Page 118 of Soul Sucker

“They haven’t done a very good job with their empaths so far, have they?”

Magical power gathered around Spencer’s head and Ella instinctively raised her shields. Since bonding with Vadim they had improved tremendously.

“You can hardly blame the whole of the SBLE for your own team’s incompetence.”

“We’ve had this conversation before, Mr. Spencer. I don’t think my team is incompetent. Ithinkthe upper echelons of the SBLE should be addressing the way it deals with empaths, not criticizing those of us who work in the field.” She took a deep breath. “I sense something is wrong here. Iknowit.”

Spencer smiled and sat back in his seat. “Ms. Walsh, you are under a lot of strain, we all realize that. I’m sure even Mr. Morosov would agree that an empath under stress—even through no fault of their own—can ruin an investigation.” His patronizing tone was grating. “Perhaps you might consider stepping back and reassessing your input into this matter.”

“Are you taking me off the case?”

He smiled again and she wanted to leap across the table and scratch out his eyes. “How about you concentrate on our plan to trap the Siren and forget about all these wild goose chases of yours? We wouldn’t want you to overtax yourself, especially with your twenty-seventh birthday coming up.”

Beside her Vadim shifted minutely in his seat as if preparing to come to her defense. Should she blow the idea that her physic abilities were compromised right out of the water, or was it better to keep quiet? Perhaps it was easier to pretend to agree and do things her preferred way—behind the authorities’ back.

She gave Spencer her best team-building smile. “Fine, whatever. I’ll think about it.”

As Feehan concluded the meeting, she placed the photo on top of the letter Sam had passed her and slid them into her backpack. No one looked at her when she was the first to rise and head out. Were they worried that she was losing it too, or would they stand by her? Between Morosov’s crazy Natasha and Spencer’s insinuations, it was no wonder no one trusted an empath. In the quiet of her office she checked the list of names against the photo, matching them to the young faces. Two of the males and two of the females had failed to complete the course. She remembered two of them quite clearly now, one man and one woman who had bailed at the end of year two because they’d fallen in love. They should be relatively easy to trace. She looked up his last name and found them, both still alive and living in New Zealand keeping sheep.

She couldn’t help but smile as she fired up an image of the couple in matching knitted sweaters on top of a craggy snow-covered peak. Perhaps marrying another empath kept you sane after all. The college definitely didn’t encourage it. Ella had always wondered if they said that because they wanted empaths to marry outsiders and spread the load. It didn’t matter now. They looked happy.

Two names left. Anna Wheeler and Geoffrey White. Ella studied their faces on the photograph. They both looked quite normal but she had a sense that she’d seen one or the other of them more recently…

Someone knocked on her door and she hid the photo and list in her desk. Liz poked her head around the door.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Liz came to perch on the side of Ella’s desk. “That man is an idiot.”

“Drew Spencer?”

“Who else? I just wanted you to know that the rest of us have complete confidence in you, okay?”

“Thanks.”

Liz shook her finger at Ella. “Why didn’t you tell him the truth?”

“About what?”

“Isawyou with Vadim at the party, Ella. If you’re not mated to the guy, I’m resigning my right to operate a Fae-Web.”

“Shit.” Ella stared at Liz. “Who else knows?”

“Only Doug, Big Jim and the entire wolf pack. Vadim did everything but bare his teeth at them before you both left.”

“What about Alexei?”

Liz bit her lip. “I’ve been trying to keep it from him and my Fae-Web but it’s becoming increasingly difficult. I don’t think Alexei is contributing much to this investigation at all. He seems more intent on tripping Vadim up than anything else.”

“Morosov said that Alexei had been sent to spy on him and bring him down.”

“He’s right.”

They regarded each other glumly for a moment. “If you accept I’m not going nuts because I’m mated, can you also accept this sense I have that the empaths who didn’t graduate are important?”

“Sure.”

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