Page 60 of Guild Boss

“Hold me,” he whispered. “Show me how much you want me.”

She could hardly breathe. Her body clenched around his fingers. Tight. Tighter.

“Don’t let go,” he said.

The waves of her release struck out of nowhere, rippling through her. She was lost in the climax when he shifted position and drove deep into her. The sensual invasion triggered another series of tremors.

She was still flying when he surged into her one last time, his back arching, mouth open on a hoarse roar.

His climax ignited her senses again. For an endless moment an unfamiliar energy charged the atmosphere of the bedroom. She could have sworn that her aura had somehow melded with his. The sensation was indescribably intimate, thrilling, and harrowing. Like walking into a wildly dangerous storm.

Dread sparked through her. She wondered if she was hallucinating or having an out-of-body experience. Perhaps the drugs the kidnappers had used on her had affected her permanently.

What was happening to her?

The unnerving sensation vanished in a few heartbeats. She fell back into the reality of damp sheets and the weight of Gabriel’s sweat-streaked body. She listened to his heavy breathing and knew that in some inexplicable way there was now a bond between the two of them. She did not know whether to be terrified or euphoric. Maybe both.

Gabriel stirred, rolled onto his back, and folded one arm behind his head. He rested one hand on her bare thigh.

“I think there was lightning,” he said.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Pretty sure there was lightning.”

Chapter Twenty

“Good news, Trenchard,” Tuck said. “The client is pleased with the results of the demonstration. I was on the Strip in the Amber Zone last night. I saw the blackout for myself. Got to admit it was pretty damn impressive.”

He tossed the early editions of theCurtainand theIllusion Town Timesonto the workbench.

Preston Trenchard adjusted his glasses and studied the front pages of both papers. A rush of exhilaration slammed through him. TheCurtain’s headline wasChaos Reigns on Amber Zone Strip. Alien Energy Released from the Underworld?Predictably, theTimeshad gone with a more sedate headline—City Officials Investigating Power Failure in Amber Zone.

“What did you expect?” he snorted. He raised his head, scowling. “I told you the prototype worked. But as I warned you, I had to use the entire supply of the liquid crystal. The suppressor won’t work again untilyou bring me more. To do that you’re going to have to grab a first-rate weather channeler.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll grab Lucy Bell again,” Tuck said.

“I suggest you don’t screw up this time.”

Tuck smiled. “We won’t. By the way, the client wishes to thank you for your service.”

“Just see to it that I get a proper laboratory.”

“That won’t be necessary. All that was needed was proof of concept. The client will take it from here.”

“What are you talking about? This is my life’s work. The client needs me to complete it, and I need a real lab.”

“The client disagrees.”

Tuck reached beneath his leather jacket and took out a mag-rez pistol. He fired two quick shots before Trenchard could grasp what was happening.

Trenchard was dead before he hit the floor.

Tuck holstered the pistol and went to work cleaning up the scene. Bodies were easy to get rid of if you had access to a hole-in-the-wall. Fortunately, cracks in the green quartz maze of the Underworld were fairly common. There was one in the basement of the warehouse. He had made sure of it before he set up the lab. He had known from the start that it would be necessary.

He wasn’t concerned with the tools and workbenches—the local scavengers would make them vanish—but he needed to secure the empty canister and Trenchard’s notebooks. He collected everything that might constitute a clue to the work that had been done in the warehouse, carried it outside, and stowed it in the back of his vehicle.

When he was satisfied, he slung Trenchard’s body over his shoulder and carried it down the old concrete steps into the basement. Green energy seeped around the cracks in the downstairs door.

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