The people already seated in the conference room—her peers, friends, staff she’d worked with for years—greeted her with wary cheerfulness. They’d noticed her odd behavior from before, and of course had realized she’d taken a second break from work, though none of them knew she’d been back to Colombia. She was certain her boss hadn’t said anything to them about her situation, but in the absence of information, they’d made their own stories about her.
She took a seat at the table and listened to the generic Monday discussion about sales, upcoming events, manufacturing woes. She looked around the table, seeing familiar faces that fronted minds uninitiated into the deeper reality surrounding them all.
If they knew about ghouls and Omnis and mutant fighters, would they all be sitting around this table, jointly helping to move the company forward? Or would they be running for the hills? And how many of them would survive being hunted? They were moms and dads, some were soft-around-the-middle corporate loyalists, others gym rats, and then there were the secret social media influencers with dreams of getting out on their own, living double lives.
They were soul-beautiful, all of them. Kind. Earnest. And ignorant.
The ghouls were going to eat them alive.
Ash blinked tears away as she set her focus on her stack of papers. The people here were the same they’d always been. They were her people. This was the company she’d given years of her life to, the job that paid for her house and car and Wednesday nights with the girls.
The company was also what bound her to a reality that could no longer contain her.
She had to accept that reality.
Like night and day, knowledge and ignorance couldn’t exist in the same space.
She was suddenly itching to step out of her skin. She sent a frantic glance around the table, hoping the meeting was ending soon. Her boss was watching her. He knew something still wasn’t right with her.
Ash drew a calming breath and focused on pulling her shit together. She’d wanted this, she reminded herself. She wanted normal. Boring Monday status updates, pushing paper, being part of something that let her feel valued. But now, the confines it imposed were making her panic. Why? What did her extreme emotions mean for those around her? Worse, was she somehow summoning Flynn to her?
The meeting finally broke up. That was an hour and seven minutes she’d never get back.
Did she want them back?
“Ash, you okay?” her boss asked, having followed her back to her office. “Did you come back too early?”
Ash blinked. “I think I just need to get back to my routine. I’m fine. It’s all good.”
“Great. Take a look at the Oakland account. We need to…”
Ash stared at her boss as he ran down the problems that account was having, a repeat from what was covered in the meeting.
“I got it,” she interrupted him. “I’ll get on it.”
She remained standing until he left her office, then she went through the files stacked on her desk, searching for the Oakland papers. A while later, she got up to look out her window, feeling compelled to step away from her desk.
Merc was out there, standing on the sidewalk, hands in his pockets, grinning as he faced her window.
She sucked in a breath as she flattened her hand against the window. All the sharp fragments of her mind coalesced into something more cohesive than she’d been dealing with that morning—seeing him made life make sense.
She hurried out to see him. Someone tried to talk to her, but she didn’t stop. Outside, she ran to Merc. He caught her up in a big hug and kissed her like he hadn’t seen her in a year. She stood on tiptoes, her arms wrapped around his neck.
He moved his thumbs over her cheeks. “You’re crying.”
“I’m not crying. I don’t cry.” She wiped at her wet cheeks. “Can they see us?”
“No.”
She kissed him again.
“Want lunch?” he asked.
She nodded, leaning her forehead against his chin.
“What do you feel like?”
“I’m not hungry,” she said.
He smiled. “Kinda hard to take lunch without eating.”
She looked up at him, then shot a glance up to her office. “They’re so normal. They have no idea what’s really out there.”
He stared into her eyes, his face tense as he tucked her hair behind her ears. He did a quick check of her bug bite, then said, “Nor should they. It’s my job, the Legion’s job, to let them have their lives.”
She put her hand over his heart. “Their energy is so slow. It moves around them as if they’re their own universes. Your energy feels like jet fuel, fast and far-reaching, spreading for miles out from you.”
“Your awareness of energy has grown since you’ve opened yourself to it through your psychometry work.”
She held his gaze a long moment. “I’m like a bug caught in a doorjamb, about to be crushed when someone shuts the door.”
He chuckled and caught her face in his hands. “I love you. I love the way you see things.”
She took hold of his hands, lifting one to kiss his palm. “I love you too.” She looked up at him. “What are we going to do?”
“Anything. Anything you want. Anything that will get you to eat again. So what’s your poison? Burger and fries? An organic salad? A whole-grain protein bowl?”
Ash laughed. “You’ve been eating Summer’s cooking.”
He nodded. “Bastion gives her the keys to the kitchen twice a week, and then only because Liege insists.”
“They do have very different cooking styles, from what I can tell." Ash laughed. “So, there’s a food truck around the block that has delicious burritos. Want to try that?”
“Lead the way.”
Ash took Merc’s hand. They left the office complex. Along the way, they must have become visible, for she noticed the looks Merc was garnering. Women instinctively felt his power.
Merc took her hand and kissed her knuckles. You are the only female I see.
She felt a warm, melting sensation ripple through her. She didn’t care who watched them as they stood in line. “I wasn’t jealous. More proud of you. You are a beautiful man.”
“A beautiful man you said you loved.”
“I do.”
He lifted his head and looked around them as if searching for a spot they could have a private moment. She laughed at his frustrated expression when he found none.
He groaned as he leaned close to her. “I don’t think I could maintain our invisibility shield while we’re fucking. I lose my sense of everything around you.”
They gave their orders. Merc paid, which was good, because Ash had run out without her purse.
A few moments later, they took their plates and found a place to sit. “Let’s go eat at your house.”
Ash blushed, just from the heat of his words. “We can’t. I’ll be late getting back to work.”
“So be late. Better yet, quit.”
“And do what?”
“Be my fuck buddy.”
She choked and took a quick sip of her iced green tea.
Merc forked his fingers through hers. They stared into each other’s eyes for the length of a few breaths, lost to the world around them. At least, Ash was.