Page 61 of Soul Sucker

“What’s wrong?”

He exhaled. “I can’t say the words.”

“Why not?”

“Something doesn’t want me to leave.”

Ella felt it then, the sense that something big, bad and dangerous was coming right for them.

“We need to leave right now, Morosov.”

“I know that!”

She grabbed his hand. “Mouth the words as I say them.” His fingers were cold and shaking, the pulse at his wrist jumping around like an animal in shock. “Morosov.”

He nodded and she closed her eyes and spoke as loudly as she could above the shrieking in her head. “SBLE Embarcadero, please.”

Nothing happened and Vadim gripped her hand even tighter. “Liz, hold his other hand, and let’s try this together.”

She felt the power of Liz’s energy join them and resolutely closed her eyes again. “SBLE Embarcadero.Please.”

She gulped as they were swallowed up into a spiral of screaming rage. All she could do was hold on to Vadim’s hand with all her might.

Suddenly, the screaming stopped. She touched the side of the portal, depositing all three of them on the ground beside the ballpark in a heap. Liz rolled away and Ella landed right on top of Vadim, their clasped hands sandwiched between them on his chest.

“My hero,” she cooed.

He glared up at her. “I didn’t do that intentionally. Get off me.”

She wiggled a little and had the satisfaction of feeling him go still. “Who wants to keep you in Otherworld?”

“No one you would know.”

She leaned as close as she could and kissed him, enjoyed the hitch of his breath and the unexpected jolt of his erection against her stomach. He stared up at her and with a muffled groan, kissed her back, his fingers in her hair, his tongue plundering her mouth.

“Ouch!” Ella looked up at Liz. “What was that kick for?”

Liz spoke through the side of her mouth. “You’re attracting a crowd.”

“Sorry. I couldn’t resist.” Ella rolled off Vadim and got to her feet, dusting off her knees and avoiding his eyes. Why had she kept kissing him when she’d only been trying to piss him off? He followed more slowly and half-turned away from her to brush the dirt from his previously immaculate shirt and pants.

She followed Liz back down the street, her legs still trembling and her heart rate all over the place. Vadim made no effort to keep up with them. When she glanced back his expression had returned to normal, but she could sense the heat coming off him and the turmoil within. What would he be like without his carefully constructed defenses, with all that immense control shattered? She swallowed hard. Damned scary.

At the office, Liz called the elevator and waited with Vadim while Ella took the stairs. By the time she came through the door, they were already sitting in the conference room drinking bottled water.

Feehan came in behind her and snapped on the main lights. “What did you get?”

“I’m not sure yet. The college will be sending us something, and I got these from the record office.” Liz took out the folded papers and laid them carefully on the table. “We have correspondence between OCOS and both Christa and Laney naming their mates. Sam can check the info against what we already have. The next one looks like a list of Ella’s graduating class.” Liz paused. “There weren’t many of you, were there?”

Ella craned to look as well. “Less than a dozen who made it, I think, and most of us were female.”

“Ten,” Liz said. “Two of them male, which leaves eight females.”

“Two of whom we know are already dead,” Feehan added helpfully. “Ella is here, so we only need to check on five. Can we do that using human resources or do we need to go back to Otherworld?”

Ella, Vadim and Liz all shuddered.

“Most empaths live in the human sphere.”

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