Wolf Rain (Psy-Changeling Trinity #3) - Nalini Singh Page 0,92

always in the far back of the crowd, but very much present in this chaotic environment that had nothing to do with Silence. A number of changelings and humans went to call hello to Alexei, but most swallowed their cries half-spoken the instant they caught the urgent look on his face.

Others shouted offers of assistance, but Alexei shook his head. The two of them were going too fast, their task too urgent to stop and explain things. But Memory worried. Renault had always worked alone, but he was a telekinetic. If he still had a reserve of energy, he could throw Alexei a great distance.

As if he’d heard her thoughts, Alexei halted when one particular changeling called out, “Lexie! You need help?”

“Yeah!” Alexei called back.

The big, dark-skinned man was with a pretty woman who had old eyes and tawny-gold hair streaked with chocolate brown, a little girl who wore a bow in her hair, and a tall teenaged boy whose slouch had turned into watchful readiness in a matter of heartbeats.

Before Alexei’s friend left his family, she saw him speak quickly to both the boy and a couple of other changelings around them, who had the hard-edged look she’d begun to recognize in changeling soldiers. The tawny-haired woman said something to him right afterward. He touched his fingers to her cheek and smiled at his little girl before cutting through the crowd to join Memory and Alexei.

He moved like a cat, his eyes a feline dark green.

The entire thing had taken less than ten seconds, but the delay panicked Memory. More so when Alexei took another couple of seconds to tell the leopard changeling that they were on the trail of a murderous telekinetic. Memory bit down on her lower lip—the interruption was worth it; Renault would find it much harder to control two changelings and Memory at the same time.

The DarkRiver male fell in behind Memory.

Her face was hot, her body starting to burn up in the midst of the crowd. She wanted to pull off the jacket, but there was no opportunity, no time. Vashti. Vashti. Vashti. She was the only thing that mattered, her life at the mercy of a serial killer.

Suddenly, the coldness inside her burned, the nothingness searing her to the bone. Her hand clenched on Alexei’s. When he glanced at her, strands of his hair falling across his forehead, she pointed silently to the left—toward a small area devoid of people. It wasn’t a street, but a set of steps that led down into darkness.

Chapter 34

Our working hypothesis on this point is that the increase in violence among the Psy is not a result of the fall of Silence, nor is it actually an increase—we are now simply seeing the violence that was previously hidden by those in power. At present, we do not have enough data to either verify or refute the hypothesis.

—Report to Ruling Coalition from Research Group Gamma-X, Silence & Outcomes

STOPPING AT THE top of the steps, Alexei put his lips to her ear. “Down in the basement?”

“Yes. He’s there.” A shiver threatened to wrack her frame, but Memory gritted her teeth and stood firm. She was no victim, wasn’t Renault’s prisoner. She was an E and she had the heart of a lioness.

Alexei looked to his friend. “Clay, I’ll go first—you come right on my tail, take the bastard down if he’s managed to use his Tk against me.” Amber eyes locked with Memory’s. “Chances Vashti is there?”

“High.” Dissimilar to a true teleporter like Vasic Zen, a teleport-capable telekinetic had only a limited store of energy for jumps. Renault wouldn’t waste his when he’d only taken Vashti to get at Memory.

“Your job is to go straight for the girl, get her out while we occupy him.”

Memory nodded and the two men moved ahead of her. The locked door at the bottom wasn’t powerful enough to withstand changeling strength. Alexei went in low, rolling up to his feet in a flash of speed the instant he was beyond the doorway, with Clay a split second behind him.

The nothingness pulsed and a mind reached out to grab her own. She shoved it off with violent strength . . . and the clawing nothing was gone. “He’s teleported!” Memory called out as she ran into the dark space, scanning it wildly.

Terror, pain, panic.

She pounded toward the far corner, going to her knees in front of what proved to be a crumpled body. One of the men turned on a penlight, illuminating the tangled