Aden and Zaira could attempt to climb down the tree itself, but then they’d be stuck outside in the storm; the weather was an excellent security measure right now. Hell, Remi had pulled back all of his sentries and ordered everyone to stay within a tight circle around the heart of the pack—anyone who went out any farther at the moment had a death wish. If the rain didn’t wash you away, the lightning would fry you where you stood.
“If you have surveillance footage of your neighbors,” Aden said, “we can study it while in the aerie.”
Remi shook his head. “No footage.” It wasn’t a lie—the pack didn’t have the time or the resources for in-depth surveillance of their neighbors, especially since those neighbors had minded their own business and left RainFire to mind theirs. “We can sneak up to investigate once the storm’s died down. I’m betting they’ll have cleared out on the off chance you two made it out.”
The female Arrow, the one who was attempting to appear harmless—Remi’s leopard huffed in laughter—stared impassively at the food Finn had brought in. “You need to eat,” Finn said, his expression stating he’d brook no refusal this time. “Aden told me Psy prefer plain food, so I tried to find the plainest but highest-protein items I could—mixed nuts, a lentil-based spread on high-energy bread, and an energy bar.”
When Zaira still didn’t take the food, Aden spoke. “Eat. If you don’t, you’ll be weak.”
Zaira took the plate from Finn on the word “weak.” “Thank you.”
After she was done, Remi showed them up to the aerie. “Lock the trapdoor,” he said, demonstrating the mechanism, “and you’ll have privacy.” Not bothering with the ladder, he jumped through the trapdoor and straight down to the infirmary level. His cat ensured he landed lightly on his bare feet, his body in a slight crouch.
Walking into the infirmary, he met Finn’s perceptive gaze. “Well?”
“Muscle tone on both is as good as your own,” the other man replied with a grin. “Aden and Zaira are as dangerous as each other, I’d say.”
That’s what Remi had figured. Anyone who discounted the woman because of her size or gender was an idiot who deserved to get his head ripped off. “Anything about their injuries say they’re lying to us?” Finn was a healer to the bone and he’d done his best by the two Arrows but his first loyalty was to RainFire.
“No.” Finn brought up two scans side by side on the screen beside the beds. “Aden and Zaira were shot like they said, and had those barbaric things implanted. I also found signs of multiple stuns to the body.”
Frowning, he tapped a laser pen against his datapad. “I guess it’s the only way to contain an Arrow if you don’t want to use drugs.”
“Wouldn’t drugs be faster, quieter?”
“Tammy told me Psy don’t react well to most drugs,” Finn said, referring to the DarkRiver healer. “You never know when even a specially calibrated drug will have the unintended effect of sending their psychic abilities out of control.” Frown turning into a scowl, he shook his head. “I counted four stuns on her, more on him. Their abductors were playing with fire—their bodies could’ve overloaded at any point past three.”
“That bruise on Aden’s face from a stun, too?”
“Yes. I cleared it up some, but it’ll take at least forty-eight more hours to fully disappear.”
Remi stared at the scans that provided unmistakable evidence of violence that could’ve easily led to death. His focus was on building his pack, but he wasn’t about to ignore a threat on his border, especially when that threat might ignite an all-out war with the Arrow Squad. Soon as the storm cleared, he’d do everything in his power to find out what the fuck was going on up there.
• • •
THE howling aloneness inside her skull threatening to awaken the bloody rage that had helped her survive and almost led to her execution, Zaira stood in the center of the aerie and watched Aden secure the trapdoor. Task complete, he walked over and did something that made every muscle in her body lock tight.
He put his arms around her.
“What are you doing?” Arrows didn’t make physical contact except in exigent circumstances.
“You’re in distress at being cut off from the PsyNet.” Aden didn’t release her stiff form, his body heat passing easily through the thin material of his T-shirt and her top. “You need contact.”
Zaira didn’t know how to answer that. She wasn’t used to being in distress about anything—if she’d ever had any softness in her, it had calcified long ago. Even as a child, she’d refused to permit herself to be weak. She’d much preferred to be angry. In anger was strength, brutal and deadly.
In rage was power.
Arrow training had taught her to corral that rage, but she knew it lived inside her, as vicious as always and ready to do damage. Even now it twisted in its bonds, eyes red and only two things in mind: escape and retribution. Escape from the nothingness and retribution against those who’d put her in this position.
She had never been this alone.
Even when her parents beat her without mercy while holding her trapped within their telepathic shields, she’d had their minds within touching distance. When her Arrow trainers had locked her in their shields—all of which were constructed to ensure she didn’t break out as she’d done from her parents’ weaker efforts—she’d felt their presence in the shields themselves.