Читать книгу The Defender - Cara Summers - Страница 7

Friday, August 28th—Evening

TWILIGHT WAS ONE OF THOSE special times of the day when Cassandra Angelis’ power to see into the future sharpened; this evening she needed all the help she could get. A sense of urgency propelled her along the garden path until she caught her first glimpse of the sun still hanging above the Pacific. Only the faintest shades of pink and blue streaked the sky. So there was still time.

Deliberately slowing her pace, Cass let the scent of the flowers and the songs of insects and birds fill her senses. It wouldn’t do any good to rush. She knew from experience that she couldn’t force her visions. She had to just let them come.

Psychic abilities ran strong in her family and she’d never denied or run away from her special gift. Over the years, she’d established a reputation as a psychic in the San Francisco area.

This evening, Cass had no client. She’d known for almost a month that this weekend would be a pivotal one in the lives of her family members, but it hadn’t been until midnight and again this morning at dawn that her feelings had begun to clarify into visions. She now knew the Fates would bring two of her nephews, Kit and Nik, mortal danger. And love, if they chose to open their hearts to it.

She paused near a patch of white flowers. The delicate blossoms always reminded her of the wildflowers that grew near the seashore in Greece where she’d first met her husband, Demetrius. She could still recall that moment of knowing that there was no one else, would never be anyone else, for her.

It had been the same for her sister Penelope and Demetrius’ brother Spiro. None of them had thought twice about grabbing what the Fates had offered them. She’d never regretted choosing Demetrius even though they’d only had little more than a dozen years together before he and her sister had been killed in a boating accident. In the intervening years, she’d raised Penelope’s children, her nephews Nik, Theo and Kit, and her niece Philly, coming to look on them as much her own as her son, Dino.

Leaning down, Cass picked one of the flowers and inhaled its scent as she continued along the path. Eighteen years had passed so quickly. Her children were all grown up and making their own way in the world. But it was her sister’s middle son, Theo, who’d been slipping into her mind all day.

As she thought of him, her lips curved in a smile. Even as a child, Theo had always been a bit more of a risk taker than his two brothers, trusting his luck to get him out of scrapes. Now that he was older, Theo had put those characteristics to good use as a criminal defense attorney. In fact, his reputation for winning high stakes cases had garnered him some attention from the press. A couple of months back, he’d even made a list of the ten most eligible bachelors in San Francisco and there’d been a photo of him in the Sunday paper. That photo had earned him quite a bit of razzing from his brothers. It had also earned him a spot on the invitation lists of several prominent party givers. However, there’d been a downside to his sudden fame. Theo had also picked up a stalker.

On the surface, one would never have suspected that the situation bothered him. But little by little, Cass had seen Theo withdraw into himself. Eventually, he’d even withdrawn from his family by taking what he termed a “temporary” apartment in town. Of course, he’d done it to protect them—that was Theo’s way—but in the end his efforts had failed. In spite of his precautions, the woman who’d been stalking him had followed him to his father’s restaurant one night and pulled a gun. He’d managed to talk her outside before she’d injured anyone, but in the process of getting the gun away, he’d gotten shot. Then in a move that was so typically Theo, he’d arranged for a good attorney to represent her.

Cass frowned as she watched the sun edge lower toward the water. The family had expected that Theo would move back home once his stalker had been arrested. But he hadn’t. And he’d stopped coming to The Poseidon altogether. She thought she knew what was bothering him. All the Angelis children had some latent psychic ability, but Theo’s was the strongest. He didn’t have visions, but sometimes he just knew things. As a child he’d called the ability luck. But since the incident with his stalker, he was doubting his “lucky feelings.”

She knew what he was going through. She hadn’t foreseen the boating accident that had taken both her husband and her sister, Penelope. The guilt that she hadn’t seen it, hadn’t been able to prevent it, had caused her problems for a time, but she’d finally learned to trust in her powers again. Theo would have to learn that lesson, too.

With a sigh, Cass sank onto a bench and looked out at the ocean in the darkening light. Overhead, a bird sang its heart out. Cass listened and, keeping her gaze fixed on the distant waves, emptied her mind. In front of her, the evening shadows shifted, blending together and separating, then blending again until they formed a thin mist. Through it she saw the image of a woman—tall with short, dark hair and dark, intelligent eyes.

Yes, she thought, Theo would want intelligence. The mists darkened. As if through a glass darkly, she saw Theo and the woman someplace high with the lights of the city spread out beneath them. She felt the sharpness of their fear, but she also sensed the emotions of the other person with them. The coldness of anger and the irrationality of greed sliced through her with an intensity that took her breath away. Then the image faded and she was once more alone in the garden.

The evening was warm, but Cass felt cold right to her bones. Of her three nephews, Theo would face the greatest danger. But he would also find love—if he had the courage to take it. And that love would teach him to trust in his instincts again.