Page 63 of Legacy of Chaos

He wheeled away from her, his mind reeling. Could he?Shouldhe? How would his brothers react? Strike that. Brother. If he did this, he wouldn’t involve Crux or Rade.

He needed Blade.

Would Blade evenwantto help?

“Dammit, Stryke, what is it?”

He turned to her. “Did you know that Seminus demons are connected to their brothers? We can feel each other’s intense pain. We know when they die.”

“That…must be incredible.”

“Incredible?” He gaped at her. “Incredible to feel your sibling die? Incredible is not the word I would use. Agonizing. Traumatic. Fucking abominable. Those are the words I would use.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” she said. “But to have such a deep connection to someone you love seems…special.”

She knew nothing.

Nothing.

“The price is too high for connections like that,” he said dismissively, his thoughts already jumping ahead. “But I also carry my mother’s genetic werewolf material. As do my brothers. On nights of the full moon, we can communicate with each other. At least, some of us can.”

“Some of us?”

“I had the links—all the links—between my brothers and me severed.”

She blinked. “But…why?”

“Doesn’t matter.” It was a long story, and he didn’t owe anyone the reason behind it. “What matters is that it’s a full moon. If I can restore the werewolf link, I can get help.”

She jackknifed up so fast he thought she might fall off the med bed. “You can do that?”

“No, butyoucan.” He brushed his fingertips across the tiny NeuroTech implant in his temple, the comms chip nearly everyone in the world had implanted to use modern-day communication technology.

Technology designed by StryTech but manufactured by humans to ease fears of “demonic devices.” Those who didn’t get the implant could wear an external device behind their ear, but at the price of some functionality.

Frowning, she peered at his temple. “A technomancer did it. I can see the spell now that I’m looking for it.”

“Rewire it so I can get in touch with Blade.”

“Just Blade?”

He nodded. Opening a line to Crux would only fill the kid full of hope, and Rade probably wouldn’t give a shit. Plus, Blade, as a member of DART’s special operations team, was in a position to get them help.

“Are you ready?” she asked, and he nodded again.

“Just be prepared to sever the connection when I tell you to.”

She appeared taken aback. “You want to shut it down?”

“I’ll have you reconnect it if I need it. In the meantime, can you do something to help keep the demons off the rig?”

“I don’t know what. I can’t do a general repellent spell because a lot of us working here are demons.”

He thought about that. “The fog…it’s malevolent. It’s what allows the things in the water to exist out of it, even if only for a little while.”

She sucked in a harsh breath, understanding now where he was going with this. “If I can repel the fog—”

“It might leave just enough space between the rig and the mist to limit the creatures that can attempt to get on the platform.”

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