Slave to Sensation

Mercy uncurled from her cushion and came to stand in front of Sascha. Her stunning face was serious but there was a smile in her eyes. “Think you could find out some male secrets for me?”

Sascha smiled. “The only male I know that intimately is this one.” She turned to steal a kiss from Lucas. “And his secrets are mine.”

Laughing, Mercy hugged her. “I’m a sentinel. I vowed to stick by Lucas to death. If he trusts you, so do I. I’ll see you later-I’m going to catch up with Dorian.”

Clay, the most distant sentinel, the one who never touched her, was the one Sascha had feared most would choose to be cut from the web. She didn’t know what effect it would have on him, and had discussed it with Lucas. They’d decided to wait for the decisions before borrowing trouble.

Now the dark-skinned man came to stand in front of her. “My mind is not someplace you want to be,” he said quietly.

She felt his coolness, felt his control, wondered what lay behind it. “I’ll only come in if I’m invited.”

He touched her cheek and she knew he’d accepted. Moments later, he was gone. Nate and Tamsyn were the only ones left. The healer was grinning. “You know I’ll never say no, and Nate’s so dedicated, I think he loves our alpha more than me.”

“I resent that,” Nate grumbled. “I might love football more than you, but definitely not Lucas’s ugly mug.”

Sascha laughed at their joking, fully aware they were crazy for each other. The web spoke for itself. It was bursting with light, with rainbows, with love. “The Web of Stars,” she whispered.

“Is that what it looks like?” Lucas’s voice was a rough purr in her ear.

“Yes.” The starry plane of the PsyNet was barren compared to the Web of Stars, a cacophony of color and emotion, a web created not by need alone but by choice. Choices of loyalty, choices of love, choices of emotion. “I’ve got so much to learn.” Her powers were growing, changing, becoming.

“We have a lifetime.”

Turning, she wrapped her arms around him and threw back her head as he picked her up to spin her around. Her laughter sparkled along the Web of Stars, flickering joy that affected every mind within it. It was small and barely aware, but at that moment, the Web was far, far stronger than the PsyNet could ever hope to be.

Nalini Singh

Nalini Singh was born in Fiji and raised in New Zealand. She also spent three years living and working in Japan. She has worked as a lawyer, a librarian, a candy factory general hand, a bank temp and an English teacher. Nalini currently lives in New Zealand.

***