in Joss’s gut as he looked back at the girl. A Category 5 storm, indeed. “How good is your control? Really?”
She glanced at the table, then at Dez for a long minute before looking at him. “Well, there’s really only one way to find out, right?”
* * *
“CULLEN, come on.” Taige laid a hand on his arm, ignoring everybody else. Taylor had already left. Joss was sitting at the table, slumped in a chair, looking half-asleep. Dez was sitting next to him, and Jilly was in the chair across from hers, sketching.
“Why can’t we be in here?”
Taige sighed. “If I’m in here, it’s going to interfere with what they are doing. And if you’re in here, it’s going to be a distraction—one they don’t need. Joss knows what he’s doing.”
“I don’t.” He stared at the table, where his daughter sat with her head bent over the sketchpad. “Taige, what in the hell is going on?”
“This is how she helps.” Taige held out a hand. “Do you trust me?”
Eyes the color of the ocean stared into hers. Then he looked back at their daughter.
“Baby . . . I love her. She’s my heart, and you know it. Would I ever do anything to hurt her?” Taige asked. If he didn’t know the answer to that, she thought it just might shatter something inside her. But then, the ache that had been starting to settle eased as he placed his hand in hers. God. Thank God.
As he followed her out into the hallway, Jillian looked up from her sketchbook, a sad look in her eyes.
“What’s going on?” Cullen asked once the door shut.
Taige sighed. She’d known he wasn’t just operating on blind faith. She didn’t blame him. She was a parent. She hadn’t given birth to Jillian, but that didn’t matter. She was that girl’s mother. If she had been in Cullen’s shoes, not knowing a damn thing about Joss, or what would happen . . .
“Joss is what Jones has classified as a mirror,” she said, glancing over to see the head of the FBI’s psychic task force—one that technically didn’t exist—leaning against the wall, his iPhone in hand, looking like he wasn’t aware of anything going on but what he was staring at on the screen.
She knew better.
“A mirror.”
“Yeah.” She reached up to gather her hair into a tail, smoothing the riotous curls back until they were somewhat manageable. It had been a crazy, tiring day. If she’d known this shit was coming, she’d have had the mess put into braids or something a few days ago. “His gift is . . . well. Weird. He doesn’t have a set one; what he does is mirror ours. They call it synching. He syncs to another psychic—or in this case, two—and he can pick up on their gifts. When he’s done in there, he’ll have all of Dez’s abilities and all of Jilly’s as well.”
It boggled her mind even thinking about it. Jillian, alone, had too much in her head. Taige didn’t know how the girl handled it and stayed sane. How was he going to handle Dez’s ghosts on top of that?
“All?” Cullen said, his lids flickering. That was the only reaction he gave.
“All.”
“And how long does it last?”
“Until he hooks up with another psychic—does another sync. It . . .” She frowned, glanced at Jones.
“Reboots. It’s a reboot. Wipes the previous gift, or gifts, from his system and he’s imprinted with the next gift.” Jones looked up, his eyes unreadable.
“Wow. He sounds like a fucking useful workhorse,” Cullen said, curling his lip.
“Indeed.” Taylor inclined his head, his face impassive.
Asshole. He should have pummeled him a little harder. So what if he wasn’t fighting back?
“And what effect will this have on Jillian?”
Taige lifted a brow, a cool look entering her eyes. “Absolutely none.”
He stared at her.
She turned away. “I’ve worked with Crawford before. It was years ago when he was still newer at what he does, but he takes a gift in, and although it does a number on him, I didn’t feel a blessed thing. You should know better than to think I’d let her do anything that would hurt her. In any way.”
Cullen went to touch her shoulder, but she was already striding down the hall.
As she passed by Taylor, he touched her arm.
Cullen bit back a snarl as Taylor and Taige shared a long look before she pulled away and continued down the hall.
“Taige,” Cullen said.
“I’ll be back before they are done,” she said over her shoulder.