Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 121389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Inside DarkRiver territory.
That was when he hit a mind so opaque that he could have no hope of guessing its identity—so he simply walked outside and looked over the verandah railing. “Lei,” he murmured, knowing her sharp hearing would pick it up, “Kaleb Krychek is down there with Lucas, a woman I recognize as Lucas’s mate, Sascha Duncan, my grandmother, and Arwen. I think that’s everyone.”
Soft footsteps before she peered over the railing, too. “Guess what?” she said. “I looked at my phone. It’s tomorrow. I mean, it’s tomorrow from when we collapsed.”
Ivan double-checked her statement against the PsyNet. “We’ve been out for thirty-two hours.”
They stared at one another before Soleil yawned. “No wonder I’m starving.” Reaching into a pocket as she leaned against him, she pulled out an energy bar. “Here, I grabbed a few of these from the kitchen.”
One arm hooked loosely around her waist, he all but inhaled one, then another as she finished one and said, “I scented Lucas, Mercy, and Tammy in the aerie, as well as two unknowns. At least one didn’t smell of leopard but had a scent you and your grandmother both carry. I’m guessing maybe your cousin?”
Ivan nodded. “I can’t see Grandmother climbing up here.”
“I wouldn’t count on that, vida mía.” A kiss to his cheek, the way she had of just touching him in affection already something he craved. “Your abuela is a force where the people she loves are concerned.”
Ivan couldn’t argue with that. “Shall we go down?”
Soleil nodded. “But first—” Grabbing his face in her hands, she kissed him until his world spun. “We’re alive.”
The wave of black dread he’d been holding back crashed down on him. “I don’t want to look in the ChaosNet. I have to have murdered countless people by now.”
Sliding a hand down his arm, Soleil linked her fingers with his. “It’s not a spider, remember? It’s a heart, the center that holds. Just like an alpha. You haven’t hurt anyone.”
The confidence in her voice was a kiss.
“I’m a healer,” she whispered. “I’d know if you were killing anyone. Look, Ivan.”
Gut clenched, he opened his eyes in the ChaosNet. Except … there was no chaos anymore. All the minds he’d wrapped in spidersilk remained wrapped up. Alive, functional, but unable to spread chaotic energy. As for the other minds …
He sucked in a breath, looked into Soleil’s eyes. “Everyone’s alive. Stronger. Not at full strength, but stronger.” No longer in danger of flickering out. “I’m the same. Not anywhere near full strength, but neither wiped nor bloated with power.”
Pressing her forehead to his, Soleil repeated the words she’d spoken to him before. “You’re the center that holds. The energy feeds into you, then feeds back out into the network as needed. It’s a perfect closed system, exactly like a pack. Once you all heal, it will be an amazingly healthy system.”
“I can’t …” He exhaled, their foreheads yet touching and breaths mingling. “I’ll need time to figure all this out.” To accept that he hadn’t become a devouring monster; it was too big a thing for him to comprehend. “Let’s go talk to everyone.”
This time, they went down together, Ivan climbing down first, with Soleil climbing down above him. “Don’t look up my dress,” she ordered him with a grin before they began the descent.
“I don’t make promises I can’t keep,” he said, but when it came down to it, he was more worried about her safety. She displayed nowhere near her usual wild grace, her body yet shaky.
“You’re in the network,” he told her quietly as they climbed down. “Not visibly, but I know you’re there.”
“Of course. We’re mated.” A dazzling smile he felt through the mating bond as his feet touched the forest floor.
He grabbed her waist as she came down, made sure she was steady on her feet before he turned—to almost be bowled over by Arwen slamming into him. He locked his arms around his cousin, aware that Lucas had enfolded a smiling Soleil in his own arms.
“Hey,” he said, running a hand down his cousin’s back, this man who had always cared even when caring for Ivan was a rewardless exercise, “I’m good. Alive and undamaged.”
Arwen was trembling when he drew back, his usually perfect hair a mess and his eyes red as if he’d been crying. “You vanished from the PsyNet, from our familial network. I thought you were dead.”
Wrapping his arm around his cousin’s neck, Ivan drew him close once again, held him tight. “I’m sorry about that. Things didn’t go as I’d planned.” This time when he let go, Arwen moved aside so Ena could walk up to Ivan.
“He wouldn’t believe me when I told him you were alive. He insisted on putting his eyes on you.” The slightest touch of her fingers to his jaw. “I must admit I had my doubts as well.”