Page 24 of Wicked Ambition

“Because you made me mad enough that I wasn’t thinking.” She scowled up at him. “I hate this come down off adrenaline. How much longer do these mood swings last?”

With a sigh, Oz used both hands to push his hair out of his face. Damn. This was the second time he’d discounted what she was dealing with because he didn’t see it as anything major. At least she tended toward anger. Crying was awkward. “It depends on the person. You had two incidents close together, so it could take a while. It would have helped if you’d napped longer.”

“Yes, well, if I could have, I would have.”

“Understood. I’m not trying to aggravate you, Pollita.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” Her voice had a definite grumble to it. “I haven’t been able to curb this irritation, and I don’t like it.”

“Come here,” he said softly, and Oz held his arms out. This way it was up to her. If she didn’t want a hug, she could stay where she was. If she needed some reassurance, he was offering.

The hesitation lasted long enough that Oz was about to give up, but then she moved, her arms going around his waist. He held her loosely, wanting Ayla to know that he wouldn’t restrain her, that she had complete freedom.

“Are you still going to help me look for Io?”

“Yes.”

“Even though everything I know came through our twin connection?”

“Yeah.” Oz didn’t want to think about that. “We have confirmation she’s missing from a more conventional source.”

A shudder went through Ayla and Oz lightly rubbed her back. “You’re identical twins. Is there an easy tell? Like your sister has a scar from falling off her bike or got a tattoo or something?”

“No. We look exactly the same. The only way most people can tell us apart is what we’re wearing. That includes our parents,our friends, and when we were younger, our teachers. The funny thing is our mother used to dress Io and I alike even though it meant she mixed us up. Everything matched, even our bike helmets. Io rebelled when we were six. After that, Mom let us choose our own clothing.”

Something in her voice made him hesitate, but he wasn’t sure what caught his attention. “You switched places,” he said instead. Oz wasn’t guessing.

“Not since we were kids, but yes. Sometimes we did.”

“How did that work? The two of you sound very different from each other in personality. I’d think it would be easy to detect signs.”

“We know each other inside and out. In everyday circumstances, we were always able to pull it off.”

“Really?” Oz was skeptical. “How does your sister tone down her recklessness? How doyouact less cautious?”

“Io isn’t reckless and she’s not full-tilt all the time, just like I’m not sitting in the corner, afraid of my own shadow because I don’t like airplanes. When we’re in the office at the Paladin League, we’re more alike than unalike in how we behave. Besides, I said we were kids the last time we switched. How hard do you think it is to pretend to be each other while a teacher is lecturing or we’re taking a test?”

“Your friends couldn’t figure it out?”

“Teenagers are self-absorbed. No one ever guessed. Io used to say switching was our superpower, and it would be criminal not to use it.”

Her sister sounded like a handful, but Oz kept that to himself. She was still dealing with the aftermath, and Ayla would probably slug him if she thought he was dissing her twin. It was interesting, however, that she didn’t refer to theirconnectionas the superpower. “Tell me about this psychic bond.”

Ayla stiffened and leaned back to look him in the eye, but she didn’t stop holding him. “Why?” Suspicion was in her voice and written all over her face.

“Because you’re going to expect me to take action based on it.”

“You won’t, though. You’ll triple-check everything through tangible means.”

The irritation was back, and Oz hid a smile. It would set her off if Ayla thought he was laughing at her. “Do you read each other’s thoughts? Is that how this thing works?”

“No, we can’t read each other’s minds. One of us consciously decides to send thoughts to the other. We don’t always connect. If someone is busy or asleep or stressed, the messages don’t go through. Distance also plays a big factor. It’s hard to hear anything if we’re not in proximity.”

“And you know this because?”

“We ran tests throughout our lives. They were simple when we were young, but by the time we were in high school, Io devised thorough protocols.” One side of Ayla’s mouth kicked up. “She liked science class. I liked English.”

“You complemented each other.”

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