then away, as if the way he was looking at her made her shy. Maybe he was looking at her like a wolf might. He felt hungry, edgy, needy.

She touched her tongue to her bottom lip. “Ethan, Brian, and Jacob are playing cards in a small room just opposite the bank of windows facing the street. They’re on the second floor. Ethan is facing the window and he has a clear view of the street. Brian and Jacob are very competitive. Ethan’s seen something outside that’s caught his attention and doesn’t have his mind on the game.”

“How do you know that?”

“His energy is directed outside. Brian and Jacob both have their energy surrounding the table and toward each other.”

“Can you tell what they’re feeling?”

“Brian’s moody. It comes across very strong that he has someone he’s thinking about. A female. He’s not worried about her, exactly, but he misses her.”

Mack frowned. “How can you possibly know he’s thinking about a woman?”

Brian had never mentioned a woman to any of them.

The color crept up her neck. “There’s a thread of sex mixed in.”

“I want you to be certain.”

Jaimie sighed and rubbed her temples. Mack leaned closer to her, then realized he was trying to physically shield her and relaxed and allowed his energy to expand to enfold her. Now he felt her moving against him, mind to mind, sharing her world of energy. It was exhilarating and intimate, more intimate than anything he’d ever experienced with her. As if he was not only buried deep in her body, but also in her mind. Every part of his body recognized hers, as if they were part of each other.

Mack had no idea if Jaimie felt the same heightened pleasure or if it was just him, but her energy was all feminine and swirled through his own, so that the electricity rushing through his body was like flash lightning. He could taste her in his mouth.

She filled his lungs. Was that normal? He knew it wasn’t, but now that he’d experienced the joining of energies, he knew he would crave the feeling.

“He’s definitely thinking of a woman. Ethan is very distracted now. He’s moved to the window, and is looking toward the street, down the block where you believe the guns are stored. I’m picking up another energy in the room. Heavy guilt. Secretive, very furtive.”

She was frowning, her mind moving further away, yet taking Mack with her, so he could almost see the room, the table and cards, the filmy window and shadows moving along the walls. He couldn’t read the energy, but through her, he shared it. As it swirled around them, he began to feel the ravenous hunger, the way it subtly attacked Jaimie, seeping into her open mind and battering at her. Immediately he was able to shift, to block the energy’s backlash. She had no filters the way he did, nothing to protect her, yet he could do it, fitting with her, as if they were one person instead of two.

Mack shifted closer to her, trying to feel where the other energy was coming from.

He couldn’t tell. He felt it, although he never would have if she hadn’t caught it; it was further away and subtle. He was a little shocked that she’d picked it up at all.

“The new kid. The one with a chip on his shoulder. He’s sitting in a corner, back to the wall. He doesn’t want anyone coming up behind him to see what he’s doing.”

Mack went very still, alarm spreading through him. “What is he doing, Jaimie?”

He kept his voice low and easy, not wanting to chance bringing her back to the room with him.

She frowned and rubbed her temple again. He was there immediately, blocking the attacking energy, refusing to allow it into her brain. The flow came from all directions, tracing back on the route she’d used and stabbing at her brain with spikes, but he kept his own energy in place like a wall. The negative energy continued to circle Jaimie. He could feel it looking for a weak spot, an opening, wanting to rush in and strike.

“He’s on a computer. I feel the heat. The way he’s striking the keyboard, he’s upset, but trying to be quiet so Ethan doesn’t notice him.”

“Do you know who he’s writing to?”

“It doesn’t work that way. He doesn’t want to get caught. That’s all I’m picking up.”

Brian. I want you to get the kid’s computer. Confiscate that laptop and put him under guard until I give you the word to bring him here.

The energy in the room changed abruptly. Became aggressive. Hostile. The surge around Jaimie was shocking, actually battering at her. It was so unexpected, several spikes got through before he could thicken the shield around her. Jaimie gave a soft moan of distress and he almost pulled the plug on the experiment, but as he became more sensitive and aware, it enabled him to keep building the barrier protecting her.

“They have Paul. He’s angry and scared. Ethan didn’t even turn around, Mack.

He’s at the window. Do you want me to try to figure out what’s got him so upset?”

“If you’re up for it,” he hedged, wanting her to make the choice.

His body was going crazy on him. He actually felt as if he were inside of her, all that soft heat surrounding him. Every nerve ending seemed to be centered in his groin, until he was full and hard and pulsing. His jeans were far too tight, the pressure of the material against him hurting. Little beads of sweat dotted his forehead and trickled down his chest.

He felt her energy expand like waves, racing out and away from her, stretching further, encompassing the streets and surrounding buildings. Surprisingly, her energy was like the ebb and flow of the sea, strong and rhythmic, and the very feel of it sent currents of electricity snapping through his body, wrapping around his c**k like tight fingers.

“I can feel Lucas in a doorway just at the end of the street. He’s sitting hunched over, but he’s very alert. Whatever Ethan’s seen, so has he. There are two others with him on the steps. Both older. One sick.” She looked at Mack with a quick frown. “I hope you’re not providing booze to drunks.”