Todd and Nick Ruger are on the run after narrowly escaping the war in New Colorado, where they were implicated in the assassination of Chancellor Shaffer. Todd is gravely ill and Nick has serious injuries, but that's the least of their problems. They're alone with dwindling supplies and facing the harsh winter bearing down on them far north in Yellowknife Protectorate. Just when it seems they're trapped between the proverbial rock and hard place, they are offered refuge with a doctor in the isolated town of Elk's Ridge. As they heal, they're offered a fresh start in Elk's Ridge. But just as they begin to rebuild their lives, tragedy strikes. Victor Raleigh, the new Vice-Chancellor of New Colorado, knows all about Nick's psychic abilities, and he'll settle for nothing less than total control over Nick. He's aligned himself with a vicious creature, a type of psychic vampire capable of wielding control over individuals such as Nick. When Nick is betrayed and captured, Todd sees no alternative but to head back into the war zone to rescue him. Will Nick be the same man Todd loves after Raleigh's pet psychic vampire is through with him? Can Nick accept the fact Todd can love him after what Raleigh forces him to do, or will his guilt consume and destroy him?

Chained Hearts

Just as he’d done as a child when he’d learned to avoid being beaten by a tutor or Tutor Linn’s riding crop, Nick quickly learned what Raleigh and Jah’lar expected of him. Maybe it went along with the type of ability he possessed; Nick had no clue. What he did know was he now and always had been able to determine what pleased people. Todd’s teaching him a game they enjoyed playing just enhanced that skill further.


It all came down to skills. This was what Nick’s life had been reduced to, a set of skills


Give Raleigh what he wanted and Jah’lar delivered to Nick what Nick had come to crave, breathing and being taken to the world of his most precious fantasies. Disappoint Raleigh and Nick suffered Jah’lar’s punishment, horrors dredged up from his past and enhanced in his mind while he choked for air and his lungs begged for relief.


Chapter 52