Ghostwalker 06 - Predatory Game

just come right out and said it before. She wasn’t stupid. She certainly knew he was physically attracted to her, although after seeing Chaleen and knowing she and Saber were complete opposites, she wasn’t certain why.

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    She tapped her fingers on her knee and stared at the surrounding mountains. She had to give him something of herself. It wasn’t fair otherwise. He’d told her things, hurtful things that mattered, that were real, and just once, she wanted to give him something of herself.
    Saber was silent and Jess remained so because of the little giveaway nervous tattoo of her fingers.
    “I was trapped in a sort of hole in the ground once. It was completely black.” She watched his face carefully. She was giving him…too much. Enough to hang herself, yet there were abused children every single day. He would naturally think that of her, rather than something so bizarre and coincidental as that she was also a GhostWalker.
    Jess went still inside. He could hear the catch in her voice as she revealed a traumatic event in her life.
    There was the faintest of tremors in her body. This was the real thing, not something made up to appease him. The suppressed emotion in her said it all and he felt rage—ice cold rage. He wasn’t certain he was prepared to hear this.
    “I couldn’t see my own hand in front of my face. After a while I thought I was going crazy. I couldn’t even breathe.”
    She didn’t look at him, but kept her gaze on the mountains. “There were bugs. Oh God, so many bugs.
    They crawled on me.” She brushed at her arms and face as if to remove them. He saw her throat convulse as she swallowed hard and knew she was unaware of the tears gathering in her eyes. “I didn’t think I could stand it. I lost track of time. A minute, an hour, days. I could hear myself screaming, but not out loud, only in my mind. I didn’t dare make a sound. I would have never gotten out.”
    The silence stretched between them. He was afraid of speaking, afraid his voice would break. He couldn’t touch her, couldn’t move his hand those scant inches separating them. He was shaking with anger unlike anything he’d ever experienced, and if he didn’t stay in control, the results could be deadly.
    Saber became aware of the ground undulating beneath her. The trees trembled and the water in the fountains shot up like geysers. A branch in a nearby tree cracked ominously. She leaned into him, laid her head against his shoulder, and put a calming hand on his thigh. Instantly his hand covered hers and he took a deep breath.
    “It’s all right,” she soothed. “I’m all right.” He was furious on her behalf, close to a loss of control—no good thing for any GhostWalker. It should have reminded her that Jess was dangerous, in or out of a wheelchair, but all it did was make her happy.
    “How old were you?” His voice was very quiet. He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm, trying to find a way to make it all better.
    “I think I was about four the first time. We weren’t allowed to show fear and I was afraid of closed in and dark places. That sort of weakness just wasn’t allowed where I grew up.”
    He didn’t have to ask who had done such a thing to her. Whitney, damn his soul to hell. Peter Whitney had taken this child and tortured her to make or break her.
    “That’s why you like every light in the house on.”
    Her hand clutched his shirt, fingers curling around the edge of the material, brushing his bare skin. She Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    didn’t seem to notice so he left it there, covering her hand once again with his own and pressing her palm into his chest.
    “I guess they never managed to scare the fear out of me,” Saber admitted. She touched his leg with the tip of her nails.
    “Bastards.” He was careful not to ask who “they” were.
    She had no idea why his reaction sent a heat wave crashing through her entire system. She took a breath and let it out, catching at his wrist to distract them both. She looked at his watch. “I need to get ready for work.”
    “You have hours, take a nap.”
    “Out here?” Did she dare when they might be under surveillance?
    “Sure, listen to the water, you were just saying it was peaceful. You tell me something from your past and immediately get nervous and want to run.” He slid down, pillowing his head on