there were a spotlight shining down on them. Her body yearned and her heart ached and still her mind argued. She had to understand what was happening and how to control her powers. She had spent years taking care of herself and she needed to be in on what was happening in her life.
“In this merging, your powers grow, too?”
He inclined his head.
“What kind of growth? I mean, do you get super hearing or X-ray vision or something?”
One side of his mouth tilted into a smile. “No. My abilities will be strengthened. I’ll be able to flash-travel for longer distances without resting. I’ll be stronger physically, more able to protect you. And our minds will connect, allowing us to communicate without words.”
“You’ll be able to read my mind?”
He shrugged. “Not so much read as hear you when you reach for me. And you will be able to do the same.”
“Would this happen for you with just any witch?”
“No.” He swore it to her. “Only you, Shea. Only you are for me.”
She felt the truth of that, as if the knowledge had been stamped on her heart and soul at the beginning of time. She’d only needed to hear it to recognize it. He was hers. As he had always been. And still, Shea needed to be an equal in whatever came next. In whatever the two of them faced.
“Torin, I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time.”
“I know,” he said, watching her. “But I have been close, Shea. Always.”
She took a breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, but my point is, I’m not the kind of woman who just turns her own safety over to someone else. If we’re going to be together, then you have to treat me like a partner—not a damsel in distress.”
He gave her a quick, unexpected grin that left her nearly breathless at his sheer physical beauty. “I have never considered you weak, Shea. Or less than an equal. We are a unit and will act as one.”
That was good, she thought. She didn’t want to be in the dark about anything anymore.
“Where are you taking me, Torin?”
“Away.”
“How far?”
“Tonight—to a safe house.”
“Not what I meant,” she said. “I have to be a part of this, Torin. You just said we were a unit. So tell me what you’re planning.” Shea wasn’t about to let herself be kidnapped again, either, not even by her supposed destined lover.
“It depends on you,” he told her, his hair flying about his face in the sharp wind. “Only you know where we have to be. I’m keeping nothing from you, Shea. The answers you seek are buried in your memories. Once you open yourself to them and your powers, you’ll know where we need to go.”
True again. And again, she felt a soul-deep recognition of something that would have seemed like fantasy only weeks ago. The Awakening was about her. Her memories. Her powers. She was going to need all the strength she could find. Just as, she thought, looking up into Torin’s eyes, she was going to need him beside her.
The flutter of energy pulsing through her made Shea smile in spite of everything and gave her a sense of completion. All her life, she’d felt as though there had been something missing. Some piece of her lost. Now at last she was finding it.
“Okay, I think the power thing has started.” God, a few days ago that statement would have terrified her. She had been ready to run not only from the authorities but from what she had sensed in herself. Now she welcomed that surge of something . . . extra.
She was a witch. Like her aunt before her. Like the thousands of women worldwide who were coming into unexpected skills and talents. Like the women already living with power and the fears that accompanied it. She was a member of a proud sisterhood that had survived throughout the centuries despite witch trials and persecution. It was past time for her to take pride in who she was and learn to use the gifts given her.
In fact, Shea’s newfound sense of self believed the more strength and power the better. “How do I get my powers to open up completely?”
“Sex. With me. Now.”
Chapter 21
The tracker worked perfectly.
A tiny silver chip in the witch’s gorgeous hide and they could find her anywhere she went. The GPS gave her location and no matter what she did to block it, that signal would continue, leading him right