Page 15 of Storm Echo

Memory crashed into him, of the last time he’d hit a mind that closed.

Suffocating the wave of emotion that threatened to surge past the ice, he glanced toward the forest that bordered this settlement, assuming he had an ocelot watcher—but the line of trees was too far, not captured even on the far edge of his scan. He took in the area again. To his knowledge, every other worker here was Psy, and the civilian survivors had been evacuated for the duration of the cleanup.

That left only one possibility—a living changeling mind among the dead.

Chapter 7

We were once knights to a king, our loyalty unbreakable. We serve no kings now, but we continue to live with honor. Family, fidelity, integrity. That is what it means to be a Mercant.

—Ena Mercant to Ivan Mercant (circa 2061)

IMPOSSIBLE, SAID THE most logical part of Ivan’s brain, but—as proven by his attempt to bond with Lei—he was far more than simply that part. His mind had been blown wide open in childhood, the memories he held a kaleidoscope of sweet madness. And it was that part of him that had him in motion the instant he realized he was looking for a living mind.

It was possible the survivor had been frozen into a suspended state, as had occurred in the past with people who fell into ice-cold bodies of water … or they’d been insulated from the cold by the bodies on top of them. Just enough warmth to keep their heart pumping.

He began to slide aside the male bodies in the closest pile one by one, not being as gentle as he should’ve been. If he was wrong, so be it. If he was right …

Then there she was, a long-legged form crumpled inside an ankle-length dress of vibrant pink-red that had twisted around her, her denim jacket torn almost to shreds. She was covered in blood that had dried to a viscous thickness, her hair a tumbled black stuck to the side of her face with more dried blood.

At least one of her arms and her left leg were clearly shattered. Bruises and cuts swelled and broke her face, and the warm brown of her skin was now flat and edged with blue where it wasn’t bruised a sickly green.

None of it mattered.

Heknewher.

“Lei,” he whispered, his voice sandpaper and his hand trembling as he forced himself to check her pulse.

Ice against his fingertips, a cold whisper that this place belonged to the dead. Except …

Thud … thud … thud …

The pauses between beats were dangerously long. Even as he processed the horror of finding his sparkling Lei so broken and hurt, he was scooping her up in his arms. He had to tug to release her from the earth. Jarring her broken bones didn’t matter, not when her life was at stake. She was barely clinging to the world, the dull speed of her pulse a countdown to death.

A small ax lay below her, its blade pointing up … and slick with fresh blood. It had been embedded in her back, he realized, just as wet fluid began to seep from her back and onto his arm.

I have a survivor!Blasting the telepathic message on a wide band as he tucked her body against his chest, he ran toward the small ambulance parked at the top of the site. It was there for the cleanup crew, the medics dispensing water and nutrients, as well as handling any minor injuries.Heavy bleeding from deep cut to the back! Multiple broken limbs, severe bruising, possible fractured facial bones!

The female paramedic had just snapped open the stretcher when Ivan reached her. Placing Lei on the white surface, he stepped back so the paramedic could press a scanner to her neck.

Flatline.

“I felt her pulse. And she’s bleeding.” Ivan didn’t imagine things—and he fucking wasn’t about to give up on Lei. “Check again!”

The paramedic obeyed, got another flatline.

It had to have been bare seconds since Lei’s last heartbeat. Falling back on the chilling precision of the pragmatic half of his brain, Ivan smashed into her mind using his telepathic energy. Psy couldn’t enter changeling minds—but they could smash them open. But a true hit tended to cause irreparable harm to the mind in question, which wasn’t his aim at all.

He wouldneverhurt Lei.

He modulated the blow to be powerful but not deadly.

Powerful enough to shock and startle.

A faint gasp, her eyelids fluttering even as a strange clawing jolt burned through him—as if his telepathy had been reflected back—before Lei went still. But it was enough. The paramedic got to work, together with a colleague who’d just made it to them, events moving at rapid-fire speed.

“Wait!” Ivan yelled out after they’d loaded Lei into the ambulance and he saw there wasn’t enough space for him to join the paramedic in the back. “Her name is Lei! She’s a changeling!”

The driver nodded to acknowledge the words as he pulled his door shut. Then the vehicle was backing up to turn onto the road, its lights flashing.

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