Page 58 of Upon Shattered Bonds

Nina had no choice.

Everything in her revolted at the idea of intentionally hurting him, but if she didn’t, the stubborn man would only return no matter how many times she’d send him away. There was no way she could let him bind himself to her, especially if that bond meant his death should she fall. To save him, she had to hurt him. The irony didn’t escape her.

It would be exactly what he’d done to her all those years ago.

Chapter Twenty-Five

The attack came without warning.

While he’d been preparing to return to Nina’s side, Zeke had made one final sweep of the perimeter. He’d checked the void along the edge of his territory—nothing—and returned to the center of clan lands to speak with Tzuriel one last time.

Gunfire rang out in the heart of his territory, the perpetrators teleporting in with no warning. Given Zeke’s location, they hadn’t anticipated his return to the sanctuary, nor did they expect him to utilize his Blunt to block their hasty exit.

Engaging his abilities, Zeke teleported into the center of chaos. Five Raeths had manifested in the middle of his territory, brandishing weapons, and spraying bullets haphazardly at the surrounding structures.

Zeke was not one to tolerate a threat to his people.

Instantly, the two closest to him lost their heads to his longsword. As the bodies collapsed, a third turned on him with a gun. While a blaze of pain seared over his chest, he compartmentalized it in his mind, effectively turning off his pain receptors.

The soldier’s eyes widened when the sword cut true, an expression of terror frozen on his face.

By then, Arya and Tzuriel had already ended the two remaining intruders, their blades gleaming a glistening red. The remaining host of his lieutenants had taken a flanking role, securing the immediate area while Hemin checked for injuries among those clansmen closest to them.

Zeke’s psychic senses flared outward, spearing through the entirety of his territory to confirm no threats remained. Though his people were in a state of unrest, no one was injured. Casting his mind along the perimeter, he tasted the diluted flavor of the void but quickly dismissed it.

No minds except those of his clan’s network appeared in the vicinity, and the neighboring communities harbored no Raeth signatures. Assured that the area was secure, Zeke released his hold on the Blunting effect, the gift swirling back into his psyche like a reverse tidal wave.

That was when the second assault hit.

This one, however, was psychic. And strong.

The force of it barreled into his mind like an oncoming locomotive. Pressure built internally within moments of the initial impact, and Zeke barely had the wherewithal to catch the explosion of mental energy before it ricocheted off him and into the neural network of his clan.

In the span of milliseconds, Zeke wove an impenetrable psychic barrier around the foreign presence. Adamantine strands interlinked, locking together to construct a complex telepathic web. The caustic energy had latched onto the clan’s neural network with the intent to either destroy, coerce, or manipulate.

Zeke didn’t care to find out.

There were three distinct signatures in the writhing foreign force, though one eclipsed the others in terms of sheer strength. It was vaguely familiar, but while he concentrated on thwarting their attack, he couldn’t focus on who it reminded him of.

The attacking power bunched and coiled, springing forth to stab at the barrier Zeke had psychically erected. Though the web stretched, it mercifully held firm.

Distantly, he was aware that he’d fallen to his knees, that his lieutenants had surrounded him to defend from any external attack. His physical body vibrated with the force of maintaining the mental stronghold, but his focus was directed inward.

Zeke would never allow harm to come to his people through their clan bonds. While he had the ability to hold the neural netting around the foreign presence indefinitely, frankly, the intrusion was both insulting and offensive.

Now, he was going to make them pay.

Yanking power from his reserves, Zeke’s inner core began to burn an incandescent white. Psychic fire, an intangible plasma that existed solely on the mental plane, could only be generated by the strongest of Raethkind.

Incendiary in all its forms, his flame began crawling over the mental barrier he’d erected. Existing as they were in his network, Zeke experienced the satisfying burst of panic from the minds of the three offending Raeths when they realized what he was capable of.

Psychic fire would incinerate any mind that wasn’t actively bonded to the sovereign’s network. Detaching from Zeke’s network was the only viable option if the intruders wanted to escape with their minds intact.

The effect was immediate.

The three signatures uprooted their psychic hooks, and the ball of energy dispelled instantly. He waited, counting the seconds before loosening the hold on the barrier that’d contained the foreign sources. Satisfied they were completely gone, he allowed the barrier to dissipate.

But Zeke wasn’t done.

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