Page 51 of Sin

Lucas smiled at me in the reflection before lifting his head.

“Who are you?” he asked both out loud and in my head. I gritted my teeth as what could only be described as probing fingers grazed over my freshly repaired mental walls. My stomach threatened to upend itself when a phantom laugh reverberated against my skull.

I’d been so distracted by Lucas checking out my mental walls that I somehow missed him move. One second, he was on the floor, and the next, he was right in front of me, his eyes squinting at me in the darkness.

Scars peeked out from his hairline, visible even with night vision. Several more scars marked his arms and neck.

“You’re the one who’s been following me,” he stated, like he knew this as a fact.

Now that he was out of my head, I remembered the mission. So instead of giving him confirmation, I let my power flow unrestricted through me. Holding Lucas’s gaze, I held out the cuffs and said, “Stand down. Put these on, and come with me.”

My power always did best with short and simple commands, and based off of the way Lucas’s eyes dilated under my influence, it was working.

I shook the cuffs for emphasis, and just as his fingers touched the cold metal, he seemed to snap out of his trance. His dark gaze locked on to me, manic anger twisting his lips.

“Leave me alone!” he shouted, his voice echoing both in the hallway as well as in the recesses of my mind. I felt the command batter against my mental shields with the force of a battering ram, even managing to knock down a few bricks. I grunted in pain, but held my ground, keeping my shields locked tight.

“Stop,” I hissed, struggling to get the word out. My power tingled on my tongue with the order, and I felt it reaching out toward Lucas, poking, searching for weakness.

I watched with relief as Lucas stilled. He looked at me then. Really looked at me. And I didn’t like it one bit.

I felt invisible fingers poking at my shields, as if sensing how durable they were. I couldn’t use my power while he was in my head because I had to focus on keeping him from invading my mind.

I had to repress a shiver when those phantom fingers brushed against the cracks he’d made earlier.

When I attempted to repair the damage, it was like I could feel him smiling.

“Let me in,” his voice commanded in a whisper, but it was so. Fucking. Loud. Each word slammed against the bricks, sending cracks rippling right through them.

Panic bled into me when his laughter echoed in my head, the sound just another attack against my crumbling mental shields.

“Open,” he said.

And then that wall I’d worked so hard to strengthen, came crashing down.

Chapter Ten

Because I just wanted to make him happy

His invasion felt like someone scraping needles along the insides of my skull, not unbearable, but terribly unpleasant.

Everything around me disappeared until it was just me standing in a white hallway filled with door after door after door. I looked back and forth, trying to force the illusion out of my mind, but only managing to make my head hurt with the effort.

He was too far in, and I didn’t know how to kick him out.

The door nearest to me opened, and Lucas strolled out, his expression one of contemplation. In here, he didn’t look nearly as mentally unwell as he did in reality. It was like there were two different versions of him, and only when he used his power could he be truly whole.

Before the door he’d exited shut, I caught a glimpse of me holding London while he used his power to track Lucas. Of me surrounded by the team as we figured out how to capture Lucas. Of me finding Lucas hunched over in the hallway…

They were the memories of today. Not only had Lucas managed to break into my mind, but he’d also managed to arrange my memories in a way which would be accessible to him with his gifts. It was impressive, even if it terrified me to my core.

Lucas sauntered over to me, eyeing me in a way which unsettled me. I almost preferred the nonsensical version of Lucas than this sober and calculating one.

“Sinclair Gonzalez,” he said, his voice like one for a luxurious cologne commercial. It was decadent, smooth, and charming. But I wasn’t naive. This man had murdered multiple people in the past few months.

As if able to hear my thoughts, he cocked his head. His hazel eyes were far too keen for my comfort. “Why are you chasing me? Do we know each other?”

As if in answer to his question, a door down the hallway whipped open. He glanced at it and beckoned me with his hand to follow.

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