The corner of his mouth pulls into a cheeky grin, tugging on my heart, and lower in my abdomen. “You’re not worried about me, are you?” He leans toward me, irises the color of warm honey. “If I could touch you, the last thing I’d be concerned about is the wound on my chest.”
My breath hitches in my throat, and I spend a moment lost in those eyes. “Why is it you can touch Rose and the book, but you can’t touch me?” I clear my throat. “Or open a door?”
“I can touch Rose because she’s holding me here, and the book because it’s from my time.”
“But you can lean against this table?” I gesture before me.
He runs his hand along the light pine surface. “Yes, but I can’t move it or feel the texture of the wood.” A drop of blood falls from the hand pressed against his wound, disappearing before it hits the wooden floor.
I swallow, coaxing moisture into my mouth. “What happened?”
“We were caught stealing that journal.” He inclines his head toward the blood-soaked book. “Rose traveled us away, but the bullet had already hit. I’m sorry, Ella, I shouldn’t be dragging you into this.”
“It’s okay. I’m glad I was here to help Rose. Can subconscious travel affect someone in the same way as normal time travel?”
Parker frowns. “I don’t think so. Subconscious travel happens when you’re sleeping and your brain’s relaxed, so it exerts little energy. Itcanmake you tired and give you a headache if you’re traveling multiple times a night. Plus, emotionally charged memories draw you in, and the echo can be intense.”
“What does that mean? The echo?”
“When you travel into your past, you—and anyone you’ve brought with you—feel an echo of the emotions you experienced in that moment in time. It can be strong for some travelers, and not so much for others. Neurovida teaches you to dull it down, but if the memory is emotional, the echo can be hard to suppress.”
Flashes of my dreams rush through my mind. My joy when I’m in my mother’s warm embrace or the nervous excitement flooding me when I kiss Parker. My cheeks heat, my heart falling into that flustered rhythm only he can evoke. Does he know how he consumes my nights, like a thief holding my subconscious hostage? “Before you knew about time travel, did you subconsciously travel?”
“Yes, but I thought I was dreaming. And you can call itsub-t. That’s what we all called it at Neurovida.”
I peer over at him. “Did you ever sub-t and see me?”
“You’ve never asked me that before,” he says, a hint of surprise in his voice.
I sit back in my chair. “This is so strange. You talk to me as if you’ve known me for years, but we’ve only just met, and I still know nothing about you.”
Parker eases back against the table, surveying me with a gleam in his eye. “What do you want to know?”
I want to know everything about you.The thoughthits me at once. Every tick, habit and mannerism. Where did he grow up? What was his life like before Neurovida? Before he was running for his life? I want to watch him wake up in the morning and put himself together, glimpsing those private moments no one else gets to see.
I study the sloping curve of his top lip, the cocky crinkle beside his eyes. “Will you answer truthfully?”
“What are you insinuating?” he asks, feigning offense. “I’ll answer your questions. As long as I’m not telling you anything that will get me into trouble with Rose later.”
“Fine.” I cross my arms and lean them on the table. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-four,” he answers immediately.
“And how old were you when you were recruited?”
“Twenty-one.”
I worry my bottom lip as we stare at each other for a beat, his amber eyes heating when they flicker to my mouth. “Had you seen me in your sub-t before we met for the first time?”
He groans. “Thought I’d dodged that question. No, it wasn’t until after we’d become Alphas that I saw you in my sub-t.”
I mask my disappointment. Obviously, my unhealthy infatuation with Parker isn’t reciprocated. “Alphas?”
He glances at the bedroom door again. “It’s the name of our group at Neurovida. Alpha because we were the first group of our kind.”
“Alpha, huh? Sounds a little pompous.”
Parker’s golden eyes dance with amusement. “That’s what you said when we thought up the name.”
