Page 53 of Sin

I hadn’t used my power often on this sort of scale. Not to this magnitude. It would be draining, and I wasn’t sure it was worth the risk. But one glance at my father’s eager face had my reservations failing.

Because I just wanted to make him happy.

“Okay,” I said finally. “But we do exactly what I say.”

The memory switched to my father, holding a bloody heart in his hand, vengeance in his eyes.

Then it morphed to prison, the day when I’d managed to break free of my cuffs after Mike and his cronies cornered me in my room. I’d wanted to hurt them. Maybe even kill them. And if it hadn’t been for the dampening cuffs, I probably would have.

All because I couldn’t be trusted with my own power.

Lucas’s voice sounded distant now, like words echoing through a mountain pass. “But it’s not just failure, is it? You’re also scared you’ll lose control. That you’ll be what everyone fears you to be,” he said thoughtfully. “So you held back. You let yourself weaken. That will cost you.”

“Sin?”

The disembodied voice was worried, and I trembled as I struggled to place where it was coming from.

“Sin, can you hear me?” the voice came again.

London. That was London.

It was enough of a distraction to help me tune in to my core, searching for the connection to my power, and I let it flood me, hot and fast.

“Get out of my head!” I screamed, my vocal cords straining from both the use of power and volume of my voice.

It was like I sensed Lucas’s surprise as he was forced out of my mind, bringing us back to reality.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I found Lucas only a couple inches in front of me, having moved while he’d invaded my mind. He appeared disoriented, swaying lightly on his feet with a dazed expression on his face.

Breathing raggedly, I opened my mouth to use my power again, but it was like he sensed what I was about to do and it only brought him out of his trance. His gaze snapped to me just as my comm crackled again in my ear.

“Sin, if you don’t answer me right the fuck now, I swear—”

I didn’t have a chance to erect my mental walls from Lucas’s earlier attack, and he stormed past the shattered shields. I couldn’t do anything about it as he sank into my mind so quickly it was like a whip cracking. I cried out just before I felt him take control of my movements. I was a frozen prisoner in the back of my mind, screaming at him to let me out.

“I’m here,” I, Lucas, said, and I fought harder against him.

“Fucking hell, Sin!” London growled. “Why weren’t you answering your damn comms? Did you find Lucas?”

I smiled into a mirror as I responded, the real Lucas smiling just as wide beside me in the reflection. “He’s not here.”

“What do you mean he’s not there?”

“I don’t know what to tell you, London. Maybe he left out the back door? I think we need to check the grounds again.”

A pause then, “The others are spreading out. He couldn’t have gone far. Meet me at the front.”

No! I screamed internally, pounding, pounding, pounding against Lucas’s hold.

Lucas staggered slightly from beside me, like I’d affected him, and I was able to twitch my body’s fingers.

“I might need some help. This place is a maze,” I was forced to say.

No! I shouted again, raging even more against Lucas’s hold on me. I felt it slacken, but not for long. Still, my hands trembled at my sides as I tried to gain control of them. I forced my tongue to shift, but it took so much effort.

London sighed through the comms. “Fine. I’ll be right there.”

Dread clutched at my heart because London couldn’t come in here. None of them could. They didn’t have the mental shields like I did. Maybe Mare could stand a chance against him, but I’d been able to push her out after years of neglecting my shields.

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