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)
Theo Marshall—and yeah, “Theo” suited this contained explosion of a woman far better than the antique-sounding “Theodora.” Though the old-fashioned name was pretty, he supposed. Yet this sleek creature with her composure and her chilly blue eyes behind which stirred a dark inferno was far more a Theo.
She also wasn’t as invisible as she clearly wanted to be, given her choice of clothing and her austere grooming choices. People looked her way, frowned as if they didn’t know quite why they were doing so.
He could have told them: Theo was magnetic.
Charisma, he thought with an inward suspicion. A lot of bad people had charisma. Then again, so did a number of talented, good, and smart people. Like his own alpha.
He’d have to watch and listen and learn if he was to figure out whether Theo Marshall was a friend or an enemy seeking to slide under his defenses.
Or a lover, his bear suggested. Just get her naked, figure it out from there.
Groaning silently, Yakov shoved the ursine heart of his nature away from the surface of his mind. If he’d had any doubts, he now knew the primal half of his nature clearly couldn’t be trusted here.
Chapter 9
Dear Hien (my favorite little sister),
Congratulations! We’re so proud of you—we hope you enjoyed the flowers we sent. We told the florist to make sure they included your favorite tulips. And of course we’ll visit you in Paris. Marian is already talking to her alpha about scheduling time off, and I’m just planning to run away from my duties too fast for anyone to catch me.
We can’t wait to congratulate you in person.
And you might think I helped you, but all I did was hold your hand a little bit now and then. You put in all of the hard work and you deserve every ounce of success.
As for the modifications to the Silence Protocol, I attempted to be rational about it, but the truth is that that’s an impossibility for me. It made sense when it was just about eliminating rage from our minds, with the aim psychic peace, but to cut all emotion out of Psy lives?
Where would that leave families like ours, where not every member is part of the PsyNet? Would you, Ma, and Pa have to cut me and Marian off? Would I even be able to see any of you? I feel like none of these questions are being addressed . . . And yet, I see the pain of our people. I see how much death there is, how much mental instability. I accept that something must be done, but I can’t agree to Silence as the solution.
I’m sure we’ll have plenty of spirited debate about this when we’re together in Paris. But what I most look forward to are at least a hundred of your hugs. I can’t believe my little sister is all grown-up and writing me letters on fancy embossed stationery.
With love from your favorite brother,
D.
—Letter from Déwei Nguyen to Hien Nguyen (28 February 1972)
THE VEHICLE YAKOV Stepyrev had brought to pick her up was large, the manner of all-terrain vehicle that was no doubt necessary in bear territory, but Theo still felt compressed inside it, as if he’d stolen all the air and replaced it with a primal energy that brushed against her like fur.
Theo was always aware of those around her—a survival strategy honed long before her exile—but this was far beyond that. Far enough beyond that it could become a weakness.
She had to learn to think past the impact of Yakov’s presence.
The good thing was that, bear personality or not, she was fairly certain he wasn’t doing it on purpose. His actions so far had been relaxed, and a grin creased his cheek when he stopped the vehicle to talk to the security guards who kept an eye on the airport’s incoming and outgoing traffic.
The grin revealed one of the dimples she’d first glimpsed inside the airport. She had the same inexplicable reaction as back then: the insane urge to touch. It was nothing, she told herself, just a physical response to such close proximity with a strong changeling. He was . . . potent.
Wrenching her attention away from the dent in his cheek that somehow made him even more astonishingly handsome, she forced herself to concentrate on his conversation. Thanks to her family’s interests in the region, she had ninety percent fluency in the local tongue. It had been a nonnegotiable part of her study program, even after she was ejected from the family. Another one of Grandfather’s little exercises in control.
“You asshole,” one of the guards said in response to a comment of Yakov’s that Theo had missed in her preoccupation with a man’s dimple of all things, but the guard’s voice held laughter and her pale brown eyes . . . weren’t quite human.