I hear it… in my mind, too.
That echo,I think.Like how Ashlyn’s goodbye echoed. How Spruce’s voice seemed to echo when he first started speaking.
Could that be a potential way in?
I ignore the Alphas as they turn my chair right side up and focus all of my strength inward. I have to do something. I can’t just fucking sit here while mymategoes into heat in the middle of a locally organized rutting party.
Because that’s basically what my brother has done.
I’m going to fucking kill him.
But first, I have to beat him.
How?I wonder, searching through my mental space, looking for where my bond to Ashlyn should be. It’s there. I feel it—and the terror rippling through it—but I can’t seem to follow the line into her mind. It’s… it’s nonexistent.
No, that’s not right. There’s a cloud…
I frown inside.
Why is there a cloud?I try to push it away, but it feels elastic in my mind.Permanent.
Which makes no sense.
There shouldn’t be anything else there except for Ashlyn.
But rather than try to dismantle it, I go into it, and find myself staring at an electric storm of activity. It’s like a mental minefield.
In my fucking head.
I narrow my gaze inwardly and slowly navigate through the chaos.There has to be a way to dismantle this…
However, before I do that, I look to see where it’s rooted and how deep it goes.
Can I be of some assistance?a silky voice asks in my head, one I wasnotanticipating hearing today.
Cillian?
Hello, Grey. The cavalry is here.
It takes all of my strength not to react outward to that statement.
But it seems you have a bit of a problem that needs to be addressed first,he murmurs.Would you like some help?
Any other day, I would have told the telepath to fuck off.
But today is not that day.
Yes,I answer flatly.I would, actually.
Then give me a moment,Cillian says.This gift I’ve inherited from Ivana is still quite new…
I sit and wait, then nearly sigh in relief as warmth floods my veins. Warmth andpower…
Somewhere, an Alpha growls.
I sense it’s my brother.
But before he can reach me, I shadow out of the chair to the other side of the room.
