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)
She looked around. “I thought I’d hate it, but it’s not so bad. The staff are kind. I heard it’s because Es are the ones who do the hiring interviews. We can choose activities or a subject to study. They say I can have a garden plot in spring, can plant whatever I want. I think I’ll plant flowers. Bright, pretty, happy.”
Theo’s soul hurt. “I’ll look forward to my bouquet.”
Keja smiled. “And since it’s only slender blue-eyed blondes who trigger me to homicidal violence, they’re working on a plan to let me out of isolation by juggling the schedule so I’m never out at the same time as any of them.”
“I’m glad you won’t be locked in your room.” Her aunt had already suffered far more than any person should suffer.
“It’s a very humane facility—especially given that so many of its residents are murderers.” A shrug. “That’s enough about me. How goes life with the bear?” A sparkle in eyes that had morphed from obsidian to blue once more.
“Loud, affectionate, overwhelming in the best way.” Theo squeezed her hands into fists in her lap. “I wish you could have that. I wish you could know what it is to be loved exactly as you are. To have a person who sees all of you—and loves all of you.”
Keja’s smile was that terrible sad one. “Live for both of us, Theo. It was too late for me the first time they operated on my brain. But it’s not too late for you. Forget about me and go on with your life. Live that life as a glorious insult to the man who tried to take it from us.”
Theo held her aunt’s gaze, her spine straight. “I will live my life,” she said. “But I’m never going to leave you behind. I’ll visit twice every month, and if I’m out of the area, I’ll call. You’re an important part of my life and my family. The only person who is like me in the entire world.”
Keja blinked rapidly. Then she gave a jerky nod.
Theo had never had any intention of abandoning her aunt, not even when she was at her most confused about her emotions where Keja was concerned. That was why the other woman had been placed in a facility a mere two-hour drive from Moscow. It was the closest specialist hospital of its kind in the region.
“Before the fall of Silence,” Theo told Yakov as they left the facility a half hour later, “Keja would’ve vanished, never to be seen again. Her life ended without discussion or consideration.”
Yakov wove his fingers through hers, her bear holding her safe while she walked in nightmare.
“All because my grandfather wanted a slave.” Theo lifted her face up to the cool autumn sun. “Well, fuck him.” Hard words, but she felt them in every fiber of her being. “Keja isn’t going to be executed, isn’t going to be ignored, all memory of her buried.”
Breaking their twined grip on that defiant declaration, she gripped Yakov’s T-shirt with both hands and hauled him down for a kiss wild and passionate, skin privileges with her mate. “And I exist. I thrive.”
Yakov grinned and stole another wet kiss, the bear’s pleased rumble a vibration against her breasts. “That’s my Theo,” he said, before stepping back to open the car door for her. “Come on. We can’t be late for lunch with your brother. Pretty sure the man thinks we’re all insane, but he’s polite and always turns up on time.”
Pax’s relationship with the bears was a work in progress, with both parties side-eyeing each other . . . but there was goodwill on both sides, too. Her brother would do anything to make her new life easier, while Yakov’s entire clan had hearts generous and wild. Though poor Pax probably needed forty-eight hours to recover from every bear-related interaction.
Last time around, Babushka Quyen had patted his cheeks and said, “Would you like to meet a nice bear girl? My cousin Maggie, her granddaughter just made senior soldier. You two would make pretty cubs.”
Theo. Help.
Laughing inwardly at the memory of his telepathic request, she jumped into the vehicle with her bear. Their life would always be complicated. Her twin fought a deadly battle day after day. Her own rages seethed on the periphery of her life. The PsyNet continued to fragment and weaken, even as Pax told her he’d heard whispers of a Ruling Coalition plan to create a second island.
The entire world was in flux.
But one thing Theo knew—she stood on solid ground with her mate by her side. He would always be by her side. Her love. Her Yakov. “Yashin’ka?”
He merged into the main flow of traffic. “Hmm?”
“I love you more than donut holes.”
His cheeks creased, the dimple she could see mischievous and wicked. And then they were both laughing, delighted with each other, Theo and her bear.