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Hale leaned back on his elbows so he could comfortably look up at Grey, and cocked his head to the side. A hunk of hair fell across his face and he blew it aside. “Even for the Soul Weaver?”
Grey snorted. “Especially for the Soul Weaver.” He squatted down, a smirk playing on his lips. “I spent a lot of time in the first few months exhausted and suffering from headaches because I was constantly expending energy to block out the thoughts of everyone in the house.”
Hale lurched upright with a new burst of energy. “You can hear our thoughts all the time?”
“The loud ones, yes. But I’ve gotten better at guarding against the everyday thoughts so that they’re more like white noise in the background.”
“Amazing.” Hale tipped his head, turning his face up toward the sun. He closed his eyes, basking in the warmth and the feel of the gentle breeze across his skin. It was a nice day, certainly warmer than it would have been in Chicago or even St. Louis. No, other than the pestilent attack and the pain of receiving his powers, staying in Savannah was proving to be pretty nice. He’d made some new friends and was learning more about the world than he would have picked up in graduate school. Yes, this was definitely a good detour for his life.
“You have the strangest mind,” Grey mumbled, sounding as if he were talking to himself.
Hale cracked one eye open and smiled at his companion. “Why’s that?”
“Because even now, you’re not bothered by the notion that someone can read your thoughts and emotions. That I can poke around in the memories of your past, see your most embarrassing moments.” Grey shook his head. “Everyone else reacted to the idea with fear and pure horror.”
A chuckle left Hale and he dusted his hands off on his jeans. “What’s the point in that? Everyone has embarrassing moments. Who cares? You don’t seem like the kind of guy who’s going to hold it against me for wetting my pants when I was five or that my first sexual experience was a total disaster. It’s all in the past and part of what makes me the fabulous person that I am.”
“True. Beyond that, though, your brain is incredibly organized. Everything neat and tidy. I feel like I could immediately find what I’m searching for. Everyone else’s brain is…is…”
“A dumpster fire of chaos?” Hale supplied, surprising a laugh out of Grey. The sound was rough as if the man didn’t laugh a lot out loud. Or maybe he just didn’t laugh a lot without his mate.
“Yeah, that’s pretty accurate.”
“I’ve been told I’ve got a mind designed for facts and numbers. It helped me to get my degree in astronomy and astrophysics.” He held up his hands in front of him as if motioning toward words written in the heavens. “Unlocking the mysteries of the cosmos.”
Grey shook his head and smile. “You see, I even knew that from reading your mind days ago, and it still confounds me when I hear you say it.”
Hale grinned and leaned close again. “Don’t seem like much of an astrophysicist, do I?” He shrugged. “I’ve found that I like puzzling out the big questions, and astrophysics has some great big questions that need answers.”
Grey’s expression twisted up a little, as if he wasn’t quite sure how to take Hale. That was just fine. Hale had gotten used to that look a long time ago. Most people didn’t know what to do with him. He didn’t have much of a filter between his brain and his mouth, so weird things sort of tumbled out on a regular basis. It kept life entertaining at the very least.
“But since you’ve been here so long and probably have the best understanding of all the Weavers, you can help me with some big questions,” Hale started. Grey’s eyebrows jumped up toward his hairline and his eyes widened. Okay, maybe he really wasn’t reading Hale’s mind all the time because he seemed surprised by that.
“What do you mean?”
“Where do I fit in this group? What am I bringing to the Weavers Circle that’s been missing until now? How do I help to tip the scale so that we save the Earth and, hopefully, save ourselves?”
The man in front of him blinked a couple of times and then sat hard on the ground. “Wow. You do like the big questions.”
Reaching out, Hale gave Grey’s shoulder a little shove as he laughed. “I know. Aren’t they the best?”
“I may be reassessing my earlier statement. Your mind isn’t strange; it’s insane.”
Okay, he’d been called that a few times too, but that was usually by his brothers when he informed them that he was scheduled for another skydiving, base-jumping, or wingsuit adventure. Obviously, he was meant to fly. He’d just had to wait to get his powers first.
