Psyche Shield Read Online Free PDF

stakes,
she’ll probably agree on her own. She’s pragmatic and logical. She won’t like
it, of course, but I think with some persuading she’ll see that it’s necessary.
We’re lucky it’s Jazz. We wouldn’t have a chance of convincing most Wolves.
    Does she know what really happened yet? Gary, Jazz’s
Human husband, overheard the damning conversation that led Jason to believe I’d
betrayed the pack. Based on Gary’s accusation, Jason had ordered my death.
    She might be the only one who doesn’t. Gary said she’s
been locked in the lab since you gave her a blood sample. He’s barely seen her.
    Wait. She might still think I collared you and Nathan and
killed John? I asked in sudden alarm.
    Billie shook her head and stroked my waist reassuringly. According
to Gary she got the short version of the events but didn’t stop long enough to
hear the whole story. She knows you’re not Satan.
    Thank God, I sighed in relief. Jazz might still blame
me for scaring her husband, but at least she’d heard some of the truth. When
did you talk to Gary?
    I called him on my way out of town this morning. I tried
Jazz first, but she didn’t answer. Gary said she was already at the lab.
According to Amy, he stuck up for you at the Pack Meeting.
    That made no sense to me. The last time I saw Gary, he
accused me of betraying the pack before running away in terror. Why would he
do that?
    When he stopped long enough to think about it, he
realized you let him go. You could have stopped him, but you didn’t. By the
time they gathered for the Pack Meeting, we were already gone, but he’d begun
to question what he heard. He’s known you longer than any of us.
    He’s not mad? I liked Gary and hoped I wouldn’t lose
that friendship.
    Not at all. Billie pulled the Jeep into a parking lot
and killed the engine. The simple building housed a research laboratory where
Jazz worked as a geneticist. None of her coworkers knew her specialty:
lycanthropic genetics. The woman barely looked old enough to have a teenage
son. They’d never guess she graduated from college the same year that Watson
and Crick published the famous DNA paper and predated World War II. They only
knew she spent part of her time on a private research and development project.
    In the front office, a polite receptionist confirmed our
identities and handed over temporary ID passes. Before long Jazz opened the
security door wearing a lab coat and jeans, a pair of safety glasses perched on
her head. Her long nearly-black hair, pulled back in a simple pony tail, hid
under her lab coat. She appeared to be in her early thirties, only a little
older than me.
    She spoke to us politely and professionally, giving no
indication of our friendship. “Thank you for coming. Right this way.” We
followed her in silence through a series of sterile halls with doors leading into
rooms filled with complicated equipment and smelling of foul chemicals.
    As we made our way through the building, I lightly touched
every mind searching for any Mage coercion among her coworkers. We’d
encountered sentries before, collared Humans who lived relatively normal lives
without knowing they spied for a Mage. Wolves could smell a Mage, but they
couldn’t detect a sentry.
    Everyone here is Human. No sign of Mage coercion, I
informed Billie.
    Good. I don’t sense anything out of the ordinary, but I
can’t smell much in this place. I don’t know how she can handle all the
chemicals. She grimaced visibly.
    She said she’s used to it. I can’t even stand the smell,
and I don’t have a Wolf’s nose, I replied. Jazz gave no sign that she
sensed the mental exchange. At work she kept a professional distance from her
packmates, one of many security measures that helped keep the existence of
Wolves secret.
    Eventually we entered a small room filled wall-to-wall with
refrigerators, computers, and strange instruments. No windows allowed natural
light into the room, and a picture of her family covered the only