Seeker (Shadows) by Jolene Perry Page A

who I will and will not kiss.
    I jerk away, holding my hands up between us.
    “What? I…” He steps forward concern filling his features, but I push him away.
    “No. I get to decide. Me. Not you. Not whatever weirdness we have between us. Me .” Now that clarity has pushed in, I’m frantic to feel in control of my body and my emotions again because I’m all over the place. I can’t even focus enough to track people right now, and that’s not like me.
    His eyes are wide, apologetic. “Kara, I just… I’ve never wanted to kiss someone so bad in all my life. Not even for my first kiss.”
    “Yeah?” I want to tell him this was my first kiss, but at eighteen, I’m not nearly ready to admit that to him. “We’re supposed to be doing a job!” I sputter and turn and start to walk away, knowing I need to get myself under control if I want to track anyone tonight. And needing to do my job because I can’t deal with whatever’s between us because I don’t know what it is. Only that it’s too much too soon.
    “Fine.” His voice is tight behind me. “We’re doing a job. Let’s do it. Let’s find them now.”
    I pull in a few breaths hating that it happened this way. Hating that my first kiss was just taken because we don’t know better or can’t control ourselves. Dancing? Really, Kara? Stupid, stupid, stupid.
    “This way.” He starts to walk, his whole body rigid. “Best not take my hand. I wouldn’t want to offend.”
    His pissy attitude just irks me further so I ignore him and focus. This is what I do. Not him. Me . I know how to track, find and bring in.

TWELVE
    Kara
     
    The crowd is thinning and the subjects, Dean and Addison, are still oblivious that we’re following them.  That’s good. Exactly what we need. Screaming in the streets isn’t going to help us stay low profile.
    I pull out the plastic zip ties that I’ve been taught to use as cuffs, but never put into actual practice, my heart hammering. Ocean’s mouth pulls into a frown.
    “I’ve done this before. You haven’t,” I hiss. The problem is that I’ve only sort of done this before. It’s almost never that we bring someone in who doesn’t want to come.
    Just as we move into a narrow alley, the first shadow sweeps by me on the right. This always happens. Always. I pull out my taser, and swipe it making the shadow burst and fade away. They come back, but the taser almost always gives me a reprieve. The noise spins Addison around.
    “You!” Instead of running away like I expect, she leaps at me. “What happened to my dad?”
    I tase her arm just as her fist connects with the side of my face. I take her wrist and use her momentum to push her to the ground, leaving me with my knee on her back, holding down her arms. So much for subtle.
    She’s gasping for air as she wiggles beneath me, trying to shove me off, but I just squeeze my legs more tightly, keeping her arms to the side and letting my dress ride up way too high. She’s using her talent, and I can feel her trying to make me move.
    Get off. Let me go.
    “I can feel you trying to make me get off you, and I know how to stop it. Just relax.”
    Ocean grunts next to me and when I allow my eyes to leave Addison, Ocean and Dean are sparring so fast I can barely see their arms. I had no idea Ocean could fight like that. Or Dean for that matter. But even I can see that Dean’s street-fighting, and Ocean’s got some skills.
    With one swift move, Ocean has his arm and pins Dean against the wall. “Move and your finger will snap,” Ocean says as he gasps for air. “We just wanted a chance to talk. That’s all.”
    “You can take me. Just let her go.” Dean yells into the wall.
    Addison’s pushing her thoughts into me over and over. Get off. Let us go.
    Finally, her whole body relaxes in defeat.
    “We just want to talk, Dean,” Ocean says.
    “Yeah, that’s obvious by my swelling face.” Dean gives a jerk, but Ocean’s go t him. “Get your piranha off Addison.