Something crossed my mind. "Will you see Ash today?" I asked, looking at Desmond.
He squirmed uncomfortably from my seemingly random question. Amelia's voice chimed in from behind.
"He wants to, but he worries about being around her for too long. He's trying to fight his true feelings for her. For some reason he's scared about her being his soul mate. He was looking for a reason to see her, though."
Desmond glared at her, but Amelia merely smiled instead of shriveling in fear. "You know, I'm starting to understand why there's not too many of you around."
Amelia laughed as she walked back to the living room—fully clothed this time.
Tallis chuckled lightly. "It isn't fun having her around, is it? Imagine how we all feel."
Amelia yelled from the living room, "I heard that without super-hearing, thank you very much."
Tallis and Desmond chuckled. Amelia was fitting in perfectly with all of us, possibly better than me. I was glad, too. She was handling everything so well. She felt as if we really were her family—because she was.
I smiled slightly at Amelia's comment about Desmond's feelings for Ash, but then I continued, trying not to push him. "I found a perfect stone for her the other day. I was going to give it to her yesterday, but got a little... distracted. She collects them, and she doesn't have one like this as far as I know."
I handed it to him. It was an iridescent white with swirls of creamy beige in it. He studied it for a moment, then he looked up.
"She collects these?"
You didn't have to be an empath to read his emotions in that moment. He let his tough exterior melt away and gave me a glimpse of the real Desmond.
"Yeah, ever since she was a little girl. She has thousands. Will you take it to her?"
He smiled. "Yeah, I can swing by there on my way home."
Then he turned and walked away, staring at the small stone with a smile on his face.
"He's warming up to the idea of him and Ash," Tallis said while leaning against the doorframe.
My breath caught in my throat when my eyes met his. This freakish, forbidden connection was become painfully strong. He walked toward me and put his hand around my waist. He moved in so close, then he stopped and pulled away just as quickly, leaving me leaning for the abandoned touch.
He just walked out of the room without saying anything else. I heard the front door shut behind him as he joined Henry outside. I stood there, still unsure of what was going on. One second he was distant and cold, the next second he would be touching me and a fire would blaze between us. Then he was cold and running away again. My head started hurting again. I heard Amelia yelling at me from the living room.
"You have to quit driving yourself crazy. Your emotions are sending me on a roller coaster ride in here." Amelia's tone was playful, but when I walked in to see her holding her head in her hands, I realized she was sharing my headache.
I winced, feeling guilty. "Sorry, Amelia."
I shrugged apologetically.
"It's not like you can control it. You love him and he loves you, but he doesn't want to hurt you. He's trying to fight every temptation to touch you, but it's really hard when he can't leave you alone. His need to protect you from everyone else supersedes his need to protect you from himself. Between the two of you, I'm getting a migraine."
She rubbed her head as she stood up.
"Maybe we should learn more about empaths and see if we can figure out a way to block everyone's emotions from your mind. Maybe we can find a way for you to use it only when you want to, instead of all the time."
I knew it had to be hard, always feeling what everyone around you was feeling. Especially around Tallis and me.
"It wasn't this strong until I did the whole bonding thing with you. Now it's like my power, or whatever it is, has multiplied in strength. Henry showed me some focusing techniques, but it doesn't seem to be working for me too well. The only time I can control it is when I feel like we're threatened. I wish I could read the magical stuff, too. I would've been able to see through Taryn a long time ago. I just thought she was a fake; I didn't feel the hatred until after we bonded."
She looked almost sad from her inability to control her power.
"Don't worry about Taryn. You did more than anyone could have expected you to do. As for controlling your power, you aren't the only one with that problem. That's the same problem Tallis has with his other power. He's never been able to control when it happens. It has worked twice since I have known him though. A man shot at me in Brazil, and Tallis slowed time down to get in front of me. The bullet shattered like glass against his chest. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Then he used it again the day we took you away from Quinton. Tallis caught the bullet with his hand and the other one shattered against Henry's stomach."
She smiled lightly as both of our headaches eased.
"It all happened so fast that I didn't see anything. I would have felt that way too if I had seen that. Henry is more wonderful than anything I've known. I hadn't ever even kissed a guy until him. He's a slow mover, though. We haven't done anything but kiss.