Page 38

“Don’t forget to narrate, love,” Lachlan reminded me.

“Oh, right, sorry. Got absorbed in the work. What I’ve done is coaxed a bit of Donovan’s anchor energy and brought it up to connect to the Limiter. The anchor energy is something very welcome to any part of a Psychic’s ability, it’s a natural sort of element. Rather like air in lungs, even though it’s technically a foreign body, the lungs eagerly embrace it. In this case—oh, lovely. The three strands I brought up are already starting to meld together into one larger strand. Jon, I think I want to bring up two more strands, but I don’t dare push it past that. Too much, and we’ll overwhelm the Limiter. It’s a very fragile organ right now, it holds little structure, and too much will burn it right to a crisp.”

“By all means, baby steps,” he agreed. “But it’s working? The Limiter is recovering?”

“Slowly, but yes, I can see it.” The entire shape of it had inflated a little, a sign of life when there had been nothing before. An excellent sign. I moved my square as I brought up two more threadbare lines of energy and watched as they also were latched on, melding into the other three.

Donovan abruptly shifted, his hand coming around to rest at the small of Jon’s back. The second he did, the energy connected to the anchor bond steadied, settling.

Damn, seriously, he’s a complete natural. No wonder Jon’s ability had seized him and not let go.

“Seiji, that okay?” He checked.

“Rather, it’s perfect, and don’t move until I tell you to.”

He shot me a grin. “Okay.”

I stayed right there, staring hard at the Limiter. “What Donovan just did helped steady the anchor bond, and because of that, it’s in turn steadying the energy flow into the Limiter. I’m delighted, this is going better than I planned for it to. Oh, there—ha! The Limiter has regained its shape, or at least, mostly. It’s no longer looking like a withered and dejected pumpkin.”

Jon winced. “Wow, it was that bad before? I’ve got flashbacks to childhood pumpkins.”

“It was worse, really, but it’s more like an aging pumpkin now? If that makes you feel better.”

“It does, actually.”

The rapid growth I saw abruptly eased up, finding its new equilibrium. I didn’t dare push it any further. If I tried, it would be the definition of too much of a good thing. Besides, I didn’t know if I really needed to.

The Limiter was functioning.

Jon abruptly lifted both hands to stare at them and swore softly. I knew why. Even I could see the difference. Jon had always been like this raging bonfire walking about, all power and energy in the most overwhelming sense. I watched that abate as his Limiter finally did its job, bringing all of that wild energy back under control, so it no longer flailed about wildly. Instead, it hovered like a second skin, which was still not right, but was definitely an improvement!

I closed the square, cleared it out, and then came around to stand in front of him. He looked up at me with this raw, naked hope.

“Do you think I can shield?”

“I’d bet good money you can.” He looked so young in that moment, so eager but scared, and I wanted to hug him. Assure him it’d be fine. “It won’t be a fantastic shield, it’ll be on the weaker side, but I think you can do it. I think it’ll also improve a little as time goes on. You’re very much in recovery mode right now.”

His fair brows beetled together as he focused. I was a little surprised he knew how to shield, but I suppose even if he couldn’t do it, he must have been taught the basics at some point. Well, that tracked, he likely had to teach Abby how to shield. I watched very carefully as he pulled a shield together and it, too, helped reign that crazy power of his in. It wasn’t the best shield I’d ever seen, rather paper thin, but it was well formed. It was doing the best job it could.

And Jon could clearly see it. For the first time in his life, he could actually shield. When he lifted his eyes to mine again, there were tears standing in them.

Voice choked with emotion, he whispered, “Thank you.”

I shared his smile, basked in the victory with him. To me, this was a little frustrating, as I wanted to do more. I wanted to actually fix it. But to him, this was already world changing. This was already so much better than it was. I should hold onto this moment, this victory.

Donovan wrapped arms around him, and Jon went with a garbled laugh, arms tight around his husband. His anchor, who had solidly been on his side even at its most challenging.

“Will he be able to handle electronics?” Donovan asked hopefully.

“Er…only in short doses,” I advised. “BUT! He should no longer accidentally fry things. A casual brush up against something won’t kill it. Prolonged exposure will still wear things down, but that time has now increased. Jon, I’m assuming most things can’t last more than a year around you?”

He eased back to answer but stayed in Donovan’s arms. “Yeah, a year is about right for most things.”

“I think you’re looking at three years now. Or thereabouts.”

“Three years would be fantastic,” he said with this fierce longing. “Oh my god, my wallet thanks you already.”

I bet it did get expensive, constantly replacing things. Even with a dual income and no kids, that probably did strain them sometimes.