Dark Angel's Ward Read Free Page A

"Zeph...."
    "Help me, Jandra." He caught up my hands in his and held them tightly. "Do you want me on my knees again? Do you want to hurt me some more? I don't care. Just please, promise you'll take me."
    "Oh, I'm going to," I growled, "but only because innocent lives are in danger, thanks to you and your selfishness. And I'll only take enough to get you out of here safely. Once you hit the parking lot, you're on your own."
    "And then what? Where else can I turn?"
    "I know it's been said before, but frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."
    "You can't mean that."
    I made a futile attempt to yank my hands free. "Get it through your skull. You're not my problem anymore."
    "You don't think so?" He cocked his head to one side, eyes narrowed. "Because of you, I knew my own mind for the first time I can recall. You gave me the only peace I've ever known, and then you took it away."
    "Because you thanked me by taking away my choices! Or did you conveniently forget that part?"
    "No. I haven't forgotten a thing about us." He sighed, his gaze dropped to our joined hands. "Sometimes those days are all I can remember."
    "Oh, stop your whining. Let's get this over with." I wrenched my right hand free of his grip and slapped my palm flat against the center of his chest.
    Anger and bravado made me hasty as I opened a channel between us. There's no way to describe the trick. I just switched my mindset from "pissed" to "receptive"--or maybe "pissed but receptive." Then that dizzying array of feelings I'd seen on his face earlier came spilling into me, like a thread unraveling from a tapestry.
    The first rush hit me like a physical blow, blazing down the synaptic pathways that had once connected us. Our neglected psychic channel burst open again, like an old wound tearing through scar tissue to bleed fresh. With the pain came the deafening roar of every human mind for miles around us. Shuddering, I bit back a scream.
    A blur of flashbulb images exploded before my mind's eye--Zeph's memories, broken and garbled as they were. I glimpsed an ancient building, a volcano in eruption, a monarch butterfly. A view of the sun that would've been painful to perceive firsthand. Myself, curled up asleep in an armchair. I shied away from that image, fearful of my place in his memories.
    Somehow, in exerting that bit of control, I managed to stem the tide of his visions, and my physical eyes began to function again. I found myself staring up at him--I'd fallen forward against his chest.
    "Why did you do that?" he whispered. Surprise still colored his features, suggesting my brain had been exploding for only a few seconds.
    I shrugged, though I regretted it when I felt my shoulders quake with like an old woman's. "Did I hurt you?" I asked.
    "No."
    "Then shut up. And relax."
    He obeyed, drawing me closer against his body than I cared for, but I didn't waste time arguing about it. His big hands bracketed my hips, anchoring me. Once I felt secure, I closed my eyes and sorted through the pool of our shared consciousness. Beyond perception, past thought and emotion, to the source behind it all--the elusive substance that is the life in a body, what some call the soul. I sensed immediately at least part of what ailed him. He felt like an overcharged battery, hot and electric and deadly.
    "Damn. You're a mess."
    "I'm aware of that," came his sullen response.
    I couldn't quite squelch a whisper of pity. "It's all right, Zeph. I'm ready if you are."
    His grip on me tightened. "Do it."
    Again, I can't describe what I did to draw that wild energy from him. Natural aptitude fostered by years of training as a Warden made the act second nature to me. I allowed the power to flow between us and it came in a torrent, racing through my body like liquid fire. This time I couldn't hold back a cry. His voice mingled with mine, and I knew his beautiful face would be pinched and pale with the pain.
    When I could no longer stand it, I forced my hand to fist against his chest and pulled