Zach’s mouth twisted. Walls so weren’t his thing. He’d been trying to build them, with varying degrees of success, since this bloody talent surfaced.
This was going to take a while.
* * *
Jessie yawned as she climbed the stairs. Most of the session on the porch had involved teaching Zach to build mental walls, but they’d practiced linking, too. Until Zach’s control started to fray. Then Cara had called it quits.
When Jessie entered the room, she found Laura sitting on her cot. The residual effects of her link with Zach offered a burst of residual emotion from Laura. She frowned at the other woman, unsure that she’d really sensed that mix of both fear, and oddly, excitement. But it was faint. Already fading.
Laura stared out of the window and across the yard.
“Cara told me that Zach trains horses,” she said. “But I only see two.”
“Maybe he only takes on one or two at a time,” Jessie said as she sat on her cot, although she had no idea. She and Zach hadn’t exactly had much time to trade life stories.
“He seems like a nice guy,” the blonde woman commented. “He’s cute, too.”
Cute? Yes, Jessie remembered she’d thought that. Back when her biggest concerns were surviving long days at the hospital and avoiding cupcakes. Now—now, things were different. And Zach was so much more than cute. She’d been inside his head. Felt the depths of him. And experienced a connection she’d have only guessed at a lifetime ago.
But Laura didn’t need to know that. So all Jessie said was, “He’s a good guy.”
“Not like the others.” She made an odd, shuddery motion with her shoulders.
“Well, he’s not a Were,” Jessie agreed. When had she accepted teeth and claws as perfectly normal? But then, she’d seen Braden that first night. Whether she’d originally believed it or not, she’d had three weeks to get used to the idea. Poor Laura had been dropped into the deep end.
“They are monsters,” Laura said, crossing and rubbing her arms. “Horrible.”
“I think the Sabre Weres genuinely want to help us,” Jessie pointed out. “And we need them.” They had four days until the full moon. They didn’t have time to mess around if they were going to avoid becoming Braden’s Were harem. “Cara said you refused to let her inject the Sabre blood?”
“Why would I want that inside me?” This time, the shudder was more obvious.
“You already have the Were virus inside you, but this blood might help you fight the one who bit us. Aren’t you having nightmares about the tall, dark guy with the scar?”
“They aren’t nightmares,” Laura said quickly. Her fair skin flushed red. “They’re dreams.”
Jessie stared at her. Hers had started as a dream, too. “Are you a werewolf in them?”
Laura’s skin went even redder. “Yes. He runs with me. In the woods.”
Jessie’s eyes narrowed. “Do you do anything other than run?”
The blonde woman looked away from her, out the window. Then she nodded.
“Does he bite you? Force you?”
“It’s not like that.” Her eyes dropped to her hands. “I don’t mind what he does,” she said in a low voice.
Frigging hell.“You don’t mind that he controls you?”
Laura’s eyes met hers. Eyes that sparked anger. “This guy—now that I know that he’s real—hewantsme.Desiresme.” She raised her chin. “And maybe, I want him too.”
“The bite he gave you is designed to make you want him, Laura. That’s what the Sabre blood is about. To give you freedom of choice.”
“Will it stop me from becoming a monster?”
Jessie shook her head. “No. It can’t do that.”
“Then I don’t see the point.”
