Chasing Power (Hidden Talents) Read Online Free

gratefully.  Within seconds she could feel the medicine doing its job as the pressure on her lungs loosened.  She coughed again, eyes on the man who saved her life.  A face swam into focus.  A face she knew.
    “Lit stalker!”  Sam gasped.
    “Glad to see I made a good impression,” the man said, helping her to a sitting position, “Though you could also call me Lane, if you liked.”  Sam blushed.  She hadn’t intended to say that out loud.  What a way to thank her hero.
    Though come to think about it.  She assessed him again, tilting her head.  Hero.  Was he?  The situation seemed like an odd and entirely improbable coincidence.  The man—Lane—smiled, meeting her gaze squarely and honestly.  No worries here, that look said, you can trust me completely.  And she did.
    For about a second.
    What the hell?  Sam thought, I can’t trust him.  It doesn’t make sense to trust him.  Where had that feeling come from?  It felt as though her brain was thinking, or in this case feeling, something it hadn’t meant to.  Like someone planted something there.  Samantha looked around.  Where was she?  Not in the same death alley, that was for sure.  But not in a hospital, or any regular place you might take an injured person.  A random street somewhere.
    Sam tried to get up.  Bad idea.  The world reeled and she fell to the ground again, half-supported by Lane. “Whoa, whoa!” he said, “Take it easy!”  Sam promptly vomited on his shoe.
    “Thanks,” he said, “Feeling better now?”  She shook her head and he eased her down again gently, “Take deep breaths.  No sudden movements.”
    “Figured that out,” Sam muttered, “Where am I?”
    “Just a few blocks away.  No telling when Stone’s going to wake up, and I didn’t want to be around when he did.”
    No joke; “Police?”
    “Not such a good idea,” he said, “You and I need to talk.”
    Alarm bells went off.  Where were the police?  Why’d this guy just pick her up and carry her away when he could have called an ambulance?  She struggled to stand again, but felt a wave of complacency wash over her.  Sure this was all wrong , her brain reasoned, but why didn’t she just wait a second and hear him out?  Lane had saved her, after all.  Besides, she was sick, dizzy.  It would be easier to let him handle things.
    “No!”  Samantha surged to her feet, nobly resisting the urge to throw up again, “We have to call the police now !”
    “Calm down!”  Lane followed her, placing his hand on her shoulders.
    Calm seeped in, but Sam shook her head, overpowering the foreign feelings through sheer willpower. “We have to call the police,” she repeated, “Let me go!  I have to go to the police.”  She said it more for her own benefit than his.  If her brain had listened to her heart, she’d be asking him to join her for tea and cuddles right now.
    “Sorry,” he said, “but you need to rest.”  A heavy sense of lethargy overwhelmed Sam.  Despite her best efforts, she found herself leaning against the stucco wall of an apartment building, slowly sliding to the ground, exhaustion overpowering even her headache as she drifted to sleep.
    #
    When the girl was safely asleep, Lane stood up and hefted her into his arms.  He headed back to his car, mind racing a mile a minute.  He looked down at the sleeping beauty in his arms.  Light brown hair, a slight crick in her nose, and big ugly glasses that hid pretty blue-gold eyes.  Those eyes.  They were too large and ethereal to belong on a normal person, with a gentle slant that reminded him of a cat.  It was those eyes that had drawn him into going up and talking to her.  He’d meant to keep his distance, but when she looked up and smiled at him—and he knew, knew she didn’t smile at just anybody—he couldn’t resist a few words.  Now, curled up, light and tiny in his arms, she still sort of reminded Lane of a kitten.  Granted, the kind that hissed and fearlessly