In conjunction with my own powers, Nikolai and Brooklyn were able to figure out that I could project the memories I gathered from the things that I touched—and saw—to their minds.
We hadn’t figured out how to project them to others besides them yet, but in time, I believed we would figure it out.
“That’s all I got,” she grumbled.
“And that doesn’t help me,” I agreed. “I’ve been spending the last few months trying to learn whatever I can about that man. I even took Wink to the cabin to see if she could get anything that I wasn’t able to myself.”
“I wasn’t able to see anything that he didn’t see,” she looked at Brooklyn guiltily. “And I didn’t even see his face. Only a hint of what he might look like.”
I patted her back.
“She understands,” I said softly.
Brooklyn nodded.
“Nothing that happened to me in there isn’t already common knowledge,” Brooklyn shared. “Go ahead and share if you feel you need to.”
I squeezed Wink’s hip, and she looked at me.
“That man…,” she swallowed. “I only got impressions of him. Feelings, the same as Ian. We’re only able to go with what you are saying about the man’s appearance. Do you mind if we touch you?”
“Kinky,” Nikolai drawled.
Brooklyn thumped Nikolai in the chest with her hand, then walked over and placed her hand out, waiting for us both to touch it.
I grabbed her wrist while Wink grabbed her hand.
“What you’re going to want to do is think about the memory,” I instructed. “Otherwise everything we get off you will be whatever happens to be up first. And it could take years.”
Brooklyn snorted, but closed her eyes and concentrated.
At first I only got tiny trickles.
Dragon riders and their mates were inherently good shielders. They could hide what they didn’t want to be common knowledge without actively doing so.
Which was why at first I was only getting trickles.
“Nikolai,” I opened my eyes. “If you don’t mind, will you touch her? I need her shields to come down to allow us to access what she’s trying to show us.”
“Now it’s really getting kinky,” Nikolai teased.
My brows lifted when he stood, but he didn’t touch her anywhere. He wrapped her up in his arms and buried his face into her neck.
The moment his skin was touching hers, all of Brooklyn’s walls came down, and her world swirled and merged into ours.***My head started to pound as my body became more aware of the pain I was in.
However, my attempt to use my veil had worked, and I disappeared from sight only moments later.
Rolling to my feet, I gritted my teeth against the pain in my arm and moved to the door, freezing when a man stopped in front of it, blocking my exit.
The man was tall with dark black hair, a scar that ran the length of his jaw, and a wiry whipcord look to him. Almost as if he was a runner—a runner who didn’t eat enough before he worked his ass off.
“She’s around here somewhere,” the man said. “You need to get up off your ass and find her.”
That was directed towards my brother. Stupid asshole.
I was happy to see him still writhing in pain on the ground, almost gleeful in fact.
“Seriously?” the man asked. “What do I pay you for?”
Josiah grimaced in pain and lifted his knees up under his torso before pushing up to his haunches.
“Kill her,” he said gravely. “Fucking kill her. She’s ruined my life; she doesn’t deserve to live.”
How in the hell had I ruined his life?
I took a step backward and stepped wrong, bumping the small table at my side.
My hand automatically went out to stop the lamp from falling, but it was the one that had been broken upon my arrival, meaning I screamed.
Letting the lamp drop to the ground, I limped, slightly hunched over, to the side of the room, directly behind where my brother had managed to get to his feet, albeit pitifully.
My brother looked around the room frantically, almost as if he was waiting for me to bean him over the head any second.
And, technically, I would have…if I had something to use.
I wasn’t sure I could lift anything at this moment in time.
Instead, I sank down to my butt, letting my back slide against the wall until my backside met the cool tiled floor.
“Listen, Robert,” Josiah said, a slight wheeze in his voice. “She’s not going to leave. Not with knowing who all is here. Let’s just get the good stuff started. She’ll show herself when she sees what we’re doing. She’s a nurse. Don’t they take oaths or something?”
I gritted my teeth and let my head fall down to my knees, my broken arm dangling uselessly at my side.
“Fine,” ugly Robert said. “I’ve got my stuff right here. I’ll take the geis off of him; you can see how to do it for next time.”