“Ah. Brats are jealous.”
Lips curving at the thought of the two little boys who’d brought joy into her life from the instant she’d met them, she nodded. “I cuddled them and told them I’d still be their Aunt Sascha. But I don’t think they were convinced until I told them they’d be bigger than the baby—so they could look after it.”
“Sneaky.” A sharp grin. “Jules, I think, is going to grow up a dominant. Looking after people is an irresistible lure.”
“What about Roman? He was just as, or even more, excited by the idea.”
“It’s hard to say for sure, but I think Rome is going to follow in Tammy’s footsteps. And healers love taking care of people.”
Sascha’s eyes widened at the realization that Lucas was right. Roman had the same calm energy as his mother, though his was overlayered with a vibrant childish joy. “Does that happen often? Healers coming from the same family?”
Lucas gave a small nod. “Tammy’s family tree has supplied a healer at least every second generation. My mom’s side of the family is more sporadic, but we do have a relatively high rate. There are still a few that turn up out of the blue.”
“You know,” Sascha said slowly, “it could be that healers come from the same genetic tree as M-Psy. I don’t know about Tammy’s, but your family definitely had Psy members.”
“Could be.” Sliding into the exit lane, he glanced over at her. “What about this kid, Cruz? He doing okay?”
“Better than okay.” Sascha couldn’t hide her pride. “He’s so smart, Lucas. I teach him something once, and it’s like this.” She snapped her fingers. ”He’s a natural.”
“Good, the faster he learns to protect himself, the better.”
“You’re worried about the Council?”
Lucas gave a small nod. “Dev thinks Shine’s managed to keep the true strength of some of their people under the radar, but he wants us to be extra careful.”
“I don’t blame him,” Sascha said, a wave of anger building beneath the surface of her skin. “After what they did to Jon and Noor.”
“We’re almost there, kitten.” A brush of his knuckles over her cheek. “You said Cruz needs absolute stability.”
Nodding, she took a deep breath and began to settle her emotions step by slow step. But one thing continued to worry her. “I felt Katya that first time we went to see Cruz.” She tried not to intrude, but her ability was so much a part of her, she invariably picked up emotional resonances—especially when those emotions were so viciously strong. “She’s keeping so much inside—it must physically hurt.”
Lucas took almost a minute to reply. “She’s strong,” he finally answered. “There’s a granite will in there.”
“Dev is strong, too.”
A swift glance from panther green eyes. “You picked that up, too?”
“Hard to miss the intensity between them. But . . .”
“But?”
She dropped her head back against the seat. “I’m so scared for them, Lucas. Because no matter how hard I try, I just can’t see how they could ever find a happy ending.”
CHAPTER 38
Ming continued to work as something pinged against his mental shields. It was nothing, simply a reminder that Ekaterina Haas was still alive. He hadn’t expected her to last this long—but then again, humans were weak, easily manipulated. And the Forgotten had become more and more human with the passage of time.
Perhaps the little sleeper would complete her task after all.
Putting the unimportant project out of his mind, he concentrated on the problem at hand. Aden, he said, telepathing directly to the medic in charge of monitoring the Arrow Squad’s response to Jax, How many Arrows have reacted negatively to the Jax regimen in the past six months?
The response came almost at once, Aden’s primary talent being telepathy. Seven. We can’t afford to lose that many.
Ming agreed. Arrows were highly trained, many from childhood. There were never more than two hundred overall, and currently, the number of active Arrows had dropped to a hundred and sixty. Are you close to resolving the issue?
Something like this happened with Judd Lauren.
Ming recognized the name at once as that of the lone Tk-Cell who’d survived to adulthood in the past generation. Judd Lauren’s ability to literally stop the cells of the body had made him an invaluable assassin. Wasn’t he taken off Jax?
Yes. Along with most of the other Tks. They all functioned as well without it—telekinetics seem to only need a very short stay on the regimen. Aden didn’t elaborate but Ming didn’t need him to—he knew that after a certain period, the pathways of the brain set permanently, making the use of the drug redundant.
Will that solution work in this case? he asked.