Ash turned down an aisle with her cart to pick up a jar of the hoisin sauce. Something drew her attention to the end of the aisle. A man stood there. Light brown hair. Medium build. She felt she should recognize him, but she just couldn’t place him.
He was bent over a deli case. He straightened and turned. He looked right at her, and his appearance shifted. As she stared at him, Flynn’s face overlaid the man’s. This couldn’t be happening. People didn’t shift their appearance like that.
But Merc had in Colombia, she reminded herself, when he was demonstrating a mutant’s ability to look like someone else.
She tilted her head and squinted her eyes. He mimicked the motion, then laughed. If she doubted her eyes, she couldn’t doubt her ears.
Flynn was here, in the store with her.
She gasped, squeezed her eyes shut, then looked again. The man was bent over the counter again, as if nothing in the last few seconds had happened.
Ash grabbed the hoisin sauce, then hurried to confront the guy, but when she looked toward that end of the aisle, he was gone. She checked in both directions, but he was nowhere to be seen.
This week had been a mess. It had taken all of her energy to step back into her world. The truth was that she simply wasn’t normal and might never again be what she’d been before.
Merc’s advice to let her officemates simply be themselves had been a huge help. She’d worked there for years, knowing them as well as anyone got to know the people they spent office hours with. She’d never felt frustrated with them before. She knew her current problems stemmed from the fact that they were living their regular, normal lives. She was a little jealous of them. And afraid as well. None of them were preparing for what Flynn and the Omnis were doing, whatever that was. Merc said that was as it should be.
She wasn’t so sure.
And now Flynn was stalking her. It was odd that as connected as she and Merc were, he never reached out to her when Flynn was near. Was Flynn somehow able to block him, like he had when he kept her from telling Merc about seeing him in her vision of Tina and the girls?
Ash searched the whole store for the man Flynn had taken over, but couldn’t find him. Maybe that was just as well. What would she have said? I saw you shift into another man. What did you mean by doing that?
Shaken, she paid for her things and left, her joy about the night a little dimmed.
Merc scanned Ash’s house as he parked in her drive. She was busy in the kitchen. Tension filled her energy signature. Was that from cooking their meal? Or her situation at work? Or something else entirely?
No matter. The forewarning let him prepare himself—and her. He stepped into her kitchen, sending her calming and healing vibes. She wore white, strappy high heels and a short, floral-print dress that was fitted above the waist and flared below. She’d tied a wide belt in matching fabric into a bow that made him want to unwrap her then and there, dinner be damned.
“Howzit goin’?”
Ash turned from the stove and smiled at him. An apron covered the front of her dress. He caught her around the waist and pulled her against his body, letting his energy pour into hers. He kissed her gently on the mouth, knowing she was too focused on the steaks to give him much attention at the moment.
“Smells divine.” And it did. “If it tastes as good, you may be a rival for Bastion.”
“That would be fun. But I’m generally not much of a cook. I have a few core recipes that I do well, but beyond that, I’d be challenged.” She turned back to the stove and the cast-iron pan she was using to sear the steaks. “I put two bottles of wine on the table—a pinot noir and a shiraz. Pick one and open it for us.”
“Righto, love.”
He chose the pinot noir, then poured their glasses. He brought their glasses back into the kitchen and set hers on the counter next to the stove. He tugged at her apron. “You’re a messy cook.” He kissed her neck.
“I am. Don’t look at the sink.”
“I think we should eat naked, just in case you’re a messy eater too.”
She looked up at him. “I don’t think I could eat naked.”
He grinned, liking the vision he had of that. “I would feed you.” He bent close and kissed her, then said, his mouth still near her lips, “And then I would eat you.”
She laughed and pushed him away. He tested the steaks with his fingertip. “These are done.”
Ash put them on a plate, then he helped her carry everything out to the table. “Want something to drink besides the wine?”
“No worries. Wine works for me.”
Merc held her chair for her, then refilled their glasses. Her table wasn’t large. Her whole bungalow wasn’t large, so it was a good fit for the room. He cut into his steak and moaned at its flavor. “Was it difficult making dinner tonight?”
“Not at all. I enjoyed it.”
“You seemed stressed when I got here.”
“I was. Something happened at the grocery store.” Her eyes widened. Merc slipped into her mind, trying to discover for himself what was causing her distress. The odd thing was that her mind was blank to him, as if he were being blocked.
This had only happened one other time—when Flynn had come into her mind at the fort.
“You had a visit with Flynn today, did you?”
Her eyes were big as she nodded. “But it wasn’t him,” she said. “It was someone he overtook, like an image set over a man’s face.”
“I need to stay here with you. I don’t know why, but he’s taken an interest in you that we haven’t been able to shake.”
“Like he did with your wife.”
Merc ground his jaw. “Possibly.”
“Why me? Why you? What’s he up to?”
“We fought many times in the training camps. He didn’t often win. I think I represent his flaws to him, what he isn’t, what he’ll never be.”
“He has issues.”
Merc laughed. “Understatement of the year. But beyond being a fuck-up, he’s also extremely dangerous.”
“Will he leave me alone if you wipe my memory?”
Merc froze, his fork halfway to his mouth. “Not necessarily. If he’s found a use for you, he’ll use you. You’re safer with your memories so you know to be aware.”
“So I’ve picked up a mutant stalker. And no regular police force can deal with him.”
“Correct. Whatever you do, don’t get them involved. You will just be the cause of their deaths.” He took the last medallion. “You do you, love. I’ll deal with him.”
“You’re never around when I see him.”
“I will be. From now on. Until he’s gone.”
Ash was just settling in for the night when her phone rang. It was Kiera. She thought about not answering, but knew Kiera would drive over if she didn’t. No one got to blow off a Wednesday dinner for the second week in a row without repercussions.
She took the call. “Hi, Kiera.”
“Hey, sweetie. How have you been?”
“I’m okay. How are you?”
“I’m good.” Silence.
Ash waited for Kiera to talk first.
“Dammit, Ash, we’ve never had an awkward phone call in all the time we’ve been friends. What the hell’s going on with you?”