Before he knew what he was going to do, he said, “I need your help, but I know I’m asking a lot of you. You have to trust me, when you have no real reason to. So I’m giving you permission to read my mind and find out exactly what I’m thinking and planning. And you’ll see that I sincerely do want to help my people—and yours.”
She gasped again. Okay, so he’d shocked her. But he could see he’d also impressed her.
“Don’t make an offer you don’t want me to take you up on, Mr. Mahone. Because, frankly, the only way you’ll get help from me is if I do read your mind, and if I like what I find there.”
“Do it,” he said, his voice loud. Challenging.
And before he could even blink, she did.
He felt her probing his thoughts. Gently but thoroughly.
The unusual sensation should have horrified him, but it didn’t.
Somehow it brought him great pleasure instead.
CHAPTER
THIRTY
Two days after Ty had decreed Ana was staying put, it became glaringly apparent he was going to be outvoted. He pointed a finger at her, ignoring the rest of the Belladonna team seated in their preferred spots around the library. The room was uncomfortably warm and not only because the late afternoon sun streamed in through mullioned windows. The air was thick with tension.
“I told you,” Ty said in a low voice, “you’re not coming with me.”
“Not your decision.” Carly’s voice shot from the intercom before Ana could speak. “She has to accompany you tomorrow, Ty. You know perfectly well the only reason you got an invite to Salvation’s Crossing is because of Ana. Miguel is in love with her. That fact should tell you she isn’t in that much danger.”
“It’s still danger,” Ty gritted out. “I can do this by myself.”
“We all take risks, Ty. Ana didn’t sign up for a desk job. And you don’t get to grab all the glory,” Peter said. “Unless that was your plan all along.”
Ty whirled on him. “Keep the hell out of this!”
Peter’s eyebrows rose into his hairline. “Like that’s going to happen. We’re a team, man. That means I get to call bullshit when I see it.”
Ty strode toward Peter and got in his face. “I’m in this fucking mess because of you. At least let me handle it the way I need to.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Peter snapped.
“You and Carly knew about vampires. You supported the FBI’s Turning Program, and what’s worse, FBI collaboration with Rogues, vampire criminals—and you kept the rest of us in the dark.”
The other man was silent but visibly nervous.
“You continued to be my friend, continued to date my sister, knowing what kind of shit you were mixed up with. And when the inevitable happened, and the Rogues turned on you, we got caught in the crossfire. You caused that. You and Carly. You fucked up my life just like you’re about to fuck up their lives.”
He swept out his arm in a wave that encompassed Ana, Collette, Barrett, and Justine, then stopped to catch his breath.
The ex-cop shook her head and began to rise from her armchair. “Ty, listen—”
He held up his hand and gestured her to back down. “I know I don’t speak for all of you.”
“Damn right,” Ana muttered.
Ty shot her a glare. “Keeping you out of trouble may be too much work.”
She caught Barrett’s steady gaze. The blond woman shook her head ever so slightly as if to say don’t argue.
Ty looked around the room at his silent colleagues. “Well. Awfully quiet in here.”
No one said anything.
“I’d like to thank you all for coming in,” he said acidly. “And thanks for listening. Please sign the guest book on your way out and exit to the left. Jesus. Why should I kill myself for any of you?”
“Don’t make idle threats.” Carly’s voice held a note of irritation.
“At this point, it’s not a threat. It’s my plan B. Save the world and drop dead.”
The rawness in his tone got everyone’s attention.
“All right. Enough,” Peter said. “You blame us—well, Carly and me—and not without some justification. But turning this assignment into a suicide mission for reasons you seem disinclined to explain—”
Ty’s dark eyes flashed with fury. He didn’t look at Ana.
“You may be burned out. Or suffering from PTSD.”
Barrett spoke up before the intercom could crackle. “That’s enough, Peter. You’re not his psychiatrist.”
He turned to Ty without responding to her. “If you’ve been seeking a way to kill yourself, then get help.”
“Good advice,” Ty said. “But fuck it. And fuck you. Why is it that you don’t seem to be suffering?”
Peter finally cracked. “I never meant for it to happen, Ty. If I could, I’d give my life to bring Naomi back.”
Seeing the other man’s agony, Ty’s bluster left him as if it had never been. Control was an illusion. None of them had it. Some things they simply didn’t have the power to fight. He couldn’t stop Ana from doing exactly what she’d been trained to do. Trying to was making him crazy. She wouldn’t meet his eyes.
All he could think was that she wasn’t his.
And she never would be.
He had other things to think about at the moment. Ty reached out a hand and placed it on Peter’s shoulder. “I know that. Sorry. Guess I lost it.”
Peter muttered assent.
Ty turned, surprised by Ana’s lifted gaze. Her brown eyes seemed brighter than usual.
“You win,” he said with finality. “If you want to go in, I’ll do my best to protect you. Just be sure, Ana. Be very sure.”
With that, he walked out of the room.
After Ty left, none of them spoke. Finally, Carly asked, “Do you need time to think about your decision?”
Ana stared at the intercom for a minute, then let her gaze wander around the room. She still didn’t really know the people who were supposed to be her team, though they were connected in a way that couldn’t be denied. Their training, individual and group, had made that happen.
Everyone who’d heard Ty had to have identified with his rage. That shit came from helplessness. Where he was concerned, she knew it was more than that. She knew it had to be.
“I’m going into Salvation’s Crossing with Ty,” Ana said firmly. “But first, I want you to tell us the full truth, Carly.”
Carly let out an exasperated sigh. “You know about vampires and the FBI’s Turning Program, Ana. What do you think I’m keeping from you?”
“Why us? Why did you bring in the four of us to help? Because I know there’s something that ties us together. My sister was turned into a vampire after she got involved with Devil’s Crew, the same gang that tried to kill her at my jumping-out ceremony. It all goes back to then. Seven years ago and that shootout. Doesn’t it?”
They all stared at the intercom, even Peter, which told Ana that even he was curious about what Carly was going to say.
“I’ll do more than go into Salvation’s Crossing,” Ana said. “I’ll get you the information you need, no matter what I find out. Even if you’re right, even if Miguel and Gloria are involved in what you’re saying, I’ll do my part. But first I have to know the truth.”
A minute ticked by.
Then finally, Carly spoke.
“You weren’t the only one affected by that gang shootout, Ana. You all were.”