Chapter 9
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C yan groaned. This man was as stubborn as a mule. Steele was also sending off vibes that she barely understood. She had too many unanswered questions to be comfortable with him. Yet she was also dealing with that inner recognition and trying to reconcile that memory with the man before her.
Steele suggested, “So, what we don’t know is whether whoever attacked me did it to protect himself, to protect this area, or was trying hard to keep his own presence a secret.”
She agreed. “And yet all he had to do was stay out of the way to accomplish all three,” she pointed out. “He didn’t have to do anything, but he chose to knock you out.”
“Was that a warning? Like, Hey, you’re not supposed to be here, so get the hell out? In which case you would think he would have had something to say before he knocked me out,” Steele noted.
“Or he didn’t want anything to do with you at all, and it was easier for him to just—” She turned to him. “I guess what bothers me the most is that I didn’t sense anyone here before. Which, in theory, would mean I was blind to him as well.”
“And if you didn’t sense him…”
“Right,” she muttered, bothered by the idea.
“If I didn’t sense him, was he there? Did I miss him?
Or worse, did I miss more than just one person?
That’s another thought I really don’t want to contemplate.
I’m normally very good at sensing other energies, four-legged or two-legged.
I did not, in this case, notice anything. So was anyone here?”
Steele didn’t say anything at first, just nodded. “I didn’t recognize anyone else here either, although I thought…” He frowned. “I didn’t feel like I was alone.”
She turned to him and asked, “What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted, raising his hands. “I’m the one who went down, and I didn’t hear a thing.”
She nodded, sighing. “You get confident, don’t you? Don’t we all?” she muttered. “You think you know what you’re doing, that other people won’t take you by surprise. And then suddenly they do, and you question everything.”
“I was hoping not to do quite that much questioning.”
She burst out laughing at his dry humor and immediately clapped a hand over her mouth, staring at him.
He stared at her. “Obviously you feel we’re still in danger.”
She nodded slowly, looking at him closely. “I do, don’t you?”
He glanced around and opened his senses, sending out threads of energy that she felt like a probe, tiny probes testing the air around them. “I think that whoever or whatever was here is now gone.”
As they moved toward the spot he had fallen, she pointed it out. “I found you lying right here.” The grass was crushed as if still feeling the weight of him smashing it down.
He stared at it, then glanced around.
She continued. “I don’t know if you can see energy signatures, but I couldn’t see anything at the time.”
He nodded. “I often can, but I’m not seeing anything right now. Then again, it’s been a few hours, so that’s not surprising. My abilities don’t extend to forensic analysis of old energy.” Silent for a moment, he then added, “Thank you for coming back.”
She shrugged. “You’re welcome. Now, if we only knew what was going on,” she snapped, trying hard to suppress her frustration. “I don’t want to bring this to Terk’s door, but he’s also not answering. And now I’m starting to sound like some conspiracy nut, aren’t I?”
“Nope,” he stated. “You sound like somebody who cares.” She frowned at him, and he smiled, adding in a wry, knowing tone, “Which is also why you haven’t gone back through the gate because you can’t be sure that I am not still in danger or bringing danger with me.”
She smiled at him. He was obviously thinking clearly now, and she found him to be perceptive, intelligent, and powerful, even though she still felt the urge to jab at him.
Cyan replied, “I’m not crossing over or going through that gate only to find out that we opened a gate that somebody else couldn’t, and they’ve taken advantage of that. ”
“Agreed,” he said. “So, we’ll stay on this side for now.”
She shrugged, but her gaze was intent as she watched him. Feeling like he deserved more of an explanation, she added, “I just don’t want to make a mistake. I know children are on the other side.”
His facial muscles tightened, and he nodded.
“That kind of energy, it attracts the greedy,” she noted. “Even if people don’t understand why, they are attracted to that goodness, that innocence. And, for the wrong people, it’s something they crave and want to take in the only way they know how, and it’s just not right.”
“I agree on that. So,” he began, as he glanced around, “I can’t see any remnants of energy. I can’t see anything from whoever might have been here. It seems we are alone.… So, what next?” He turned to look at her intently.
She studied him and frowned. “I never thought you would ask me that question.”
“Seems you are running this show,” he noted, with a wry look on his face. “Either I’m constantly being tested by you or you feel you can’t trust me.”
“I don’t know you,” she stated.
“I understand,” he replied, “and that’s why I’m asking. Now what?”
Frowning, she glanced around and shrugged. “I’m not sure.” She looked around the clearing. “Actually there are a lot of choices. We could try going through, taking all kinds of precautions, or…” She turned to face him fully.
“Or?”
“Or we could make sure that nobody else can go through.”
That seemed to surprise him.
When she glanced back at him, she noted, “I see that you don’t like that suggestion.”