Megans Mark (Breeds 6)

"How strong is it?" God, he hated this. He could feel her hesitancy. her instinctive rejection of the emotions trying to bombard her.

"Probably mine," she answered with resignation. "I'd rather face the Coyotes and bullets than try this. "

"Let's move in closer. I can't detect any hidden life signs. If they're here, they're below. "

The Coyotes wouldn't anticipate their arrival from above. They would expect them to take the same course into the canyon that Megan would have taken on patrol.

"There're several ways into the canyon from here. " She kept her voice lowered as little by little she forced the mental blocks to recede.

It wasn't easy for her. He could feel the struggle she was waging to drop them, to allow her sensitive brain to pick up whatever emotions leaked

from the canyon below. They were there; he could feel them, just as he could feel the presence of the Coyotes.

"We'll stay high for now. " Bending low, they moved from the shelter of the thick trees, staying parallel to a mass of boulders that appeared to have been dropped like a child's marbles along the top of the canyon.

Megan moved along the edge of the thick pine growth, thankful for the cover of brush as she moved closer to the area where she would have been most vulnerable during patrol.

She couldn't feel the presence of the Coyotes. The dark malevolence that was so much a part of them, the thirst for a blood, was absent. She knew them now, knew the feel of them, the smell of them.

She was aware of Braden moving behind her. The sense of calm, the shield that normally reached out to her wasn't there now. The absence of it sent her pulse racing; the knowledge that she was mentally on her own was almost frightening.

She couldn't feel the Coyotes but the tendrils of violence that reached out from the canyon floor had her chest tightening. Rage. Fear.

She breathed in roughly, fighting to allow it in, to sift past the rage and anger for the core of the emotion. There was always a core. A driving reason behind the pain. But at this distance it would be next to

impossible to detect.

"Mark and Aimee had been here. They knew the Coyotes were following them," she said, her voice rough as she felt him behind her.

He was tense as he covered her. The shields he had allowed her to use before weren't available, but there was something else, a connection, a sense of energy pouring from him into her.

"Let's move back, work our way to the canyon floor and see if there's anything there. Maybe the distance between here and the entrance they used is still too much. "

God, she could feel them already, distant though they were. The shadowy impressions of emotion clenched her chest as the overwhelming grief, the bottomless pit of rage and pain, sought her out. Why had those Breeds been here? What had they wanted from her?

They backtracked quietly. As they neared the upper edge of the cliffs, Megan pointed out the steep trail that led to the canyon floor. The weaving path led between boulders, scrub pine and a multitude of brush.

It wasn't the safest route, but it was relatively secure.

"I'll go ahead of you. " Braden paused at the top of the path, glancing

back at her, his gaze darker, filled with concern.

"Are you doing okay?"

She nodded stiffly. Dropping her barriers, ineffective though they were, was still hard. It wasn't something she was used to doing and her mind was rioting at the vulnerable position she was placing herself in.

"How did you learn to use your shields?’ she asked.

"Most of it is natural instinct. Animals have the ability to sense emotion, to sense danger, while remaining unaffected by it. They know it's there. My abilities are stronger than many of the other Felines. I can drop my shields and sense emotion without feeling it, but I can't pick up specifics. I can pick up the fact that there was death, pain, rage or danger. But I can't sift through the emotions to reach the secrets. "

"And what makes you think I can? She tried to regulate her breathing, to hold back the fear that reached out to her and weaved through her consciousness.

"Observation. " He paused at a particularly steep stretch of the path before moving to the left several feet in search of surer footing. "And the fact that I can feel you drawing on my shields. It stands to reason that you could also draw on my abilities and pick up more. "

"To increase them. " She paused as she stared back at him. "You're going to increase what's already there. "

Breathe. In. Out.