Shards of Hope (Psy-Changeling 14)

It felt as if she’d taken her first real breath in years.

As a result of the work she’d done protecting empaths, thus interacting with them, one of those fragile golden threads had reached out to her and, despite her instinctive defensive reaction, she’d allowed it to connect. She had no desire to end up insane and foaming at the mouth as a result of the infection that had almost destroyed the Net before the empaths created the Honeycomb.

Thinking of the Honeycomb as armor helped her accept it. Knowing that on the other end was an empath with absolutely no survival skills whatsoever helped even further—Zaira had more chance of being eaten alive by scarab beetles than she had of coming under attack by an E whose gift helped create that protective web.

“Tell me when you start to flag,” Aden said, pack back on. “We can’t go far in the dark anyway, especially with no landmarks.”

Zaira knew that had she been uninjured, they would’ve kept going. “I say we put more distance between us and our pursuers regardless.”

They walked in silence, surrounded by trees on every side, with thick shrubs forming the undergrowth—which meant they unavoidably left a trail—and jagged rocks hidden beneath that they tried to avoid. Aden was the one who stopped. “Look.”

Following his arm, she narrowed her eyes to see better. “A cave?” It was more a serrated slash in the rock face, but when they squeezed through, it proved large enough to fit them both. However, the instant they were inside, they shook their heads and moved back out. To be in that cave was to be protected—and to be trapped.

Instead, and keeping an eye on the increasingly ominous cloud cover, they eventually made a shelter at the tangled roots of a forest giant, breaking off branches from a nearby fir tree to create a carpet and then a kind of tent. Zaira ate the energy bars Aden gave her, made sure he ate his share, and forced him to drink half of one of the high-density nutrient drinks from the med kit.

“You’re no use to me dead or hypothermic,” she said when he told her to finish it. “Drink it.”

Filling the empty bottle with water from a nearby stream, Aden put it back in the pack and lay down beside her. Snug against one another in the small space they’d deliberately structured that way to maximize heat retention, she said, “How did they take you?” Aden was as experienced as she was, and while she was the more deadly in one-on-one combat, he was smarter when it came to tactics. No one should’ve been able to outmaneuver him.

“Blitz attack,” he said. “Four men hit me on a city street in the split second while I was out of public view—they came in shooting. I took a stun to the face.”

That explained the spreading bruise on the right-hand side of his face. “They respected your skill more than mine.”

“That’s why you’ve always been so dangerous. People see you and think woman first and soldier second.”

“I used to think my shape a hindrance before I realized the effect it had on males.” At a height of five feet and two inches, she was relatively short, and while she was in lethal shape, her body tended toward curves rather than straight lines. “Now I see it as camouflage.” The soft, unthreatening exterior hiding a razored blade that could cut your throat and not blink.

“Good.” Aden put his hand on her forehead. “Your temperature is slightly elevated. Rest.”

Tired from the continued pain in her gut and aware she had to become stronger if she was to function as his backup, she didn’t argue. “Will you take first watch?”

When he said, “Yes,” she closed her eyes and went to sleep. Because Aden was the one being on the planet she trusted never to harm her. He was too irrational to be sensible.

Chapter 4

“IT’S CONFIRMED? THE Arrows have escaped?” That was the last thing the organization needed.

“They won’t get far,” said the blunt-faced man who was the leader of the cleanup squad. “At least one is badly injured, from the report we received before it went to shit. Bandage we found inside was soaked with fresh blood. She’ll die soon and save us the trouble of hunting her down.”

“Arrows don’t worry about camaraderie so she’s probably already been dumped to survive on her own.” The group of elite assassins was composed of piercingly intelligent and highly trained rabid dogs who’d do anything to complete a mission—or to survive capture. Leaving an injured squadmate behind wouldn’t even be a question. “The retrieval of her body isn’t a priority.” Zaira Neve was no longer useful. “Concentrate on Aden Kai.”

The human male on the other side of the screen chewed the tobacco he insisted on using, and spit out the yellow-brown residue in a disgusting display. “Yeah, well, he won’t survive long, either. Massive storm front’s about to hit the mountains and he’s got nowhere to go.”

That, at least, was true. The group had chosen the location in part because of the privacy afforded by its inaccessibility. “Continue tracking.” The only way to be certain an Arrow was dead was to see the corpse.

“I will, but I need to know if I have authorization to take terminal action if necessary.”

“Yes, but only if you can’t contain him.” Once broken, Aden Kai could be a critical intelligence asset. “Do not use the fail-safe solution. Not yet.”

“No offense,” said the tobacco-chewing subhuman creature, “but I was told real strict to only take orders from the whole group when it came to this kind of a decision, never just one of you.”