Chapter 27

She sniffed, the sound muffled by his chest. "I'm not going to have sex with you now, so just forget it."

He pulled back enough so that he could tip her chin up and make her look at him. "You have more to offer the world than just sex. You're a Gerai. You're important."

She snorted. "That's what my uncle says, but he's a fool. I hardly have any power at all other than being able to tell when the Synestryn are near, and a lot of us can do that. Slade and Vance both found their gifts, but I don't have one."

"That's not true. You just haven't found it yet. Give it time."

A haunted look took hold of her features and he could see her bottom lip tremble slightly before she controlled it. "I don't have any more time. My uncle says I have to move out by the end of the summer."

"You should go to college. The Sentinels will pay for your tuition."

"I was never good enough in school to go to college."

"Do you have a job?"

She shook her head. "There aren't enough jobs in the area to go around. My friend moved to Kansas City and got a job dancing. She said I could come work with her."

Dancing? "You mean stripping?" The thought of her degrading herself further like that made him sick.

"It's not as bad as you make it sound. The tips are good and no one gets to touch the dancers."

Like hell she was going to take her clothes off for money.

Thomas took her by the hand and dragged her back to Logan's van. It took him a few minutes of searching, but he finally found a little notebook shoved under one of the seats. He scribbled a note on it and signed his name, then pulled out his sword.

Carmen took a long step back, but he couldn't blame her. The lethal gleam of his blade was a blatant menace, just the way he liked it. He sliced a small cut on the tip of his finger and pressed the bloody spot over his signature. Any Sanguinar would be able to authenticate the mark as his.

He folded the paper and handed it to her. "I want you to promise me two things."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because if you do, I'm going to make sure that you have a safe place to live for the rest of your life and something meaningful to do with it. Do you understand?"

Carmen nodded, but looked skeptical. Not that he could blame her. Her life wasn't exactly a bounty of good fortune and kindness.

"One, don't read the note until after you give it to a man named Joseph Rayd."

Her eyes widened. "But he's the leader of the Sentinels. I'd never be able to meet him."

Her statement just proved to Thomas how little value she placed on herself. "He'll see you. Just tell him about the note."

"Okay. I can do that. I've always wondered what he looked like, anyway. What else?"

The first one was easy but the last one wasn't going to be. He took a deep breath, expecting her to throw a fit. "Promise me you won't have sex again until you fall in love."

She let out a harsh bark of laughter."You had me going for a minute there. Sorry, but that ain't gonna happen."

Thomas couldn't let this go. He was compelled to find a way to protect her—to give her a chance to heal. "It's your choice. Make it happen. Swear you will."

"That's a stupid thing to ask of me. I won't do it."

"Then you're already lost and nothing anyone can do will help. You value yourself so little that you're willing to throw away one of the most precious gifts you have to give."

"I'm good, but not that good."

He captured her chin and held it in his hand so she had to look at him—had to see that he spoke the truth. "Yes. You. Are. You're too young to know your own worth and too hurt to even see that you can't. Promise me, Carmen."

She was silent for so long Thomas thought he'd lost her. But then he saw a sheen of tears glitter in her eyes and he knew that he'd gotten through, maybe just a little, but it was going to have to be enough. He wasn't sure whether what he was doing would help, but he had to try.

"I promise," she said.

Thomas felt the power of her vow surround them like a tingling blanket and she gasped, having felt it, too.

She looked around as if she expected to see something jump out at her. "What was that?"

"You're bound to your word. It's one of the powers we Sentinels possess. When you make us a promise, it sticks."

"I did that when I became a Gerai, but it wasn't so . . . intense."

"It's a big promise."

"So no sex until I fall in love, huh?" She sounded almost relieved.

"That's right."

She swallowed nervously, looking uncertain and achingly young. "Do you think that you and I could ever, you know, fall in love?" Such a small voice for such a big question. It made his heart break to hear so much yearning in her words.

Thomas didn't let any of the crushing grief he felt come through in his voice or expression. He didn't give away even the barest hint that he was slowly becoming a monster or that he was already planning his death to keep that eventuality from happening. Instead, he smoothed his knuckles over her cheek and told her the rest of the truth. "Falling in love with you—having you love me back—would make me the luckiest man on earth. And whoever you choose to give your heart to will feel the same way."

Lexi pulled off the highway at Wichita after two in the morning. She needed gas and caffeine and a tattoo parlor. In that order.

It took her five minutes to get the first two, but the last one was going to be more of a challenge. She'd spent too many hours zigzagging across the state, hoping to throw off anyone who might be following her. Because of that, she was still a long way from the Oklahoma border where a slew of tattoo parlors had grown up out of necessity.

Oklahoma had been the last state in the nation to legalize tattooing, and because of that, for years, drunk teens had to drive just over the border into Kansas, Texas, or Arkansas to get inked. The laws of supply and demand dictated that there would be someone there waiting to take their money, and she knew many of those someones by their kick-ass reputations alone. She knew only three artists on the border who were good enough to cover up the mark Zach had left on her arm. The one he could use to track her.

But Lexi wasn't going to make it that far. She didn't want to wait another hour to cover the damn thing up, and even if she did, she wasn't sure the parlors would be open once she got there. She was going to have to find a local artist and hope that he was good enough to mask Zach's tracer. The frowny face she'd drawn over his fingerprint with a Sharpie wasn't going to do more than slow him down, if that.

Lexi turned on her cell phone and checked for calls from Helen. She'd left three messages since ditching town and had even called the police to report her possible abduction. Lexi wished she could do more, but even if she did figure out where the Sentinels had taken Helen and Miss Mabel, she wouldn't be able to do anything about it. She was no match for that kind of power. Her mother's journal was detailed when it came to the things the Sentinels could do to her.

She was dialing the artist who had masked the birthmark on her back to see whether he knew any talented locals when her cell phone rang. Unknown caller. For half a second, Lexi debated letting it roll over to voice mail, but what if it was Helen? What if she was calling for help?

Lexi took a deep breath and pressed the TALK button. "Hello?"

A deep, rich voice filled the line. "Hello, honey."

Zach. Oh God. She was so screwed.

Lexi's hand started to shake around the phone and she had to swallow twice before she could speak. There was no way he should have been able to track down her prepaid phone number. "How did you get this number?"

"I stole it from Helen's cell phone. But that's not really what you want to know, is it?" His voice was deep and lazy and it made a shiver course over her skin. "What you really want to know is, where am I?"

He was taunting her. She could hear the teasing smile in his voice. She could see it in her head—that same smile he'd worn when she stabbed him. The one that said no matter what she did to him, he would never stop chasing her.

She tried to sound bored, nonchalant. "I don't care where you are."

"Yes, you do. You want to know if I've found you yet."

"If you had, you wouldn't be talking to me over the phone."

"True enough. I'm glad I don't have to explain how things are to you."

"Don't try to follow me," she told him.