Wolf Rain (Psy-Changeling Trinity #3) - Nalini Singh Page 0,120
case of our race, the price for our abilities is immense mental darkness—and each time we attempt to escape that price, it gets worse.”
True enough, Kaleb thought. Inside him lived a twisted and quite mad creature, the boy who’d been broken and warped before he’d ever had a chance to grow. He’d found an anchor to sanity in Sahara, the girl who’d never seen in him a monster. Take her away from him, however, and he would devastate the world.
“How big is the threat?” Aden’s mind was intensely shielded, his connection to a fellow Arrow concealed either by habit or because Arrows liked to keep their secrets. “What percentage of the population?”
It was Nikita who responded. “Extrapolating from the Scarab data, less than one-sixteenth of a percent.”
A minuscule number. There was just one problem. “A single insane Gradient 9 can cause catastrophic chaos.”
Unspoken agreement from all the minds in the vault.
“Did the reports you unearthed offer a way to identify affected Psy before they go critical?” Aden asked with Arrow practicality.
Both Nikita and Anthony answered in the negative.
What, Kaleb thought, would it be like to wake up one day with your mind infinitely more vast than when you went to sleep? A mind strong enough to grab hold of an Arrow’s and force that highly trained black ops soldier to act against his will and against his own self-interest. A mind that understood its own descent into the abyss.
Chapter 45
If a wolf invites you to play, just ask where and when. You won’t be sorry. Depending on your playmate, you might also end up naked.
—From the April 2075 issue of Wild Woman magazine: “Skin Privileges, Style & Primal Sophistication”
MEMORY SAT SILENT and cold in the passenger seat as Alexei drove to the compound. She ached deep within, and it had nothing to do with physical pain—she felt bruised by her contact with the murderous psychic hunter. How could she feel sorry for that horrible man who’d hurt Yuri and Abbot and who wanted to murder her designation? Yet she did.
Something in that warped mind had reached her empathic core.
What did that make her?
They were nearly at the compound when Alexei went to take her hand, put it on his thigh.
Flinching, Memory pulled away.
No growl, only a distinctly wolfish motionlessness. “You going to talk to me?”
Memory shook her head.
“Yeah, well, tough luck.” Alexei’s primal power filled the SUV. “You’re allowed to sulk, but not to hurt inside that way.”
Memory bristled. “Who are you to give me orders about what I can and can’t feel?”
His growl filled the entire inside of the vehicle, making the tiny hairs on her arms stand up and her heart kick. Her blood heated, a red-hot fire sweeping through the darkness. “I have told you not to growl at me.”
He bared his teeth at her. “And if I do?”
Narrowing her eyes, she hit him with a wave of puppies and rainbows and sparkle.
He hissed out a breath. “That’s just mean.”
“You started it.” She folded her arms across her chest and stopped the barrage of happiness. “I want to brood, so leave me alone.”
The damn wolf actually chuckled.
Glaring out the windscreen, she decided to ignore him. She was so focused on the conflicting emotions inside her that it took her a while to realize they should’ve reached the compound by now.
“Where are you going?” she demanded.
“Wherever I want,” said the infuriating man in the driver’s seat.
Even the barrage of sickly sweet happiness she aimed at him just made him grit his teeth and keep going. Until at last he brought the vehicle to a stop in the middle of nowhere, the forest silvered by moonlight around them and no signs of habitation in sight. She sat stubbornly in the passenger seat even after he hopped out.
Opening her door, he let in the cool night air. “Want to see something wonderful?”
“No.” She tightened her folded arms.
Pulling at her curls, he said, “Bad-tempered lioness.” When she didn’t respond to that provocation, he leaned in closer. “Come play.” The rough-voiced request made her stomach clench, a shiver threatening to roll over her body.
He nuzzled at her curls before drawing back and beginning to strip off his clothes. Memory wasn’t superhuman; she looked. And his body . . . For the first time, she understood that saying about swallowing your tongue. No one that perfectly chiseled and golden could be real. He had to be an illusion.
She didn’t realize she’d reached out a hand to brush her fingers against his chest until