Page 74 of Border Control

I crest the last rise before the swimming lake.

Gouges in the earth suggest something massive tore through here, nearby trees leaning as if blown back by a hurricane.

In the center of it all: Nevare. He lays on his side, purple scales shot through with bruised, shimmering indigo, chest barely rising.

Arik’s eyes are white-hot with stress and locked on Ilia, standing off to one side.

Ilia lowers the tranquilizer, hands tense around it. Arture stares at Nevare’s fallen form, backing away as I sprint in, keeping his distance from the wreckage of the storm which just broke loose inside him.

Because of me.

I skid to a halt and get to my knees beside him, my hearts pounding. “He’s not going nova. This was one slip up. I was distracted, and Arik was… was….”

I can’t reveal Arik’s lack of ability. Squeezing my eyes shut, I shove all the heavy secrets I’m carrying into my own locked room: a cell in a Euthanization Center, cold, clinical, with a garroting station right in front of me. Reminding me of the price of failure.

All eyes swing to me. Ilia’s gaze sharpens, measuring. The air smells like damp and fear and ozone.

“It was my fault,” I say.

Arik’s head snaps toward me, scales flickering. Dark violet creeps over my limbs in response.

“What happened?” Ilia rasps. As if he’s been shouting.

“He—he felt something unexpected through the link. It hit too fast. I didn’t shield him enough. It’s my failure.”

Nevare doesn’t move. My chest tightens.

Ilia walks closer, careful steps. “And is everything… well, Dom?”

He avoids saying it, but I hear what’s under his question.Is Nevare safe? Are you hiding something worse?Are you able to protect your Apex and us?

“Yes.” I nod. “Nevare… will recover, and I won’t fail again.” I let my eyes linger on Arik’s still form, then back to Ilia. “I will focus on his recuperation, then turn myself over for punishment.”

“There’s no need for that,” Ilia rumbles.

But there is. Ishouldn’tbe sneaking away. My responsibilities are here, and they’re more urgent than ever. Which means Ineedrelease.

We have to get her out of the mind-sync, even if it means leaving her locked alone in her head. Where those horrible spikes are, always pressing in, threatening her mental equilibrium.

No. Nevare has to be my responsibility. If I slip again and let Law-rah’s emotions drag on the mind-sync, Nevare could shatter, like he nearly did just now.

I am his anchor. His shield. If I fail, I don’t just fail my purpose. I breakhim.

Squeezing his limp hand sends me straight back to meeting them for the first time. First, Bases are introduced. I was certain I’d form a mind-sync the moment I encountered an Apex, and I was so sure I’d be able to form a stable connection even without another Base. Older Bases milled on the edges, scorned for their lack of success, but I found myself approaching one of them. It was Arik’s last chance to form a mind-sync and be useful. One final shot. The older Base had already given up, but there was something about his milder, gentler psychic power that called to me.

I was standing near him when they let the Apexes in: younger, smaller, their mental landscapes bright and loud. I’donly been raised with Bases; meeting Nevare was like seeing in a new spectrum of color.

And all three of us snapped together, with Nevare in the center.

I pull his limp hand closer to my hearts. “I’ll stay close to my Apex,” I say. “He won’t slip again.”

Ilia’s brow lifts. “Stay clear of the humans for now. I’m glad he didn’t do this in the courtyard, where El-len and Law-rah or their property might have been at risk.”

As he turns away to survey the damage to the lake, Nevare's head lifts toward me, groggy. A low, private pulse threads down our bond. ‘Law-rah?’

I keep my face neutral. Say nothing.

Because if he digs deeper and findsLaw-rahin my thoughts, if he sees what she’s starting to mean to me, I really will lose him.