“Enough!” Jamey’s shout rang off the boats. She put both hands in the air. “Not in front of Reece.”
Cora casually took her hand off Whitman’s face. The screams stopped, replaced by soft moans as Whitman slumped to the deck. “As long as we understand each other.”
Reece took a shuddery breath.You’re worse than useless, Cora had said. And she was right; he was nothing but a liability, a puppet with strings everyone could use to yank Jamey around.
“Between us girls, I don’t think Vanessa here is going to last much longer,” said Cora. “I’ve been swinging her moods around like a carnival ride. It’s not good for the heart.” She looked Jamey over openly. “You, though—I think you’re going to be a challenge. But I’ve got some ideas.”
Reece’s eyes narrowed.
Jamey straightened, ready for a fight, but it was Reece who stepped forward, rage building—
There was a smallsnick, the soft sound loud in the cavernous warehouse. Whitman made another sudden cry of pain.
Reece gasped, gaze locked on the dart in her arm—
“Tranquilizer,” came the familiar drawl.
Cora hit the ground on hands and knees, retching hard, as Grayson jumped down from the highest row of boats and landed easily on his feet.
“You already got used to being queen of the chessboard.” Grayson approached her, and Reece was pretty sure he’d expected thatCorawould throw up the first time she heard his voice. “Didn’t account for a pawn off your radar.”
Cora gagged again, and despite everything she’d done, Reece’s stomach lurched in sympathy. But her eyes were narrowed in understanding as she looked up at Grayson and said hoarsely, “You’re the one they call the Dead Man.”
“I keep saying it’s not just a nickname,” said Grayson.
Cora couldn’t fight Grayson. It was over.
Reece let out a shaky breath, his knees weak as the adrenaline left him in a rush. But Jamey was there, her steady arm around his waist to keep him upright.
Cora still knelt on the ground, coughing. On the deck of the boat, Whitman’s eyes had closed—tranquilized, Grayson had said. Not dead.
Grayson’s gaze darted to Jamey. “Reece needs to leave.”
“Could not agree more.” Jamey began to pull Reece away, down past the boats.
Reece dug in his heels.
“Reece,” Jamey said, with urgency in her voice, like she was considering carrying him out of there. “Come on.”
But Reece couldn’t move. He couldfeelit in a way he’d never felt an emotion without touch before, prickling like static against his skin, rolling off Cora like the incoming tide.
Fury.
“Can you feel that?” he whispered.
“Feel what?”
“She’s angry.”
Jamey shook her head no, but they both looked over their shoulders, where Cora and Grayson were facing off.
“You don’t want an uncorrupted empath to see us fight?” Cora’s voice was mild, but Reece could hear the rage under it, like a pressure cooker building. And he could see it in her face, a cornered animal, claws unsheathing.
“There won’t be a fight,” said Grayson. “There’s not a single empathic ability that works on me. There’s nothing you can do.”
Cora’s face was flushed, her jaw tight. But then, suddenly, her face smoothed out, triumph flashing in her eyes as she calmly said, “Then I surrender.”
Lie.
