Wolf Rain (Psy-Changeling Trinity #3)(124)

In a final insult, the family had spent a large amount of cash to obscure her birth and place her at a different point in the Marshall family tree. As far as the world was concerned, Pax had been a single birth, his sister born a year later. “Better for you if the PsyNet doesn’t see you linked with such a weak mind,” their grandfather had said to Pax while Theo was standing right next to him. “Perception shapes power.”

It had been their seventh birthday. He and Theo hadn’t lived in the same home since.

Pax kept an eye on her, made sure she was never out of funds and that no one was abusing her because of her low status in the family, but the two of them weren’t siblings, not really. “I need you to Harmonize.” It had taken him years to find the official word for what they did; it had been buried in moldy historical documents in the family archives.

Turned out twins in the Marshall line had a history of the phenomenon.

Her eyebrows came together, the nascent frown another sign of her “weakness”—per their parents’ relentless pronouncements when they’d been children. Pax had tried to defend her, but that only led to more punishment for her, so he’d stopped. Instead, the second he could hide it from their parents, he’d begun to boost her shields so no one would see that her Silence was fragmented. It was a fact the two of them never discussed.

Now Silence had fallen and his twin no longer needed the one connection between them.

“Harmonize? What are—” Eyes widening, she stepped inside, holding the door so he could follow. “What is your problem?” she said in a hard tone after they were behind the privacy of the closed door. “You broke Silence, learned what it means to be amused, and decided to come play with poor, pathetic Theo?”

“I need help because I’m going mad.” She deserved the truth.

Theo stared at him. “Pax, you have a mind like a razor. Remember?”

Another wall between them, their Psy Councilor grandfather castigating her while praising him. “Look. See.” It was the first time since early childhood that either one of them had invited the other in.

Theo balked. “I don’t know what game you’re playing—”

“Look, Theo. Please.”

He actually saw a tremor run through her at the last word. “Fine.” Teeth gritted, she made mental contact, slipping through his shields because he let her.

He showed her all of it.

Her face was bloodless when she emerged. “The Arrows can’t help you,” she whispered. “That’s not what they do.”

“I know.” Pax found the words to explain. “I think a certain E might be able to help, but she needs to know I’m not a monster.”

Theo’s lips twisted. “Always the manipulator.”

Pax didn’t correct her. He did always think five steps ahead . . . except in madness. “There’s also a chance no one can help me.” If so, he’d no longer be around to protect Theo. “I’ve set up an account for you. I’m telepathing you the details. I’ll warn you before I terminate myself so you can get out.” Their vicious family would massacre her otherwise, simply for being born into the direct line of power, even if she didn’t want that power.

Theo ignored everything he’d said. “How do we know if the—what did you call it?—Harmonizing, still works? We only did it a couple of times as children.”

The first had been when they’d discovered a dying bird on the lawn, the second after they’d escaped their parents while in a care facility; their mother and father had gone there to check on the status of a badly injured relative. Pax and Theo had ended up in the room of a coma patient.

They’d been separated for a month after each incident—because Theo’s psychic abilities had flatlined dramatically, and so had Pax’s. Their parents didn’t know what they’d done, but they knew the twins needed to be together for it. After that, Pax and Theo were monitored constantly on the PsyNet to ensure no connections ever took place.

“I don’t know,” he answered. “But I have no other option. Will you help?”

Theo stared at him for a long time before nodding. Because when their conscience had been divided in the womb, she’d gotten the lion’s share.



* * *



? ? ?

ADEN’S direct call code was one he shared rarely with those outside the squad. However, since signing the Trinity Accord, the squad had provided a way for others to contact them. Trinity was about building a stable world that was a true triumvirate, Psy, humans, and changelings working as a unit. That couldn’t happen without open lines of communication.

Pax Marshall had never taken advantage of that contact option until now. Neither had he ever asked to meet with the squad. But Aden knew who he was—the head of the Marshall empire. A powerful business unit, but one with no obvious military ties since the assassination of their last patriarch. Below the surface, however, Pax had access to a very well-trained black ops team.

“Pax,” Aden said when he met the Gradient 9 telepath on an isolated outcrop above the crashing ocean. “This is unexpected.”

The arctic blue of Pax Marshall’s eyes held his. “I may be able to assist the brain-damaged Arrow in a coma.”

Aden went motionless. Marshall had no reason to know of Yuri’s injuries and the heartbreaking decision Aden planned to carry out tomorrow. “Were you behind the attack?”