Maya Banks: Into the Mist

Off to the side, Jonah Pearson and Maddox St. Pierre watched in silence as D lined up his shot. Jonah took a swig of his beer while Mad Dog carelessly rolled a joint before lighting it up.

They were all indulging more than usual. For D, it was an attempt to leash the beast within him that struggled for control. The injections Tyana gave him were helping less and less, a source of panic and frustration for her. There simply had to be a way to help him. Her encounter with Eli had proved that.

The crack of the balls connecting broke the silence, and D stood up, motioning to Jonah to take his turn.

It wasn’t usually so quiet, but an uneasy silence had fallen between the members of Falcon, and no one seemed willing to go out of their way to correct the problem. Jonah and Mad Dog were watching her closely, but neither would bring up her trip to Singapore in front of D. It was a secret they’d all decided was best kept from him, and instead they’d simply told him she was on a mission for Falcon. Which was the truth.

Mad Dog handed D another drink, and Tyana’s chest ached as she watched him swallow it down, his eyes flashing in pain. The muscles in D’s lithe body strained and spasmed. How much more could he take before he lost all control?

Tyana’s eyes stung with unshed tears, and she turned her attention to Jonah as he bent over, his dark eyes narrowing in concentration. He ran one hand through spiked black hair before returning it to the pool stick. With careful precision, he lined up his angle then banked his shot. He grimaced and turned to Mad Dog.

Mad Dog shrugged and ambled over. He started to set his joint down in a nearby ashtray, but Tyana held her fingers out for it.

He blinked in surprise, his blue eyes crinkling in confusion. But he relinquished it to her before turning away to the pool table.

Tyana refused to look at the others who’d stopped to stare. She raised the joint to her lips and inhaled deeply. She kept the smoke in her lungs for a long moment before exhaling. Then she took another long drag, willing the drug to numb her shattered senses.

Her hand shook as she pulled the joint away from her lips. What had happened to her in Singapore? Forty-eight hours after seeking Eli Chance out and seducing him, she still carried with her the burning images of their bodies writhing and undulating.

He was a job, nothing more. It was just sex. Nothing to lose control over. But she had. And how.

He scared the living hell out of her, and there weren’t too many things she could say the same about. She’d long ago learned to deal with her monsters. They couldn’t hurt her anymore. But this man…

And she had to confront him again.

“What the fuck are you doing?” D asked as he jerked the joint from her hand.

Her head came up, and she stared into D’s angry brown eyes. She could see the strain etched into his face. His battle was strong tonight, and she felt guilty for adding to his struggle.

“You don’t do this shit,” he continued. “What’s got into you?”

He turned around and stalked over to Mad Dog, shoving the joint toward him. “I’ve never had jack to say to you about the shit you do, but keep it away from Ty.”

Mad Dog held his hands up in surrender, his beefy arms bulging with a multitude of muscles. “She’s never wanted it before, man.”

Only Jonah studied her in silence, as if he could see the inner war she waged. She stood there, afraid to meet his stare, afraid of what he’d see if she did.

But now all three turned their attention to her.

She fidgeted slightly and moved toward the table, ready to take her shot. She bit her lip and eyed her target. When she struck the cue ball, it went sailing. Right off the table and through the window on the other side.

The sound of breaking glass made her wince. Shit.

“Everyone out,” Jonah barked.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Mad Dog hustle D from the room. A move D wasn’t happy about. But he’d had too much to drink to put up much of a fight.

Tyana laid her pool stick down and eased toward the door.

“Not you,” Jonah said. “ You , I want to talk to.”

She closed her eyes and slowly turned around to face her older “brother”. No, he wasn’t her blood, but he might as well be. He certainly cared more about her than any blood relation she’d ever had.

She chanced a look up at him and found him boring holes through her with his stare. He crossed his arms over his chest. They stood, facing each other for several long minutes. She hated when he got all silent. He was a brooding bastard on his best day, but get him riled and he could be positively menacing.

Finally Jonah spoke. Just about the time Tyana was about to tuck tail and run for the hills.

“What the fuck happened, Ty?”

“Nothing,” she mumbled. “I’m fine.” They didn’t normally indulge in too much personal shit, and this was fast encroaching on her comfort zone.

“Bullshit.”

They both turned when they heard the door to the game room click open. Mad Dog ambled back in, his gaze assessing the tension between Jonah and Tyana.

“Where’s D?” Jonah demanded.

“I put him to bed. He’s had enough to drink that he ought to sleep well,” Mad Dog rumbled.

Tyana’s chest squeezed uncomfortably. “Is he having problems again?”

Mad Dog shrugged, his long hair rippling with the movement. In some ways, he reminded her of Eli. They both had a wild, untamed look about them. But where Mad Dog sported a row of earrings, Eli only had one. A single diamond stud in his left ear. Eli also didn’t have any tattoos, and she’d certainly seen enough of his body to know.

An uncomfortable heat centered in her abdomen.

The similarities ended there. Beneath Mad Dog’s tough-as-nails exterior lay a big ole teddy bear. He’d never hurt her. Eli…well, he was dangerous.

“No more than usual,” Mad Dog said. “I got him drunk enough that he wasn’t doing any weird shifting. He didn’t try to turn into a bird or anything.”

His attempt at a joke fell flat.

“What are you doing back here?” Jonah asked, his question pointed.

Jonah was used to giving the orders, and most of the time the rest of them obeyed.

“I wanted to know what the hell was going on with Ty,” Mad Dog said evenly.

“And I’m waiting for her to tell me,” Jonah said, turning his attention once more to Tyana.

“You guys worry too much,” she said crossly. If she injected the right amount of sour indignation they just might buy that nothing was wrong.

Or not.

“What’s going on with you, baby?” Mad Dog asked softly. “You’re not yourself.”

“Don’t call me baby.”

He crossed the distance between them and cupped her cheek in his hand. “It’s kind of hard not to call you baby when I remember the first time I ever saw you. All of twelve years old, all big eyes and more fear than I’ve seen since. Until now. Now suppose you tell me what the fuck has you so afraid again?”

“Mad Dog. Back off,” Jonah said.

Mad Dog slowly dropped his hand and moved back. Jonah walked forward until he and Mad Dog stood shoulder to shoulder in front of her.

“What happened in Singapore, Ty?” Jonah asked.

She looked down and then away. She squeezed her eyes shut, but all she saw was the way Eli looked at her, the way he commanded her body, the way he made her feel . Something she hadn’t done in more years than she could count.

“You’ve never come back from a mission like this,” Mad Dog growled. “You’ve been jumpy as hell and distant. What the fuck happened?”

“Spill it, Ty. Every damn word,” Jonah said through gritted teeth.

She turned her back, walking to the window that overlooked the ocean, the one she’d just shattered with the damn ball. She curled her arms protectively around herself in a mad effort to draw comfort. It was little wonder the guys were so freaked out by her. This cracked-shell person wasn’t her.