Page 130 of Coerced

Knowing what was coming, my throat tightened and my eyes filled, but I’d vowed long ago that the devil would never again hear me beg or see me cry. I had to be strong so I didn’t make a sound when the claws dug in—

I don’t know how much time passed before the darkness faded. When it did, I found myself sitting with my back in a corner and my arms curled around my drawn-up legs. Someone was talking, and I heard my name.

“I won’t hurt you, Mira. You’re in a safe place.”

I blinked and tried to remember where I was. Cutting my eyes over my shoulder, I saw a giant of a man on his knees about five feet away with his hands lying palm-up on his thighs. A powerful emotion, one I couldn’t name, contorted his features before he noticed I was looking at him. Then his face went blank faster than a hiccup. Otherwise, he stayed frozen in place.

“Mira, it’s okay. You’re safe. I won’t hurt you, and I’ll kill anyone who tries to.”

His name is Rome, my brain insisted, but I didn’t take my eyes off him.You know him. He saved you.

It hadn’t been a dream, then. I really was free, and the devil banished. So why was my skin glazed in a fine spray of sweat and my heart thudding like a running horse’s hooves?

“I swear you’re safe, Mira.” One of his hands flexed, as if he wanted to reach out to me, but he stilled it. “Take some deep breaths. I’m sorry I did that.”

Eventually, I was calm enough to be embarrassed and dropped my eyes.

“Don’t.” His voice was harsh. “What can I do to help? What do you need?”

“I’m good.”Crap. That came out too shaky to be realistic.I cleared my throat and tried again. “I’m good.”

“I didn’t think— I should have known— You present yourself so well that I—”

“Stop.” My lips curled up at the corners. He was the kind of guy who’d torture himself over it. “Distract me.”

Distract usbothfrom what just happened.

“Again, I apologize for manhandling you, but you were going to touch Gemma’s backpack and that would have been bad.”

“Bad how?”

“It’sGemma’sbackpack.”

“And I can’t move it because?”

“Even without using power, a warrior’s senses are sharp, most especially scent. It’s an innate ability.” He stopped holding his shoulders so rigid, which I took as a good sign. “I can smell her all over that bag. If you touched it, I’d smell you on it, too. And since yours is the fresher scent, the most recent, it would drown out some of hers.”

“Oh. And that would be bad, you said?”

“Like he told you himself, Kerry’s messed up to begin with.” His eyes glittered. “Gigi said his warden told them to think of him as a tiger - and that wasbeforeGemma was taken. Now, he can’t stop thinking about what might be happening to her and it terrifies him. I think that bag is what’s holding him together. If you profaned it, I’m not sure what he’d do, but I know it wouldn’t be nice.”

“A tiger. Yeah. That fits.” I raised my chin defiantly. “Thanks for saving me from that, and for watching out for me earlier, although Icantake care of myself.”

“I know you can, but that kid is stronger than anyone I’ve ever met. I could slow him down, but I’d never be able to stop him. Not unless I found a way to suppress his power.”

And he’d fight dirty and you wouldn’t.

“Every time I open my toolbox, I smell Uncle Putty’s garage and remember his kindness to a runaway brat with a smart mouth.” I glanced at the blue bag. “Scents are such powerful memory triggers, it’s no wonder Kerry takes comfort from having it nearby.”

“He sleeps with it. Wrapped around it like a kid with a teddy bear.”

“But isn’t he rubbing his own smell all over it that way?”

“Warriors don’t leave a scent. Another of our innate abilities. Of course, over time, hers will fade naturally.”

“Then let’s pray we find her before it does,” I said with feeling.

“Amen to that. You okay now?”

---