Allegiance of Honor (Psy-Changeling #15) - Nalini Singh Page 0,67
Dorian was hurt. Already Lucas would be tracking Dorian’s vehicle, trying to contact him. He’d call it an instinctive awareness; Sascha knew it was an unconscious psychic link. Different from those made by the Psy but a psychic link nonetheless.
Lucas would also already be attempting to contact Sascha, but her phone was buried in the bottom of her handbag, and she’d pushed mute on the car’s mobile comm the instant the car came to a halt. She couldn’t risk an interruption to her concentration. She also couldn’t split her energies enough to reassure Lucas through the mating bond. He’d understand.
After this was over, he’d know why she’d done what she had.
All those thoughts passed through her mind in the split seconds it took her to calibrate it to send out a crippling wave of horror and terror: a concentrated dose of the worst nightmares given potent form. In front of her car, the assault team fell almost as one, their weapons lying unheeded around them as they curled up and screamed and screamed, their hands at their ears in a futile attempt to block the empathic pulse.
Two turned over onto their sides and vomited.
It was just as well that Naya wasn’t tall enough to see through the windscreen. Sascha had already opaqued the window next to Naya; she’d also blocked a large percentage of her baby’s audio channels, leaving only enough that Naya wouldn’t be scared and could still hear her mother. Now she turned to smile at her child while actually looking out through the back window to see if Dorian was still trapped inside his vehicle.
The doors of the truck that had hit him were open. One man lay crumpled by the driver’s side door, while others lay on the road between her car and the truck. They’d planned to box her in on every side. She didn’t really care about their plans; her attention was on Dorian.
Because the sentinel had managed to climb out of his mangled Jeep.
He was limping badly but was mobile.
Stopping partway on his walk to her, he lifted what looked like a phone to his ear.
When her phone rang heartbeats later, the sound dull, she snatched up the handbag she’d left on the passenger seat and dug through it with frantic hands. There! “Dorian, are you okay?”
Naya gave a big sigh of relief. “Dori!”
Focused on the sentinel as she was, Sascha felt the deep stab of pain that pulsed through Dorian as her cub’s innocent cry traveled through the line. “Sascha?” His voice was gritty.
“Yes?”
“Can you shield me?”
Her eyes widened. “How are you still standing?” She immediately pushed a shield around his mind to block out her own broadcast. “I was hoping you were too far away.” And that he’d forgive her if he caught the edge of it—she’d had to make certain she caught the assailants in the truck so they couldn’t hurt him while he was pinned down.
“I knew it was you,” Dorian said and, voice suddenly far less strained, gave her a wave. “And it was nothing like what these fuckers are apparently feeling. I’m guessing the fact you’re connected to me through our web has something to do with it.”
“I’ll come—”
“No, stay inside the car. Keep the squirt company and tell her Dori says hello.” As she watched, he nudged a fallen assailant with the foot of his injured leg. “These bastards are all down and fucked.” He sounded pleased by that. “How long can you keep it up? Should I incapacitate?” He had a gun in hand, aimed it at a pair of kneecaps as she watched.
Sweat broke out over Sascha’s spine as she thought about what she’d done and what Dorian was asking her. But she had to see this through—the threat to Naya and to Dorian remained. “I can keep it up until help arrives.” It was the first burst that took the most energy. Though she couldn’t keep up the pulse forever, or even an hour, she knew she wouldn’t need to. “Is Lucas on his way?”
“Yes,” Dorian replied. “With half the pack—from every direction.”
That proved to not be too much of an exaggeration. First, however, came multiple humans who lived in the area and who wanted to render assistance. They’d staggered out despite catching the edge of Sascha’s blast. When she quickly pulled back the radius, belatedly realizing the extent of her reach, they ran inside their homes and raced back out with rope to help tie up the assault team.