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He smiled. She’d never seen such a light in his clear blue eyes before. He lifted his shirt off, his muscles flexing and making her take deeper breaths. Here was Reyes, the man she’d desired for months. She felt his Ancestral power resonating from him and through the double-chain at her neck.
He reached toward her, tracing her chain with his fingers. “I never would have believed this could happen. But you have to know that I have contacts who can work to remove your chain, if you want. It might take some time, but it can be done.” He frowned as he spoke, and she felt his concern for her.
Angelica smiled. “You’re what I want, Reyes, with or without the chains. But given the state your world is in and that you’ll become a target as soon as you start taking Starlin apart, I think I’d like to keep this on. I’m stunned by the level of power that I feel right now and how much I can siphon from you.”
She glanced down at her feet and made a mental decision to levitate. And just like that, she floated.
“Wow.” He caught her around the waist but held on loosely so she could continue to experience the newfound ability.
After a moment she slid her arms around his neck, let go of the levitation, and fell against him.
He laughed and swung her in a circle. “You’re alive. I thought I’d lost you.”
“I know.” She held him tightly, even worrying that she was hurting him, a silly thought because he was so physically strong.
He gripped her in return, not setting her on her feet, but just keeping her pressed against him.
Angelica’s eyes filled with tears.
“We almost died, both of us, didn’t we?”
He nodded, his cheek sliding against her hair, his chest rising and falling. She felt the depth of his emotion, the near loss for each of them and the relief that they’d survived.
“She’s dead,” Angelica murmured.
“I know. I’m so glad. She won’t be able to hurt anyone else ever again or to use her abilities to create another auction, or betting Web site, or method of torture.”
Angelica pulled back and her feet finally touched the carpet. She cupped his face with both hands. “We made it.”
He nodded. “I have so much I want to say to you that I hardly know where to start, except that I love you. I should have realized it sooner, but I couldn’t wrap my head around what was really happening between us. Part of me knew and wanted to believe, the part of me that had known love as a child. Yet I’d gone through so much, I wasn’t sure I had the capacity to feel anything ever again.”
“I can’t imagine what that was like for you. I can only speak for myself.” She chuckled softly. “I was kidding myself, Reyes, when I spoke of leaving, of going back to my old life. I think there was a part of me that was uncertain whether I could measure up in your world.”
“Well, you certainly proved yourself. What made you take the chains with you, and where the hell did you keep them?”
“In my gloves. That’s why I chose this pair that went almost to my elbows. As for the why of it, you were being justifiably stubborn about not making use of them, and for very noble reasons. But remember how Sweet Dove hurt me that first week of my captivity? I felt her power then, and I knew its flavor and its scope. I believed with all my heart that the only way we would survive, if Sweet Dove chose as she did tonight to act against us, was if we had her level of power.
“And Reyes, my God, your power. It surpasses hers. Did you know that’s how it would be?”
He shook his head. “I’m convinced that I kept myself blind to my potential. Of course being her slave all that time and kept in a subservient position helped me feel constantly less than Sweet Dove. But I feared so much that I would become corrupt like her or like Engles. Even now, I know I’ll need to be vigilant.”
She sensed his fear that being an Ancestral would change him, but she also knew his character and that so long as he lived he’d work hard to stay true to his deepest values, the ones his parents had taught him when he was young. “All I can say is, welcome home, Reyes. That’s what I want to say to you. Welcome home.”
“That’s one of the most wonderful things you could say to me, and that’s how I feel. It’s taken all this time, from the first day of my captivity until now, to meet you and be with you in order to find my way home. You’re my home, Angelica. In fact, that’s where I want to go.”
“But this is your home.”
A slow smile overtook his face. “Venezuela. In the Cordillera system, high in the mountains near the Caribbean coast.”
“Oh, you mean your family home. The one you took back when you made your fortune.”
He nodded. “How about we get cleaned up, pack some clothes, and head there now?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Angelica soon learned that the double-chain had changed the proximity issue so that while she showered, Reyes could remain in the sitting room as he continued to explore Sweet Dove’s laptop.
By the time she’d emerged wearing jeans and a tank top, her makeup restored and her hair brushed out, she found Reyes at the table, in a robe. He still sat at the table, staring at the laptop, chin in hand.
He glanced up at her, and she put her hand on the double-chain. He seemed to be in a state of shock.
“What is it?”
“It’s all here. Every last bit of information I need. It’s clear to me that Sweet Dove didn’t feel in the least threatened.”
“Was it even password protected?”
Reyes shook his head. “She seemed to have a love of numbers, though. The records here are careful to the penny. Her crimes are legion.”
She rounded the table and sat on his lap. He surrounded her with his arms. “I like you in jeans.”
She kissed him. “I’m all packed. Ready when you are.”
He closed the laptop lid and headed for his turn in the shower.
She stared at the laptop for a long time. Part of her was curious, and no doubt in the coming days and weeks she’d become completely familiar with Sweet Dove’s organization.
For now, however, the horror could rest. More than anything she needed this time with Reyes, to just be with him.
A half hour later he carried her in one arm, her satchel dangling from his free hand, and flew her at top speed to South America.
I have no pain.
What? He squeezed her waist.
There’s no more pain when I fly.
Nor should there be because of my Ancestral power. But the truth is I didn’t even think about it. Although if you’d suffered in any way, the chains would have told me in a split second.
