Scorching Secrets Read online

  “I can’t believe that you—” Logan starts but I interrupt him.

  “Not now Logan. I still need to wrap my head around the whole situation.” I look around the room. Everyone else is sitting around the kitchen table talking. I can’t risk anyone overhearing. Not yet anyway. I glance down at her sleeping on the couch. Even sleeping, she has exhaustion written all over her face.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see Liam push away from the table and walk into the living room. He stops at the edge of the couch and looks down at Ryanne with a frown on his face. “I think something’s going on with her,” he says as he sits down beside her on the couch.

  “Yeah, she was just stabbed and—” Logan starts, but Liam turns and starts shaking his head. Obviously he knows more than he’s letting on.

  “No, I think she’s dreaming about something and needs help.” She seems to be sleeping peacefully to me. Her hair is falling onto her face. I reach forward and tuck the fallen curly strand behind her ear. A small sigh escapes her slightly open mouth when I touch her skin. My hand lingers against her skin for a few moments before I remember that there are others in the room with me. As quickly as I can, without being too obvious, I take my hand away.

  “How can you tell?” Logan asks with a light tone. I know that he caught me, but I refuse to look over at him. He’s going to give everything away.

  “I just get this feeling when someone needs help. I think it has to do with…I just know. I’ll be back in a minute.” He closes his eyes and falls against the back of the couch in a sleep-like state.

  “All he has to do is close his eyes and he can go into her dream? Logan asks. “Can he do that whenever? What if she was dreaming about him?”

  I clench my fists at his question. I hope she doesn’t dream about him. Ever. I turn and look at him, trying to keep a placid expression. He is looking down at Ryanne, but when I move, he looks at me and smiles. “Oh, this is going to be fun.”

  *****

  I open my eyes and see Liam sitting in front of me with Colton and Logan standing behind him. I try to sit up but wince when I feel the pain in my leg. At the sight of my grimace, Logan moves beside Liam and places his hands on the scratches, magically healing them. When he finishes healing the claw marks on my leg, he grabs onto my arms and pushes more magic into me, healing all the remaining injuries. I try pulling my arms away, but he tightens his grip, not letting go until I’m completely healed.

  I blankly stare at him while he smiles and leans back, closing his eyes. Healing so many people recently has taken a lot of energy out of him. After the house exploded and the Gadramicks left, he helped heal everyone that needed it and I can definitely tell that he has overused his magic. He looks drained. His bright blue eyes lack their usual shine, and dark circles are under both of his eyes from exhaustion.

  “I didn’t want you to heal me, Logan.”

  “I know you didn’t, Ryanne, but I don’t like seeing you in pain and neither does anyone else. You could barely walk on your own and you’ve been sleeping for the last eight hours.” Eight hours? I turn toward the window and notice that it’s indeed dark outside.

  “Why didn’t anyone wake me up?”

  “Because you needed to sleep. Your body needed the rest, especially since you wouldn’t let Logan heal you,” Colton says.

  “Logan’s healed enough people lately, Colton. He didn’t need to waste any more magic on me. I’ve used entirely too much of it to begin with.” I angle toward Logan who is leaning back against the couch, eyes closed. I’m partially responsible for the constant use of his magic. He healed Colton, but I can tell that he isn’t healing as fast as he usually does. “Logan, let me see your back.”

  “I’m fine, Ryanne.” He tries to wave me off but doesn’t seem to have enough energy to even do that.

  “Logan. Let me see your back,” I demand as I scoot toward him. With a frustrated groan, he angles his back toward me and slowly lifts his shirt up. I gasp when I get a good look at the skin there. The cuts have scabbed over, but his tanned skin is covered in deep purple bruises and large red welts. It looks extremely painful. I find my back aching just looking at it. “Oh my gosh, Logan.” He puts his shirt back on and turns back around. When he’s facing me, I reach out and hit him on the chest.

  “Ouch,” Logan says, rubbing the spot I just hit. I know that I didn’t hurt him. “What was that for?”

  “You shouldn’t have healed me, you big dummy. You need to save your magic!” I hear Colton scoff behind me. In response, I turn and glare at him. Liam shakes his head in amusement. I turn back to Logan who just shrugs at me. I really hate shrugging.

  “Look at me, Ryanne. Since meeting you, I’ve healed you after you were kidnapped and tortured. You were also just stabbed. Believe me, what I’m going through right now is nothing compared to any of that.” I just stare at him. I can feel Liam and Colton watching me. I have a feeling that I can help him. I really want to do something to help lessen his pain.

  I wonder if…“Logan, can I try something?” I scoot closer to him. His eyes narrow suspiciously as I stop right beside him. I place my hands out and look up at him, waiting. His eyes move down at my hands and then back at me, questioning what I’m going to do. “Just take my hands.” Not everything has to be so complicated.

  Hesitantly, he grabs my outstretched hands, watching me warily. I close my eyes and concentrate on pulling small energy strands to the surface. When I feel their presence, I begin to push the vibrating magic toward my hands and create a small bridge between my hands and Logan’s where the magic can travel. I hear him gasp, and his grip on my hands tightens. Concentrating harder, I let more flow into him. I’m not sure when to stop or how much is necessary for him to feel normal again.

  After a few more seconds, I close the bridge between our hands and open my eyes at the same time that he does. “Did that work?” I ask. Instead of answering, he pulls me toward him and wraps his arms around me, burying his face into my neck. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  “Thank you,” he whispers as he releases me from his embrace.

  “What did she do?” Colton and Liam both move closer to us, confused as to what I had just done.

  “She healed me.” Logan’s still staring at me in awe. I squirm under his gaze slightly and lean back against the couch.

  “You’re not hurting anymore? Your back is better?” I ask. With a nod, he turns around and lets me check his back. I lift his shirt and gasp when I see the smooth tanned skin. All the bruises and cuts that had previously marred him are gone.

  Colton and Liam both look at me questioningly with raised eyebrows. “She can heal now too?”

  “I didn’t heal him necessarily. I gave him some of my magic so he could heal himself.”

  “That’s amazing,” Colton tells me. I wave off his compliment and look around the room. Besides the couch and TV, it is pretty bare. My eyes continue scanning the room before landing on the entryway to the kitchen. No one is in the room. Claire was always cooking something in the kitchen. If she wasn’t reading a book, that is where you could find her.

  Liam must have caught my look. “Ryanne, why don’t I show you to your room?” I tear my eyes away from the kitchen, nod, and let him walk me upstairs. “You’re sharing a room with Emma again,” he tells me when we stop outside the bedroom door. I peek into the room and see Emma sitting on the bed, flipping through a magazine. I know that she’s aware that we’re standing outside the door.

  Liam grabs my elbow as I’m about to enter the room and pulls me back into the hallway. Leaning against the wall, I look down at the floor avoiding his penetrating gray gaze.

  “Ryanne, there was nothing you could have done. Nothing. Please stop blaming yourself.” He lifts my chin until I am looking at him. I can hear someone walking up the stairs, but Liam is standing so close, looking down at me, that I can’t see who is coming. I cross my arms across my chest. “Please.” I can hear the desperation in his voice. I know that he doesn’t l
ike to see me this upset, but there’s nothing I can do. I can give him all these promises and false hopes, but I don’t know if I can keep them.

  I can feel the tears coming again, but I blink them away. I hate how often I cry now. Exhaling, I respond, “I’ll try, but you know how I am, Liam. I replay all the possible scenarios in my head over and over again and always come to the conclusion that I could have done something else. Something more. Anything. I should have known.”

  “She knew what she was doing. More than the rest of us. She was doing what she knew was the right thing. We’re all upset over her, but you can’t take any of the blame.”

  “But—”

  “No buts. You just can’t. Ok?”

  I will work on it, but I know that it will take time. Time heals all wounds right? I gaze up at Liam. He is very handsome. My eyes follow the jagged scar above this eyebrow until I meet his eyes. If a certain green-eyed boy wasn’t always on my mind, I could see myself being happy with him. He is kind and considerate and I know that he cares about me. As if reading my thoughts, he gives me a small sad smile.

  Tearing his eyes away from mine, Liam glances toward the stairs. He takes a small step back. I briefly see Colton walk past us and into the room directly across the hall. Liam turns back to me and says, “She wouldn’t want you moping around upset over her. You know that. Now, go to bed. You still look tired.” He gently pushes me into the room and leaves.

  I walk over to the bed that Emma isn’t occupying and sit down. Emma smiles sadly at me but doesn’t say anything. I’m grateful for that because I don’t really want to talk. Wrapping the covers around me, I turn and face the wall. More silent tears begin to fall from my eyes. Not wanting Emma to hear me cry, I stifle my sobs and let myself drift into a dreamless sleep.

  Chapter Two

  Stretching, I sit up in bed and look around. The room is dark. Glancing to my right, I see Emma still asleep. Based on the color of the sky, it’s early morning. I get out of bed and walk to the bathroom to take a quick shower. I grab a pair of white shorts and my black “Bazinga” Big Bang Theory t-shirt to change into.

  All the doors in the hallway are closed as I walk out of the room which means that everyone is still asleep. I go through my bag and get out my iPod and find out that it’s only 6:30 a.m. It will be a few more hours before everyone else wakes up. Grabbing my notebook, I go downstairs and sit down on the couch and open it up.

  I have no idea what to draw.

  I continue to stare down at the blank page. While listening to Sara Bareilles, I feel the couch dip beside me. “Morning,” I say to Bragden without looking away from my notebook. Inspiration has to strike sooner or later.

  “Good morning. What are you drawing?” I turn the notebook toward him, showing him the blank page. “Having trouble?”

  “Yep, I’ve been sitting here for…” I grab my iPod to check the time. “over half an hour and can’t think of anything to draw.”

  “Draw something for me.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. You’re the artist. Use this.” He pokes my forehead and smiles at me. I look at him for a couple seconds, waiting for inspiration to strike and then I start drawing. When I think of the Kane family, Liam and Bragden, I think about the flame story that Liam told me once. I can feel Bragden watching me as I draw, but I don’t stop.

  I draw a bear claw. Bragden always reminded me of a bear and not just physically. He is the largest and most masculine of all of the guys I am around. Standing tall, he’s prepared for battle. He’s protective, brave, and determined, but he’s also patient and kind-hearted. Inside the bear claw I draw flames similar to Liam’s tattoo. When I finish, I turn the notebook around and let him look at it. He asks about the bear claw. Slightly blushing, I explain why he reminds me of a bear.

  After my explanation, he continues to watch me. Without saying anything, he gets up and walks into the kitchen. Throwing open random drawers, he starts searching for something. “What are you doing?” He ignores my question and continues shuffling things through the drawers.

  “Aha, found some.” He walks back to the couch and hands me a pen and a permanent marker. “Draw it on me.”

  “What?” I stare at him incredulously.

  “Draw that,” he points to the claw, “on me. It would make a great tattoo.”

  Is he serious? When he waves the marker in front of me, I hesitantly reach out and take it from him. “Ok…where?”

  He looks at me for a moment and then turns around, taking his shirt off. For the first time, I notice that he has a smaller necklace on similar to the one that Liam gave me. I make a mental note to ask him about that later. “Left shoulder.”

  I reach for my iPod, pause the song, and place it on the coffee table in front of me.

  “How big?” I’m glad that he has his back to me, so he can’t see me openly ogling his body. He is fit. Extremely fit. His skin is much tanner than Liam’s. Liam is a little tanner than me, but considering how pale I am, that’s not saying much. Bragden looks like he spends a lot of time outdoors. I may not be interested in him in that way, but I’m not blind.

  “A little bigger than the drawing.”

  I move so that I am sitting up on my knees and put the pen on his skin. I lean forward, resting my arms on his back. “I’m going to draw it in pen first and then trace it in permanent marker, ok?”

  I get the outline of the bear claw done when I hear the others start walking down the stairs. I’m in the drawing zone, so I don’t look up to see who’s there. My pen is tracing the outlines of the flames when Liam speaks up.

  “What is she doing to you?”

  “She’s giving me a temporary tattoo,” Bragden replies; his back shakes with his response.

  “Don’t move.” He apologizes and chuckles. I stop drawing and lean so that he can see me glaring at him. “You wanted me to do this mister, but I can’t draw if you keep moving.” I try to sound stern but end up laughing as well. When he calms down, I return to the tattoo.

  “What is she drawing?” asks Colton. I point to my notebook beside Bragden. Colton reaches out and grabs it to examine the drawing. “That’s actually really cool.” I finish drawing the flames, cap the pen, and reach for the permanent marker. I wave the permanent marker in front of Bragden, warning him. He laughs and promises not to move anymore.

  I trace the outline and am about to draw and shade the flames when David and Emma walk into the living room. Emma looks at me and raises her eyebrows as her gaze shifts to Bragden. I move the permanent marker away from his skin and put the cap on, preparing for someone to talk. Who knows what will come out of either of their mouths. She whistles and starts fanning herself before sitting down in the chair. David looks at Bragden and smiles.

  Sitting down in the chair beside Emma, he says, “Are you a parking ticket? Because you have fine written all over you.” I lean forward and rest my head on Bragden’s back. I don’t want to laugh. I’m supposed to be mourning, but David has a way of cheering everyone up. I can feel Bragden laughing beneath me.

  “That’s the worse pick-up line ever dude. You’ll have to do better than that,” Bragden says, “if you want any of this.” He motions to his body. I lose it.

  “Ok, let me think,” he pauses for a moment. David taps his chin and pretends to think. “Were you arrested earlier? Because I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to look that good.” I can tell that David is smiling as he speaks. I start giggling all over again.

  “I think the only person those pick-up lines would work on is Ryanne. She’s dying back there.”

  “No…” I shake my head and start laughing again. I lean back, “Oops, I just spit on your back.” This causes everyone to laugh. I sit up on my knees again and use to the edge of my shirt to wipe off his back. Bragden leans back and looks at me smiling. “You ok?”

  One last giggle escapes. “Turn back around. I’m almost done.” I look at David and Emma, “Don’t say anything for the next five minutes.�
� Emma brings her hand up to her mouth and pretends to zip it. David just smiles at me. I get back to work tracing and shading the flames. The room is silent. I glance around once and see everyone watching me. I blush at their attention but continue working.

  Sitting back, I look at the drawing and glance over his shoulder to the notebook, comparing the two. They look exactly alike. “Ok, I think I’m done. You can go look at it.”

  He walks over to the bathroom, right outside of the kitchen, and examines the drawing in the mirror. I watch him, trying to judge his reaction. I mean, I did just draw on him with permanent marker. It’ll take a while for that to wash off. Bragden stands at the mirror for a few more seconds before returning to his seat beside me. “It looks great. Thank you.”

  “No. Thank you.” I look at him, hoping that he can see how thankful I actually am. He kept my mind busy for a little while; he kept my thoughts off of Claire.

  A voice speaks in my ear. “Why is he shirtless?” I scream and jump off the couch. Losing my balance, I almost fall onto the coffee table, but Bragden reaches out and grabs me around the waist, pulling me back beside him.

  “Why do you keep doing that?” I take deep breaths, trying to calm my frantically beating heart. Larkin just smiles arrogantly. Larkin has the ability to transport to any location he wants to. At one point, he was working for Dravin and helping the Gadramicks, but now he’s helping us.

  “How did you find us?” Colton asks, leaning against the edge of the couch. I glance over at him when I hear the harshness in his tone.

  “I can sense her magic. She’s got a lot of it.”

  “Can others sense it too?” I ask. “Is there a way to mask it?” I don’t want to bring any more danger here.

  “Only a few people can actually sense magic. And most wouldn’t come toward someone with as much magic as you have. They’d go in the opposite direction. As for hiding it…sorry there’s no way to hide it.” I purse my lips and turn away from him. My magic was like a bright bulls-eye for all my enemies, constantly alerting them of my location.