Psy & Changelings 06 - Branded by Fire

alone.
    However, it is this very warmth and generosity of spirit that makes the other aspect, or in some cases, expression, of their ability troubling to many. It is the ethical dilemma which disquiets them the most and one I will be focusing on in the second half of this book.
    Sascha broke off to look at Lucas. “That doesn’t sound good.”
    “Wasn’t it you who told me nothing can ever be black or white?”
    She thought about it. “Shades of gray.” She nodded. “If I was utterly good, I’d never understand badness.”
    “On to the next page?”
    “Oh, yes.”
     
     
    Riley didn’t say a word for several minutes when Mercy mentioned the Kit-Sienna thing sometime in the wee hours of the morning. “That,” he murmured at last, “could be a problem.”
    “That’s what I thought.”
    “We can’t do anything about it—they’re adults.” He ran his hand down her back. “But we can keep an eye on all the players.”
    “Agreed.” A laugh bubbled out of her. “Look at us, in bed and talking Pack business.”
    A pause. Then, “You make my heart beat, Mercy.”
    Her heart jumped into his hands all over again. He was so damn calm and he made those statements as if they were facts of life. “Riley.”
    Kisses on her cheek, along her jaw. “So, how many brat-lets do you want?”
    “As many as it takes to drive you insane.” Her throat was husky with emotion.
    “Then one redheaded little girl should do it.”
    “I love you.” Beyond the mating bond, beyond the sensual draw, she quite simply loved Riley. “More every single day.” And she didn’t care how sappy that sounded.
    A slow, perfect Riley smile. Just for her.

Turn the page for a preview of
Nalini Singh’s next
Psy-Changeling romance
    Blaze of Memory
    Available November 2009 from
Berkley Sensation!
DEATH
    Death followed the Forgotten like a scourge. Relentless. Without pity.
    They’d sought to find hope when they dropped from the PsyNet, wanting only to build a new life away from the cold choices of their brethren. But the Psy in the Net, their hearts iced over with the emotionless chill of Silence, refused to let the dissidents go in peace—for the Forgotten, with their hopes and dreams of a better life, were a roadblock to the Psy goal of absolute power.
    Among their numbers the defectors counted a large contingent of telepaths and telekinetics, medical specialists, men and women gifted in psychometry, and so much more. These powerful individuals, these rebels , stood as the only real psychic threat to the increasingly omnipotent Psy Council.
    So the Council cut them down.
    One by one.
    Family by family.
    Father. Mother. Child.
    Again and again, and again.
    Until the Forgotten had to run, to hide.
    In time, memories were lost, truths were concealed, and the Forgotten almost ceased to exist.
    But old secrets cannot be kept forever. Now, in the final months of the year 2080, the dust is rising, light is shining through, and the Forgotten stand at a crossroads. To fight is to face death once more, perhaps the total annihilation of their kind. But to run . . . is that not also a kind of annihilation?
CHAPTER 1
    She opened her eyes, and for a second, it felt as if the world shifted. Those eyes, the ones looking back at her, they were brown, but it was a brown unlike any she’d ever seen. There was gold in there. Flecks of amber. And bronze. So many colors.
    “She’s awake.”
    That voice, she remembered that voice.
    “Shh. I’ve got you.”
    She swallowed, tried to find her own voice.
    A raw hiss of air. Soundless. Without form.
    The man with the brown eyes slipped a hand under her head and tilted it up as he put something to her lips.
    Cold.
    Ice.
    She parted her lips, working desperately to melt the ice chips in her mouth. Her throat grew wet but it wasn’t enough. She needed water. Again, she attempted to speak. She couldn’t even hear herself, but he did.
    “Sit up.”
    It was like trying to swim through the most viscous of fluids—her bones were jelly, her muscles useless.
    “Hold on.” He all but lifted her into a sitting position on the bed. Her heart thudded in her chest, a fluttering trapped bird.
    Beat-beat.
    Beat-beat.
    Beat-beat.
    Warm hands on her face, turning her head. His face shimmered into view, then twisted impossibly sideways.
    “I don’t think the drugs are fully out of her system.” His voice was deep, reached deep, right into her beating fluttering heart. “Have you got—Thanks.” He raised