Chapter 10

Somewhere in Mississippi

Emily was shocked and yet excited when Klark kissed her out of the blue. It felt so right but…

She tried to shove him away but his arms tightened around her. She would have felt out of control but he held her with such tenderness. She pushed again. This time he tightened his arms and nearly crushed her. His mouth trailed lower until it rest on the soft spot of her neck.

She jolted when his teeth sank into her flesh. At first she thought he was a vampire but she didn't feel sharp teeth. Where the pain was suddenly there was desire. She had been told Klark wouldn't force the bond on her. That was a load of crap. He had done just that but she couldn't find the nerve to be mad at him.

Her skin felt as if it were on fire. It had to be because of Klark's power over fire. She felt as if she were taking on his power. It was as if she could suddenly produce fire. She knew she couldn't, that it wasn't in her genes, but she felt as if she could.

"Klark," she whispered.

He pulled back and wiped his mouth. His eyes were totally silver. "I'm so sorry."

She grabbed his head and pulled it to her. "It's okay. Don't worry about it. It's okay. I'm not hurt. Well, my shoulder burns a little but that's about it."

"That'll pass."

Emily pulled away from him completely. "Why?"

Klark shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. "It's instinct."

She stared at him. It didn't seem like it was instinct but it had to be. She had felt whatever he was feeling and heard what he was thinking. Right at that moment, she could feel his mind brushing against hers. She forced her mind into his. He gasped slightly and started to move towards her but held himself back.

"Now you know," he whispered to her mentally.

"Does the bond grow stronger?" she asked.

He nodded. "Every time we talk like this, the bond deepens. I've seen some very deep bonds."

"Your sister?" He nodded again. "Can you harm me?"

Klark stared at her, his mouth partially open. "Why would you ask that?"

Emily realized he had asked the question out loud. She wrapped her arms around her waist and backed into the counter. "Never mind."

"No, no, no. I've told you all my stuff. It's only fair." She didn't respond. "I can always search for it. You don't have any shields to protect your mind from me, as you have already witnessed. Please don't make me do it again."

He was being honest. It was written all over his face. He really didn't want to hurt her but he could. His tenderness was startling. Only Clausen had been this tender to her.

She was about to answer when he got really still. She watched his eyes start to sparkle more than they were then suddenly glow. After a few moments he zoned back in and moved towards the computer. She followed him into his office and watched as he logged in.

"You need to watch this," he said. He typed a few things out on the keyboard then turned the screen for her to see it.

Emily read whatever was on the screen. Someone named Elizabeth Parsons was on the Golden Court and talking to Eric Blakemore about harming Klark's family. As she read further she understood why. Elizabeth was Matt Parsons' older sister and she wanted to kill the one who killed Matt. Right now it looked like it was Klark who had killed him but why would Klark kill his best friend?

She waited patiently as Klark shifted the screen once again. When he turned it back to her, there was a video ready to be watched. He hit play and sat back with his arms crossed so she could watch. He didn't say a word as she listened to her brother's confession. He didn't move when she fell back against the wall as a sob wrenched itself from her chest. He barely even flinched when she kicked his chair.

"I told this wouldn't be easy," he said as he closed the lid to his laptop.

Her anger roiled. "Easy? My brother wouldn't have done that! He wouldn't have killed innocent people!"

"You heard it yourself. He confessed to the murders and the speaker knows about it. You can't alter that."

"Then the video is a fake. My brother would never do that."

Klark swiveled around and looked at her harshly. Emily shrank back from that gaze. "Obviously you don't know a thing about your brother besides the fact that he's a hunter. You don't know if his ledger is spotless or if it's dripping red. You haven't been around him enough to know any of that. Don't bother trying to lie about it. I can hear it in your mind. You don't know what kind of jobs he takes so you can't make an alibi for him."

He watched her face for a moment, trying to judge what she was going to say without looking into her mind too much. When she didn't say anything, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Emily, we know about Aaliyah. We know she was your brother's fiancé and that she was killed a day before their wedding. We also know who the killer was and we speculate that he's the reason your brother hates us so much."

"Aaliyah meant the world to him," she said after a few silent minutes. Neither one of them had moved in those minutes so it was a shock to hear her voice penetrating the little cocoon. "They were high school sweethearts. He waited until she finished her masters before he proposed. Naturally she said yes. It took a year to plan the wedding. My grandmother was so happy to be getting another granddaughter I thought she was going to die from happiness. So when Aaliyah was shot it tore my family apart."

Klark nodded. "Your brother receded into himself and began planning the demise of the murderer and anyone associated with him."

Emily pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly. "It was two years ago but he hasn't forgotten. I don't think anyone could."

He tapped his knuckles on the desk. He really didn't want to ask this question but it needed to be done. He needed to know if he could trust her. She belonged with him and he made sure of that but it didn't mean he trusted her. She'd kept too many things secret from him.

"Em?" he said quietly. She lifted her head and met his still silver gaze. He felt a tremor run through her and it broke him. "Did you know about us before taking the task of hunting me?"

She shook her head. "No, I honestly didn't know anything about you. I was just given the job to hunt down the man who had killed three people by blowing up the house they were in. I knew something was fishy because I went to the scene before I came here. No one could produce fire from their feet, or at least that was what I thought until I watched you do it."

Her words rang true but he couldn't be certain. He wasn't a Truth Hearer like his sister and he refused to look into her mind while she was distraught. Doing so would only cloud his judgment.

"How does your brother know Blakemore?" he asked.

"That I don't know. He knows many people that I don't. He could have met him any number of ways."

"We know who the gunman was. We're working on bringing him to justice now."

Emily was suddenly in his face. Klark had to lean back she was so close to him. "Clausen will have a fit if he finds out you're the one who killed the man that killed Aaliyah. He will go nuts and you can't stop him without killing him."

Klark turned and jotted everything down on a pad he kept on top of his desk. She was emphatic about the way her brother would react. If she was correct about that, they really had to be careful when dealing with Clausen and Eric. There was no doubt the speaker of the house would be the one they had to deal with in a public setting.

"Do you have anything by which your brother can track you?" he asked.

"My phone but that's about it," she replied.

"Turn it off." He caught her look of shock. "It's the only way for me to remain safe. If he comes into my house, I will kill him and then you'll hate me for the rest of our lives together."

That caught her off guard. "Our lives together?"

He gave her a droll stare. "Do you really think I'm going to let you go now that I've bound you me? You've lost your ever-loving mind. In this I'm not giving you a choice."

Emily huffed up like she was going to argue but then through better of it. There would be time for arguing later. Right now they had to figure out a way to stop Eric and Clausen.

She sat on the edge of the desk and thought about it. What could stop Clausen right now? He was evidently off his rocker if he thinks he could stop these people. If he hurt any one of them, they would retaliate with full force.

There was a knock at the office door. They both looked up as Tyler walked in. He waved for a moment then leaned against the doorjamb. Klark stared at him for a moment.

"What do you want, Tyler?" he asked as he went back to scribbling on his paper.

"Grant and Cole are going to the capitol. They're going to be bringing us out to the public," he replied.

"When?"

Tyler made a show of looking at his watch. "Um… right now. It's going to be televised. Mikey made sure of that."

Klark made a face at him as he got up to go to the living room. "Thanks for the warning."

The other man smiled as his friend walked past him. "You're so very welcome." He waited a moment for Klark to leave before grabbing Emily's arm gently. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry about how I brought us to light for you. I shouldn't have said it the way I did."

Emily tilted her head at him. "You're not sorry about telling me?"

He shook his head. "Nope, not at all. It was going to come out one way or the other. I just helped it along a little more than I normally do." He released her arm and let her to go through the door.

Emily settled on the couch beside Klark as he fiddled with the remote for the television. When he leaned back, he threw his arm around her shoulder. She would have said something about it but the live press conference or whatever it was came on at that moment.