Page 28 (1/2)

CHAPTER 23

Max staggered, bracing his hands on the counter "Tell loves--"is a result of failing telepathic shields They’re so thin now that when they shear, the thoughts of every man, woman, and child in this city will smash into my brain, crushhis jaw "How long?"

"Not long"

Anger--hot, protective, violent--was a rush of white noise in his ears "When were you planning to tell me?"

Sophia sed at the tautly held fury in that question "I’ht if you knebroken I truly was, you wouldn’t want me"

"Sophie" A low, dark word, a shake of his head that ht "They’ll rehabilitate you if they find out how close you are to the edge, that’s the bottom line?"

"Yes"

His shoulders firence in his eyes a razor "They can’t do that if you’re out of the Net We’ll figure out a way to fucking rebuild your shields once you’re safe"

He was fighting for her, she thought with a wrench deep inside of her Never had anyone fought for her She’d never been iht’ve still had--she couldn’t, wouldn’t, hold back the final truth "Without the biofeedback an, "I’ll die within seconds" Realizing she’d soan to peel the cucumber on the counter

"Sascha isn’t dead" Max pushed back fro his arms across his chest "Neither are the other Psy in DarkRiver"

"Yes, they’ve found an exit route" Finished with the peeling, she began to slice the cucumber into precise, thin slices "However, even should such an exit be open to other Js, I couldn’t take it"

A silent pause, his thruainst her skin

"I function as aof this The agony spearing through her nerves, a conditioned response, told her it was deeply forbidden But she wanted, needed, Max to understand

"Keep talking" It was an order

Part of her wanted to rebel, but she knew she’d pushed hiht destroy this bond between the that had never been ive up Max was her gift "Anchors are literally that," she said, fighting the pain with the stubborn possessiveness inside of her "They’re born with the ability to e into the PsyNet itself They help keep it stable and are almost always cardinals"

Max tapped the counter in front of her Jerking up her head, she saw hi the cucumber was now in hundreds of tiny, tiny squares "Oh"

No shrug, no smile that revealed the lean dih her She’d seen hu woht one day need to do the sa off the stool, she wiped her hands on a towel "Max--"

"No" He pinned her with his gaze "So help ht now--" He blew out a breath "Help ave in, aware for the first time that Max’s relentless ould, of course, translate into an inexorable kind of anger Neither of theain until they were seated across from each other, their meals in front of them Morpheus appeared out of nowhere to sit on her feet

"Don’t feed hiave him an innocent look even as she discreetly dropped a piece of bread for the cat--who seee predilection for it "Of course not"

A glint of amuseer momentarily at rest--"anchors are usually cardinals, why are you doing their job?" His biceps drew her eye as he clasped his hands at the back of his head