by Nalini Singh
"They are." The violent pro-Silence group had been hunted out of existence. "But their ideas are still floating around being absorbed by fanatical, ugly minds. No proof, but the Consortium's probably stirring that rancid stew." What better way to destabilize the world than to slyly encourage hatred among the races?
It was, after all, a tactic they'd already attempted on a bigger scale.
"It had to happen," Clay said unexpectedly. "With the Es suddenly becoming so powerful, there's got be a hell of a lot of resentment simmering in the minds of folks that previously considered themselves top dogs. Suddenly, all these 'inferior' Psy are being held up as heroes."
Lucas nodded. His own gifted mate had once called herself flawed, been taught to see herself that way. "Aden's people only caught fragments, but there was definite mention of the fact that Naya's mother is an E--and discussion of how to get to them both." Fists clenching, he forced himself to think. "I'm going to review every security protocol around Naya and Sascha."
He knew he'd have Sascha's full support; his mate might chafe at some of the security precautions she had to take as a result of being one half of DarkRiver's alpha pair, but she was completely onboard with any safety measures when it came to their cub. If anything, Sascha was even more protective than Lucas--he often had to remind her that Naya was a leopard changeling, needed more freedom than a human or Psy child of the same age. Cats didn't like being caged. Not even little cats with fragile bones and baby-soft hands.
Remember that, he reminded himself. Don't allow the enemy to force you into a position where you're the cause of hurt to your own child.
*
SASCHA kept a firm hold on her worry after Lucas's message alerting her to dangerous talk in the PsyNet about Naya. It was difficult when she knew exactly the kinds of treacherous minds that hid in the dark corners of the Net and how violently some of those minds despised the primal nature of the changeling race.
To them, Sascha and Lucas's precious child would be an abomination.
Fury churned in her gut.
"Mama!"
Wrenching her anger under control with a harsh effort of will, Sascha tightened her grip on Naya's hands where her baby walked in front of her. Her and Lucas's green-eyed little girl had good balance for her age and a stubborn determination to walk, but she was still little and the forest floor wasn't exactly even, so Sascha was helping keep her upright.
Not that Naya hadn't made a break for it once already.
For the moment, however, her tiny fingers held on firmly to Sascha's hands, her skin soft and the color a golden honey brown. A meld of Sascha's dark honey and Lucas's muted gold. Anglo-Indian, Japanese, Irish, Italian, more, Naya had a beautifully complicated genetic inheritance.
"Naya!" she responded in the same delighted tone, causing her daughter to laugh that big laugh of hers.
Having driven from the aerie, she, Naya, Julian, and Roman were walking the final meters to a border section of DarkRiver's Yosemite territory; the land had been designated a play area for the regular gatherings DarkRiver cubs had begun to have with Arrow children. The sessions had initially been meant to teach the Arrow children how to play when, prior to Aden taking control of the squad, they'd had their innocence suffocated by training that sought to turn them into pitiless assassins and nothing more.
It had very quickly morphed into a fascinating exchange: The changeling and human children taught Arrow young to laugh and to have fun, while the baby Arrows made their wilder playmates stop and think more often than they otherwise might have done. But the best things were the friendships that had begun to form, with the children talking to one another via the comm between sessions.
The pack had put up climbing frames as well as swings in the area, though there was also an open field for unstructured play. Not many nonpack humans lived out this way, but the rare ones who did knew they were welcome to use the equipment and to join in the play group.
"Boys."
Julian and Roman froze where they were scampering up ahead, two little statues in jeans and Tshirts. Sascha's lips twitched. It had taken her time to learn that tone, but it was very effective at getting her favorite dose of double trouble to pay attention.
Tamsyn's boys had been the first changeling children Sascha ever met, and she adored them to pieces, was guilty of spoiling them--but she'd also learned to discipline them as they grew. Not because they were naughty in a bad way, but because both were strong personalities and needed to understand that right now, Sascha was the boss when they were with her.
The rules of pack hierarchy existed for a reason, and for DarkRiver cubs, it existed to give them a firm foundation on which to stand. No confusion, no fear. Just a safe place where they could flex their own strength and grow into their personalities.
Oddly, the tone also seemed to work on the boys' pet cat, Ferocious, who--thanks to Roman and Julian's fierce defense of their pet--tended to think of herself as a great big leopard, too. Today, however, Ferocious was at home, so Sascha had to handle only the twins, both of whom were now in their first year of school.
Reaching the two adorable "statues," Naya still holding onto her hands, Sascha said, "You can move now, but stay close." These play sessions would only work long-term if everyone felt safe.
Arrows were Arrows because they'd been born with lethal psychic abilities.
The adult Arrows who helped supervise these sessions extended their own impenetrable shields to encompass the minds of Arrow young, so the kids couldn't strike out by accident and felt free to play without worry of losing control over their deadly powers. Regardless of that, Sascha also always added a layer of protection over the minds of any human or changeling children in the playgroup.
Unlike most humans, changelings had strong natural shields, but there was no point in taking chances.
Ashaya usually attended, too, and between them they could cover the entire group. The rare times the scientist didn't make it, Faith stepped in. Unlike Sascha and Ashaya, the foreseer didn't have a child, but she loved playing with the children and was always happy to help out. And since Faith could create hyper-realistic illusions that fascinated the kids, she was a popular visitor.
Today, Sascha reached the play area to find both women in attendance. The rich brown of Ashaya's skin glowed in the sunlight, her gorgeously wild curls tightly contained in a braid. Those curls were dark brown at first glance but contained so many shades within, from pure black to threads of gold. The other woman was wearing jeans and an oversize UC Berkeley sweatshirt that looked like it must be her mate's.
Beside her, Faith high-fived Keenan before Ashaya's six-and-a-half-year-old ran off to play. While the Arrows hadn't yet arrived, several other DarkRiver cubs, as well as two of their nonpack human friends, were already scrambling over the climbing frames. Today's morning-only school day would allow for a longer play session, and the children were clearly delighted at the idea. The Arrows had their own school but had been happy to mirror the half-day break.
"Can we go play, Sascha darling?" Julian asked, his impish expression hitting her right in the heart.
"Yes, you can, Mr. Ryder."
Her solemn response made the twins laugh so hard their eyes turned the green-gold of their leopards, before Julian held out a hand to Naya while Roman did the same on her other side. "Come on, Naya!"
Naya grabbed both boys' hands at the same time in an impressive feat of toddler coordination and off they went. "For two such energetic boys," Sascha said to Faith and Ashaya, "they're incredibly patient with her." As she watched, the twins lifted Naya onto a toddler-appropriate swing and made sure she was secure.
Naya happily kicked her legs.
"They are," Ashaya agreed with a smile, while continuing to keep an eye on the children. "Part of it is personality, but it's also a testament to how they're being raised and how DarkRiver as a pack raises its children." She frowned as a little human girl almost slipped--only to be hauled to safety by a quick-thinking cub.
"Maureen had to take her baby to the doctor," Ashaya said, referring to one of DarkRiver's human neighbors. "She asked us to watch her two girls."
Sascha had already automatically extended her shields to back up Faith and Ashaya, taking special care to protect the human children. Their minds were even more vulnerable than those of changeling young. "I have them."
"I love this." Dressed in a thin V-necked sweater in royal blue that set off the dark red of her hair and looked beautiful against her creamy skin, Faith perched herself on a bench the kids used as an obstacle to jump or clamber over, as a clubhouse for playing under, for whatever else their imaginations made of it. "There's so much promise here, so much light."
Ashaya's pale blue-gray eyes met Faith's cardinal starlight. "I know exactly what you mean. The children have no concept of race or war or different political ideologies. They just know a good friend from a bad one."
A car engine sounded, faint but unexpected enough that Sascha instinctively looked that way. Of course she couldn't see anything through the trees, but she felt a telepathic knock soon afterward. The mind was a familiar one, all cool control and power: Judd Lauren, former Arrow, powerful telekinetic and current SnowDancer lieutenant.
Wondering why he'd driven down from the wolf den high in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, Sascha responded to his telepathic touch with a question. Did you come to see how we run a session? The SnowDancers had mostly been involved with older Arrow teenagers to date, but she knew they'd been discussing a playgroup.
I've got Marlee with me, the lieutenant answered. She's curious if there are any Psy kids her age she could play telepathic games with. Toby plays with her but she knows he lets her win.
Sascha couldn't help her smile at the mention of Marlee's brother and Judd's nephew, a sweet just-turned-thirteen-year-old boy with a slight empathic gift and a generous heart. Most in this group are younger but I have a contact number for Vasic. Let me see if he knows a child who'd enjoy having a non-Arrow telepathic playmate.
She and Vasic had finished their conversation by the time Judd arrived with Marlee. The ten-year-old's strawberry-blonde hair was in a single braid to one side of her head; she was dressed in black canvas pants suitable for the outdoors along with a light blue T-shirt with the image of a cheerful yellow and white daisy in front.
Face lighting up at seeing Sascha, Judd's niece ran over to hug her.
Sascha's work helping Toby handle the empathic component of his abilities meant she was a far more regular visitor to the wolf den than most of her packmates. She felt as if she knew all the SnowDancer children. "Hello, sweetheart." She squeezed this child close. "You know Faith and Ashaya, don't you?"
"Hi," Marlee said with a smile, though she stayed tucked against Sascha.
"Marlee!" It was Keenan, calling from his perch on top of the climbing frame.
Marlee skipped over to talk to the younger boy. Like all children who grew up in a pack, she was used to having friends across age lines. As she grew older, she'd be expected to babysit the pups or to help any elders who requested it, so that pack bonds would continue to form between young and old.
It was oddly similar to how Psy family groups functioned, at least in terms of the continuity between generations. According to Sascha's education records, her maternal grandmother, Reina Duncan, had played a role in overseeing her development when Sascha was younger.
That oversight had been from a distance, in Reina's position as head of the Duncan family. It had also stopped long before Reina's death--when Nikita became the power behind the throne. In truth, Sascha wasn't certain her mother hadn't manipulated things right from the start, but Reina's was the signature on her earliest school and conditioning records.
It wasn't family as changelings knew it, but it was family nonetheless.
She was thinking about the other similarities that existed between the races when Vasic began to 'port in the Arrow children, including a girl and a boy around Marlee's age. Except for the latter three, who--watched over by Judd--cautiously settled beside a tree to play psychic games Sascha knew were designed to heighten telepathic agility and skill, the children had all played together previously.
As a result, it took no time for them to join in the games already in progress.
The squad currently had no child as young as Naya, and her usual two-year-old pack playmate had a checkup with their healer today. But Sascha's baby was never alone. The kids took turns pushing her, and a sweet three-year-old child Arrow with chubby red cheeks and light brown curls scrambled into a neighboring swing with Vasic's help, then seemed to fall into an earnest conversation with Naya.
Sascha could feel her cub's happiness. Naya soon tried to reach out to her new friend using her telepathic abilities, but Sascha gently reminded her to ask permission first, then showed her how. Even as she did that, she was monitoring the other children under their care for any signs of distress. Not just in terms of an accidental psychic hurt, but because she was an empath, could no more stop watching out for their emotional well-being than she could for their physical health.
It was ten minutes later that she became aware of a kerfuffle in the football game in progress on the field next to the play equipment.
A cub in leopard form had apparently nipped the butt of an Arrow child, who must've struck out psychically, from the way that Arrow child suddenly stilled and looked pale-faced toward the young Arrow who must've contained the strike before it did any damage.
Abbot's blue-eyed gaze met Sascha's and Ashaya's in turn. What do I do now? he seemed to ask.
"I've got this." Ashaya strode over to the two miscreants and pointed to a spot under a tree.
Both children trudged over, heads down. Ashaya made them sit there, away from the games, with only each other for company, for fifteen minutes.
Then she made the cub say sorry for biting--after asking him to shift so the Arrow child could understand him.
"That's okay," the Arrow boy said with a generosity that immediately caused the DarkRiver cub to smile. "I should've thought before I acted. That's what the teacher says to do. I could've hurt you."
"I'm not supposed to bite," the cub confided in a shamefaced whisper. "My teeth are really strong."
The Arrow boy nodded, clearly seeing the parallel.
"Good boys." Ashaya hugged them both before setting them free to join in the play--which they did together.
Meanwhile, Naya was having fun telepathing her vocal new friend, while Faith and Vasic pushed them on the swings. The teleporter, who'd lost his left arm after a failed biofusion experiment, appeared to be testing a new prosthetic. Its gleaming metal finish fascinated the children, with Vasic often hunkering down so they could touch small hands to the metal, patting at it curiously and asking him questions.
How many is that now? Sascha asked when he bent down for a curious cub, aware the brilliant engineer behind the prosthetic was obsessed with finding one that worked with Vasic's damaged systems.
This one doesn't count--it's a piece Samuel uses to test different components, the teleporter told her as he rose back to his feet and continued to push Naya, who was nowhere near tired of the motion yet. This time, he's checking a computronic mechanism that he hoped would fix a heat buildup issue.
Is it doing what it should?
A shake of Vasic's head, his handsome face expressionless but not cold. I can already feel the heat levels rising at the point of the join. In fact, can you and the others handle shields while I leave to remove it?
Of course. With Judd, Faith, Ashaya, Sascha, and Abbot, they had plenty of psychic power at their command.
Vasic had only been gone about a minute, and Sascha was giving a thirsty child a cup of water from the supplies Faith had brought with her, when she caught sight of Roman about to fly off the top of a climbing frame.
"No." She knew he was going to hit wrong, would probably break his arm . . . but he shifted midfall, landing in a roll that knocked the air out of his feline body but di
dn't otherwise do any damage.
Heart thudding, Sascha stopped herself from rushing over. Leopard cubs needed independence, she reminded herself for the thousandth time. But she watched him until she was sure he truly hadn't hurt himself--a fact that became obvious when he sauntered off, tail proudly up and a smug expression on his gorgeous little face.
That's when she noticed that Naya's attention was riveted on the older cub.
She managed to contain her groan until the child who'd come over for a drink ran back to join his playmates. "Naya's going to start jumping off high perches soon, isn't she?"
Ashaya patted her hand. "She'll survive. Keenan's fine and he's not a cat. In the interests of transparency, he did fracture his arm the first time his leopard friends tried to teach him the tree road, but it was a one-off."
"That's not very reassuring," Sascha said darkly.
Laughing with a warmth that belied the years she'd spent trapped in chill Silence, the other woman pushed up the sleeves of her sweatshirt, the temperature in the forest relatively cool despite how close they were to summer. "I'm looking forward to seeing what tricks a Psy-Changeling child will come up with."
A Psy-Changeling child.
Yes, Naya was that. Unique . . . and hunted because of it.
New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh is passionate about writing. Though she's traveled as far afield as the deserts of China, the Highlands of Scotland, and the temples of Japan, it is the journey of the imagination that fascinates her the most. She's beyond delighted to be able to follow her dream as a writer.
Nalini lives and works in beautiful New Zealand. You can contact her directly through her website. While visiting the site, Nalini invites you to join her newsletter for up-to-date news about both the Psy-Changeling and Guild Hunter series, as well as fun exclusive extras, including free short stories set in her worlds.
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