Page 35 of Griffin Undone
“Now?”
“Now.”
Kat shrugged and ducked her head for a long moment, long enough that I began to mentally list ways to make her comply. I stared at the gold highlights in her hair until she raised her head, revealing closed eyes and an expression of intense calm. Then she began to sing.
I knew, in that first instant, that I was right. Her voice was quiet, the kind that made you want to lean in to catch every nuance, every hitch and change of tone. It wrapped around me like a warm blanket, a soft summer breeze, like the feeling of peace I got when I was riding the air currents on a dark spring night. My animal stirred, shocking me with the purr that rumbled up into my chest before I could catch it.
This woman affected me far too much for comfort.
Safety and security and rest were all wrapped up in words that didn’t even register in my mind, the emotion was so intense. And then it wasn’t just emotion. Phantom arms wrapped around my torso, a mother’s embrace, a lover’s comfort, enveloping me with actual physical warmth. Heated breath caressed my throat. A gentle hand trailed along the back of my neck. When phantom lips slid softly across mine, I jerked away from the sensation. “Stop!”
Kat startled, breaking off midword. Her dazed eyes opened; she blinked carefully. “What’s wrong?”
Struggling to control my breathing, I stared at her. “What were you thinking about while you were singing?”
She took a sip of her water. I resisted the urge to push my juice toward her. “I don’t know. Why?”
But she did know; I could read that much in her expression. “Tell me, Kat. It’s important.”
She stared at me for a minute, gaze shuttered, intense. “I was thinking about having a mother, what that would feel like, how she would hold me. I never knew…” She shifted her gaze to the far side of the room, as if not looking at me would hide her raw emotions. “And then I imagined a…a lover, someone who would hold me now, someone I could share all this with.”
The fine hairs on the back of my neck stood up as she spoke. She’d described exactly what I’d felt. Her emotions had been transmitted to me as physical sensations through her voice, her words.
And then the full impact hit me: Kat could cause a physical sensation with nothing more than her intent and a few words. I thought back to the strike I’d received while cleaning her that first time, the cut along Grim’s cheek. The attacks in the alley. All accompanied by a word or sound from Kat.
A touch without touching.
A weapon without weapons.
All she needed was the desire to inflict damage and the word to activate it. Just how big of an impact could she make: knife cuts, punches…what about a bomb? How much power could this one female wield? Enough to take out a single shifter, certainly; enough for a whole group of them? A whole town? An entire region?
I’d planned to use her for bait; I might have even considered using her in a one-on-one fight. But I hadn’t considered what other options might be available. Beneath the weakness of her body, Kat held that stubborn streak that just might give her what she needed to be a truly formidable weapon. Would she use her talent against the enemy?
Maybe not, unless…she was using it for her lover.
I shoved my empty plate aside and leaned across the island. “Do it again. Think of something else, then sing.”
Kat’s eyes widened. “Why, Arik? Tell me what’s going on.”
“Just do it, Kat!” Catching myself, I forced a calm I didn’t feel. “I think I’m on to something. Please.”
The last word cost me. I didn’t want to ask; I wanted her to obey. Immediately.
Kat closed her eyes, obviously struggling to focus, but after several long minutes she began to sing once more. When her eyes opened, they were unseeing, distant, riveted on something out of my reach. I listened to the lyrics describing someone alone, in despair, isolated from the world around them, and felt a heavy block of ice settle in the middle of my chest. The weight and cold grew, becoming more and more crushing, until breathing was impossible and I thought my chest might cave in at the pressure, my blood turning to ice in my veins.
I held up a hand. “Stop!”
Kat broke off, blinked her dazed eyes. The pressure eased immediately.
I did a little blinking of my own, rubbed my chest. “Damn, Kitty Kat, that’s some talent.”
Her eyes flashed fire. “Don’t call me that.”
“Whoa, no throwing daggers,” I joked. Then wondered just how wary I should be.
Kat closed her eyes, shaking her head as if trying to shake off the same effects I was struggling with. When she opened them again, the haze and the anger had dissipated. She leaned against the counter and crossed her arms over her stomach, plumping her round breasts up in mouthwatering display. “What is going on, Arik? Tell me.”
I thought for a moment, trying to figure out how—and what—to explain. “You know that old saying, ‘Words have power’? Well, it seems yours actually do.”
