Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 121389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
So, for the second time, he told her about the spider that lived in his mind, formed of the poisonous deposits of Jax in his neural cells. Her answer was the same as in the forest, the cat inside him as determined to stay. But things had changed.
“I can’t control it anymore.” His voice was rough, raw. “Grandmother’s shield, the one she helped me create when I was nine and the power first activated, it’s fragmenting and I can’t put it back together. It crumbles every single time.”
Soleil narrowed those wild ocelot eyes. “What are you trying to tell me, Ivan Mercant?”
“Without that shield, I suck people dry—I take their psychic energy and then I take the physical energy that powers the mind. I take and take until there’s nothing left, until they’re husks devoid of mind or life.” While he didn’t gain access to his victims’ psychic abilities, his theft of their energies supercharged his own nasty ability. “I become a murderous monster. And my control is all but gone.”
Claws dug into his skin. “So, what’s the solution? Because I know you have a solution—and I’m certain I won’t like it.”
“The only way to handle it once it breaks out is for me to create a cage so powerful that it’ll effectively crush my mind.” The man Soleil knew as Ivan Mercant would be gone, buried as deep as if he lay in a grave.
“It’ll put me in a coma, where I’ve informed my neurologist that he is to organize experiments and observation. There’s no point in erasing myself when my brain could offer a way forward for another child born with the same neural defect, the same twisted ability. I’ll never come out of that coma and will eventually expire.”
Instead of crying or berating him, Soleil folded her arms across her chest. “And your grandmother has agreed to this ridiculous plan?”
“She doesn’t know.”
“Ha!” Soleil pointed at him. “Because you know she’d stop you. Well, same here.”
“Soleil, this isn’t something you can fix by willpower or medical techniques. The known children of Jax addicts all experience serious neurological issues that can’t be fixed.”
“Known children? What’s the sample size of the studies you’re referencing?”
“Eleven,” he said. “Not many Jax addicts manage to procreate.”
“Eleven?” She threw up her hands. “Maybe there’s a reason those eleven were chosen for the study. Maybe the others found ways to escape their pasts and are living big beautiful lives! Maybe their parent or parents gave them up for adoption and no one ever had reason to test them for Jax because they showed no ill effects!” Her chest heaved. “You ever think of that?”
“It’s not realistic.” Too hopeful, too much a thing of raw want.
Soleil’s lips twitched, and then she was laughing—but it held a dangerous edge. Claws digging into his shoulders, she leaned in close. “You currently have a cat in residence in your head. I’ll eat that spider alive if I have to. Don’t you talk to me about realistic.”
That was when he saw the predator in her, the ocelot that could be a stealthy hunter, primal and deadly. She wasn’t rational right now, wouldn’t listen to reason. Aware he had very little time left, he didn’t push it. She’d be forced to face the truth when the time came—and by then, he’d find a way to make her promise to snap their bond.
His entire body went cold at the idea of her being linked to him when he shut down. If she’d been with him on the island, then the bond was deep enough to wrench her into the abyss with him. She’d fall where she stood, her mind locked in the cold dark with his own.
No. He would not allow that. “We’ll talk about this later,” he said, swallowing his dread at the thought of her light just blinking out from the world.
Still glaring at him, arms folded mutinously, she said, “I want your grandmother’s number.”
“No.”
“Scared that we’ll rip off your head together?”
Ivan might not have any knowledge of relationships, but he knew when he was being hunted, being driven into a corner where his stalker would pounce. “We’ll discuss this later,” he repeated. “Right now, I need to share what I learned on the island, see if there’s anything that can be done for those trapped minds.”
Soleil frowned, the black cloud of her hair sliding over her shoulder as she bent her head in thought. “You’re right, but you’re also being squirrelly. Never mind. I can be patient.”
Ivan had never in his life been described as “squirrelly.” Arwen would collapse in laughter if he heard. But Ivan would take it for now if it would get Soleil’s mind off the perilous track of getting in touch with his grandmother. Because he knew Ena; she’d agree with Soleil, would want to save him.