Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 138217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
They’d inherited the texture of their hair from their denu.
After turning on the lights using the touchpad by his bed, Pavel blinked owlishly at Yakov, his eyes identical to those Yakov saw in the mirror every day, but for one crucial difference: Pavel had bad vision. He also refused to get surgery to fix it. He didn’t trust anyone with a laser near his eyes.
He slapped his hand at the shelf Yakov had built for him beside his bed, managed to snag his glasses. Vision now corrected, he sat up with his back to the headboard and his lower body covered by the blanket—but for that one foot. They might be changelings at home in their skin, and twins to boot, but it was rude to just let your junk hang out, and the two of them weren’t that rude to each other.
Yawning, Pavel held out a hand.
Into which Yakov thrust a coffee before placing the croissant in his brother’s other hand. Then he got the rest of the tray full of pastries as well as his own coffee and placed it on the bed. When he sat, it wasn’t in the single chair in the room, but at the end of the bed, in a position from which he could talk to his brother about the nightmare that haunted him.
Only his stomach lurched at the memory and he found himself searching for a distraction. “I thought Stasya offered you a bigger room in the section for couples?” Pavel and Arwen might not have mated yet, but the two were a committed pair—any bear with eyes in their head could see that.
Pavel shrugged one shoulder. “We’re not technically living together yet. Felt sneaky to switch rooms when Arwen’s still figuring things out.” His voice softened on his lover’s name.
Yakov felt for his brother. But he also understood Arwen’s need to know himself before he dove headlong into the mating bond that hovered in the air between him and Pavel. Unlike Pavel and Yakov, Arwen hadn’t grown up free to live his life out in the open; this, now, was the first time in over a hundred years that E-Psy like Arwen weren’t only accepted but treasured.
A cataclysmic shift even for a man who’d been brought up in the heart of a fiercely protective family. “I was raised in love,” Arwen had said to Yakov once, “but I had to hide my truth from everyone outside my family.”
“Arwen still enjoying his work in Ecuador?” he asked his brother now.
But Pavel scowled. “You didn’t wake me up at the ass-crack of dawn to chitchat about my love life like a nosy babushka.” His brother gulped coffee. “Spill.”
Yakov exhaled, made himself say it. “I’m having flashes again.”
His brother’s sleep-hazy eyes sharpened, and suddenly he wasn’t a lazy bear anymore but one of their alpha’s top people. “Like when we were sixteen?”
“Yeah—but more intense.”
“Back then, we were on our own,” Pavel said, half the croissant already gone. “Now I’m sleeping with a Psy, and so is our alpha.”
Yakov rolled his eyes at his brother’s shit-eating grin. “TMI, bro,” he said, even as his bear smiled at seeing his twin so happy. “But yeah, we have avenues for info. You think any of them know a foreseer?”
“Ena knows everyone and their ancestors,” Pavel said dryly, referring to Arwen’s powerhouse of a grandmother, then shoved the rest of the croissant into his mouth.
Sounds of bliss followed.
Yakov fiddled with his mug. “It’s her.” Quiet words.
“The woman of your dreams?” Pavel whistled. “Damn, she must finally be on the way to you.”
“It’s an echo of Denu’s memories. We decided that, remember?”
“We were hormonal kids who knew shit,” his twin pointed out. “Does this dream girl still look like a girl?”
Heart thumping, Yakov shook his head. “She’s grown-up . . . and I see her bleeding, dying.”
All humor erased from his face, Pavel said, “Tell me.”
Because this was his brother, his best friend, he did, down to the most agonizing detail. “It’s fucked up.”
“Yes,” Pavel agreed. “But if it is foresight, then it’s also a warning. Remember what Babulya Quyen told us about what Denu always said.”
“That the greatest gift of foresight was the chance to alter the trajectory of events terrible and dark.” He sat forward, his arms braced on his thighs. “But, Pasha—she was so fucking scared and I could do nothing to help her.”
Pavel took a long drink of his coffee, picked up a second croissant, and nodded. “Right, we start from the top. Work out why you might be immobile—then work out how to circumvent that.”
* * *
* * *
HIS twin’s idea had been a good one—until they’d run headlong into Yakov’s lack of any detailed information about the blood-drenched situation. As a result, he was still in a foul mood when he drove into the city to meet with Silver. His alpha’s mate had gone to her office in the middle of the night to coordinate an emergency response to another catastrophic PsyNet collapse.