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Was he truly alive?
Had he been hurt?
Would he even know her or be able to forgive her for not protecting him?
And should all things work out, should she actually find the extinction weapon and get him back, would he blame her for not having found him sooner?
Two more tears rolled down her cheeks.
She swiped at them and forced herself to breathe deep, to take healing air into her lungs, to try to move on.
Kiernan had told her that he’d had a caregiver in charge of Josh all this time, a human woman. Lily had asked who she was and had even questioned Kiernan about her qualifications, but Kiernan just laughed at her and said, “Suffice it to say she’s in my employ permanently. I could even say she loves the kid.”
These were her only consolations, that Josh might have been well looked after.
She forced herself to rein in her emotions, at least for now. She focused instead on Adrien and the night ahead.
She’d heard him leave the bed and get dressed, the results of finely tuned vampire hearing, so it was time to get moving and to let Adrien know about the two big events soon to come.
But just as she would have risen from the floor, a very different kind of thought streaked to the surface of her mind. Can I communicate with Josh?
Leaning against the side of the white porcelain bathtub, she suddenly sat up straighter. She’d been siphoning power from Adrien from the time she’d put on her chain, and now her power was even stronger because Adrien had reached the first level of Ancestral status. Though it was a long shot, she closed her eyes and took in a slow deep breath. She relaxed her shoulders and let her mind go loose. She focused on only one thing: her son.
The strangest sensation intruded, like movement, like she wanted to float in what must be a northeasterly direction, maybe toward Russia, as once more her tracking ability surfaced. She stayed as relaxed as she could and sent her thoughts in that direction so that pretty soon she could feel a flow of thought moving at light-speed until it encountered … Josh.
Stunned, she held herself, her mind, her thoughts completely still. Was she imagining this or was it real?
She wanted to scream with excitement, but she needed other things first. She touched the object, which felt warm to her thoughts. Yes, she felt her son and he was very much alive.
Alive. Josh really was alive!
Taking another deep breath, she formed one word and reached into his mind. Josh.
A kind of movement returned, but cloudy and ill formed, a child’s mind.
I’m here, Josh. I can sense your presence. Mother is here.
She felt the warmth of his mind relax in much the same way that Adrien had relaxed beside her while he slept. Mom?
She trembled now. Yes, I’m here. Are you okay? Tell me you’re all right!
I’m fine. Claire is here. She’s taken care of me. Mom, I miss you.
I miss you, too. So much it hurts. She couldn’t believe the amount of energy she was expending to sustain the conversation. Listen, honey, I’m doing everything I can to get back to you, but there are some things that have to be done first.
I know. Mr. Kiernan told us.
Good. That’s good. Pain swelled inside her head. She couldn’t hold this much longer. That’s what I need to know. She felt the power fade. I’ll do everything I can to bring us back together. I have to go. The power began to fade. I’ll find you, Josh. I love you.
Okay … Mom?…
Then nothing. Her telepathy returned to her, however, in an almost rubber-band snap of pain. She put her hand to her head, wincing. But she didn’t care that she hurt. She’d talked with her son. Josh really was alive and a woman named Claire had taken care of him. At least Kiernan hadn’t lied about that.
She didn’t know what she felt for a long, long moment. Not relief exactly, though that was there. Then she felt it: joy. Josh was alive. She’d kept that thought in the forefront of her mind from the time Kiernan had first contacted her, but she’d never quite believed it. Now she could. Her son was alive. She’d felt him, talked with him.
Her son was alive.
She realized she was smiling. She was sitting on the bathroom floor and smiling. Her son was alive. Alive.
And there was one person she wanted badly to share that news with.
The door opened and Adrien, dressed in only his black leather pants, stepped into the room. “I could feel you speaking to someone telepathically. What’s going on?”
Her heart began to race. She wanted to tell Adrien so badly.
“I feel your distress and your excitement. Tell me.”
Slowly, she rose to her feet. “Please don’t ask. I want to tell you but it’s a condition of my part in the hunt for the extinction weapon. If I reveal this secret, I don’t know what will happen.”
Adrien stared at her and nodded.
She slipped back into telepathy. You’re disappointed that I won’t tell you, that I won’t trust you.
His smile was crooked. It’s unreasonable, but yes, I am. I want your trust more than anything.
I do trust you and I wish I could tell you. You’ve become so important to me. I …
She’d almost said the most impossible words of all, that she loved him. She emitted a kind of gagging sound, then turned in a circle as though she could run from the thought. “What’s wrong with me? These damn chains. I feel what you’re feeling and now—”
“I know.” His hands were on her once more, her back to him, but she relaxed and let him touch her.
“The nightmare that wouldn’t end,” she said.
He didn’t say anything but surrounded her in a warm embrace. He was so kind, so loving. He was a vampire—and yet he was so much more than that. She whirled in his arms and hugged him hard, her head resting against his shoulder.
After a moment, he drew a deep breath. “I suppose I should call Rumy, ask if there was any activity after we returned.”
She pulled away to look up at him then told him the plan, first that she had a surprise for him then the gala.
“A surprise? What kind of surprise?”
After she answered or chose not to answer all his questions, she suggested dinner first, after which she would take him someplace unexpected.
* * *
By the time Adrien had finished grilling a pair of steaks, he knew something was up. His chains now hummed against his neck and chest and he could feel Lily’s excitement.
As he cut a bite of rib eye, he asked, “What’s going on in that head of yours?”
She met his gaze. “Just decided to take the advice of a friend.”
