Page 62 of Mindeater

I strain to smile. “Of course.” Nina flicks her gaze at me, a silent warning.

“There. Go see if Peepaw needs any help.”

Kaya pouts, looks up at me with a plea in her brown eyes. “Do I have to?”

It’s not my place to argue with her mother’s rules. “Go on,” I say gently.

She huffs, stomps her foot, and kicks snow. But she does listen. Good girl.

“What were you thinking?” Nina growls, standing from the upturned bucket to wave a finger in my face. Her typically sweet scent is soured by her mood. “You could have died.”

We don’t keep secrets, so I don’t mind if someone overhears. “You should’ve kept your distance. You and Kaya need to stay whole.”

She rolls her eyes, then grabs my hand. I don’t bother stopping her. I know what she’s going to do. A weak attempt to prove I’m taking things too far. She pulls the glove off my hand, holds my wrist, and pushes the mark into my line of sight. “It’s huge, Ryx. He’s a fucking Maven!”

“I know he is,” I growl, breaking free of her hold. I put my glove back on and fold my arms. “It was necessary, or else he would’ve scrambled Kane’s head.”

“You need to either put him down or cut him loose. The stories are true. The longer he’s around you…damn it. He’s an omega, too. Did you know that?”

“Yes,” I grind out. She acts like my history with Saren isn’t common knowledge by now.

“Well? The longer you two are around each other, the worse it’ll get. Have you talked to Dad? What does he have to say about this?”

I hesitate. She notices because, of course, Nina would notice. “I’m going to tell hi—”

“No. This is way beyond what you can handle, Aryx. You have to tell Dad.”

“I know my limits. Saren is a fucking stepping stone.”

She narrows her eyes, calling my bluff. “If you touch him one more time, even by accident, I don’t know that I’ll be able to stop what happens next. The pulse is nearly out of control, and you are unbonded. You can’t control this.”

“Hence,” I throw my hands out and wiggle my fingers, “gloves. It won’t happen again.”

“And using the pulse like that? What’s your excuse? Do you have a death wish?”

I know she cares about me. In ways, we are like siblings, even if we don’t share a single drop of blood. Nina is two years older than I am, so when Salem rescued me from the leeches, broken to the point I thought I was a goner, Nina took me under her wing. A sister I never had. But right now that worry and care are driving me up the wall. I’m not seventeen anymore.

“I wanted to hurt him in a way that’d last,” I tell her, not hiding the hatred in my voice. “I wanted him brought to his fucking knees.”

She reels back. “Ryx,” she whispers, eyes wide.

Clearing my throat, I shake the bloodlust away. “Sorry.”

After long seconds of staring at me, she inches closer and cups my face. “Let. Him. Go.”

“Nina, I—”

“Let him go, or this is going to kill you. You bond to the wrong person, and it’s over. All of this will be for nothing.”

***

Did I heed Nina’s warning? Fuck no.

Her superstition about the two races being connected is just that. A fucking fairy tale. Others and Telex are enemies. They always have been. It’s why I don’t spend any more time putting off the inevitable. Saren is going to talk, or he’s going to die. Right. Now.

“Get the fuck up,” I growl and toss the bucket of ice water over Saren’s cage.

He jolts, yelps, and scrambles to sit. No longer in the fetal position, his lilac eyes slam into mine, and I know something is fucking wrong. His scent slams into me, enticing and distracting. The hairs on the back of my neck rise, my heart beats too fast, and before I can react, the cage door flies open, and he’s on me.