Page 49 of The Edge of Dawn

What about this thing… this dream-walking or whatever it is I seem to have been doing?

What about… the MWA? The Federation?

What happens to me now?

But she didn’t dare give voice to her thoughts—not yet, anyway. Not when she was on an alien ship with two powerful and dangerous Kordolians, and she still had no idea what was going on.

She needed time to get a sense of this place—to figure out what they were really like and what these newfound traits of hers meant.

There was a lot she had to come to grips with.

Firstly, she wasn’t psychotic like the doctors had insisted.

This was something else, something deeper and infinitely more terrifying.

She couldn’t bear to try and think about all that. It was too much for her brain to handle right now.

“Rest and heal,” Dragek said softly, his low rumble reverberating right through her. Even though she was in terrible pain, the thrill of being so close to him chased the agony away, making it seem insignificant. “You can worry about the other things later.”

At least it felt good to be held in his arms. She’d never experienced a feeling like this before, and she wasn’t sure she would again.

Might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

She had nothing else left, anyway.

SIXTEEN

As he held her in his arms, he observed her.

She wasn’t paying him any notice. Ashrael’s sudden appearance had stolen her attention. Although that was understandable—the Silent One was a rare and unusual being, after all—it allowed him the chance to study her a little.

For some reason, Ashrael’s presence made him irritated—more so than usual. Perhaps it was because his curiosity had been sparked during the time he’d held her, for he’d never been this close to an outsider before.

Let alone a human.

It was irrational—this was Ashrael, after all, and he was well and truly mated—but the presence of another male put all of his senses on high alert.

He extended his ka’qui, letting it engulf her.

She needed it, anyway. Her energy was wild and untrained. He caught bursts of emotion: fear, nervousness, surprise, and, inexplicably, sadness.

Without her knowledge, he tried something on her.

He morphed his ka’qui into a sort of bubble and surrounded her with it, trying to soothe her frenetic energy. He couldn’t contain her thoughts, but he could stop the outside noise from seeping into her head.

And so he did.

He couldn’t even imagine what it would be like—to be so naive and unguarded against the outside world. He’d been trained to create barriers from a very young age. His first memory was of playing with bursts of energy. It was only much later that he realized everything they’d exposed him to was a form of training.

Some of his masters hadn’t been unkind, but as he’d matured, the training had become more controlled, more brutal. Necessary benevolence was replaced with harsh cruelty. He’d learned that his masters were the ones who provided and protected.

They gave, but they also took away.

And if he ever disobeyed them, the punishment was severe.

They could lock him inside his mind and seal his body in a metal box.

They’d done it before. There were times when he’d been insubordinate—many times.

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