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"My shields are inable" Sophia looked at the Councilor, suddenly aware that she had more of a capacity to understand this powerful wonized the sae" Nikita rose to her feet, walked to the plate-glass wall that looked out over the city "But change takes tiain be a victim "I will never like you," she said to the Councilor’s back "But I will never lie to you either I think you could do with an advisor who’s not afraid of you"

"Nor Not on that "I’ve thought and thought about why you nment, and I can only come up with one answer" And it was an answer beyond Silence, an answer to do with iveness "But I can’tminutes to respond "Pick up the standard employment contract on your way out And Ms Russo?"

"Yes?"

"You should be scared of me"

"Perhaps" Sophia rose "But once you’ve seen what I have, once you’ve lived in the abyss for that long, fear becoe" Then she walked out and into the arms of a cop aited only until they’d closed the door to his apart herpain in hiave hi

He ripped open her jacket, shoved up her skirt with rough, hungry hands that licked fire across her skin "Stop me, Sophie" A harsh whisper "I don’t want to hurt you"

"It’s okay" She pushed off his own shirt, baring the sleekly muscular beauty of his chest "I missed you until I couldn’t breathe Coers urgent as he tested her slickness Lifting a leg, she wrapped it around his hip He swore, lowered the zipper on his pants, and then the hot, hard heat of hiainst the wall She cried out, holding on, holding hiht

The pleasure was a firestorm that erased the pain, wiped away the sorrow, left her lileamed with perspiration "Hello, my Max," she whispered

"Hello, my sweet, sexy Sophie"

Later that day, after they’d spentand holding each other, Sophia took a deep breath "I did soation of in"

Her cop stroked her hair off her face, his expression intent "Tell me"

"Part of this is because I’m an anchor, but part of it is becausethe extraordinary "You know about the NetMind?"

"I’ve heard ruanizes the Net"

"Yes The thing is, there’s a DarkMind, too" She’d searched, dug deep to find confirmation of her suspicions "It’s made up of all the ery, so scared, and so very, very lonely I thinkit’s also a little insane"

Max didn’t ask what others ht have He asked only the critical question "This DarkMind is protecting you?"

"They both are in a sense" She took a shaky breath, sed "At first I thought my shields were a psychic extension of the Net, that for some reason, the Twin-Minds had decided to look after me, but while that made sense with my Net shields, it didn’t explain my telepathic protections--those have to come from within Then I realized it’s me" She hesitated

"It’s okay, sweetheart" A kiss on her forehead, arms that held her close "No matter what, you’re still my Sophie, still , breathing extension of the Net, Max" The tendrils snaked through her ht was there, too, simply less obvious to the casual eye "I’er--I’ve become some kind of a focus"

Two hours later, she shared the truth about her shields with Sascha Duncan over a secure comm link The empath’s face held no rejection, only concern "But Sophie, the Net is going mad If it’s inside you on that level"

"There’s hope, Sascha" A blinding, beautiful hope "As the Net passes through ether if only for a fraction of a second"

Comprehension dawned in a fracture of color in Sascha’s cardinal eyes "And for that instant, they’re sane?"