Whispers in the Dark - Maya Banks [118]
As soon as he got his bearings, he turned and stalked back into the house, leaving Joe and Donovan to call after him. He barged into the kitchen, where Resnick still sat there smoking that damn cigarette while Shea was in the hands of people who had brutalized her.
“You son of a bitch!” Nathan roared.
He knocked the cigarette from Resnick’s mouth in one punch. Resnick went sprawling to the floor and Nathan went down after him. The kitchen erupted in chaos as Resnick’s men attempted to intervene.
Sam and Garrett pulled their guns while Donovan and Joe attempted to pry Nathan from Resnick.
It took the combined efforts of Donovan, Joe and Swanny to finally get Nathan off Resnick. No one made a move to help the man from the floor. He slowly picked himself up, wincing at the injury to his arm that was still unattended. He wiped at the blood that streamed from his nose and mouth and he backed up until he leaned against the counter.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Resnick demanded. “You’re supposed to be out looking for Shea.”
Nathan lunged for him again and Sam placed his body between his brother and Resnick, his gaze boring into Nathan.
“He went crazy outside,” Donovan explained. “Something happened to Shea, and he went nuts and stomped in here to kick the shit out of Resnick. Not that I have a problem with that, but I’d like to know what the fuck is going on.”
“That makes two of us,” Garrett spoke up.
“You did this to her,” Nathan choked out. “You stupid son of a bitch. You took away her only means of self-defense. Those goddamn drugs you gave her make using her telepathy impossible. She’s in unimaginable pain every time she tries to communicate. You can’t imagine the agony she’s enduring.”
Resnick went white and he looked like he was going to be ill. “No, that’s not what should have happened. It’s experimental, yes, but there haven’t been any side effects. It just prevents a person from focusing enough to maintain a telepathic connection.”
“I felt what she’s feeling,” Nathan yelled. “She felt like her head was going to explode, like something was breaking inside her skull, but she bore it to reach out to me because those assholes have her again. Do you have any idea what they did to her the last time they had her?”
Resnick slowly shook his head, his face going paler by the second.
“They beat her. They tortured her. For days she endured hell because she wouldn’t give them information about Grace. After she escaped, she asked me for help. She’d tried to do so before, but they kept her too drugged to maintain a pathway. And now because you’re a stupid fuck, she’s back in their hands and she can’t give me any goddamn information because you shot her full of drugs that prevent her from using her gift.”
Resnick’s hand shook as he dragged it through his hair. “You have to know I didn’t intend for this to happen.”
“I don’t know anything,” Nathan snapped. “You claim to care about her. You think she might be your sister. Where the fuck do you get your idea of family from? What is wrong with you?”
“Save the insults, okay? I fucked up. I just wanted to protect her. I had no idea that you and she were involved. I didn’t even know how the hell she ended up with KGI. I thought I could remove her without having to explain anything. I wanted to protect her and Grace without anyone finding out about their abilities. I still don’t know how she got involved with you or how she knew to ask you for help.”
“Because she saved me,” Nathan said in a fierce voice. “She heard me out of all the other voices in the world and she answered. We formed a bond long before we ever met face-
to-face, and I’ll be damned if I let you or anyone else break it.”
Joe slid his hand over Nathan’s shoulder again. “No one’s going to do anything. We’ll get Shea back.”
Just hearing the conviction in his brother’s voice settled Nathan. As he glanced around the room at his other brothers and Steele and his team members, he saw the same conviction