Branded by Fire

by Singh, Nalini

  Isn’t that what you’re doing with Riley?

  Even as her mind bucked against that unexpected mental whisper, Amara blinked. “It’s no wonder my twin says you’re her favorite. She never gave up either. Even on me.”

  Deciding that would do for today, Mercy turned to leave—she couldn’t deal with her own rebellious thoughts and Amara at the same time.

  “Mercy?”

  She turned back at the door. “Yeah?”

  “Look.” Ashaya held up a new vial. “It’s the color of your hair.”

  Hawke strode toward the Laurens’ quarters—Sienna had chosen to remain with her uncle, Walker, his daughter, Marlee, and her own brother, Toby, even after she turned eighteen and was entitled to a separate one-bedroom unit in the den. Whatever else he might say about Sienna, one thing was undeniable—she was a good cousin, a good sister. Marlee and Toby both adored her. So, for that matter, did a lot of the other pups.

  Too bad she turned into a demon every time he came within breathing distance. “Riley’s right,” he muttered under his breath, staring at the closed door of the apartment. Half the reason Sienna was bent on driving him insane was that she had too much spare time on her hands.

  She was bright, and her uncles had ensured she was enrolled in a distance-learning degree course run by a major university. But that did nothing to release her physical energy. Indigo, too, had been nudging at Hawke to get Sienna into a position within the pack—because, for better or worse, she was now part of SnowDancer, and not being given a position was an insult.

  Hawke felt his jaw set. Insult or not, he had to balance the rights and well-being of every single member of the pack—Sienna had less control over her impulses than almost anyone else in her year group. He couldn’t chance her not following orders when it might mean life or death for the rest of her team.

  And how do you think she escaped the PsyNet? By being a ninny and disobeying Walker and Judd?

  Sometimes he hated that voice in his brain, the one that slapped him upside the head anytime he got too stupid. Funny, it happened a lot with Sienna.

  “Whatchya doing?”

  He glanced down at the owner of that tiny voice, having scented his miniature shadow several feet down the corridor. “Looking for Judd.” The lieutenant hadn’t been in his quarters, and Hawke wanted to get his take on Sienna’s psychic control.

  Ben took a slurp of his orange popsicle. “Not here.”

  “Yeah?” Crouching down, he made eyes at the popsicle.

  Ben immediately turned it in his direction. “Wanna bite?”

  “No, I was just kidding.” This pup, he thought, would grow up into the kind of man any pack would be proud of. An alpha simply knew with some. “Do you know where Judd is?”

  “Outside. With Brenna.” Another slurp. “Doing kissy stuff.”

  Hawke grinned. “And you know this how?” Ben was too young to be allowed out of the White Zone, and Judd surely wasn’t doing “kissy stuff” in the area where the little ones played.

  “He told me.”

  “He told you?”

  “Yeah. I asked him how come I couldn’t come, and he said he was going to kiss Brenna so I’d probably get grossed out.” This time he took a bite and chewed. “I decided to come visit Marlee instead.”

  “She in there?”

  “Yeah. With Sinna and Toby.”

  “Then I guess I’ll be speaking directly to Sinna,” he said, saying the name as Ben had. “You knock.”

  Ben tapped with a little fist. “Are you mad?”

  “No.”

  “You’re scowly.”

  And that was when Sienna opened the door.

  CHAPTER 24

  The Information Merchant had a partial list. He considered how to get that list to those who had hired him. Most people would’ve used a comm screen, or a secure phone link, but the Information Merchant took being careful to the extreme.

  He thought about a face-to-face transfer, but determined that that wasn’t necessary at this stage. Instead, he decided to use an old-tech method. Slipping into an office building utilized mostly, though not exclusively, by humans and changelings, he dropped the envelope containing the data into a nearly full out-box while the receptionist’s back was turned, and sat down to read a newspaper on his organizer.

  The automated mailroom cart came by ten minutes later, impeccably on schedule, and emptied the out-box. It would be in the post within the hour. Satisfied, the Information Merchant got up and walked to the elevators, heading up to a meeting he’d set up earlier that week. He didn’t believe in leaving loose ends.

  Especially when he was trading the most treasonous of secrets.

  CHAPTER 25

  Riley was an hour out from the bears’ territory when he caught a very familiar scent. Wolf and man both came to a halt, on alert. The wind ruffled the wolf’s fur, a cool, gentle stroke. The earth, the wind, the sharp bite of the evergreens, it all served to calm him . . . normally. Today, excitement beat in his blood.

  Instead of chasing the scent, he stalked it. Careful, careful, the wolf whispered to the man. Be patient, or she might disappear. And he didn’t want her to disappear. He used every trick he knew to hide his scent as he came ever closer. And then there she was, curled up on a warm, exposed rock, her coloring golden, the rosettes on her body dark. She was his natural enemy, but the wolf agreed with the man this one time—this leopard was too magnificent to attack. Perhaps he stood there for a minute, perhaps ten. But when he finally padded out of the shadows, her head didn’t jerk up in surprise.

  Instead, sleepy eyes opened to half-mast. They were a vivid color close to gold in this form, as if the brown had been heated by internal sunlight. Her eyes seemed to say, “What?” and “Go away, I’m napping,” in equal measures.

  Holding her gaze, he shifted. The pleasure/pain of it swept through his body. A familiar thing. And yet, new each time. He came to crouching on the forest floor, his eyes still locked with the leopard’s. “You’re in my range.”

  A disdainful sweep of her tail. Even in this form, she found ways to sass him.

  “Kitties get eaten up here.”

  A yawn this time, full of teeth. Oh yeah, Mercy knew how to play.

  “I’m heading up to check on the bear population,” he said, realizing he’d intended to make the offer all along. “Come with me.” His entire body tightened as he waited for her answer.

  I’m as loyal to my pack as you are to yours.

  As a lieutenant, he knew he was playing with fire by continuing to pursue Mercy. He knew that . . . but he was also a man and she was a woman who acted like a drug to his senses. If she denied him again, would he continue to try to change her mind? Yes, he thought, unsurprised. He was stuck on Mercy, and when Riley got stuck, unsticking simply wasn’t on the agenda.

  But he could be patient, which was good, because the leopard female took her time thinking about it, yawning several more times before reluctantly getting up and padding off the stone. He knew it was all for show—she was as curious as her feline brethren. She stopped face-to-face with him, showing him her teeth.

  “I’m scared.”

  Those teeth threatened to bite his neck. He jumped out of reach and shifted, trusting her to follow the rules of play and not interrupt. She didn’t. But the instant he was wolf, she attacked. He rolled in the lush richness of the fallen leaves, knowing the scent would cover him when he returned. He might play a game with the kids, get them to guess where he’d been. It was how they learned.

  But for now, he was intent on avoiding Mercy’s jaws. Her claws were sheathed this time, and she wasn’t really coming at him. Neither was he. He blocked the attack, then rolled her, threatening to grip her neck. Shaking him off, she shot him a haughty look and began to pad away. Time to go.

  Coming up beside her, he deliberately pushed at her with his shoulders, so they walked side by side, their flanks rubbing. A little warning light went off in his brain at the act, an act the wolf in him reco
gnized immediately, but he was in too good a mood to listen. The run to the bears’ territory passed in easy play. Mercy took off more than once, daring him to catch her. When he did, she sniffed and continued on in a lazy way, as if it mattered nothing.

  More games.

  More alarm bells.

  He ignored them all.

  When they reached the bears, he nodded as she went left, while he went right. Mercy might be wildfire to his solid, rooted earth, but when it came to work, they functioned with clockwork synchronicity.

  They met an hour later at the starting point. By unspoken agreement, they went back to the stone where he’d first met her before shifting. “The sun’s moved,” she complained.

  “There’s another stone as good.”

  Making a face, she walked over to the second flat slab with silent feline grace. She had no shame in her naked body. Neither did he. But, he noticed her. And that wasn’t the changeling way. Not with normal members of the pack—either SnowDancer or DarkRiver. Nakedness after shifting simply was. Nothing to be remarked on.

  But his brain was remarking plenty on Mercy. Her fire red hair curled just above the curve of her buttocks, drawing his eye to their sweet, toned shape. Mercy was a soldier, her muscles lean and strong. But she was also very much a woman—all smooth, soft skin and luscious, strokable curves.

  And her breasts. He swallowed a groan as he caught teasing glimpses of them as she jumped lightly on top of the rock—very much like the cat she was—and lay down on her front, giving a moan of pure, sensual bliss at the heat. “Stop checking me out and come give me a massage.”

  He walked over, his body heavy with need. But he wasn’t an idiot. He wasn’t going to assume she’d accept him into her body again. Making such assumptions with predatory changeling females got men nothing but bruised egos and possibly, missing body parts. He climbed onto the rock with steady steps that were more natural to him than her quicksilver grace. “Damn it, Mercy,” he said the instant he saw her back. “You’re fucking black-and-blue again. You should’ve told me I was—”

  “It wasn’t playtime with you that caused this, Kincaid.”

  Fury rolled through him. “Who?” He’d rip them to shreds.

  “Training, so cut it out.” Turning her head, she shoved her hair out of the way and glared. “It doesn’t hurt. It’s just my skin—and it’s not black-and-blue. I saw it in the mirror today; the marks have almost entirely faded.”

  He scowled, wanting to do damage to whoever had dared harm her.

  “My muscles, on the other hand, do ache. So massage me while I tell you what I picked up about the bears.”

  “You sure you don’t hurt?”

  “Riley, I’m a natural redhead.” A snicker. “In case you didn’t notice.”

  Of course his gaze dipped downward. “Turn over so I can check.”

  She laughed. “Massage me already.”

  Still not happy with the marks, he straddled her. She moaned at the first firm touch of his hands on shoulders.

  He didn’t say anything, choosing to stroke over her back again. “Bears?” he finally asked, though it was the last thing on his mind.

  “They’re ooo-kay.” The last word was a moan as he hit a tight muscle. “I like your hands.”

  He didn’t say anything. Couldn’t. Touching her was scrambling his brain cells. And that would surprise almost everyone who knew him. Riley Kincaid didn’t get scrambled. He was the one you could count on to be snapping out cool, collected orders while the world turned to custard. Right now, it could’ve been raining icicles and he wouldn’t have cared . . . except to protect Mercy’s body.

  “The bears are fine,” she said, her voice pure indolent cat. “I scented a couple dead, but no signs of sickness—might be there was a fight. What did you get?”

  “Same.” His voice sounded like sandpaper to him, but Mercy murmured in agreement and stayed quiescent under his hands.

  This, he realized, was another kind of trust. Normally, she’d allow only a packmate to do this. Under his hands, her muscles grew loose, limber. Finishing with her shoulders, he slid down to work on her back. Despite the bruises that continued to anger the wolf, her skin felt soft as satin, warm and tempting. His fingers brushed the sides of her breasts as he did her sides.

  “Hey, no copping a feel.”

  Leaning over, he nipped her ear. “Quiet.”

  He saw the edge of her smile. “Do the rest.”

  Her languid laziness was so feline he couldn’t do anything else but stroke her. After he finished her back, he swept the heavy weight of her hair to cover her. Pretty, his wolf said as he ran the strands through his fingers.

  Mercy didn’t hurry him up, and he realized she liked having her hair played with. It was a surprising discovery, it was such a feminine thing. But it fit her. Releasing the strands after long, long minutes, he ran his fingers down to trace the delicate lines of the tattoo at the base of her spine. It was a fine blade anchoring and twined by beautiful curling lines.

  Feminine and martial.

  He liked it. Just as he liked the fact that she had another tattoo on her right arm—slashing lines that echoed the markings on her alpha’s face. Loyal. This cat was loyal. And that both drew him and frustrated him. But he wouldn’t think about that today.

  These minutes, these hours, were for Riley and Mercy. Not a lieutenant and a sentinel. Here, they were two ordinary people who happened to set one another aflame . . . and, perhaps, touch each other far deeper than either of them was willing to admit.

  Drifting lower, he ran his knuckles over her buttocks. No protest. So he kneaded her muscles with careful hands, learning her far slower than he had either of the other times they’d been together.

  By the time he reached the tops of her thighs, the scent of her arousal had wrapped around him like a thousand soft whispers. But he didn’t push. He was enjoying having her under his hands—Mercy rarely stopped being in motion. To have her like this was a rare treat, one to be savored.

  The sole of her foot hit his back lightly as she bent it in a lazy movement. He squeezed her thigh. Instead of dropping the foot, she tapped him again. So he stroked his hands back over her body and off her shoulders, bracing them palms-down beside her head as he bent to nip at her ear again. Except this time, it was gentle, a question.

  Reaching up to sweep her hair off her back, she bared the line of her neck. He was agonizingly hungry for her, but he didn’t immediately move to take. The other two times, he’d been in a fury. Today, he wanted to savor, to taste her in slow sips and little bites. Another nip, the graze of his teeth along her jaw. She made a complaining noise that wasn’t really a complaint. “Wolf.”

  He stroked his hand down her side, over the curve of her breast, her hip, then back up. “Cat.”

  She arched into the caress, but the move was languid, relaxed. “Pet me some more.”

  “You always this greedy in bed?” But he was doing what she wanted—petting a warm, compliant, and sexually aroused Mercy was no hardship. Hell, if he was honest, it was an erotic fantasy come to life.

  “No.” She was purring under his touch. “But I’m not promising anything.”

  “Of course not.” He got off her and the rock.

  “Hey!”

  “The stone’s hard.” And there was no way he was chancing adding to her bruises. “Come down here and I’ll pet you as much as you want.”

  “Bribery doesn’t work.” But she got up with a slow, graceful movement and flowed off the rock. It was the only word he could think of to describe it. She was pure liquid silk. And then she was in front of him, her arms around his neck, her body pressed to his.

  As he leaned down to kiss her, he was hit by a fantasy of her hair sliding over his skin, wrapping around his cock. Groaning, he deepened the kiss, stroking his tongue against hers. Her hands tunneled into his hair and she made little noises in the back of her throat that let him know she liked what he was doing.

  “I’m ready.” I
t was a whisper against his mouth, her lips sliding along his jaw, soft and lusciously feminine.

  “I’m not.” Kissing his way down to her throat, he sucked. Just enough to leave a mark.

  “I know what you’re doing.”

  He smiled. And bit her. Her body jerked but she kept her claws sheathed. “Behave, Riley.” A lazy warning.

  “You, telling me to behave?” he asked, dipping his head to tug a nipple into his mouth.

  Her hands clenched in his hair. “Mmm.” That purr was vibrating against him, setting off a thousand small charges in his nervous system. His cock throbbed.

  She began to slide one hand down his body. He caught it, brought it back up to his shoulders. Pulling his head up, she pointed to her lips. It wasn’t a hard order to follow. And her kiss . . . oh, but her kiss. All heat and lush, seductive pleasure. It was a promise, that kiss, a promise of a slow ride to oblivion.

  “So patient,” she murmured against his mouth. “Will you be patient for me?”

  He blinked. “Er . . .” And then told the blunt truth. “I’m not good at giving up control in bed.”

  A chuckle, a glimmer of amusement in those golden eyes. They’d turned leopard on him, he realized, but she was a leopard well pleased, willing to let him play. “Where are you good at giving up control?” A flick of her tongue over the pulse in his throat. “Obviously not in the forest. Hmm, how about on the kitchen table—”

  As if he needed any more erotic images to torment him at night. “Mercy.”

  “—in the shower—”

  Mercy’s skin, all wet and slippery. Her body pinned to the wall by his. His hand clenched in her hair and he took her mouth with raw possession. When they parted, her lids were at half-mast, that teasing smile still curving her lips. “Definitely the shower, then.”

  Shuddering, he ran his hands over her back to squeeze her buttocks. “You trying to make me crazy?”