Read Online Blood Sins by Kay Hooper - Free Book Online Page B

not.
    Tessa got some tissue and wiped away the blood, conscious now that her head was throbbing and she was chilled to the bone. Neither of those things was something she had ever experienced before while using her abilities.
    Had her own efforts caused it, leaving her vulnerable to damage from the sheer force of the energies in this place? Could it be that simple, that--relatively--unthreatening?
    Or had it been a specific attack, force directed at her?
    She didn't know.
    But either possibility was frightening.
    When she was sure the bleeding had stopped, she splashed water on her face, then dried it with a paper towel, wondering how long she had been in here. Not as long as it seemed, surely, or else Ruth would have been knocking at the door.
    Right on cue, a soft knock fell.
    Tessa gave her reflection one last look, squared her shoulders, and then went to open the restroom door.
    "I'm sorry--I didn't mean to be so long."
    "Oh, no, child, no need to apologize." Ruth's sharp face softened, and she reached out to pat Tessa's shoulder. "I should be the one to say I'm sorry, to have upset you."
    "It wasn't you, honestly. Just . . . I just felt overwhelmed for a few minutes. It happens sometimes."
    "But less and less often. I know, child. I'm a widow myself." "Then you understand." She managed a smile, wondering if it ever got any easier, pretending to be something she wasn't.
    "Of course I understand. Everyone here understands, believe me. We've all faced loss of some kind. Grief. Pain. And we've all found solace here."
    As the older woman took a step back, Tessa came out of the restroom and joined her in the vestibule. She was just about to say something about still being unsure, knowing it would be viewed with suspicion if she seemed to give way and give in too suddenly, when three other people appeared from inside the church, paused near the front doors, then came toward them.
    "Oh, dear," Ruth murmured beneath her breath.
    The obvious cop was the young woman, hardly more than a girl, really, who wore her crisp uniform with an entirely visible pride. But the man on her right was also a cop, if Tessa was any judge, even though he didn't wear a uniform. At least a decade older than the young woman, he was casual in dark slacks and a leather jacket worn over an open-collar shirt. No tie. In fact, the shirt looked somewhat rumpled.
    He looked somewhat rumpled.
    His square jaw was shadowed by a faint beard that probably needed shaving more than once a day, and his dark hair looked as though fingers or wind had ruffled it in the very recent past. But there was nothing untidy or careless about that level, darkeyed gaze.
    Oh, yeah. Definitely a cop.
    Tessa looked at the third person, a tall man with wide shoulders and the most coldly handsome face she had ever seen on something not made of actual stone. He had thick fair hair and pale blue eyes, and even though he was expressionless and without the pleasant, eerily serene smile worn by practically every other person she had seen here, he unquestionably belonged.
    With an effort, Tessa pulled her gaze away from that hard face.
    "Hello, Mrs. Gray," the male cop greeted her. His tone was probably meant to be polite, but nature had given him a rough, gruff voice that rumbled slightly and made his words somewhat abrupt.
    "I'm sorry," she said. "Have we met?"
    "Not officially. I'm Chief Cavenaugh. Sawyer Cavenaugh. I knew your husband."
    Oh, great. That's just great. Because I never met the man.

    Five

    S AWYER WASN'T all that surprised to find Tessa Gray here in the Compound and within the church. A woman in her situation--newly widowed, alone in a strange town, and quite wealthy in terms of property and business--was just the sort of potential church member who would have been on their radar from the day she arrived in Grace.
    Possibly even before she arrived.
    He had intended to warn her but had wanted to give her a week or so to settle in here. And then people had begun going missing,