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)
Yakov whistled. “Pretty handy if you had a person whose abilities you wanted to use, but who it was too much of a risk to keep lucid and able the vast majority of the time.”
Theo placed the pill back on the ground, her fingers feeling soiled. “Pre-Silence research suggests that if a person were to go on this medication, the dosage would have to be gently shifted up or down—no abrupt increases, no sudden stops. The latter was said to cause irreversible brain damage.” So if a patient had been put on this and then taken off, over and over again, there was no knowing the current state of their brain.
She forced herself to pick up another pill, this one a capsule that was white on one side and yellow on the other. “I’m pretty sure this is a form of Jax.” Glancing at Yakov, she explained the drug that had been formulated to control the Arrows, the most lethal soldiers among the Psy.
These days, it was also a street drug.
“How do you know about Jax and the Arrows?” Yakov said. “I’d figure the Council kept that information close to the vest.”
She lifted one shoulder in a motion she would’ve never made had her grandfather been alive. It would’ve shown him too much of who she was behind the mask she wore in front of him. “Once you have a dog on the leash, there’s no reason to watch your mouth around said dog.” Because that was all Theo had ever been to her grandfather: a vicious dog trained to the leash.
Yakov’s hand on the back of her neck, the hold gentle but firm—and his voice rumbling thunder. “Thela, you talk about yourself that way ever again, and I won’t buy you any more of the donut holes you inhaled on the way here—and I’ll talk Gustav into banning you from the bakery, too, so you can’t buy them yourself.”
Theo, braced for an altogether different kind of a response, felt her mouth fall open. She hadn’t even realized he’d noticed how quickly she’d demolished the entire small box of the sugared treats; he’d seemed intent on his savory tarts the entire time.
Bears. Sneaky in a wholly bearish way.
She wanted to hug him for noticing her, even caring for her . . . and she was utterly bewildered by him. “Why does it matter to you?” she asked when she could speak. “What I say about myself?”
He leaned in so close that his nose brushed hers, the scent of him wrapping around her like a bear’s fur. “Because I think you’re mine, Theo Marshall. And I don’t let people hurt those who are mine. You can’t hurt yourself, either.” A slight squeeze of her nape, his hand so warm, his skin a little rough. “You might as well get used to it.”
Chapter 34
While a wolf lover will flat-out leave a bite on the curve of your neck like a cave dweller, so that everyone knows you’re theirs, and a cat lover will scratch up your back for the same reason, bears are sneakier.
I know, I know, bears aren’t sneaky. Accepted fact. Or is it?
Want to know my theory? Well, I think bears are the sneakiest of all the changelings when it comes to possessiveness. They’ve just tricked us all not to expect the sneaky—so when it happens, we just don’t see it. But I have my eyes wide open now. No sexy bear is getting their secretly sneaky paws on me.
—“Jocie’s Opinions” in the September 2083 issue of Wild Woman magazine: “Skin Privileges, Style & Primal Sophistication”
SHAKEN WITHIN BY Yakov’s blunt claim, Theo nonetheless narrowed her eyes. “I think you should get used to a woman who knows her own mind and will do as she pleases.”
An equally narrow-eyed look in return. “Oh, I like you just how you are, milaya moya. Except for the putting-yourself-down part. That’s your grandfather speaking. And that bastard needs to be erased from existence—especially when it comes to you. He has no rights to your mind or your thoughts and I’m never budging on that stance.”
She parted her lips, shut them. Because . . . he was right. She wasn’t a dog on a leash. She was Theo, who had a twin who loved her even if he didn’t understand love anymore, who was a nurse with all types of esoteric medical knowledge in her brain, and who had somehow become entangled with a bear who’d decided she was his.
Cheeks hot, she decided to ignore the confusion of her emotions to focus on the task at hand. “The thing is that Jax isn’t usually administered orally. It’s too weak in pill form. Even the street junkies inject it—or if they’re really hard up, they buy the cheap pills the dealers make up and try to liquefy the stuff before snorting it.”