She yearned for all that again, hopelessly, knowing she couldn't have it. They were gone. Dead.
Weren't they?
Her heart clenched, squeezed, tumbled inside her chest. Water sloshed in her ears, making it impossible to hear anything but the screams inside her head.
No. No, they aren't! They aren't dead!
She'd know it if they were. She'd feel it.
Something had happened to her when they'd made love that night. Connor and Trevor might not have unleashed any supernatural abilities inside her, but they'd awakened a part of her that had been locked away for far too long. And now, that natural feminine power shimmered and blazed, refusing to be quelled.
Her feet touched the bottom of the river. Her lungs burned, and she knew it wouldn't be long before the river did its job and claimed her as its own.
Like hell.
Fury raged up inside her like a storm. Determination fueled her muscles. She pushed off the silt and dirt gathering at the bottom of the river and launched herself upward.
I'm going to find them. Save them. Mine. MINE!
The voice inside her head screamed with rage and terrified fury. What if the Medical Board's minions held them, too? What if they were in danger? What if they needed her?
Willpower sizzled in her veins, so foreign and unlike her that for a moment, she didn't recognize the emotion as her own. But then, in the span of a mere heartbeat, it became a part of her. Something else shifted, right down the center of her body. It felt as though her lungs were expanding, her body growing stronger, more unified.
Her mind felt clearer, too. Suddenly she could think, compartmentalize the endless doubt and fear, push them all away.
Hang on, guys. I'm coming.
She didn't know how she understood they needed her, only that at that moment, she'd never been more certain of anything in her entire life.
Her body hummed with an energy she didn't recognize but embraced all at once.
This
was her. The real her, the woman who'd been hiding behind a façade created by living a life filled with anxiety, fear and dread.
Her head broke the surface. Then her body. She didn't just float along the surface, she skyrocketed past it, until she hovered a foot above the river like a long-lost water nymph.
But by mating with a man with potent seed, some of you gain enormous power.
More power, indeed! She'd unleashed ... the Goddess within her!
Rivulets of moisture ran off her limbs to flow back into the water. Around her, liquid turned to steam, warming her frigid muscles. Ripples of pure energy snapped and sizzled along the surface of her skin. She wiped away the water still clinging to her eyelashes and scanned the churning river. It took less than a second to find her men.
Connor swam like his life depended on it. At his side, Trevor tried to do the same, but there was no mistaking the way he sank and stayed under the surface a little longer each time. On their pale, unbelievably handsome faces, terror warred with misery and raw, unmistakable guilt. And longing, so much longing it damn near killed Isy to see it.
Relief flooded her veins. The Medical Board had lied to her. It shouldn't have been a surprise, but the realization still stunned her.
She'd almost lost them. She'd almost given up everything because she believed she'd been abandoned. But if the Medical Board had lied about Connor and Trevor being found dead, what else had they lied about?
Isy drifted along the river's liquid sheen. She didn't know how it was possible, but the ability came as easily to her as breathing. She wanted to smile and cry and howl with relief all at once.
They'd come for her, just like she knew they would. And they'd been right. About her. About everything.
She didn't quite trust her voice, but she tried for a teasing tone and, to her relief, nearly managed it. “Looking for me?"
Connor looked up and saw her first. He splashed water onto Trevor as he fought to control his shock. Trevor followed the line of his gaze. Joy, pure and unmasked, lit his face. She didn't think she'd ever seen anyone look more radiant.
Trevor clung to Connor and the two of them treaded water as they gaped at her.
Isy snapped her fingers. “Hold on, boys."
A gradual breeze kicked up, gathering force around them. She lifted her hands and molded the erratic little gust of wind into a round ball. Gently, she let the ball glide across the surface of the water. When the tamed puff of air tumbled across Connor and Trevor, it softly picked them up and deposited them in the center, then lifted its cargo from the river.
At her command, the ball of wind swirled, higher and higher, until it flew past the stricken faces of the curious onlookers who'd gathered to watch the spectacle from the top of the bridge. Screams reached her ears, but she was past worrying about what New Yorkers thought of her.
Isy flew past the assembled spectators, giving a little wave as she went. Laughter broke from her throat as she followed her men to the highest roof of an antique skyscraper. There, she deposited them in a wet heap on the faded marks of a helicopter landing pad.
And still they gaped.
Isy might have giggled, except at that moment she realized she could
feel
their fear. The night they'd made love, she hadn't had enough time with them to understand the depths of their emotions. But now, a frenzy of unfiltered responses slammed into her. Terror, guilt, frustration, anxiety. She sorted through all of them in a mad rush, focusing on the only one that really mattered.
Love. Real, true love.
That hadn't been a lie. She'd always been more than an experiment to them, just as Connor had said.
Isy's lower lip quivered as she fought to sort out her own emotions from those of her men. In the span of a few minutes, the agony of the last seven months had faded into the background. She wasn't able to read Trevor or Connor's thoughts, but she understood their emotions as though they were her own. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that she hadn't been abandoned.
Not on purpose, anyway.
She walked toward them with slow, determined steps. Connor rose first, meeting her halfway. Trevor hovered just a step behind him, looking more uncertain, but just as eager to touch her and reassure himself she was real.
There were a million things she could say to them. A million accusations, or words of love, or explanations.
When she reached them, the ripples of snapping energy drained away like water in the desert sand. Her knees buckled. They caught her as one, squeezing her tightly between walls of muscle, holding on like they never wanted to let go.
Trevor's lips found hers in a kiss that held nothing back. There was no restraint in the way his mouth ravaged hers, or in the way his tongue thrust between her lips and devoured her, swipe after sweet swipe. She let him kiss her within an inch of her life before she found herself gently prodded sideways, so that she turned and met the hungry claim of another mouth.
A second kiss, just as harsh, just as powerful. Connor poured every bit of his frustration and desire into the press of his soft lips against hers. God, she could
feel
his need, and not just in the hard length of his erection stiffening against her stomach.
Connor nibbled on her lower lip, tugged it into his mouth, sucked gently, traced the swollen flesh with the tip of his tongue.
A sob broke free from Isy's throat. Her newly awakened powers hovered just within reach. With no more than the tilt of her head, she could probably demolish this entire building.
Yet what she wanted—
needed
—more than anything else, was Trevor's gentle touch, Connor's passionate kiss, and endless days of lovemaking.
"Take me away from here,” she murmured against Connor's mouth. “Anywhere. Nowhere. Just take me."
An old-fashioned watch closed around her wrist. She lifted her head and glanced at her hand, which she'd fisted around the soaked material of Connor's shirt. Trevor's fingers expertly fastened the black leather strap so it hugged her wrist. Early morning sunlight glinted off the golden face of the watch.
"Hang on to us, baby.” Connor's voice soothed her, adding to the sweet comfort of his touch.
Her hands glided around his neck. Trevor pressed against her from behind, his arms circling both Isy and Connor. Her body molded to theirs. She laid her head on Connor's chest, closed her eyes, and waited.
The watch vibrated, sending shooting tingles all the way up her arm. Then the rooftop dropped away, and she plunged into endless darkness broken only by shimmers of white light.
For once, fear of the unknown didn't even enter her thoughts. She was safe. Sheltered in strong arms that would never again let her go.
The fall was never-ending. Isy kept tumbling through nothingness, hurtling through space and time toward some unseen destination. She should have been terrified, except she'd never felt safer in her entire life.
Connor and Trevor shielded her body from the icy air currents scraping her exposed skin. Their combined warmth flowed into her, soothing her raw nerves, calming her frenzied senses.
Connor pressed his lips to her temple. The scorching heat from the sweet caress shot a direct bolt of heat to the apex of her thighs. Her pussy tightened, inner walls trembling with frantic need.
Isy rubbed her cheek against Connor's soaked shirt. She could feel the steel of Trevor's erection fused to her back, yet she yearned to be even closer to them both.
She'd spent endless nights at the Medical Board facility dreaming of the moment she'd be reunited with her men. No matter how many times her captors said that Connor and Trevor didn't want her, she had only to remember the way they'd made love to her, and she knew the truth.
Now they were here, and they'd risked their lives to take her out of harm's way. She'd waited so long to be with them. Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to feel their hands on her bare skin and their cocks thrust deep, deep in her body.
Her pulse quickened. Stiff pebbled nipples rubbed against Connor's firm chest. She closed her eyes against the flickering light scintillating around them and gave in to the ripples of need setting every nerve ending ablaze.
Desire filled her senses and she lost track of time, reveling in the feel of hardened flesh beneath her fingers, against her skin. The only thing missing was the true closeness she craved.
The endless fall stopped without warning. She landed with a startled gasp, splayed on top of a muscled body that seemed only too happy to bear the brunt of her clumsy touchdown.
Hands cupped her ass, drew her close. A hard cock dug into the thin material of her shorts, thrusting against her pussy. Another body landed on top of hers, infinitely gentle in contrast to her own harsh drop.
And then there were voices she didn't recognize, coming closer.
Too close.
She wasn't ready to give in, or to give up the closeness she'd found. She needed to be alone with Trevor and Connor, at least for a little while, before letting the rest of the world intrude.
The fantasy novels she'd read as a young girl made it seem as though magic needed words of power to yield results. Yet Isy didn't have to open her mouth to create a barrier between the three of them and the outside world. No archaic language or strange symbols gave her the ability to summon the privacy she needed.
Only a mere thought.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself looking into Connor's. Her heart gave a little leap as her gaze drank him in, focusing on the curve of his cheekbones, the slant of his jaw, the sharp line of his nose. God, he was gorgeous. And he was hers. All hers.
Before Isy could say anything, Connor sucked in a breath and glanced to his right. She followed his line of sight to a space approximately three feet away, where a slight hum gave the only indication that Isy's projected barrier even existed.
On the other side, three men in dark suits splayed their hands against thin air. Then they pounded their fists and tried nudging the space with their shoulders, but it was clear by the way their shirts flattened as though hitting glass that they couldn't penetrate the blockade she'd erected.
She looked around the rest of the room. They'd landed on a raised dais that resembled a round stage, about eight feet by eight feet, if she had to guess. It was made of metal, and the only piece resembling furniture in the entire place. There were no chairs, no desks, nothing to give any indication that this might be a workspace of some sort. Against the walls, electronic panels blinked red and green lights. There were no windows, but bright neon bulbs spilled unfiltered light throughout the dome-shaped room.
"Isabel Warren, welcome to the Phase Travel Investigations Headquarters.” Trevor's voice rustled the hair over her ear as he whispered, sending a sharp thrill down her spine. “This is our phase transference room. All missions deploy from this spot. Coordinates can be punched into those panels to determine an exact landing location. There are only two minor snags. One, the coordinates must point to an outdoor location or we risk fusing ourselves into a brick wall. And that wouldn't be good for anyone."
She found herself chuckling. Her gaze remained locked with Connor's. “Then how come you could ... what did you call it? Phase yourself?” When Connor nodded, she continued. “How come you could phase yourself into my examination room?"
"Ah ... well, I'd been there before.” Trevor shifted slightly, nestling his cock against the seam of her ass. “You gave me a tour of your place the day we met, remember?"
Isy nodded, smiling at the memory. “So you had the coordinates of the room, right?"
"Smart girl,” Trevor said, then pushed her hair out of the way and placed a soft kiss on the nape of her neck.
She trembled as a new wave of lust rippled through her. “And the second snag?"
Connor's fingers drifted down her arms in a smooth caress. “So far, the phase transference device can only take us to 2080. Best we can tell, it functions more like a wormhole than a time travel machine. As time passes here, in 2018, time also passes in 2080. We can phase exactly sixty-two years into the future, to the day."