Wolf Rain (Psy-Changeling Trinity #3)(39)

“I’m doing this,” she bit out. “Then I’m going to hunt Renault.”

The wolf in Alexei approved of her single-minded need for vengeance. Hell, so did the man. The same wolf was torn by an overwhelming sense of protectiveness toward this survivor who’d refused to allow a monster to destroy her. “With what?” he snarled. “You have claws smaller than a kitten’s.”

Narrowing her eyes, Memory looked as if she wanted to show him her claws right then and there—probably across his face—but Sascha said, “Both of you. Behave.” Stepping forward, she frowned. “We have to figure out logistics—bringing Amara to a compound full of baby empaths isn’t a good idea. She’ll panic them.”

The genuine worry in her tone had Alexei breaking his eye-contact standoff with Memory. “That bad?”

“It’s this sense of being sucked into a howling emptiness that gives nothing back.” Goose bumps broke out over the cardinal’s arms. “I can handle it by gritting my teeth and ignoring my nausea, but untrained Es won’t have a chance.” She touched the side of Memory’s face again, her smile holding the warm affection of an older sister. “Our Memory is far tougher than she looks if she can deal with the sensation without breaking.”

Alexei saw Memory’s brittle shields fracture at the words and knew he had to go along with this insane plan. It was vitally important to Memory; maybe afterward, the damn E would actually rest. “You talk to Amara, get her agreement. I’ll figure out where we can do this.”

As expected, Amara Aleine was in favor of being an experimental subject. “I haven’t been able to dissect an E, so this will give me an insight into their function,” was her unsettling response over the wall comm, her face expressionless. “I will prepare to be probed.”

Memory blinked after Sascha ended the conversation. “Is she always that . . .”

“Yes,” Alexei heard Sascha say as he moved out to the porch to organize the location of the test. “Her twin has the same genius IQ but only Amara is this way. It’s as if her wiring got shorted out at a certain point in her development.”

It took Alexei a half hour to get all the pieces in place. In a stroke of luck—if you could term anything connected with Amara lucky—the Psy scientist was currently at her twin sister’s home in DarkRiver territory. Ashaya Aleine had balls of fucking iron as far as Alexei was concerned—he might be a big tough wolf, but no way would he choose to be alone with Amara under any circumstances. He’d never know when she’d decide he’d look better as a corpse she could cut up and study.

Turned out Ashaya’s mate didn’t trust Amara, either. “I have multiple packmates prowling around within hearing range of our home,” Dorian told him when Alexei touched base with the leopard sentinel. “I’ve got Keenan with me, too—Ashaya feels better when she knows our son is safely away from Amara.” A frustrated sound. “I’d rather she keep her distance from Amara, but that bond of twins . . . Ashaya is incapable of giving up on her.”

“That’s because your mate has a heart.” Quite unlike her twin. “Look, we need a place for a psychic experiment.”

After Alexei ran through the details of the proposed experiment, Dorian suggested a small, unused cabin in DarkRiver territory. “It’s structurally sound but old, and set to come down in the next couple of months. Anyone who uses it as a teleportation lock in the interim will end up in the middle of leopard land. Not healthy for them.”

Alexei was dead certain none of this was healthy for Memory, but it was in play now. She was determined to do this. So he would stand watch and make sure she didn’t hurt herself in the process. Because despite his decision to be clear-eyed and pragmatic about Memory, his gut kept telling him she was the one who needed protection. His damn lioness had no shell, no shield, nothing between her and the ruthless world.

Alexei’s claws sliced out.





Chapter 19


My sister is like these trees. Perfect to look at, brilliant in her design—her brain is flawless, her intellect staggering—but all it takes to crumble that perfection is a single match.

—Ashaya Aleine on her twin, Amara


MEMORY SAT SILENTLY in the front passenger seat as Alexei drove them to the meeting location. Sascha had taken the backseat. None of them spoke much on the drive, and Memory had a feeling it was because of her—she was nervy, jumpy, all her energy on the surface of her skin. Erratic and bouncing.

Alexei had told her that the twins would both be present at the meeting.

“Ashaya can control Amara to a certain extent,” Sascha had added. “It’s good she’s coming.”

Now the cardinal said, “Remember, Memory, Amara doesn’t see empaths as sentient beings. She doesn’t really see anyone but her twin as a person.”

Memory put a fisted hand against her stomach. “I understand. I’ll take care.”

Alexei didn’t speak, but she could sense his disagreement with this entire operation in the aggressive tension humming through his body. When she looked at the hands he had on the steering wheel, she half expected to see claws, but his hands were human—albeit wrapped so tight around the wheel that the skin was white over bone.

Memory parted her lips. “It has to be done.” She didn’t know why she had to poke this particular wolf, but she couldn’t help it. Alexei hadn’t said a word since they’d begun the drive, and she hated the implied distance.