Wolf Rain (Psy-Changeling Trinity #3)(74)

As if he’d heard her thoughts, Alexei halted when one particular changeling called out, “Lexie! You need help?”

“Yeah!” Alexei called back.

The big, dark-skinned man was with a pretty woman who had old eyes and tawny-gold hair streaked with chocolate brown, a little girl who wore a bow in her hair, and a tall teenaged boy whose slouch had turned into watchful readiness in a matter of heartbeats.

Before Alexei’s friend left his family, she saw him speak quickly to both the boy and a couple of other changelings around them, who had the hard-edged look she’d begun to recognize in changeling soldiers. The tawny-haired woman said something to him right afterward. He touched his fingers to her cheek and smiled at his little girl before cutting through the crowd to join Memory and Alexei.

He moved like a cat, his eyes a feline dark green.

The entire thing had taken less than ten seconds, but the delay panicked Memory. More so when Alexei took another couple of seconds to tell the leopard changeling that they were on the trail of a murderous telekinetic. Memory bit down on her lower lip—the interruption was worth it; Renault would find it much harder to control two changelings and Memory at the same time.

The DarkRiver male fell in behind Memory.

Her face was hot, her body starting to burn up in the midst of the crowd. She wanted to pull off the jacket, but there was no opportunity, no time. Vashti. Vashti. Vashti. She was the only thing that mattered, her life at the mercy of a serial killer.

Suddenly, the coldness inside her burned, the nothingness searing her to the bone. Her hand clenched on Alexei’s. When he glanced at her, strands of his hair falling across his forehead, she pointed silently to the left—toward a small area devoid of people. It wasn’t a street, but a set of steps that led down into darkness.





Chapter 34


Our working hypothesis on this point is that the increase in violence among the Psy is not a result of the fall of Silence, nor is it actually an increase—we are now simply seeing the violence that was previously hidden by those in power. At present, we do not have enough data to either verify or refute the hypothesis.

—Report to Ruling Coalition from Research Group Gamma-X, Silence & Outcomes


STOPPING AT THE top of the steps, Alexei put his lips to her ear. “Down in the basement?”

“Yes. He’s there.” A shiver threatened to wrack her frame, but Memory gritted her teeth and stood firm. She was no victim, wasn’t Renault’s prisoner. She was an E and she had the heart of a lioness.

Alexei looked to his friend. “Clay, I’ll go first—you come right on my tail, take the bastard down if he’s managed to use his Tk against me.” Amber eyes locked with Memory’s. “Chances Vashti is there?”

“High.” Dissimilar to a true teleporter like Vasic Zen, a teleport-capable telekinetic had only a limited store of energy for jumps. Renault wouldn’t waste his when he’d only taken Vashti to get at Memory.

“Your job is to go straight for the girl, get her out while we occupy him.”

Memory nodded and the two men moved ahead of her. The locked door at the bottom wasn’t powerful enough to withstand changeling strength. Alexei went in low, rolling up to his feet in a flash of speed the instant he was beyond the doorway, with Clay a split second behind him.

The nothingness pulsed and a mind reached out to grab her own. She shoved it off with violent strength . . . and the clawing nothing was gone. “He’s teleported!” Memory called out as she ran into the dark space, scanning it wildly.

Terror, pain, panic.

She pounded toward the far corner, going to her knees in front of what proved to be a crumpled body. One of the men turned on a penlight, illuminating the tangled curls of the tiny girl who lay shivering on the floor, holding her hand over her stomach.

The girl whimpered and drew away before her dark gaze flew behind Memory. “Clay.” Hope, relief, pain smashed into Memory’s senses. “The bad man cut me.”

“I’ve got you now, kitten.” Clay ran one big hand over the girl’s hair before hauling off his T-shirt and folding it up into a makeshift pad. “Call Aden, see if we can get Vasic here. Paramedics won’t be able to get through—”

“No teleporters,” Memory said, her head screaming with Vashti’s fear. “She’s so afraid.”

“Shh.” Clay pressed a kiss to the trembling girl’s cheek. “No teleporters then.” He nodded at Alexei. “This is my friend, Alexei. He’s a wolf, but I like him anyway. He’s going to do first aid on you while I go get a healer I know is on this street somewhere. Okay?”

Vashti swallowed hard but nodded.

Memory saw Clay pull his phone out of his pocket as he ran up the steps. She wanted badly to comfort the small, hurt E, but that whimper at the start had held pure terror—the second-long burst of contact with Renault must’ve altered Memory’s psychic scent. Forcing herself to back off, she went to watch the door while Alexei touched the child with conscious gentleness as he attempted to stop the flow of blood from her stomach wound.

“I have you, sweetheart,” he murmured, no growl in his voice. “I have to put pressure on the wound. It’ll hurt, but it’s important. Ready?”

Memory didn’t hear the girl’s quiet response, but Alexei spoke again not long afterward. “So how’d you meet Clay? Wild party? Catnip-rolling contest?”