Christine Feehan - Deadly Game

A tremor ran through her. His mind was already filling hers with so much information, and along with his memories came power. Their energy fused into one steady stream, one powerful flow, a current so strong she feared she might pass out before Ken could take complete control of it.

Sean tugged at the blanket. Mari resisted, but it slipped enough to reveal the swell of her breasts. He jerked harder on the blanket, his elbow pushing her back until she was half-lying across the bed.

I don't want to wait. You've known me for years, Mari. You belong to me, you always have. I'm just taking what's mine . His mouth clamped hard on her breast, one hand circling her throat, fingers digging in to remind her not to struggle.

"Sean, you're hurting me." She slammed both hands against his chest, trying to push him off of her.

She expected Ken to lose it. She was aware of the rage in him, a living entity, black and vicious and brutal. Use telepathy, make him answer you .

Sean, please, that hurts.

Don't fight me then.

She felt Ken's instinctive reaction, the emotions pouring in, swirling together to make the rage even more powerful. But he grew as cold as ice-colder even, utterly still and focused, pushing away the rage as if it had never been, until his mind was the calm eye of a whirling hurricane.

She heard the soft cadence of his voice, mesmerizing, commanding, low and gentle but so insistent there was no denying it. The words slid by her, impossible for her to grasp, riding on the current of energy slipping from her mind into Sean's.

Sean sat up, his face shocked. He shook his head several times as if to clear it. The voice never stopped, never rose, never changed tones. It was relentless in its assault-pushing and pushing at Sean's mind, demanding obedience. Sean's face paled significantly, his eyes glazed over. She recognized the heaviness in his mind. She experienced it to a much lesser degree. Ken had gripped Sean's mind hard and refused to let go.

Sean stood up, shuffling backward, staring at her with a wild, helpless fear. She was afraid to move, afraid she would break the spell Ken was weaving with his voice. She didn't know how it worked, but the energy it took was exhausting. Sean resisted, fighting the continual murmur of that relentless command. Each step he took away from her dragged on the floor as if he resisted lifting his foot.

Mari held her breath as Sean swiped his keycard through the lock to release the door. To her shock he tossed the card on the floor before he shuffled out. The door slammed shut behind him. but he kept moving, heading away from her. She could hear his footsteps fading.

Still, the enormous flood of energy continued. Exhausted, Mari lay back, pulling up the blanket, her entire body trembling uncontrollably. She heard the ticking of the clock and her own heartbeat. The energy crackled around her, crackled in her mind, surging with such power it frightened her to think what Ken and she could do together if they were bent on destruction.

The voice continued, and she tried to catch the commands, determined to find out what Ken was demanding of Sean. She couldn't interrupt, afraid that Sean would come back, that he would know she hadn't been alone in driving him off. She saw the keycard on the floor but couldn't find the strength to even crawl to it. Everything she was went into that river of energy.

She lay with her eyes closed, feeling the swelling surge, and realized she wasn't alone anymore with Ken. Jack had joined them, throwing his psychic energy into holding Sean in their command. Sean's mind was no longer his own. but had been wholly taken over by the Norton twins. She tried to pull her own energy back, afraid of being so exposed to Ken's brother, but the melding was too strong. She was drawn farther and farther away from her mind, walking through a maze of corridors, searching with a deadly, dark purpose.

Long after the sensation of energy flowing through their merged minds faded, Mari lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Tears leaked out of her eyes, but she couldn't make the effort to wipe them away. She heard someone outside her door removing Brett's body, but no one spoke to her. It was just as well. She didn't think she had the ability to answer.

Once, she felt a flutter in her mind and recognized Cami's touch, but she didn't have the strength to answer, even though she knew she must be causing the other women distress. They would have felt her fears. And they certainly would have felt the swell of psychic energy-anyone psychic would have felt that. There was no way to contain that kind of power.

Her mind felt drained, her body as heavy as lead. She couldn't imagine what Ken felt like, but it had to be worse. Her head pounded with one of the worst, most disorienting headaches she'd ever experienced, and using telepathy and other psychic talents often caused them. Her heart beat too hard and fast and she was dizzy and sick.

She visualized Ken lying on the floor somewhere in the large complex, surrounded by enemies, vulnerable to attack, and sweat beaded on her body. She could barely breathe with needing to know he was alive, well and safe. She couldn't touch his mind, and she was certain that if he could have touched hers to reassure her. he would have. She could only lie there, terrified for him. imagining the worst with no way to help him.

No one could expend that amount of energy and not have tremendous physical repercussions. He had given everything he was to save her. She heard herself sob. Her chest heaved. It shocked her that she would be lying on her cot sobbing . Not tiny tears, but weeping out loud for everyone to hear. She never did that. Never . She was a soldier, trained in survival. You never, never , gave the enemy ammunition against you, and you certainly never gave them the satisfaction of messing with your emotions.

All of her training seemed to be gone in that instant, leaving her with no control. She needed to know he was safe. How in the world could their connection have grown so strong that it was no longer just about sex ? She thought she could have moments in her life that would make the rest of it all bearable, but being with Ken Norton had changed everything. She was changed. He had shown her life could be different, that there could be hope for her. she could have dreams.

For a good two hours she lay in the dark, wondering if he was alive. For the first time in her life, she prayed. Whitney had taught them to believe only in science and that people who believed in a higher power were people who needed a crutch. There was no such thing as God. or a savior, or even a way of life that was about anything other than discipline and duty. She'd been indoctrinated since she was a baby into the belief that those who had mercy and compassion were soft-sheep, people waiting for someone with the intelligence and power to guide them.

For most of her life, she'd thought herself a failure because she didn't strictly adhere to Whitney's teachings. She loved her sisters, and most of what she did was out of a desire to protect them and stay with them-not her tremendous sense of duty. She'd never believed in anything but her sisters, but now. just in case, she prayed. And then, as if someone really had listened to her plea-there was no sound, nothing to warn her-she nearly jumped out of her skin when the door slid open and a man slipped through.

"Ken?" She croaked his name, still unable to lift her pounding head from the pillow. It was him, his shoulders wide, his arms like steel sliding around her, gathering her close. She turned her tear-wet face against his chest. He collapsed on the bed, and she realized he was trembling with weakness. "How did you manage to get here? I can't even move."