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

Todd picked up where Nick left off. “He—it—is very psychically sensitive. It does two things. First it can create a sense of panic in its victim, as well as incapacitating him or her by closing off their airway and choking them.” He grabbed Nick’s chin and forced the man to look directly at him. “They take away their victims’ ability to make their own choices. It takes away their control.”


“Choking was his main way of controlling us, well, me. It was all he could do to me.” Adam sat on the couch opposite Nick’s chair.


“I don’t understand,” Witze said. “You shot him, center mass, I saw him go down.”


Todd snorted. “What I did was distracthim. That bullet wound won’t kill him. Make him hurt for a day or so, probably irritated the hell out of him, but didn’t kill him. What you didn’t see was him getting away through a door.”


Chapter 60