trying to scare me and tell me how we get past this."
The gold flecks disappeared from Judd's eyes, the irises going pure black and merging into the pupils. She sucked in a breath but held her ground.
"When I was ten and not yet fully conditioned," he told her, "I had a spike of temper. It was directed at a boy who had taken the ball I was using to practice my Tk skills. He was dead before he hit the ground. The autopsy found that his brain had exploded from the inside out. His name was Paul, his ability was Medical, and he was eight years old."
"Oh, God, Judd." She went to embrace him, but he held up a hand to stop her.
"Your proximity tests my control and right now, it wouldn't take much to push me over the edge. One mistake and they'll be burying you tomorrow." A stark warning.
She could feel the unacknowledged pain in him as if it was her own. "You were a child, with a child's lack of control."
"And now I'm an adult with total control, but Silence is at the core of that control." The pure black of his eyes met hers, wouldn't let her look away. "I will never choose to fully breach it."
"I won't accept that." The trapped wolf in her bared its teeth at the very idea. "What did your subdesignation do before Silence?" Hope took root in her heart.
"They were either hermits, in jail, or dead." His blunt statement held the destructive force of hard truth, stifling all hope. "I've done my homework, Brenna." A cold Psy reprimand but those eyes...they spoke of passion and need. "Those who realized what they were early enough separated themselves from society and spent their lives ensuring they never came into contact with other sentient beings."
The inhuman loneliness of such a life shook her.
"The ones who weren't so lucky ended up killing by accident. However, because the nature of their abilities meant that all such killings took place during childhood, Tk-Cells weren't incarcerated but given training and a second chance." His eyes went even more black, something she wouldn't have believed possible a second ago.
"Some chose the hermit's way," he continued. "The remainder tried to lead normal lives but inevitably ended up taking another life in a flash of thoughtless rage - wife, neighbor, child. At which point, most of them chose to stop their own hearts. Those who didn't were locked into isolation cells for the rest of their natural lives, their minds chained so even the PsyNet was closed to them."
Brenna understood responsibility and punishment, but what Judd was describing was a kind of vicious cruelty. "How could they do that to - "
"We felt then, Brenna. The Psy felt everything. The imprisoned Tk-Cells wanted to suffer, wanted to spend eternity reliving the nightmare of killing what they most loved." Moving closer, he continued his relentless barrage. "There have never been very many of us - the scientists' favorite theory is that we occur by spontaneous mutation. That's the only explanation for our continued existence, given the fact that our genes are rarely passed on, especially under Silence. We don't make reproduction agreements. We don't father children. We don't mate."
She felt as if he'd slapped her. But instead of pain, her dominant emotion was anger. "So you're going to let fear drive you? You're choosing the isolation of Silence as your own personal cage! How can you do that to us?"
Those unearthly eyes were so close, she could see the reflection of her own furious expression in their depths. "I'd rather watch you take a lover than die at my hands."
She knew how much those words must've tortured him. Even now, the air was staining bloodred with anger. "And would you let that man live?" she whispered.
No response. That gave her hope even when hope seemed impossible. "Then we fight, Judd." She dared to place her hand gently on his chest. He flinched but didn't move away. "We fight until every avenue is closed and then we dig under the roadblocks. Because I am not walking away from us." Strong words, but she was shaking. He could destroy her with a few careless comments.
"You're the strongest, most determined woman I know." He played his fingers along the strands of her hair. "You'd make mincemeat out of a lesser man. It's a good thing you belong to me."
Relief almost collapsed her knees. "Not funny."
"I'm serious." Something very male moved over his face. "If