CARESSED BY ICE

Greg shoved at Riley’s arm but couldn’t break away. “She was wearing a robe, for crissakes!” he choked out. “What else was I supposed to think when she crooked a finger and told me to close the door?”


The image did something inside of Judd, broke one of the vital chains of control. He could suddenly feel Greg’s heart as if it lay in his hand, the beat rapid and panicked. One hard squeeze and— Hawke put an arm on Riley’s, breaking Judd’s line of sight. “He’s telling the truth about the robe at least. Let him talk.”

Riley didn’t budge. “Did she say no? And don’t you lie to me.”

The chain slipped again. “Tell us or I smash your brain.” He made the words matter-of-fact because they were. “You’ll be lucky if you can feed yourself afterward.” Moving up from the heart, he wrapped power around Greg’s skull. And began to apply pressure.

Utter terror rolled through the other male’s eyes. “Hawke, stop him!”

The alpha’s gaze met Judd’s. “Don’t kill him yet. We need to know what happened.”

Greg started speaking on the heels of that pronouncement. “I swear she didn’t say no! I kissed her and went to put my hand on her shoulder. That was when she freaked. Clawed me before I could move. I didn’t even push her, I was so busy trying to get out before she punctured my eyeballs or something.”

Riley released Greg. He dropped to the floor, coughing. At the same instant, Hawke looked at Judd, the pale silver-blue of his eyes more wolf than human. “She won’t let anyone near her, including Lara. Lara’s gone to try and track down Sascha.” White lines bracketed his mouth. “We’d force our way in but every time we try, she screams so damn hard we’re afraid of damaging her.”

Any more than she’s already been damaged. Judd saw the unspoken judgment on all their agonized faces. His resolve firmed into granite. “I can pull her out.”

Andrew made an angry move toward him, but Hawke pushed him back before Judd could. He wasn’t going to play stupid games when Brenna’s sanity was at stake. But he couldn’t teleport in—seeing him use telekinesis would only enrage her.

“You sure?” Hawke shoved Andrew back a second time. “She was pissed with you to begin with.”

Which was why she’d gone after this useless excuse for a male sniveling at their feet. But, a still clearheaded part of him pointed out, such an act of betrayal wasn’t in Brenna’s nature. It simply did not fit. “I have a better chance than any of you.”

“Why? Because you’re one of the psychopathic race that did this to her?” Andrew again, anger and frustrated protectiveness combined.

“I’ve walked in her darkness.” It had been an unavoidable side effect of the healing process. He’d fed power to Sascha through a telepathic link, but that link had in turn fed him the horrifying agony of Brenna’s memories. He’d thought the experience had had no impact. He’d been wrong. “I know what to say to bring her back.”

No one got in his way after that. Before opening Brenna’s door, he halted and turned to Greg. “You say a single word about any of this, you die.” No room for negotiation.

Greg’s eyes bulged. “I won’t tell, I swear.”

Turning, Judd put his hand on the knob, pushed it open, and stepped inside. She came at him in a silent hail of teeth and claws, slamming his body against the door and causing it to shut with a violent bang. He grabbed her wrists barely in time to save his eyes.

His hold made her fury go from red to molten. Restraints, he realized at once. Santano Enrique had used restraints on her. “Retract your claws and I’ll let you go.” He made his tone adamantine, so hard it was pure unbreakable metal.

Still eerily silent, she tried to use her legs to trip him up, but he was too fast, shifting his stance before she could get a lever. It made her shove forward in a rush of angry energy, the razor-sharp blades of her claws coming an inch closer before he stopped her. There was nothing sane looking back at him from the wild blue-brown of her fractured eyes. The Brenna he knew had retreated to a safe haven in her mind, the same place that had allowed her to survive Enrique. The rest of her was trapped in memories of brutalization.

Sascha could’ve taken those memories from her, but Brenna had been resolute—she wanted her scars. And as if to prove that those scars didn’t weaken her, she’d recovered with such spirit that she’d turned herself into a miracle. But the very speed of her recovery had worried both Sascha and Lara. The two healers had been concerned about a possible relapse—but no one could’ve predicted this.