Their attention shifted back to Taz. She sat cross-legged on the single bed, and Matthias smiled. “I want you to feel and identify the probes. Use whatever images you need to do this.”
“Go easy on us, sweetheart,” Tim warned. “We won’t hurt you, but you could hurt us if you’re not careful.”
Taz nodded, her palms sweaty. Could she do this?
She felt the first one and gently pushed it away, afraid she might hurt whoever it was.
“Who was that?” Matthias asked her.
Damn. “Uh, I didn’t look.”
“You need to identify the source besides repelling the probe. Try again.”
“Who was it?”
“They’ll try again.” Obviously he knew. He might not be as powerful as she was, but he had a lot more experience and control.
She felt it again, tried a few images, and settled on a small trout net. She scooped up the probe in her mind and looked at it. “Robertson.” Tipped it out and released it. Then imagined a tennis racket and swatted it back to him.
When his eyes popped open, Taz smiled in smug satisfaction.
“Damn!” he swore. She laughed. She didn’t think it was possible to make him swear.
“Good,” Matthias said. “Again.”
She snared the next one. Rafael. His felt different. Stronger, but like he was holding back. Before she returned it she felt a gentle, teasing caress from him and tried to ignore the warmth spreading between her legs.
It felt too good, too familiar.
The next was Matthias. She seductively toyed with him for a moment, noticing his smile. He cleared his throat. “Good.”
Albert was next. The probes were coming faster, with less time for her to respond to each.
She felt rocked from the side and saw Robertson’s smug smirk. “You weren’t paying attention, dear,” he chastised.
She viciously lobbed it back. But before she could complain they were everywhere, all over. She started to slam down her defenses when Matthias interrupted her.
“No. You must learn to repel them, not just block them.”
She closed her eyes and concentrated. When they stopped a few minutes later, she was sweating, trembling, and curled up on the bed in a fetal position.
Matthias looked at the others, and they wordlessly exited while he took her into his arms.
“I can’t do this.”
“You can,” he gently said. “And you will.” He brushed the hair from her eyes and held her as he waited for her tremors to stop. “You are more powerful than all of us put together. You can do anything you put your mind to.”
“I can’t do this. Just leave me here and go to the meeting.”
“You have to come with me.”
“Why?”
“Because they are going to try to help us solve this. They have to see for themselves how strong you are.”
She sat up and looked into his eyes. He’d dropped his defenses and revealed the truth. “Because you want them scared of me?”
Matthias nodded. “I want them to pass the word that you aren’t someone to fuck with. And that won’t happen—”
“Unless I am.”
He nodded again. “If they see they can rattle you, take you…” His eyes traveled over her face. “There won’t be anything to stop others from trying.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
They went to lunch once Taz recovered. Matthias sat next to Taz, across from Rafael. She studied Rafael while he talked with Matthias. She didn’t want to probe him, not so he could feel it. She tried to listen for his thoughts when she realized he didn’t have a shield up to block her. It would be rude to get into his mind.
Wouldn’t it?
She listened to them and looked at her food. She let her mind drift across the table and imagined a soft, swirling cloud of mist around Rafael’s head. If he was as strong as Matthias said and she could remain undetected, she had a chance of getting through tomorrow’s meeting without losing her mind.
Or looking like an idiot.
They were talking about something, but she wasn’t really paying attention. Then their voices floated to her from down a long, grey hall. She kept her eyes on her food, her mind on Rafael’s thoughts. She realized the imagery was important, allowed her to focus, and she slowly increased the density of the cloud around Rafael, drew closer to him, caressed the outer reaches of his mind.
And then she was inside, as easy as that. She was amazed how easy it was. Did he know she was there? Had he purposely let her in?
She sensed his love and devotion for Matthias. His mind felt different. Matthias felt like a soft quilt left in the sun, warm and enveloping. Rafael was a walk along a downtown city street on a cool spring day. There was more though, a lot more. She felt liquid heat churn in her lower belly as she latched on to his thoughts about her, things he wanted to do to her…
Then Rafael stood before her in her mind, and she stepped toward him—
“Anastazia.” Matthias gently patted her thigh. She opened her eyes and caught his amused smile. “Having fun?”
Her face reddened. “Sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Not to the conversation.” His eyes twinkled. Across the table, Rafael smiled. Then she felt it—a soft, seductive mental caress. She shivered with pleasure.
It didn’t come from Matthias.
Oh crap. She met Rafael’s eyes for the briefest of moments before looking away, unable to deal with the unexpected rush of feelings and sensual heat the contact brought her.
Matthias brought her into the conversation, gave her background information on some of the people they were expecting, and went over the basics so she wouldn’t commit any etiquette faux pas. What Matthias and Rafael couldn’t remember, Albert and Tim filled in. After, Matthias walked between Taz and Rafael. She still felt the occasional mental caress from her lover’s cousin.
He was flirting with her. Hell, more than flirting, he was seducing her with his thoughts. Did Matthias know? Should she stop him? Should she say something to Matthias?
Did she want him to stop?
“Taz,” Matthias said, taking her hand. “Walk down the boardwalk, past where we were before. Tim sensed you from West Thumb, but I want to see if you can actively and functionally communicate at a distance with someone you don’t know well.”
She nodded, relieved to be away from them. The men sat at the edge of the boardwalk in front of Old Faithful, talking while she walked. Moe trailed behind with orders not to interfere, but if she collapsed to protect her and call for assistance.
She didn’t probe Matthias’ mind to see what they said when she left.
She didn’t want to.
She loved Matthias, had already come to terms with that despite their short amount of time together. There was still that niggling doubt in her brain, however. What if she was after him only because of what he could do to her? Or worse, he admitted how much stronger she was than him. What if he only wanted her because he couldn’t resist her?
And what of Rafael? Was he really flirting? Was it a planned test by Matthias to see how she’d handle it? Or was he just a victim of her vampire voodoo, too?
And why the hell did she feel like she knew Rafael when they’d just met? Why did she feel like she wanted to rip his clothes off and jump his bones?
Taz fought the urge to run. Not just down the boardwalk, but away. Take one of the Land Rovers and flee this whole crazy mess. Her regular life felt years and galaxies away. Had it just been six weeks since she took the job? And less than a week since her world shifted on its axis? And now—now she was a vampire and life was crazy.