“The wolves, bears, and humans of two deadly packs might help save tens of thousands of Psy lives,” he said to her that night.
“Kaleb, we have to tell the alphas at least.” Her blue eyes asked him to choose the side of right, of conscience.
She was his lodestar.
He made it a conference call with Hawke Snow, Valentin Nikolaev, Silver, Memory Aven-Rose, and Alexei Harte.
The big bear alpha let Silver ask the questions, “since my Starlight’s the expert.”
Hawke raised his eyebrow at that and pulled his own Psy mate into the conversation.
The final conclusion was the same as Kaleb’s: nothing was flowing back through the bond. Hawke’s cardinal mate was actually able to enter the wolf network to check and confirm that. “We’re also at usual levels of biofeedback and psychic energy. Far as I can tell, we’ve lost nothing.”
In the end, the alphas made the call to allow it to continue. Each would monitor their pack for signs of trouble, but Kaleb didn’t think they’d ever find any. This was how the PsyNet was always meant to work. “To be a living, vibrant network with multiple kinds of psychic input,” he said to Sahara after the call ended.
She chewed on her lower lip. “Did you notice Memory and Silver’s stable sections are similar in size, even though SnowDancer is much bigger than StoneWater?”
Kaleb checked, saw she was right. His blood cooled. “It’s not only about numbers.” Else, the SnowDancer connection alone should’ve gained them a healthy section of the PsyNet equivalent to California.
“No,” Sahara whispered. “I think Psy have to make human or changeling connections through the world. An even spread.” She thrust a shaking hand through her hair. “How do we change a hundred years of division and isolation and pain across an entire planet?”
Kaleb cupped her jaw, ran the pad of his thumb over her cheekbone. “In the space of a few weeks, we’ve gained a working E-sigma and an entire pack of wolves. Tonight, we celebrate by confusing seismologists around Russia.” Control became a foreign concept when he was with Sahara—the best he could do was ground his enormous telekinetic power.
Sahara’s panicked expression fractured into laughter. “You know, you’re right.” She grabbed his tie and tugged. “Kiss me, Mr. Krychek.”
* * *
• • •
As Kaleb kissed Sahara under a Russian sky, and Alexei chased Memory through a Sierra Nevada forest, minds across the PsyNet began to throw off their shackles and wake to new powers that dazzled and blinded. None were as disciplined as the first of their kind. The initial rogue power surge was a mere ripple. More built on the horizon, ominous weights about to crash onto an already fractured Net.
Anarchy took its first breath.
*. As a point of interest, I have been unable to find any data whatsoever on the rumored E-sigma, a subdesignation of empathy said to be so dangerous for the E involved that the E’s only option for survival is to deliberately suppress their own strength. No E interviewed over the course of this study would explain the E-sigma’s divergent abilities to me. Any mention of the subdesignation resulted in both a flash of fear on the faces of my subjects—and in a sudden and implacable shutdown in communication. Either the E-sigma are a shared dark myth, a kind of empathic ghost story . . . or the Es are so afraid for one of their own kind that they protect them against all outsiders.
About the Author
Nalini Singh is the New York Times bestselling author of the Psy-Changeling novels and Guild Hunter series.
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Wolf Rain Page 41