I opened my eyes. A thread of confusion touched me as she reached for her plate and started eating her cold eggs.
I sat up and watched her, enjoying the feel of her emotions in my head.
She frowned slightly as a gust of worry hit me. She didn’t stop eating, but she did blush deeply.
“Why are you worrying?” I asked.
“Why are you mad?”
Her link behind the wall gave her access to more than I realized. I visualized the wall and moved it to another place in my mind, away from her, the Elders, and my sister.
“The bite didn’t hurt, right?” she said.
That’s why she was worried?
“The bite was perfect,” I assured her. I pulled her close and gently kissed her forehead. “Do you need more ice? Biting didn’t hurt your cheek further, did it?”
She shook her head, and I glanced at the clock.
“We need to meet up with the others,” I said. “It’s almost time.”
I left her to finish eating and went to take the clothes from the dryer. While I folded, I felt her curiosity and concern for me. I liked knowing she thought of me even when I wasn’t in the room.
When she entered the kitchen, I had most of the clothes folded and in her bag. She didn’t ask for anything before she went into the bathroom, though. The water ran, and I heard her brushing her teeth. Since I was finished packing, I washed her plate and set it in the drying rack.
A bit of anger entered my mind, and I glanced at the door as the water turned off.
We’re heading down, Grey sent me.
We’ll be right there.
I set our bags by the door and grabbed Isabelle’s jacket. She opened the bathroom door and stepped out with her brush, toothbrush, and the paste I’d left for her.
“Everyone is waiting for us by the cars,” I said.
“We’re not staying?”
“We’re packed just in case. We don’t know if Charlene’s contact will be able to get us on the air or not. If she doesn’t, we’ll need to wait until she can. If she does, it would be better to leave the city.”
“More long car rides… sounds fun,” she said, moving toward me.
I sent a wave of love over the link, and she paused as she was putting away her things.
“Was that a mental hug?” she asked, looking up at me.
“Something like that.”
A wave of love touched my mind in return.
“All right, big guy, let’s roll. If we’re lucky, I’ll get to hit someone today,” she said with a wincing grin.
I hoped there would be no hitting needed. My control would cease to exist if any more bruises decorated her skin.
As soon as we stepped out of the apartment, I could feel Isabelle start her pulling and pushing. Not just at the wall, but over our link. She didn’t steal anything from me. If anything, the link seemed to shield what I held behind the wall even more than the wall did. Which didn’t make sense because it felt like I was keeping them separate.
“You will tell me when it gets too much,” I said as we walked down the hall toward the stairs.
She grinned at me.
“You’ll know without me telling you.”
I would.
The group waited by the cars. Like yesterday, Grey drove. We didn’t try to stay together like we did coming to New York. Traffic made it impossible. Instead we met at a nearby parking garage and walked to our destination.
“This time, Charlene will get us in,” Grey said once we stood outside.
Isabelle nodded as people moved around us. I stood behind her, holding her arms in an effort to share some of the burden of her syphoning. Even in the crowd, she didn’t seem as affected as the day before.
Charlene and Thomas started toward the entrance, followed closely by Winifred. The rest of us fell in loosely behind them. As a group, we entered the lobby and made for the elevators where we split into two groups.
“We’ll meet on the twelfth floor,” Winifred said.
Bethi, Luke, Gabby, Clay, and Grey stepped into the elevator with Isabelle and me.
“Congratulations,” Clay said quietly, looking at me.
I nodded and felt Isabelle’s puzzlement. I sent another wave of love to her as Bethi turned to stare at Isabelle.
“Shut up…” the girl said in disbelief.
Isabelle grinned.
“Bet you didn’t get a hand shoved in your face,” Bethi said.
“Will you ever let me forget that?” Luke asked.
“Nope.”
Gabby glanced at Isabelle, too.
“It’s strange at first, but you’ll get used to him being in your head,” she said.
I could feel Isabelle’s relief.
“I hope so,” she said.
“We’re standing right here,” Luke said.
Gabby grinned at Luke and leaned back against Clay.
“In your head is a good place to be,” Clay said. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. I hoped Isabelle and I would get to that stage soon. We might already be there, but I was worried about hurting her face with too much kissing.
The elevator slowed and binged. When the doors slid open, Clay stepped out first, followed by Gabby. The other elevator was three floors behind, apparently having stopped to pick up passengers.
We lingered by the elevator bank, waiting.
“Tone it down, girl,” Isabelle whispered to Bethi.
I still couldn’t feel any tension over our link, though.
Bethi nodded and took a slow breath. Behind us, the quiet conversation of the receptionist with another woman continued, and the click of heels on the tile floor grew louder.
The doors opened to the second elevator. Winifred and Sam stepped out, followed by Charlene and Thomas.
Isabelle turned toward the reception desk suddenly, and I felt a strong pull.
“Charlene,” Isabelle said, not looking back at her.
I was watching Charlene, however, and saw her look of shock then determination.
“Penny,” she said.
We all followed her gaze and saw the reporter from TV stop walking away and slowly face Charlene.
All other movement in the large room stilled as well. The man behind the desk laid his head down, and the woman joined him. Another man, who’d been reading the paper while he waited in one of the reception chairs, folded the paper on his lap then closed his eyes as if to take a nap. A maintenance worker, who was sweeping the floor with an extra-long dust mop, set the mop on the floor, then took a seat. Shock and awe filled my link with Isabelle. Part was her. Part was me. Although I’d known about Charlene’s mind-control with humans, I had never before witnessed it.
I glanced at Grey and saw his complete shock, too, before he masked it.
If anything goes wrong, take your Mates and head for the Compound, Winifred sent me and, likely, every male present. Thomas, however, frowned.
“So much for not abusing your power,” Penny said, anger shaking her words.
“I don’t abuse my power,” Charlene said. “I only use it when necessary. And, you’ve made it necessary.”
“Me?”
“Do you forget what I can do? I know you have a camera in the room, a voice recorder, a new lock on the door, and the police on speed dial. You planned to tape me doing something amazing and then turn me in. It didn’t work the last time you tried, and it won’t work now. That’s not why I’m here.”
“Then you’re wasting my time.”
“I promise I’m not. I have something much more newsworthy to show you. If you take me to one of your recording studios, you can broadcast live.”
Penny narrowed her eyes as she studied Charlene.
“I don’t have that kind of pull,” Penny said.
“I do.” A wave of regret and fear rolled from Charlene with those words. She’d hidden herself for so many years. What we planned to do wasn’t just a risk for our kind, but our gifted Mates too. Yet, there was no other option. On our own, we couldn’t fight the Urbat.
Penny studied Charlene for a moment.
“This way,” she said, finally. Then, she turned and started walking.
As we left the reception area, the maintenance worker stood and moved back toward his mop. I felt Isabelle’s unease and threaded my fingers through hers.
Most of the halls were familiar after yesterday’s excursion, until we entered a hall with a few glass-windowed doors. Penny reached for one of the darker ones and opened it.
As she stood aside to let us in, she caught Charlene’s eye.
“Someone is going to ask what I’m doing,” Penny said.
“I’ll worry about that,” Charlene said before she stepped into the room. The rest of us followed, crowding into the small space.
“Isabelle, Carlos, Winifred, would you go with Penny into the studio to explain?” Charlene asked. “I’ll wait out here for whoever may come.”
“I’m not taping you?” Penny asked as she shut the outer door.
“No. You’re bringing the world bigger news than me, Penny. The news you were meant to reveal.”
With an expression of mistrust, Penny opened the studio door for us and led the way in. She flipped on switches, flooding the second room with white light. Beside me, Isabelle flinched.
The room was a small area with a fake backdrop of the city hanging on the wall behind a couch. Two chairs were positioned on either side of the couch. The staged area faced the equipment inside the room, just in front of the recording booth window.
I closed the door behind us, and my ears rang with the complete silence.
“I need one of these,” Isabelle whispered to me.
Penny’s gaze drifted to Isabelle, and her eyes widened in recognition.
“Hi, again,” Isabelle said with a smirk.
Penny glared at her a moment then turned to Winifred.
“So, what are we revealing?” Penny asked.
“The existence of another species,” Winifred said, walking toward the couch. She set down the bag she carried and turned to face Penny. Isabelle and I stayed by the door.
“What kind of species?” Penny asked, not moving to join Winifred.
Winifred glanced at Isabelle, who nodded. This was why we were in the room. To keep Penny from acting erratically on national television.
“The shapeshifting kind,” Winifred said.