“Really, Robert. Are you going to let her talk to you like that?” Mrs. Rogers studied a manicured nail.
Kelly gazed at Rogers without fear. Shay felt a surge of admiration. Same Kelly. Always standing her ground.
Rogers raised his hands, power humming in the room. “I will tolerate no disrespect. Especially not from an Arcane. You will give me answers.”
The senator sent the energy ball sailing toward Kelly. As it struck her, she cried out and flew backward, hitting the wall.
Shay lost it. All his male protective instincts surged. Senator or not, Rogers could not treat a woman that way. You try talking without a tongue, you bastard...
As Shay lunged forward, ready to leap over the desk, Curt reached out an arm and yanked him back. Waves of calming magick pulsed from the Mage. “Steady, Shay. Take it easy,” his CO murmured. “Not here. Not now.”
Releasing Shay, Curt scowled at the senator. “I told you, interrogation by the rules. One more violation and I’ll toss you out on your ass myself.”
Shay struggled to keep a civil tone. “Since when did we allow torture? We’re better than that.”
“They’re both right. Do that again, Robert, and you’re leaving the base,” Admiral Byrne said quietly.
Rogers laughed. “You can’t do that. I’m a U.S. senator who sits on the Armed Services Committee. I’ll cut the funding to your precious team of navy SEALs.”
Byrne’s mouth twisted. “Don’t get into a pissing contest with me, son. You’ll lose. I’m fifteen hundred years old and can reduce you to ashes before you can say ‘defense budget.’”
Ignoring them both, Shay crouched down by Kelly, who rubbed her side where the energy bolt had hit. A small, charred hole showed in the yellow print fabric.
Their eyes met. A jolt went through him at the intense blueness he saw in her eyes. Shay reached out a hand, clasped hers. An internal shudder raced through him. So warm and soft.
Up close, she smelled great, her delicate floral scent cutting through the ozone stench of energy Rogers had tossed at her.
Shay cleared his throat. “You okay?”
As he helped her stand, she gave a rueful smile.
“I’m fine. That jolt works better than a shot of espresso. Maybe I can hire him to roust me out of bed in the morning.”
Still the same Kelly, putting up a brave front. Shay studied her face. A bruise shadowed one perfect cheekbone. He touched it and she winced. His temper began to rise.
Those blue eyes, once clear and sparkling as a summer sky, clouded with worry as she caught his expression.
“I’m fine. I mean it. Thanks, Sam,” she said softly.
She brushed off her jeans, nodded at the gray folding chair. “By the way, need that? Is it special? Other than for serving as the hot seat for suspects?”
“It’s just a chair,” Shay told her, puzzled.
“Okay. Let me show you something, Senator.”
Digging into her jeans pocket, Kelly retrieved a silver necklace and draped it around her neck. She closed her eyes and extended her slim arms skyward. “Earth, earth, earth, water, water, water, fire, fire, fire, air, air, air.”
Shay’s blood ran cold. The ancient chanting spell used by Arcanes to gather power from the elements. But they needed a secondary source to properly channel the power, such as an enchanted staff, a wand or an amulet, and all those had been banned....
The three swirls on the pendant around Kelly’s neck glowed. White light suffused her body, the energy pulsing steadily. Then she opened her eyes and flung out her hands toward the chair.
KA-POW!
The chair was a mangled, crumpled mess of metal. The little secretary taking notes gasped and stared at Kelly, who calmly regarded Rogers.
“I can take care of myself. I chose not to attack you in return. You’re not dealing with a weak Arcane you can bully like you’ve bullied others.”
Rogers sputtered as his wife gasped.
“Where the hell did you get that power?” Rogers demanded. “Did you kill other Elemental children?”
“If I had, would I allow you to hold me prisoner? My powers come from another source, a source for good.”
Awareness shone in the senator’s eyes. “A triskele. No Arcane has one.” He approached Kelly and seized the pendant. It sizzled, and he jumped back with a yelp.
“I put a spell on it so the humans couldn’t find it when they searched me. Oh, and enchanted it so any Mage trying to steal it will get burned.” Kelly gave a serene smile. “Oops. Forgot to mention that little fact.”
Blood drained from Shay’s face. The triskele... Damn. She still had the pendant he’d given her. Now she’d learned to use it as a weapon.
If the council found out Shay had illegally helped an Arcane... My ass is toast, he thought grimly.
“Do you know who I am? I’m a U.S. senator and an Elder on the Council of Mages.” A vein throbbed in Rogers’s temple.
“I know who you are. You’re Billy’s father,” Kelly said quietly.
Silence draped the room.
“He’s a very brave little boy. He needs you.”
Rogers swept his gaze around the room. Looking for support, maybe? None came from the grim-faced SEALs, the four-star Admiral Byrne or the silent Curt.
His wife sighed. “Are we done yet, Robert? I have a hair appointment and we have the Society of the Arts gala tonight. This visit wasn’t on your schedule, and it’s taking far too long.”
Shay focused on Kelly and saw that her elegant, long fingers were rubbing against her torn and ragged jeans. She did that to hide hands shaking in fear.
She’d done it the first night they’d made love, until desire surfaced and then...
Damn, someone had to stand up for Kelly, and no one around here seemed willing. He faced the senator. “You have no right to hold her. Under Mage law, she’s legally free within twenty-four hours, unless you can prove she’s a direct threat to another Mage. And there is no hard evidence she hurt anyone, including your son.”
He leveled a look at the older Mage. “Until then, she walks.”
A muscle ticked in the senator’s jaw. “You’re a soldier, Chief Petty Officer Shaymore. Not a policy maker. Stay out of this.”
“I’m a Phantom Elemental Mage whose family has held a seat on the council for the past five hundred years. And still holds one.” Shay got in the man’s face. “I’m not staying out.”
Tension bristled in the air as Rogers clenched his jaw. Finally he gave a gruff nod. “We’ll call it even, Chief, because you saved my son’s life. But interfere again and I’ll be forced to use my powers against you.”
Try it, he thought grimly. The senator had no idea of the full extent of Shay’s magick. I’ll send you flying into next week. Put that on your schedule, you bastard.
Kelly flashed him a grateful smile. Even with her long hair tangled, clothing messed and dirt on her face, she was lovely.
The senator turned to Admiral Byrne. “Tag her with the new GPS security chip, the one you use for your SEALs. She’s too dangerous to release to an unsuspecting public.”
“Take her to the infirmary,” Byrne told Sully.
“No.” Rogers gave a nasty smile. “I want to see it for myself. Do it here.”
Shay’s anger rose again. But he kept silent as his teammate left and returned with the injection gun. Sully cleared his throat.
“Um, I’m sorry, but I insert this in your hip.”
Color flushed her face, but she unzipped her jeans and pulled them down her right hip. Shay couldn’t help looking at the curve of her hip, the mint-green panties she wore with tiny pink roses embroidered on the waistband. She stared straight ahead, not wincing as Sully injected the miniature device.