Author's note:

This is an alternative story for Kaleb Krychek. He gets to know an entirely new character that doesn't exist in the original universe by Nalini Singh.

Ok, I know I'm a little late with this. But let me explain: It all started while a lot of Nalini Singh fans were waiting desperately for Kaleb's story. So was I. And of course I had an idea in mind. So I thought: Why not write a fanfiction to kill the waiting time? I'd never done it before, and probably never will again, since it got completely out of hand. I had planned it as a novella of maybe 40,000 words, when I started writing in 2012. I don't know how it happened but it became a full novel. It took me so long because I have little time to write and almost gave it up more than once. But here it is. Finally done. Yay, I'm free! And I only expanded my waiting time to read further in Singh's storyline by five years!

My story starts after the events of Tangle of Need and probably deviates pretty hard from the original story line from there. I don't know yet, because I haven't read on in the series, since I started writing. Yes, I didn't read a single scene that takes place after Tangle of Need, before I finished this. Heart of Obsidian was waiting on my book shelf all this time, wrapped in real metal chains and secured with a padlock. I didn't want it to mess up the story I had in mind and frankly I didn't want to be discouraged by Nalini Singh's ideas and writing. I'm only starting to catch up with the story arc now.

I hope some of you will still be interested in the story and maybe give me feedback. Sorry if my use of language is off at times, because I'm not a native speaker.

Blurb:

Two Psy, both devastatingly powerful, both courted by madness in their own unique ways – and both bound by different kinds of loyalty to their race. Yet fate throws them into a tempest of emotion that might not only destroy them both but take the whole world down with them.

Kaleb Krychek is known to be one of those Psy who are most submerged into the Silence Protocol, ruthless, deadly and completely devoid of emotion. On his quest to take over the Net he even secured the alliance of the Council's secret assassins – the Arrows. When they provide him with a shield specialist, he finds himself intrigued by her – purely on a scientific, strategic level, of course. Or so he tells himself until he starts to realize that she evokes something far more dangerous inside him, something that might throw the world into chaos and destruction. Yet he is ready to risk everything for the worst crime known in the Psy world – feeling.

Alja Dardo is an Arrow, it's what her name means and it's all she was ever allowed to be, although she knows her race needs her to be so much more. So she doesn't hesitate when the order to work under the former Councilor comes. And although she is far from Silent beneath the thick walls of her shields, she is not afraid of the most dangerous man on the planet. Having courted death all her life fear is a feeling she rarely allows herself. What she didn't expect was to confront a man that shatters all her disguises – not with his psychic powers but on an emotional level she has never experienced before.

Prologue

She only wanted back. Nothing else mattered. Everything would be better than this. She tried to rip herself free of the embrace she had sought mere seconds ago. But it did not give in, no matter how she struggled. She wanted to scream. But there was no voice for her to command, not even breath. There was nothing she could command but her own mind. And that seemed to be crumbling fast under the pressure of the other presence that was with her. She was trapped, torn apart, desperately struggling to get back to herself. But the path was blocked. Instead there was something – someone else. There was suddenly so much more being, more self around her. The information started to swirl, just too much to be taken in by a single mind.

So this is how it ends.

Chapter 1

"Krychek has proven loyal beyond our expectations. We could simply ask him for help in this case." Vasic said to his fellow Arrow looking over the barren desert landscape. The two assassins had met in one of their secluded places as always.

"And tell him the truth about her? We don't know enough about his motivations to risk that. His transient alliance with Nikita Duncan doesn't mean he shares her views about the demise of Silence. I think it would be safer to just make Alja seem useful to him and he'll guarantee for her safety as long as she is. It is a high risk anyway." Of course Aden would have the most doubts about their plans. He had always been the most protective about the girl – now a woman for quite a while – the Arrows had hidden for so long. He was only a few years older than her and they had spent part of their youth in the same training facility. And Aden had known almost from the start, that there was something very special about this child that was trained to be an Arrow although her profile never really seemed to fit.

"You realize she brings us dangerously close to disobedience again, if we have to keep secrets from Krychek. The Squad should never have kept her in the first place. We were supposed to be loyal to Ming at the time. I don't know what Ghetty thought, when he defied his orders. Now look where it has gotten us." Vasic was an Arrow through and through. Loyalty to the Squad and its leader came before everything else for him.

"Yes, the first defiance was disputable. And it has brought a conflict of loyalty that should have been avoided by all means. But the point is moot now. The damage is done." It had been done more than twenty years ago, before both of them had any decisions to make in the case. "Alja is one of us now. Ming is no longer. It is clear were our loyalty lies. And we cannot risk her being exposed by someone like Krychek." If he knew of the potential that lay inside her, the Councilor might as well turn into her worst enemy himself. Keeping her as far away from any Psy with power had been their main strategy to secure her survival until this day.

"Alright then, secrecy it is. Have you also considered that he has become far too powerful and the other Councilors are starting to realize it? They might be at him any time now."

"Yes, but still I consider him the safest option, especially because no one would expect us to place her close to him of all people. If the rumors of her existence spread, she needs to be out of the Squad, before anyone starts looking."

"But don't you think he's perfectly capable of protecting himself? Will he even consider our suggestion?" The idea was to use the excellent defensive skills of the woman in question to secure her a position close to the one person on the planet who could maybe guarantee her safety against the enemies that were soon to be on her tracks.

"No doubt about his ability to get away alive, but to maintain his position of power he might want all the additional protection he can get in the long run. And if he thinks her an asset, he will protect her better than we can. So far only Ming knows that someone with her skills even existed. And he thinks she is long dead. Barely anyone even knows her face." At least no one who lived to tell the tale, she had made sure of it herself – the flawed girl that did not only have the power to change the Net forever but had withstood the harshest Arrow training. "We're just posing a capable Arrow with cardinal shielding in the orbit of an important powerbase. Her other qualities will stay well hidden. She's worthy enough for her obvious abilities. And I will make it clear, that we are not willing to make cannon fodder out of her."

"But we have to lay open some of her background. She's too conspicuous otherwise. Do you even think he would be willing to have someone with her defects around?" The woman that caused all their trouble was probably the only Arrow in existence whose Silence was not absolute. And it was bound to show sooner or later in her behavior, especially if things in the PsyNet went down as they had already started. For the first time in over a hundred years some people started to question the Silence Protocol, a psychological conditioning process that was imposed on every Psy from childhood on, to eradicate their ability to feel any emotion. Some even believed that Silence was about to fall.

"Krychek is a practical man. His actions are not influenced by false ideologies when an open mind can bring him profit in any situation. And it's not like we have any other options really."

"Right. So there's no point in discussing this further."

"I will get a message to her right away. I think she will agree to the job." Although she might not be fond of losing the privileges of freedom she'd had so far, she'd acquiesce to the orders of the Squad.

"Agreed. Just keep in mind that one day the truth might become an option." With that Vasic teleported out, leaving the other man behind contemplating the impact of the decision they had just made.

Aden knew full well that Alja Dardo would consent to any assignment. Currently they were running out of options to hide her and most of their forces were engaged in the hostilities of the civil war that had started among the Psy. Besides, brought up in the Squad Alja had the same fierce loyalty all Arrows had. But she was also a survivor, her otherness making her a lone being that could never belong to any group of Psy enough to subordinate her will to survive. If she sensed her life endangered by the Arrows, she might yet move her loyalties to a someone who promised better outcome on that plane. And that must not happen. As different as they might be, Kaleb Krychek and Alja Dardo were maybe the two most dangerous individuals in the Net. They were not to be allowed to pair up beyond the current requirements. Not when still no one knew for sure what ambitions the most powerful telekinetic in the Net might have.