No Peace for the Damned

toward the bed and my body automatically shifted toward him.
    A strange noise escaped Thirteen, freezing me in place.
Oh, right, Thirteen’s still here
. His head hung forward, his eyes closed.
    “Thirteen?”
    His huge shoulders lifted in a trembling sigh. “I thought you were dead again,” he said in a strangled voice. “I prayed you’d come back, that you’d heal like before, but you didn’t even have a pulse. Not at first.” He shuddered and covered his face.
    “I tried to stay conscious, stay invisible. But Uncle Max’s power was blaring—it was everywhere. And then he came into the room. He came over to where I was knocked backward and…” My heart raced again. Sweat beaded on my forehead. My fingers curled into the sheet. I should have been too spent to muster real panic. But the thought of Uncle Max looming over me, his face contorted in such a familiar rage—it was too terrifying. Thirteen drew a ragged breath. Theo reached out and touched my ankle under the sheet. Instantly my fists relaxed.
    “How did you get to me?” I finally managed.
    “Your panic button set off the Homeland Security alarms,” Thirteen said after clearing his throat. “That was the blaring you heard. Security was immediately sent in to retrieve all the congressional officers. There was a stampede of government employees exiting the building. Jon and Theo were able to slip in after the security guards pulled Maxwell from the room. You were still invisible when they found you.”
    Still invisible? So passing out
hadn’t
revealed my cover. Then what
had
made me visible again?
    “I found you,” Theo said quietly, as if reading my thoughts.
    “How? If I was still invisible?” God, my voice was scratchy.
    “I just…
knew
. I knew where you were.”
    He stood beside the bed now, his hand still resting on my ankle. Instinctively my hand lifted. My fingertips itched to feel the solidness of his arms, his face, his body. Thirteen shifted beside me. I blinked and dropped my hand.
    My mouth opened and closed a few times but my throat was too dry now to make words. I wanted more details, but for once I thought I needed something other than whisky.
    “Your camouflage dissipated when Theo, well, when he touched you,” Thirteen said, eyeing me closely. I looked back at Theo. For once he didn’t look confused or like he was searching for some explanation. He looked possessive. A raw hunger darkened his eyes. My insides somersaulted at the look. Not because it worried me or had me questioning again our growing bond. But because it felt right. He should be possessive. I belonged to him.
    I shook my head and forced myself to focus. “I—I didn’t push the panic button,” I said.
    “When Jon and Theo found you, the key fob was so deep in your palm the button was still being pressed.” Thirteen relaxed a little then and reached out to touch my forearm. “Magnolia, what happened?”
    I closed my eyes for a minute. “Uncle Max sensed I was there and sent out a mental shock wave.”
    Thirteen’s eyes went wide. All the color left his face. “He sensed you?”
    “He sensed
a supernatural presence
,” I corrected myself quickly. “He didn’t know it was me.”
    My throat was in flames now. But before I could ask for a drink, Theo was there, a full glass of water in his hand. His fingers brushed with mine as I took the glass, and I gasped.
Oh God
. It was just like in the kitchen all those weeks ago—that brushed contact so much more than a firm touch. I could see it so clearly I stopped breathing. Theo, holding me, his calloused hands running up and down my arms as I pressed into his bare chest. My body sliding perfectly into place along the length of his. “Mag…” his lips had moved against my cheek as he breathed into my ear.
    “Mag?” he said again, louder this time. I opened my eyes. Theo now sat at the foot of the bed, his hand moving slowly up my calf. He leaned toward me, his breathing as heavy as mine. That possessive look was more than just a dark gleam in his eye now. His shoulders were set, his jaw flexed. His lips parted.
    “Ahem,” Thirteen cleared his throat. A shiver swept up my spine, bringing me back and reddening my cheeks. Theo blinked rapidly, shifting his body away from me. But his hand remained on my leg, the contact still there.
    “The important question is,” Thirteen said, shooting pointed glances at each of us, “why did Maxwell leave with the security guards? Why didn’t he just