Shepherd by KH LeMoyne Read Free Book Online Page A

motioned him back to a thick cylindrical handle and gestured for him to give it to her. Pursing her lips, she pressed her thumbs along the base of the magnetic wrench and shoved. The cover for the power module popped free. Curved like a small tunnel, the cover could fit over the crystal, allowing the directional pulse to flow uninterrupted from crystal to crystal without additional modification to Clay’s circuits on the chamber wall. She held it out to him with a smile.
    He shook his head, but one side of his mouth curved upward. “You get more dangerous by the minute, Sugar.”
    A few minutes later, with the adjustment in place, he initiated the test again. “Conductivity test two for sound within the vibration chamber. Resolution seven, proximity floor level.”
    Each crystal activated, and the screen on the panel reflected circular waves of green, rippling in correspondence with Clay’s words.
    “You increased the volume.”
    He nodded. “I promised you would hear me loud and clear.”

 
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
    The image on the plasma screen distorted into an outline of a dandelion stalk instead of the hourglass curves of the woman in the tube. She was holding his damn shirt to her face.
    “Esme, I need your hands by your side to complete the image. Or we’re going to be here all day.”
    The platform shifted slightly, and the image shifted as well. Like reflections on water, her shape elongated and widened. Then slowly it reformed into the sensuous curves of breast and indent of waist he was becoming all too familiar with. The extra haze at the top of the image carved a painful edge of desire in Clay’s loins. She had tied his shirt to her head, imprinting him on her, imposing his presence over her fear. Her actions resonated as a heavy pressure inside his chest.
    The blindfold usually instigated her visceral reaction of shivers and shallow breathing, but his scent—somehow she’d conditioned herself to accept it as a haven.
    He fought back his reaction when she balked at the closing door and asked for his shirt. He’d hidden the hot wash of Neanderthal pride at her need to take him with her into the dark. Alone, without her able to witness his reaction, he shifted his erection to lessen the discomfort and let out a frustrated breath.
    “Head high, Esme. You can tell me how I know what you’re doing when you come out.”
    Her image shifted, her hands now loose, her fingers wiggling by her side. Yet he knew she was terrified. A truly incredible, if dangerous, woman.
    “If you can hear me, raise one hand.”
    Her fingers lifted to her shoulder and waved, then returned to her side.
    “Good. When the scan starts, you’ll hear a high-pitched whir. It won’t be loud, and I’ll talk over it.” He keyed in the sequence for the scan’s intensity, the duration, and the three-dimensional slices he required. “I’m not from this city. I used to lead a border patrol unit in the northern sector, along the western coasts.”
    Her image shifted. Damn it, he should have worked in that detail of his Regent duty before he put her in the tube. “Long time ago, Sugar. Bad time, one I’ve left behind. You could say I was sort of born again here. At any rate, the trek from one end of the country to this one took a long time. I had to recover from some physical issues. My companion, the man who saved me, had enormous amounts of data on each of the sectors we passed through. Frankly, I never would have taken the time to enjoy the trip if every step we took wasn’t so excruciatingly slow.” Due to his pain and recovery, but there was no need to embellish the tale for her.
    The scan line had passed below her breasts, heading for her hips. No devices registered so far.
    “I was familiar with forests. I get that New Delphi’s grid is surrounded by woods . This east coast vegetation looks more like overgrown brush compared to my old home. There we had trees, huge pines that brushed the clouds and covered whole segments