by Nalini Singh
“Say sorry.”
“Never.” Elbowing the man to free herself, Mercy made the introductions. “Everyone, this is my brother, Bastien, otherwise known as a pain in the neck, and an excellent cook. Bas, these are wolves who will fall upon you and devour you if you so much as blink wrong.”
“I have wolf defurring tools, too,” Bastien muttered before jerking his head toward the kitchen. “Food’s ready. Me and my serving wench will bring it out.” He dragged Mercy off with a brotherly lack of concern for her insulted expression.
Riaz’s gaze connected with Adria’s laughing eyes, his own lips curving.
SENSING his mate’s approach half an hour after the rest of them had arrived at Riley’s, Hawke headed into the trees, squeezing Brenna into a hug when she appeared first. “Judd sprung you from your late shift, I see.” His wolf had a soft spot for this small woman who’d survived a monster and come out of it sane.
“Mariska said she’d cover.” An unexpected frown. “I wish she’d get out more. Next time, I’m bringing her.”
Aware the gifted senior tech was both extremely shy and a submissive, Hawke nodded. Submissives weren’t uniformly shy, not by a long shot, but when such a strong combination—as in Mariska’s case—happened, it tended to make them timid and introverted. The pack had to be careful those wolves didn’t get lost in the shuffle of their stronger, more dominant packmates. “Tell her we don’t bite.”
“I don’t lie to my friends.”
Hawke tugged on her ponytail for that smart-ass remark, just as Judd and Sienna appeared behind her. “How did you beat them down?”
Brenna gave him a look of pure, haughty affront. “I’m a wolf.” Walking over to her mate, she held out a hand. “I won. Pay up.”
“Tell me the shortcut,” Judd demanded.
Innocence in the fractured blue-brown eyes that spoke of Brenna’s unwavering strength. “What shortcut?” She batted her lashes … and shrieked as she was lifted into the air without warning. Shriek turning into delighted laughter after a second, she did a backward flip.
Beside Judd, Sienna, her hands on her hips, said, “Judd, this is an inefficient use of your—” A startled cry as she found herself floating, too.
Grinning, Hawke walked over to rescue her, grabbing her around the hips to pull her back down to earth. “That’ll teach you to sass a Tk.”
“I’m an X. Why does no one have any respect?” she said, rubbing her nose against his as Judd and Brenna—back on her feet and with her hand linked to her mate’s—disappeared toward the house.
He tucked her deeper into his body, his legs splayed. “You’re late.” A warning nip on her lower lip.
Sienna nipped back. “You knew I was on my way.”
Yes, he had, having allowed himself the rare luxury of keeping an eye on her through the mating bond. She’d known, had understood. “So?” He’d permitted everyone to believe Sienna and Judd were undertaking a normal session of psychic combat, had even forced himself to remain in the den rather than going with them, so as not to raise suspicions.
In truth, Judd and Sienna, as well as Walker, had been attempting to gauge her psychic stability. The psychic “valve” in Walker’s mind was an external control on the X-fire, but Sienna’s power remained an unknown for the most part. It was impossible to predict how it might develop and grow. None of them were just going to sit back and hope it would all work out for the best.
“It went really well,” she said with a relieved smile. “I’m emitting energy at a constant rate, but the level’s so low it’s being absorbed into the SnowDancer Web without having a discernible impact on any one individual.”
“I’m more interested in you, baby.” It infuriated him that he couldn’t protect her on the psychic plane, but he had rock-solid faith in Sienna’s capacity to master her incredible abilities.
“My shields are airtight, and Judd says the energy transference between me and Walker is becoming smoother as our brains adapt to the process.” A tender kiss, her fingers playing with the hair at his nape.
He bent his head so she could reach him more easily. “Any problems?”
“I don’t want to jinx it, but … so far, so good.”
He understood why she couldn’t give him a concrete answer—because no one had any neat solutions for an X, much less a cardinal. But his wolf didn’t panic, able to see the crimson and gold flame of her through the mating bond. Though always dangerous, it was stable. Yet in spite of that, he continued to sense a deep vulnerability and quiet fear within his mate. He hated that such fear lived in her even now, but Sienna was glad of it.
“I should be afraid of my strength,” she’d said fiercely. “It stops me from ever becoming lazy in my control.”
Hawke could follow her reasoning, accepted that she’d never be able to be as carefree as other women her age, but that didn’t alter his instincts when it came to her. Now, his wolf rubbed against his skin, nuzzling at her. “Since when are you superstitious?” he teased in an attempt to subdue the vestiges of fear and worry that lingered in her eyes.
“Since Evie made me watch three horror movies in a row the other night while you were on mountain patrol.” Her look of faux terror made him chuckle. “I missed you when you were gone. I’d like to come next time if I’m not on shift.”
He didn’t like being away from her overnight, but that particular patrol section was difficult, even for SnowDancers in wolf form. As a result, the duty was rotated between him, Riley, three of the more experienced senior soldiers, Riaz, Indigo, and a surprisingly nimble Tai. Judd could’ve done it, too, but Hawke had made an alpha decision to conserve the lieutenant’s telekinetic strength where possible, in case of unexpected attack or emergency. “It’s too dangerous,” he said now. “If you fall, you’ll shatter your bones.” Sienna’s psychic power might be immense, but physically she was far more breakable than a changeling.
Stubborn intransigence. “And you won’t?”
He growled. “You’re meant to be Psy. Be rational.”
“I can wait at base camp while you do the sweep. See, a compromise? It’s that shiny new word we’re trying to learn.”
Chapter 30
“BRAT.” FRUSTRATED THOUGH he was, man and wolf both laughed, delighted with the woman who was his own. “I’ll talk it over with Riley,” he said, placing a finger on the lush fullness of her lips when they parted. “Rules.”
Biting lightly at his finger, Sienna tugged on his hair. “I hate that stupid rule.”
“Serves you right.”
“Riley’s so fair,” Sienna muttered, “I can’t ever argue when he decides something in your favor.”
“And vice versa.” It was integral to his and Sienna’s relationship that Hawke not be able to use the fact he was alpha to overrule her. However, Sienna’s place in the hierarchy meant the pack wouldn’t accept her as a free agent. Neither would such sudden lack of discipline be good for her—she’d made that point herself.
“Just like a wolf, I need the structure provided by the hierarchy,” she’d explained. “It suits the military way my mind was trained, helps me manage the X-fire.”
It had been decided that Riley, the most senior person in SnowDancer after Hawke, would be the one who gave Sienna her orders as a novice soldier, and who okayed or vetoed things Hawke would normally handle for anyone else in SnowDancer. In effect, Riley acted as her alpha.
So far, it was working.
“Hungry?” he asked as she continued to pet him with those little touches that had become integral to his existence.
“Yes, but I’m not ready to go in yet.” When she asked about his day, he told her, listened with ears pricked when she reciprocated.
“Evie wants to go on a double date.” An almost wolfish amusement in her grin.
“What does Tai say?” The difference in his and Sienna’s ages had worried him before they mated, but he no longer felt any guilt over claiming her, not after she’d almost executed herself on the field of bat
tle. The memory always made him incandescent with rage—and certain he’d made the right decision. Who else would be able to handle his smart, headstrong troublemaker?
Now, she laughed in unholy glee. “Tai looks appalled every time she brings it up.”
Hawke was unsurprised at the young soldier’s reaction, but he also understood that sweet Evie, who saw far more than most people realized, and who loved Sienna like a sister, was sending him a message with the joking idea.
The people at Riley’s cabin right now were all high-ranking individuals, an utterly disparate group from Sienna’s circle of friends. That didn’t mean she’d be uncomfortable—his mate wasn’t ever intimidated—but this wouldn’t, he realized, be the same relaxed event for her as it was for him. “Double date’s never going to happen.”
“And I was so looking forward to it.”
He tapped her lightly on the butt, making her dig her nails into his nape. “Careful,” she warned. “I bite, too.”
“I have the marks to prove it.” Pressing his lips to her cheekbone, he lifted his head. “I can’t ever be anything but their alpha, baby.” Those lines could not be blurred.
“I know.” No distress, her voice gentle, affectionate. “I was teasing.”
He considered Evie’s silent message once more. Thought of how many changes Sienna was having to learn to handle in adapting to life as the SnowDancer alpha’s mate. “But,” he said, decision made, “there’s no reason they can’t join us tonight.” They were her friends, her support structure—a structure she’d need more than ever as her responsibilities grew.
No matter what, Hawke had to remain alpha, but with Indigo and Adria here, as well as Sienna, Evie would feel no discomfort. As for Tai, the boy was Judd’s protégé and sometimes trained with Dorian. He’d be fine.
Sienna stilled, looking up at him with eyes gone pure ebony. “Sometimes, you do things that make me fall in love with you all over again.”
His wolf preened. “Yeah? Come show me.”
RIAZ was enjoying himself far more than he would’ve believed possible. Having ended up on the verandah along with everyone else, a beer in hand, he grabbed another one of the little pie things Bastien had brought out.
A female groan sounded just as he was thinking that Mercy’s brother, a financial whiz in real life, could make a serious go of it as a professional chef. “Bas, if I wasn’t already mated, I’d drag you into the woods right now.” Indigo popped the remainder of her samosa into her mouth, leaning into her sister as they sat on the chair swing.
Bastien, perched on the balcony railing beside Drew, Dorian, and Tai, legs hooked around the wooden bars, grinned and took a sip of his own beer.
“Since all of you have the bad luck to be mated or otherwise engaged”—Adria tucked up those long, long legs in the ragged but comfortable armchair she’d claimed—“I guess he’s all mine.”
Several “boos” sounded, with Bastien assuring the women there was more than enough of him to go around. Riaz looked up at Mercy when she perched herself on the arm of his chair. “Your brother always flirt with death?”
“He likes to live on the edge.” Placing her glass of fresh lemonade on a small card table that already held a tray of food, she braced her forearm against his shoulder. “And he knows precisely how far he can push things. Believe it or not, he’s the most well behaved of my brothers.”
“Your poor mother.”
“Uh-huh.”
Riley crooked a finger from where he sat in another armchair. Smiling, Mercy rose in a sinuous movement and sauntered over. “You called?”
Riaz had never seen that teasing look on Riley’s face before. It made him feel … not an intruder, but … family. Pack. As for the woman with the gold-streaked eyes of intense blue-violet whose husky laughter made his wolf prick its ears, he didn’t know who she was to him, but he knew that their molten intimacy in the grass had only temporarily assuaged the flame that burned between them.
MERCY watched the lights of Dorian’s car fade into the trees, just as Riaz disappeared into the forest, Drew and Tai by his side, Indigo, Evie, and Adria up ahead. Judd and Brenna had left a little earlier, as they both had an early start the next day, and Bas had hitched a ride with her middle brother, Sage, who’d turned up an hour ago. The final two, Hawke and Sienna, intended to take a different route to the den from Riaz’s group.
“Hey, Sienna,” Mercy called out, and when the young woman turned to look over her shoulder, said, “You know the whole ‘let me show you a beautiful spot’ line? It’s the changeling version of ‘let me show you my etchings.’”
Hawke slung an arm around his grinning mate and dragged her close. “Riley, show your mate your own etchings so she doesn’t worry about mine.”
Mercy laughed at the bad-tempered snarl, leaning back into Riley’s embrace. “You showed me quite a few etchings after Sienna did her nuclear battery thing,” she murmured as the other couple walked into the star-dusted night.
“First time I wore you out.” Riley’s lips brushed her neck, his voice a teensy bit smug.
Leopard and woman both had to admit he was entitled. “Too bad the energy wave didn’t cross over to me.” It had proven that the connection between the SnowDancer and DarkRiver webs formed by their mating, was very much only a mating bond. Nothing else came through. As a result, after Sienna’s abilities went supernova, Riley had been bursting out of his skin with energy—all of it focused oh-so-sexily on Mercy—while she’d alternately moaned in breathless pleasure and begged for sleep.
The memory made her toes curl. “Got any new etchings to show me?” She closed her hands over his arms, loving the warm, solid feel of him. My Riley.
“As a matter of fact…” Riley nuzzled at Mercy. “Want to go for a walk first?” The night was stunning as only a Sierra night could be, lit by a full moon and a million stars.
Mercy did a feline stretch in his arms. “I feel too lazy after Bas’s concoctions. Can I sit in your lap instead?”
“Come here, kitty cat.” Tugging her back, he took a seat in one of the large cushioned wicker chairs her parents had gifted them on their mating. Mercy immediately curled into him, her legs hanging over the arm of the chair, her head against his shoulder. Fiery curls of hair cascaded down his arm where he braced her back, the lithe muscle of her thigh warm under his other hand.
Content in a way he’d rarely been before Mercy, he simply stroked her until she purred. It delighted him as it always did. “I made you purr.”
A lazy yawn. “I’m faking it.”
Lips curving, he dipped his head to kiss her. It was a familiar exchange, a little private game they could play because they were utterly besotted with one another. The word “besotted” had first been used by a disgusted Sage, but Riley didn’t mind being besotted with Mercy. “Fake it some more,” he said, his hand on her abdomen.
However, when she tilted back her head, a smile tugging at her lips, he froze, caught by a delicate softness to her features that struck him out of nowhere. Mercy wasn’t a vulnerable woman—and yet at that instant, his wolf roared to the surface, wanting to protect, to shelter, to take care of her. The urge was so violent that he fisted a hand in her hair, the one on her abdomen flexing until all his tendons stood out in stark relief.
“Riley? What’s wrong?” Sitting up from her languorous position, Mercy ran her hands through his hair, over his nape, down his chest.
Petting him. She was petting him in an effort to comfort.
“Talk to me, tough guy.” Open concern, her eyes night-glow.
Riley tried to fight the primitive impulse, only to feel it shoving back with so much urgency he stood no chance. Shocked, he shuddered as the wolf took over, but instead of using that control to initiate the shift, it retreated … leaving him with a luminous piece of knowledge, a brilliant faceted jewel that almost blinded.
“Oh,” he whispered, looking down. “I didn’t understand.” It was an apology to his wolf. “It’s my first time.”
Mercy tugged on his hair. Hard. “You’re scaring me.”
He looked up, wonder in every heartbeat. “Guess what?”
Mercy’s gaze dropped to where he’d spread his hand. She went motionless, eyes huge. “Riley, are we—Do you—How—”
“Yes,” he answered. “We are, and I know because a changeling male always knows before anyone else when it comes to his mate.” He’d heard the healers hypothesize that the realization was caused by a minute change in a woman’s scent, a change so subtle no one else would sense anything, but that the wolf in Riley had scented at once.
Mercy’s eyes held equal parts shock, and delight. “Riley.”
He felt his lips stretch even wider. “I think we need to celebrate with some brand-new etchings.”
His cat’s laugh was surprised and warm and the sound of home. “It’s your etchings that got us into this position.” Stealing a kiss when he bent his head, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m so happy.” It was a conspiratorial whisper.
Cuddling her tight, he said, “Can I tell everyone?”
AFTER Drew tugged Indigo away somewhere a small distance from the den, Tai and Evie decided to stop at the waterfall, leaving Riaz and Adria to make the rest of the journey alone. Neither of them spoke, and it wasn’t quite a comfortable silence, but it wasn’t the edgy anger that had existed between them for so long either.
The night air a cool kiss against their skin, they passed into the White Zone not long afterward, and then they were at the den. Instead of splitting with her, he walked her to her room. Reaching the door to her quarters, he waited for her to unlock it, but made no move to cross the threshold. She, in turn, made no move to invite him in, her eyes dark with a dawning awareness that something had changed, the bonds they’d forged that afternoon deeper than they should be. “Good night.”
“Good night.” Waiting until she closed her door, he walked back out of the den, his wolf needing the quiet freedom of the night. Stripping in a secluded area, he put his clothes carefully in the hollow created between two pines that had grown into each other, and shifted.
