Carpathian 15 - Dark Secret

his black eyes staring directly into her green ones. At once she felt a magnetic pull. She recognized that touch from the mental attack on her in the field. Alarmed, she jerked back, twisting away from him to focus on Ben's scuffed boots. This man had psychic abilities just like her!
    "I am Nicolas De La Cruz." He said his name softly, his voice as mesmerizing as his eyes. "I wish you to hear these men out. They have come a long way to see you. The children are of their blood."
    The way he said "blood" sent a shiver running through her body. He didn't raise his voice at all. He sounded perfectly calm and reasonable. His voice was a powerful, hypnotic weapon and she recognized it as such. If he used it in a court of law on the judge, could she combat it? She didn't honestly know.
    Even she was somewhat susceptible. Her head was pounding. She pressed a hand to her temples. He was exerting subtle pressure on her to do as he bid her.
    Colby knew she wouldn't be able to resist the relentless force for long. Her head felt as if it might shatter.
    Pride was one thing, foolishness completely another. "I am going to have to ask you gentlemen to leave.
    Unfortunately, this is a bad time for me. I'm afraid I'm ill." Pressing a hand to her pounding head, she turned to Ben. "Would you please escort them out of here for me and I will try to schedule another meeting when I'm feeling better? I'm sorry."
    She jerked open the door to her home and fled inside to the safety of her sanctuary. Nicolas De La Cruz would be a powerful enemy. The pounding in her head from fighting off his mental attack was making her physically sick. She buried her face against her quilt and breathed deeply, waiting until she felt the steady pressure slowly retreating. She lay there a long time, terrified for her brother and sister, terrified for herself.

    1

    The huge chestnut snorted, his eyes rolling wildly in his head. "Hang on to him, Paul," Colby quickly warned her brother. The horse was sidestepping nervously, jerking his head, stiffening his legs.

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    "I can't, sis," Paul cried out as with a surge of savagery the animal swung around, breaking the boy's precarious hold. Paul scrambled to safety, his anxious eyes on his sister's slender figure.
    The chestnut was crow-hopping, whirling, slamming into the fence with a resounding crash that shook the posts and the ground itself. Paul winced, his olive skin going pale beneath the dark tan. Colby was smashed up against the fence twice more before she hit the ground and rolled to safety beneath the rails.
    "Are you all right, Colby?" Paul demanded anxiously, flinging himself on his knees beside her in the powdered dirt.
    Colby groaned and rolled over to stare up at the darkening sky, a humorless smile curving her soft mouth. "What a stupid way to make a living," she told Paul absently. "How many times has that worthless animal thrown me?" She sat up, pushing at the damp tendrils escaping from her thick red-gold braid. The back of her hand left a streak of dirt across her forehead.
    "Today or altogether?" Paul teased, then hastily wiped the grin from his face when she turned the full power of her eyes on him. "Six," he answered solemnly.
    Gingerly she stood up, swiping at the layer of dust on her worn, faded Levi's. Ruefully she examined her tattered shirt. "Who owns this beast anyway? Whoever it is had better be someone I like."
    Carefully Paul brushed dust off her hat, avoiding her gaze. Unless a horse was being trained for rodeo riding, Colby allowed Paul to handle all the details. Worst possible luck. "De La Cruz," he muttered apprehensively. At sixteen he was taller than his sister. Lean, tanned, already with the muscles of a horseman, Paul was unusually strong for his age. His face held the stamp of someone much older. He held out the weathered flat-brimmed hat almost as an offering of atonement to his sister.
    There was a small silence while the wind seemed to hold its breath. Even the chestnut stopped snorting and reefing while Colby stared in horror at her brother. "Are we talking about the same De La Cruz who came to this ranch and insulted me? The same one who demanded we pack up our things and leave our father's ranch because I'm a woman and you're a child? That De La Cruz? The De La Cruz who ordered me to turn you and Ginny over to the Chevez family and gave me a whale of a headache with his insulting domineering