Page 87 of Border Control

“I’m not doing so well,” I admit.

“No shit.” Ellen puts her arms around me and squeezes me tight. Her wool sweater smells like hay and has grass seed all over it, so it'll make my skin itchy later, but I burrow my head into her shoulder and wish I could block out the real world.

But I can’t. I need to fix this.

I pull back from Ellen, facing them all. “This mind-fuck thing is ruining everything. I saw Morgan was up to something with Accu-care, but I can’t prove anything. I’ve been kicked off the inquiry, and he’s free to do whatever he wants. We’re going to lose. Everyone… everyone who matters will lose.”

The amusement leaves Arabella’s green eyes immediately. “Oh, Law, I'm so sorry.”

Ellen strokes my hair back from my face. “What about you? I know the inquiry is important to you, but what does being removed off it mean for you?”

“I… I had to take forced sick leave.” I swallow, hard. “But I’m not sick.”

Arabella and Ellen exchange a glance. “This link,” Ellen says, “it won’t be helping your panic disorder, will it?”

There it is, in black and white. “I got rid of that,” I say between gritted teeth.

“Anxiety doesn’t just go away, Laura,” Ellen reminds me gently.

“No, I know, but it was under control. I have to get back in there, prove… prove Morgan’s up to something.” I rub my temples. “I want to focus on this mind-sync. We’ve tried everything we can think of to break this connection.”

“Such as?” Ellen asks.

“Replicating how it was formed in the first place,” I reply, with delicate delivery. Like I'm some prim and proper princess. I turn to Ilia and Gara. “What do you know about this mental bond?”

Gara answers. “It's an ability unique to Parthiastocks. I have no knowledge of it, save that it works by sympathetic resonance.”

“I regret to say I don't know how it works either,” Ilia rumbles.

Dom strides to stand next to me, facing his leader. “We cannot fathom how it happened, nor have our efforts to reverse it worked. The only solution is to seek assistance.”

Gara’s brows pucker. “Where would we seek such assistance?”

Dom squares his shoulders. “Oloria.”

The aliens’ scales pale. Gara sucks in a breath. “You want to return to Oloria?”

Ilia moves his arm in front of Dom as if to shield him. “You’ll be a returning exile. They’ll kill you.”

My chest squeezes as if someone’s got it in a fist. “Not an option. We’ll… figure something out. It has to be today,tomorrow at the latest. I can’t be gone for, what, four weeks at the soonest?”

Everything’s quiet for a moment. Then Dom takes my hands. “We have been trying to break it, to no avail. This is causing interference in your purpose, and is also threatening the stability of my Apex.”

Right. I’m affecting Nevare with my panic attacks.

“It’s risky for you,” I remind him.

His eyes don’t meet mine. “Ilia and Gara came back.”

“Not without serious shit going down,” Ellen says, breathless.

“Didn’t you hear what happened to Gara?” Arabella chimes in, hanging off her alien’s arm. “Chased around the hospital by Parthiastocks trying to snap his neck.”

“Female, I am a Parthiastock. I can blend in with the other law keepers.” Dom speaks so clearly, so matter of fact, but inside I feel something else. A hardening resolve.

With a glance at me, he snatches the inkling away, locking it up tight inside. I open my mouth to protest, but close it again. Who am I to ask someone to tell me all their secrets? He’s allowed his boundaries as much as I am.

“They have these identifier chips, plus the Apexes will scan his mind and know he’s banished,” Arabella protests.