CARESSED BY ICE

“Kindred souls.” She was even closer, as if she couldn’t stay away.

Neither could he, despite the fact that he could sense the cascade of fine blood vessels bursting and being repaired instantaneously inside his skull. His Tk-Cell abilities were keeping up with the damage. Just. “We, all three of us, want to protect the Psy from the biggest threat since Silence.” Though Xavier Perez’s motive remained a mystery, the man’s loyalty was unquestionable. “Protocol I will lead to the destruction of the young—their minds will be cut into, their individual identities destroyed.”

Brenna’s hand curled around his, separated only by the blanket. He felt her warmth. It wasn’t enough. He was starving for her, a clawing, almost animal hunger inside him.

“Judd—I smell blood.” She jerked upright and reached to switch on a lamp.

He stopped her with his other hand. “It’s just a nosebleed.”

A small silence, then she pulled away from him. “No.” A pained whisper. “It’ll kill you if we don’t stop being together.”

He wiped away the blood with the sleeve of his turtleneck, able to tell it was dark and rich. “There is another option, as you once said. I have to disable the Protocol.” And somehow keep from turning into an inadvertent murderer.





CHAPTER 38


The first body was found twenty-four hours after the Council meeting. The young male—who turned out to have been an inmate at a pre-Rehabilitation Center prior to his early and unexpected release—had died of massive neurological trauma.

Kaleb put down the report and turned to look at Nikita, who was staring out at the city of San Francisco. They were in the office area of her private penthouse, safe from prying eyes. “They’re tying up the loose ends.”

Nikita shook her head. “The autopsy showed a localized implosion in the segment of his brain that would have held the implant. It failed and destroyed itself in the process.”

Kaleb wasn’t so certain. “The timing’s too convenient.”

“Yes. There is that.”

“Either way, it appears the problem is being buried.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Nikita’s voice was low, measured. “Ming has to have his suspicions if not outright proof. He’ll withdraw his support of any further propositions on the part of the Scotts.”

“Do you think they were foolish enough to have themselves implanted?”

“If the implants are indeed failing, we’ll know the answer soon enough.”

Kaleb nodded, looking out at the morning sun glittering off the water that edged this city. He couldn’t help comparing it to his landlocked home. Two very disparate cities, but power felt the same whether here or there.





CHAPTER 39


Brenna’s heart was a twisted knot of pain and fury when she ran into Hawke the next day. Damn the Council for putting that poison into Judd’s brain. Touch and emotion were the cornerstone of who she was, but they were toxic to him. He’d left early this morning, saying he had to consider how to break the chains of Silence without becoming a danger to her or anyone else, but she was no longer sure that that was the right thing to do—what if the attempt proved lethal?

Hawke frowned when he saw her. “What’s the matter?”

A sense of pure strength, unvarnished dominance, came over her. It didn’t feel like her—as her previous episodes hadn’t felt like her. Shaking off her panic that the madness was returning, she said, “Nothing.”

“Come on, darling, you doing okay?” A rough question.

She put her arms around him. “I need a hug.” He immediately gave her what she wanted. She sniffed, knowing this was a side of Hawke the soldier males and females never saw. “Can I ask you something?”

He rubbed a hand over her back. “Go on.”

“Why haven’t you taken a mate?”

He went still around her. “Where did that come from?”

“The subject of mating’s been on my mind,” she said truthfully. “I got to thinking what a good mate you’d make, but only for a woman tough enough to take you on.” He was an alpha wolf and he could get brutal, but she somehow knew he’d never harm a hair on his mate’s head. Just like her fallen Arrow.

“You know mating isn’t that simple.”

She knew. The same way she knew that something was “missing” between her and Judd, something important. Yet he was hers. She refused to believe he wasn’t her mate. “Lots of people take permanent partners when they don’t find a mate by a certain age.” Mating was a magical, wonderful thing, but fulfilling relationships could be had aside from it.

Hawke chuckled. “I’m only thirty-two, not quite in my dotage.”

She snarled softly. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. I hear the women talking, you know. They say you don’t even attempt to form long-term relationships, that as soon as anyone tries to get even a little possessive, you move on.”