She hugged the towel then, shaking her head, she went back to the bathroom. Best not try it. It felt too much like prying. She set her towel near the shower, but went still, trying to resist temptation. Knowing those artifacts were in that cabinet, ready to give up their secrets, was an irresistible draw, like trying to ignore the last piece of cake the night before starting a new diet.
She caved and marched back to the cabinet, opened it, and set a hand on Merc’s wife’s purse.
Energy zapped through her, snapping her out of Merc’s closet and into the car his wife was driving. Tina was crying. She looked at her girls in the back seat. They were sound asleep. The road turned a sharp bend. Ash realized they were driving along a high cliff next to the ocean. Tina was driving too fast.
Ash saw her stomp her foot on the brake, but the car wasn’t responding. Tina fought with the wheel, but she didn’t control that either. The car was running itself. It sped around another turn. Up ahead was a pull-off, but it was so dark that it was almost impossible to see that. The car went straight for it. Fast. It wasn’t going to stop. Tina looked back again as the car went airborne.
Ash felt her own stomach lodge in her throat as they hurtled over the side. Before the car crashed below, Ash was standing back on the pull-off. She wasn’t alone. Flynn was there. He gave her one of his devil’s grins. His lips moved, but she couldn’t make out his words. She stepped closer to him, hearing him when he repeated, “Now you’re mine.”
Ash gasped and dropped the purse. She scrambled backward, bumping into the opposite side of Merc’s closet. She was breathing hard and yet couldn’t seem to get any air into her lungs. Her hands were fisted around the drawer pulls on either side of her, holding on for her life.
A knock sounded on Merc’s door. She didn’t think he would knock before entering his own room. In fact, she was a little surprised her panic hadn’t summoned him.
She left the closet, crossing his room to the door. Summer was there, looking worried, nervous, timid, all weird emotions for her, given their long friendship.
Ash grabbed Summer’s wrist and pulled her inside. She hugged her best friend in an embrace that went a long moment.
When they parted, Summer gave Ash an intense once-over. “Sam said Merc wanted you to have some space, but we’ve never needed space from each other before.” She brushed Ash’s dark hair from her face. “You look like hell.”
“Oh, Summer. I can’t even begin to tell you everything that’s happened.”
“I bet. I was where you are not so long ago. There was no way I could tell you the things I’d seen and experienced—not in a way that wouldn’t give you a lifetime of nightmares.”
“And I laughed at you, like you were punking Kiera and me with an epic Halloween joke.”
“I think Sam may have influenced you to think that.”
They sat on the edge of Merc’s bed. “What am I going to do?”
“Do you love Merc?” Summer asked.
Ash nodded. “I never knew what love was until Merc. And love seems like such a weak word compared to what I feel. I crave him. I need him near me.”
“Have you told him?”
Ash shook her head. “Not really. There hasn’t been the right time. And now I’m going to lose him.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want to come into the game, Summer. I don’t want to be in his world. It terrifies me.”
Summer looked crushed. She didn’t try to talk Ash out of her decision. She simply nodded and gave her another hug. Her eyes were sad as she rubbed the back of Ash’s hand. “Get some rest. We can talk more in the morning. I’m sure this isn’t a decision that you have to make immediately. You’ve only just become aware of Merc. You two deserve some time to get to know each other.” She squeezed Ash’s hands. “Don’t make a rush decision.”
Ash had to blink tears away as she nodded. When Summer left, Ash headed for the shower. She saw Merc’s secret cabinet open and Tina’s purse on the floor. She grabbed a washcloth to pick it up with, putting it away very carefully so that nothing else would trigger a vision.
Now you’re mine. She shivered. It was as if Flynn had been with her in her vision.
Had he been in control of Tina’s car? Had he forced them to drive off the cliff? Ash sat on the bench that was in the middle of the big closet. Should she tell Merc what she’d seen? Did he know all of this already? He’d said Flynn was an Omni, and that the Omnis had killed his family.
Ash went into the bathroom and closed the door. She allowed herself the indulgence of a long, hot shower. The hot water at the fort seemed in endless supply. No one was banging on the door for her to finish. She’d brought her own shampoo in with her, but opened Merc’s instead, deciding to use his so she’d smell more like him.
Yeah, she was pathetic.
She rubbed the shampoo into her scalp, relieved her bug bite wasn’t as sore as it had been before. She admitted to being vain enough to be glad that the bite was in her hairline and not on her face.
Seriously. Pathetic.
When she finally finished with her shower, she felt like a new person. She dried off and dressed, then went through Merc’s big closet to his room. Something smelled delicious. A bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. She smiled, thankful Summer had sent her a supper tray. Ash was surprised to realize how hungry she was—she couldn’t remember when she’d last eaten. The past two days had all merged together into an awful horror-show mashup that was, unfortunately, real.
She took a bite of one of the sandwich halves just as a knock sounded on the door. Merc stepped inside the room, holding the door half closed. “You decent?”
She nodded.
“I asked Guerre to have a look at your bite.”
“It’s fine. I just checked it.”
“No pain?”
“None.”
“Good.” Merc opened the door, letting Guerre in.
She wanted to tell Merc that she didn’t need Guerre, but she suddenly just didn’t feel like fighting. Something about the team healer was always so calming. It was for her own welfare, anyway.
Guerre stared at her forehead as he approached her, in a way that made it seem he wasn’t looking at her but at something inside of her. Or inside of him. It was a little uncanny.
Be calm, love, Merc said. He does this with all of us and anyone he heals.
Ash shut her eyes, forcing herself to relax. Guerre put a hand up next to her head, hovering inches from her bite. When she felt his energy draw back, she looked at him. He was frowning.
“It’s a minor injury. I’ve enhanced your healing. Shouldn’t bother you much longer.”
“Thanks,” Ash said. “I have to get back to work and would rather not do that with a big lump on my head.”
Guerre looked into her eyes, his gray gaze commanding something from her that she wasn’t aware of, as if he’d made a connection with her body that she had no control over.
He turned and shared a look with Merc, then nodded at her and left the room.
Warily, Merc kept his distance. “Shower feel good?”
“Wonderful.” She sat at the small table where Summer had set her tray. “Want half a sandwich?”