Page 26 of Brandt's Rule

“Hopefully. We’ll see, though,” Tempest said, not wanting to be too pushy.

“So, show me this power you have,” Valerie said.

Tempest pursed her lips but nodded. “Okay, but please don’t think any differently of me. I’m still me. And I can control it. I won’t ever let it hurt the people I care about. I use it to protect them, just like my mother does.”

“Okay,” Valerie said.

“Stand back, and don’t touch me,” Tempest said, standing and letting go of Valerie’s hands while she stepped back.

Tempest sighed, then glanced toward Maverik who was grinning at her and nodding encouragingly. She let her walls drop just enough for her power to rush out and fill the room, pushing both Maverik and Valerie back several steps, just as if they were standing in sixty mile an hour gusts of wind.

“Holy hell!” Valerie exclaimed as Tempest put her walls back up and looked sheepishly at her. “What the hell was that? I’ve never felt anything like that!”

“It’s just me. Part of what makes me who I am,” Tempest said.

“And that’s not a full display of what you can do?” Valerie asked.

Tempest shook her head. “No. That’s just a little.”

“Where were you when I was growing up and needed help with the bullies?” Valerie asked, laughing. Then she looked at Maverik. “Ohh! You better be glad I didn’t know her when you were giving me so much trouble. You might not be here!”

“Hey, now! She’s my friend, not yours!” he said jokingly.

Valerie laughed and stepped over to Tempest hugging her tightly. “Girl, you have got to teach me how to do that. Now sit down and tell me all about yourself.”

Tempest smiled, realizing that this may really be the place she could just be herself. A place where people wouldn’t fear her, or be intimidated by a power that had always been an innate part of her.

~~~

Sitting in the large farmhouse Maverik and Tempest had driven past when they first arrived at Maverik’s home, Delilah was sitting at the table helping Tessa with her homework. She felt a shiver rush up her spine and stood quickly from the chair she’d been sitting in. “Kaid?” she called out.

“Yeah?” he answered from where he sat in front of his computer looking over the books for the month.

“You feel that?” Delilah asked.

A few moments later he walked into the kitchen. “Feel what, Lilah?”

“I’m not sure, but it made a shiver run up my spine.”

“I’m sure it’s just your imagination, Monster.”

“No, it’s not. Something’s off. I’m not sure what, but something’s off.”

“It’s probably nothing. Like when you get a bad feeling or something, and it passes with nothing happening.”

“Kaid, look at me. Look at my eyes.”

Kaid looked into her eyes and saw the ice blue of her Dragon looking back at him. The expression in the beast’s eyes showing that she was fully on alert. Something had obviously put Delilah’s dragon on edge. “I see. We’ll figure it out. Ain’t nothing gonna happen here that we can’t handle. You know that.”

Delilah nodded.

“Everything’s going to be fine,” he promised, walking over and pulling her in for a hug, his thumb smoothing across the pressure point at her throat again and again as he soothed the magnificent ice dragon that lived inside her.

Chapter 7

Remi pulled open the door of Vince’s Place and stepped inside. He paused at the door for several moments to look around.

“Raaammiiiii!” Jonah called out exaggeratedly in an almost comically deep voice as he walked out of the kitchen and headed toward a table with a heavily laden tray balanced on his shoulder.

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