Broken Shadows Read online

  Broken Shadows

  By A.J. Larrieu

  Everyone has a breaking point.

  Mina Tanner was once a converter, a human with telekinetic and telepathic abilities. After a vicious mental assault by an evil shadowmind stripped her of her powers, she was forced to flee her home to escape her attacker. Now, she’s trying to start a new life in San Francisco, far away from any and all reminders of the gifts she grew up using.

  But her precariously balanced “normal” life topples as her apartment and her job fall victim to a new luxury development. Jackson Herring, an old family friend and powerful converter, offers Mina his spare bedroom while she gets on her feet, and she agrees…reluctantly. Mina’s finding it difficult enough to adjust without a daily reminder of what she’s lost, especially when that reminder is six-foot-four, super-talented and gorgeous.

  When a mugger attacks her and she somehow burns his hands, Mina realizes that despite everything she’s lost, she may have gained something far more powerful—and dangerous—than she ever imagined. And when the rest of the shadowmind community learns about it, Mina will find herself on the run once again.

  Book three of The Shadowminds

  93,000 words

  Dear Reader,

  Happy New Year! As always, I’m eschewing any sort of formal resolution because I know it would be abandoned within a month (and probably by January 2nd). Instead, every year, I promise myself that I’ll continue to read widely and generously, across publishers, authors and genres, and that I’ll never apologize for either what I read, or how much time I spend doing it. I hope you’ll all join me in promising the same to yourself this and every year!

  This month, Washington, D.C., power couple Sam and Nick are back in Marie Force’s romantic suspense Fatal Scandal. This is a series it’s never too late to dive into and find out what thousands of readers rave about. Pick up Fatal Scandal today or go back to the beginning with Fatal Affair.

  Joining Marie in the D.C. setting is Emma Barry with Party Lines. In this contemporary romance, as a presidential campaign rages and a reckless affair becomes a relationship, a cynical Democrat and an ambitious Republican will have to choose between party loyalty and their hearts. Recommended for those who love Scandal, opposites-attract romances, or a book where a happy ever after seems impossible because the lives of our characters are just too different.

  Looking for a hot alpha male and a smart, self-sufficient heroine in a cracktastic contemporary romance read? Meet Metal: he’s trained to kill and to heal. So when a beautiful, wounded woman falls into his arms, he can save her and defend her against the ruthless enemies after the secrets in her head. Midnight Promises by Lisa Marie Rice delivers a sexy, page-turning read!

  Speaking of sexy, Jeffe Kennedy’s Under His Touch is sure to heat things up. Unable to resist each other, a reserved Brit and his much younger colleague defy common sense and convention to indulge in a very kinky secret affair in this erotic romance.

  For mystery fans, Shirley Wells is back with Dead Simple, which sees P.I. Dylan Scott put his personal problems aside to hunt down a killer and find justice for an old friend. See how the Dylan Scott Mysteries started in Presumed Dead.

  In Anna Richland’s paranormal romance The Second Lie, when an immortal Viking thief tries to scam a California wine merchant, he discovers he picked the wrong woman to rip off. Stig knows escaping their kidnappers won’t be easy, but gaining Christina’s trust is even harder.

  Also in paranormal romance this month is Broken Shadows by A.J. Larrieu, in which a telekinetic who’s lost her gift finds new purpose as a supernatural neutralizer—if only the man she loves wasn’t susceptible to her altered powers.

  Historical romance fans will be happy to see a new offering from Susanna Fraser. In Freedom to Love, a British officer wounded at the Battle of New Orleans is rescued by a mixed-race Creole beauty—and when he discovers she has dire troubles of her own, his honor as a gentleman demands he rescue her in turn.

  Last, we say goodbye to a beloved character and series in Transmuted, the last installment of Karina Cooper’s St. Croix Chronicles. She might have won the battle, but Cherry and her companions will risk it all to see the Karakash Veil’s threat finally ended. Don’t miss this wonderful conclusion, or start the journey now with Cherry and pick up Tarnished, available from Avon.

  Coming in February 2015: the first in a new erotic romance trilogy from Lynda Aicher, and three incredible new authors bring us Russian skaters, post-apocalyptic love and a fresh new adult mystery.

  Here’s wishing you a wonderful month—and a wonderful year—of books you love, remember and recommend.

  Happy reading!

  Angela James

  Editorial Director, Carina Press

  Dedication

  For Laurie Leonelli, friend, confidant,

  and one of the strongest women I’ve ever known.

  Acknowledgments

  There are many things I love about writing, but one of the biggest, and the least expected, is how much I value the relationships I’ve formed through this career. I’ve had the good fortune to connect with some of the smartest, most talented, most generous people, from so many different backgrounds and with so many different interests. I value their input as writers and as publishing professionals, and I hope they have enriched my stories. I know that they’ve enriched my life.

  Special thanks for this book go first to my editor, Deb Nemeth. As always, she challenged me to create the best story I could, and to be true to these characters. I also want to thank my agent, Sarah LaPolla, for being such a tireless guide and unfailing believer. Thanks to the whole team at Carina Press—especially Angela James, Kimberly Cannon, Heather Goldberg, Kingo Ng and Carrie Holden—for their dedication to putting my work into the hands of readers.

  My critique partners Amber Belldene and Kristin Miller had so many excellent suggestions for making this story stronger. Thanks for helping me be better. Special thanks as well to Sunny Lee, for reading chapters with care and attention at the last minute.

  My family has been a huge support to me in many ways, but a few of them deserve special thanks for allowing me to pester them with what must have seemed like random inquiries. I’m grateful to my sister- and brother-in-law, Ellen and Austin Young, for answering my random questions about music. (They’re excellent musicians—mistakes and liberties are mine.) Thanks to my husband, an enabler in all the best ways, and my parents, the most tireless cheerleaders a writer could hope for.

  Finally, most important, thanks to my readers. Your emails make it all worth it.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter One
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  I really preferred lying to telepaths over the phone. Easier on everyone. I could pretend I was fine; they could pretend to believe me. Win-win.

  I stood in the doorway at Featherweight’s and resigned myself to getting this over with.

  It was too early to be busy. The bar was nearly empty except for Jackson Herring, and he’d clearly come straight from work—he was wearing a dark gray tie and a gray-and-white striped dress shirt. The tie was a little loose. On the bar in front of him rested a collection of cardboard coasters he’d bent and stacked to form some sort of building, a too-bright, tilting San Francisco high-rise twice as tall as his beer. He was totally absorbed, head down and one hand fisted on his forehead, and I remembered the first time I’d met him, how I’d taken one look and assumed he was the type to vacuum his carpet so the lines matched up. He looked up, and the furrow between his brows relaxed as he smiled.

  I didn’t wonder so much about his housekeeping habits when he smiled.

  I made myself think about streetcar schedules as I walked over. Telepaths. Couldn’t be too careful. Jackson stood as I approached, and his coaster-house collapsed. He didn’t seem to notice.

  “Mina.”

  I’d forgotten his voice. There was no gravel to it, just a pure, unpretentious baritone that hit me right in the center of the chest. He pulled me into a friendly hug, and I felt the unexpected hardness of his arms and chest through his dress shirt. I had to scramble, again, to think about something else. Anything else. I stared hard at the bar menu and thought about nachos.

  “Hungry?” he asked. “I haven’t eaten yet.”

  I looked sharply at him, but if he’d been snooping in my head, he was hiding it well.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Oh. Well, how about a drink?”

  “I really can’t stay long.”

  “Come on, one drink.” That smile again. It took up his whole face, bringing out his cheekbones and crinkling his eyes. I looked away. The bartender—Caleb, I remembered, actually the manager—watched us while he cut a curl of lemon.

  “Okay, all right, one drink, whatever you’re having.” Just to get this over with.

  “Great.” Jackson sounded almost relieved. He nodded at Caleb, who pulled a pint for me, cleared off all but one of Jackson’s coasters and set my beer on the one that remained. I didn’t have much choice but to sit down too. I settled my fiddle case by my feet, and Jackson raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment.

  “So,” he said. “How’ve things been?”

  There it was. The check-in. I thought, for half a second, about telling him the truth: I’m losing my job and my apartment and my most coherent future plans involve crashing on someone’s couch and picking up loose change on the street.

  Probably not a good idea.

  I decided to cut through the small talk and get to the point.

  “Cass sent you to check on me. Didn’t she.” My brother and his girlfriend were two thousand miles away in Louisiana, but they were still acting like a pair of overprotective parents.

  He didn’t try to deny it. “I’m sure they’re worried about you.”

  “They’re always worried.”

  “I was worried too.”

  I stared at him. “Why?” He was Cass’s friend, not mine. And it was no secret he’d been half in love with her back when she’d lived out here. Hadn’t worked out so well for him, since she was back in Louisiana with my brother and he was stuck babysitting a ruined shadowmind. Don’t think about it—just don’t think about it.

  Jackson opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, a tall redhead in a flouncy green dress came up behind him. “Jackson!”

  “Bridget, hey.” He got up and gave her a hug. She squeezed him back as if she were trying to wring him out. “You’re here early,” he said. “I thought we weren’t meeting until eight.”

  I felt a little surge of annoyance and fought it back down. What did I care if he had a date?

  “Oh, I was going to look for Seb. I thought maybe he could help.” She chewed on her bottom lip and looked down.

  “Seb’s not in tonight,” Caleb said. “Sorry, Bridge.”

  She blinked long-lashed eyes. “That’s okay. Anyway, what are you doing up here?”

  Jackson stepped back from her and turned to me. “Bridget, this is my friend, Mina Tanner.”

  Bridget stepped forward and held out her hand, smiling. She had blue, blue eyes and pale skin and expensive dental work. Her hair was a frizzy mess, sticking out around her head in a red-gold halo. I took her hand and she gave me a firm shake.

  “Nice to meet you,” she said.

  This was the point where, once, I would have reached out with my mind to make polite mental contact. It was common courtesy with other shadowminds, letting the other person know if you were telepathic. Even though my powers were gone, the habit was still strong. For a moment, I thought I felt something—a sensation like a static shock in my palm—but it was nothing, just the memory of contact, a phantom limb. The only things in my head were my own circling thoughts. Bridget released me and turned back to Jackson, no doubt concluding I was just a normal.

  “Why don’t you guys go ahead.” I leaned down to get my purse and my fiddle. This was the perfect opportunity to cut this whole awkward meeting short.

  Jackson put his hand on my arm and stopped me. “You haven’t touched your beer. I can talk to Bridget later.”

  My skin felt hot where he touched me, and I shifted away from the contact, momentarily caught off guard.

  “Or, why don’t you come down to Simon’s with us?” As soon as the words left Bridget’s mouth, she covered it. “I mean—I mean—we were going to go to a different bar—downtown—and—I just—” She looked back and forth from me to Jackson. I could almost hear her mentally freaking out.

  “It’s okay,” I told her. “I know about Simon’s.” It was the shadowmind speakeasy in the basement of Featherweight’s, and I was pretty sure it was supposed to be kept secret from normals. Which I wasn’t. Not exactly.

  Her expression cleared. “Oh. Oh, thank God.” She gave a nervous little laugh and glanced sideways at Jackson, then her brow furrowed. “Then what are you guys doing up here?”

  Jackson opened and closed his mouth. “Uh, well—” He was probably scrambling to make up an excuse for me. Poor Mina. Too fragile to handle a crowd of shadowminds. Bridget’s expression clouded.

  Great. If I went with them, I’d be a mind-deaf third wheel in a shadowmind speakeasy. And if I begged off, Jackson would think I was depressed and damaged, and I’d have a flurry of concerned calls from Cass and Shane to deal with.

  Jackson was still sputtering like a teenager on a first date. “Uh—I would’ve—but—”

  “Sure.” I interrupted him. “I’d love to come.”

  “Perfect!” Bridget looked genuinely pleased. Jackson frowned, but he nodded and stepped back from his seat, taking our beers with him.

  I followed the two of them to the back of the bar, to a door marked Employee Only. It was right next to the bathrooms, and there was a faded spot on the wood where the s in Employees used to be. Jackson opened it and motioned us inside.

  It was a broom closet.

  A small broom closet. I’d been inside it before, but never with two other people. I was sandwiched between Jackson and Bridget, and my cheek ended up pressed to Jackson’s chest. Something fell over with a crash. A mop, I thought.

  “You’ll have to get the lock,” Bridget said above my head, and I realized she must not be a converter. The entrance to the speakeasy was a dead-bolted door with no keyed lock—you had to pick it telekinetically. She must be one of the less common shadowminds—a dowser, or maybe an empath. I wondered if she was telepathic, if she was reading my mind right now.

  That was the trouble with
being around shadowminds. I could never tell who was in my head.

  “Right,” Jackson said. “Got it.” Both of them were at least six inches taller than me, and I was glad I wasn’t smashed against her chest. It was awkward enough being this close to Jackson. I could feel his breath moving in and out, the warmth of his body and the hard curve of his arm...Shit. I concentrated quickly and completely on the football game that had been playing in the bar.

  Jackson took a moment to work the door open, and we all tumbled gratefully into the concrete stairwell. It led to a narrow tunnel, also concrete, lit by two wire-caged bulbs. I suspected someone washed down the walls with bleach to keep them from growing mold. It had that smell. Army-green pipes protruded from the walls every few feet.

  “You’d never know it,” Bridget said, “but Simon’s is beautiful.”

  “I know. I’ve been.” I hadn’t meant to sound snappy, but my words came out clipped and hard. Jackson gave me a concerned look, but Bridget didn’t seem to notice.

  “Really?”

  Definitely not a telepath.

  “Uh,” Jackson said.

  “I used to be a converter.” I was tired of sidestepping it.

  “Oh,” she said. “I see.” But I knew there was no way she could know what had happened to me. It wasn’t as if shadowminds lost their powers every day.

  We came to the second door. Jackson picked the lock as though there were a novel written on the red-painted steel. When it swung open, I was the first one through.

  I’d forgotten how much I liked Simon’s. It really was beautiful. I’d only been here a handful of times, back when I’d first arrived and Jackson convinced me being around other shadowminds might help reawaken my powers. It hadn’t worked, and I hadn’t been back since, but the speakeasy wasn’t easy to forget.

  Simon’s had been built in an old concrete fallout bunker from the fifties, but now it looked more like a cross between a subway station and a brothel. The concrete walls and ceilings were covered with graffiti and lit by dozens of candle sconces, and the floor was polished hardwood. A wrought-iron chandelier hung from the ceiling in the center of the main room. It had real candles, and the floor below it was marred with wax drippings. Above the bar, someone had drawn a gorgeous black-and-red sketch of an angel, one wing partially obscured by years of candle smoke. The whole place smelled of beeswax and wood polish.