Free Prime Selection by Monette Michaels Page A

systems, they might breeze through this mission and come out the other side alive. She mentally shifted mission success odds up from sixty-five percent to seventy-five—the other twenty-five was up to fate, luck, karma, or whatever you wanted to call it. The unexpected shit was what always got you killed.

Chapter 5
    Nadia and A’Tem crouched in the shadows while Bram scouted ahead. Bram’s anger reached her before he did. His raging emotions scraped over her empathic sense like fingernails on slate. She choked back a hiss of pain and raised the psychic shields she’d perfected since her first encounter with Huw. She let out a relieved breath as Bram’s ire now merely brushed across her shielded mind like a cobweb floating on a breeze.
    “Nadia?” A’tem looked at her with concern. “What is it?”
    “Did you feel it too?” Maybe the Prime’s emotions affected everyone. Volusians were not known to be psychic, but their other senses and their skills at observation were sharper than most hominid species.
    “Feel what?” A’tem frowned, a puzzled look in his eyes.
    “I felt Bram coming. He’s very … very angry.” A’tem looked as if he might’ve probed for more information, but Bram turned into the small side hallway in which they waited. “What’s wrong, Bram?” she asked.
    The Prime soldier appeared shocked at her question. With him only inches away, she bolstered her shields to protect her senses from the volcanic flow of emotions coming from him. It was like a pyroclastic blast against her shields. She wasn’t sure she could keep his emotions at bay.
    A’tem touched her arm. “Nadia, what is it? You went ashen all of a sudden.”
    Nadia jerked her arm away from A’tem. His touch threatened what little control she had over her sensory intake. A’tem’s eyes narrowed and worry lines formed on his forehead, but he gave her more space.
    “Bram’s anger is trying to breach my shields.” Nadia ran shaky fingers through her hair. “My mental shields are weakening. It hurts.”
    A’tem nodded, his forehead smoothing out; he’d seen her empathic abilities in play before during battle. Not like these new, improved abilities, he hasn’t.
    Bram jerked in surprise. His eyes glowed with something akin to amazement. The anger beating on her psi senses dropped back to bearable levels. “Sorry, Commander. I didn’t realize you were a sensitive. I slipped into the early stages of batel rabia , Prime battle rage. I will shield you as much as possible.”
    She’d experienced Joen’s battle rage, but Bram’s seemed stronger—or she had become more sensitive.
    “Thank you.” She took a few cleansing breaths and found she could think without pain. “What made you so angry?”
    Bram growled under his breath, the sound vibrating the walls around them. “I checked the communications command center. It is manned by two Prime soldiers … two men I recognized.” He clenched his hands into fists so tightly Nadia could see whiteness appear around his knuckles. “They laughed and joked. The traitors.”
    “We knew someone on the inside had to have helped the mercenaries.” Nadia’s voice was gentle; even through her shields, she sensed his disappointment, his hurt, mixed in with his rage. She could taste the acridity of his emotions on the air. She would have to monitor her empathic skills and the sensory side effects carefully. If she needed to learn to construct stronger mental shields, she would. She couldn’t allow the extreme emotions of any Prime soldier—friend or foe—to affect her in battle.
    Bram scowled and nodded. “Yes, Commander. But one of them is my cousin. That makes it worse.”
    Yes, it would. Nadia’s heart ached for the honorable man.
    A’tem swore under his breath in Volusian and squeezed Bram’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, my friend.”
    Bram clasped the Volusian’s other arm and squeezed, a warrior’s acknowledgment.
    “Thank you.” He took a deep breath; his emotions