She could barely breathe. "Really?"
"Yes. It's done. You can't get out." His fingers tightened on her hip.
"Get out?" She wanted to laugh, but couldn't find enough air to make the sound. "Vaughn, I was scared I was imagining it because I wanted it so much."
His fingers relaxed. "Good."
"How does it work?"
"I don't know. It's the first time for me, too."
"Oh." That strange ache inside of her intensified.
"But I do know it'll keep you alive after you drop out of the PsyNet."
"One changeling mind can't give a Psy brain the feedback it needs. Experiments have proven that conclusively." She shook her head, nails digging into his skin. "I won't kill you to keep myself alive."
"Trust me?"
She did, so much. "Always."
"Then don't worry about it."
"You can't provide the necessary biofeedback," she insisted. "It's psychically impossible."
He kissed her. "Trust, Red. Trust doesn't have any logic or sense."
"I trust you with my life." Placing a kiss on the hard angle of his jaw, she raised her lashes to meet his eyes. "But I'm not sure I trust you with yours." Because she knew how protective the cat was, how possessive.
A slow smile curved over his lips. "Oh, no, Red. I'm planning on living a long, long time now that I've got me a mate who'll satisfy my every need." His fingers lingered on the swell of her buttocks, that wicked smile accompanied by images of -
"Not on my knees," she said, more to tease than anything.
"What if I licked you into submission?" His fingers dipped to stroke lower, hotter places. "Would you go down on your knees then?"
"Perhaps." She felt her breathing start to alter. "You're trying to distract me from the point."
"No, Red. I'm trying to make you see." He stopped teasing her with his fingers. "If I die because of the feedback, then so will you. I'm not letting that happen." Grim determination in every word.
"The protections are holding. I could stay linked and download more data."
"Don't be scared of letting go."
She drew circles on his chest. "The PsyNet is so beautiful, so alive."
"But it's time for you to cut away from it. You know that."
"Yes." The second she was found missing, NightStar guards would be sent to locate her on the psychic plane and haul her back in. Whatever it took. That was if the Council didn't decide to do the job itself - she hadn't forgotten those cloaked martial minds.
Arrows.
Assassins.
In her case, they'd probably attempt containment. But she'd rather die than be incarcerated.
"I've got you." A callused hand pushed strands of hair off her face to cup her cheek.
The unexpected tenderness wrenched at the heart of her, and deep within her mind, she saw the bond pulse. But then it stopped. A frown forming before she could Silence it, she looked inward. "I can't experience the bond in its entirety until I cut the Net link."