When Ronan remained silent, Cope continued, “Like I said, people were all around us in close quarters, like in a crowded store or a subway train. I didn’t feel anything threatening about the people. It could be one of the people had a grudge against Ten or was going to hurt him in some way. I didn’t recognize anyone and the kids weren’t there.”
“That doesn’t give us a lot to go on,” Fitz said on a sigh.
Cope shook his head sadly, seeming to agree with Fitzgibbon. “The vision seemed to only be a moment in time. What I was seeing was there and gone in a flash, but my gift told me Ten was dead scared. When I tried to push my gift further, everything stopped.”
“What do you mean, everything stopped?” Ronan asked, feeling more confused than ever.
“The vision faded and my gift went blank. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to gather more information that would help us figure out what the hell is going on here.” Cope reached a shaking hand out to Jude, who took it in both of his.
“Did you get the feeling something or someone was trying to stop you from seeing more than you did?” Jude asked, looking scared.
“I don’t know. It all happened too fast. I wish I were a better witness.” Cope wore a distressed look.
“You’re doing just fine,” Jude said.
Ronan disagreed. There were two other psychics sitting downstairs and the fact that no one else saw anything or was able to provide more information on his husband’s possible death was absolutely infuriating. His hands bunched into fists and he felt his anger rising.
“Take a breath,” Ten said softly. “Carson and Cole didn’t see or sense anything. Neither has Everly. It’s no one’s fault, Ronan. We have to move forward and hope more information comes to light.”
“So we just wait for some unknown assailant to shoot or stab one of us? For some rogue wave to sweep you out to sea or an out-of-control car to flatten the kids? For you to fall down the stairs or die in a house fire?” Ronan was out of control and he knew it. He wanted to punch something. To scream and slam things around and demand that Cope find the answers they needed to stop whatever had its sights set on Tennyson and their family.
“All we can do is wait,” Ten said. “I’ll talk to Everly when she gets home from school and see if there’s anything she’s been able to see. I’ve also got a call out to Madam Aurora. In the meantime, River’s family gets here in a few days. Let’s focus on that and the upcoming circus performance, okay?”
“Okay, Ronan agreed, lying through his teeth. Nothing was okay. Nothing was going to be okay until he was able to save Ten from the unknown horror stalking his husband. Hell, for all Ronan knew who or whatever the danger was could be coming for him and the kids. For their friends and neighbors, as well.
As much as Ronan hated to agree with Tennyson’s suggestion, all they could do was wait. But make no mistake, Ronan would be ready and waiting for whatever the hell was coming for his husband.
4
Tennyson
The next several days had flown past in a flash. Ten had suffered through two more nightmares, but neither had provided any more information about what was to come. All he saw was a flash of the pink dress. Cope, Cole, and Carson weren’t able to glean any new information from Tennyson, and Everly was also at a loss, which was a larger concern.
Ten always assumed the hardest talk he’d ever have with Everly would be about the birds and the bees. He never imagined having to sit down with his six year old daughter and ask if she’d seen something ominous coming for her father. Thankfully, or maybe not, Everly hadn’t seen anything to do with Ten’s dreams. She did, however, provide one additional piece of information. Everly felt like her gift wasn’t working. She’d been able to read Ten from the time she started to talk, so this was definitely a new, and unexpected, development.
Wanting to put the dream out of his mind, Ten had spent the last few days getting ready for River’s family to arrive. He’d stocked the fridge and pantry at his and Kaye’s house with Brooke’s favorite snacks, plenty of diapers for baby Delta, along with thick steaks and chicken for the grill. It might only be February, but in their house, every season was grilling season.
“Did you know dreaming about death don’t mean you’re going to die?” Ronan asked, startling Ten out of his head.
“What?” Ten asked. He’d been standing at the picture window in the living room waiting for River’s car to arrive from the airport. “It’s not even for certain that my nightmare is about death, mine or anyone else’s.”
Ronan, continued, seemingly undeterred, “According to the great and wonderful Google, dreams about death don’t mean you’re going to die. They can signal change is coming or that you’ll have some sort of personal growth.” Ronan looked down at his phone and tapped several times. “You could also have unresolved emotions that are triggering these dreams. What do you think?”
Ten raised an eyebrow at his husband. It wasn’t like Ronan to put stock in dream interpretation. Or even to research it. He’d always felt that something was real if he could reach out and touch it. Doing all of this reading told Ten that his husband was more worried about the dreams than he’d let on. “Those kinds of dreams can also signal fear of change.”
“You read the same article?” Ronan asked.
“Seems that way.” Ten stepped away from the window and wrapped his arms around Ronan. “I appreciate you doing everything in your power to help figure out what’s going on. The answer to this situation is going to reveal itself in due time.”
“Is ‘in due time’ before or after you’re lying dead in a crumpled heap?” Ronan offered a hard stare, but stayed quiet.
“I don’t know.” Ten sighed. He hated not having any answers as much as Ronan did, but at least he had a better way of handling the situation.
“How the hell can you be so calm about this?” Ronan asked, sounding edgy.
Ten sighed. “Because there’s nothing I can do about it.” He casually lifted one shoulder, as if he couldn’t care less. It wasn’t the case, but he didn’t have the energy to go through this all over again with River expected to arrive at any second.
“Nothing you can do?” Ronan roared. “How about taking precautions to protect yourself? Or seeing every damned psychic in town until someone offers an actual answer? You sound like you’re content to sit and wait to fucking die!”
