"No." Hawke shook his head. "Indigo or I will move you around as we see a gap. Riaz will be arriving later today, so we"ll have another lieutenant soon, but he"ll need a few days to rest and get himself up to speed."
Indigo leaned forward a bare fraction. "I didn"t know he was coming home."
Andrew"s wolf growled a warning inside his mind at the sign of her interest in the other man. Riaz, he knew, was around Indigo"s age and ranked just below her in the hierarchy. The male had spent most of the past couple of years away from SnowDancer territory, roaming through various parts of the country and the world to gather information; to function as the pack"s business representative when necessary; and more recently, to initiate contact and/or informal alliances with other changeling groups.
But none of that was important to his wolf. What made its fur bristle was one simple, inescapable fact: Riaz and Indigo had once been lovers. His hand clenched on the arm of his chair, his claws slicing out to dig into the leather-synth. He retracted the physical evidence of his emotions before anyone could notice, but there was nothing he could do about the claws slicing at the insides of his skin as the wolf paced, a low growl humming at the back of its throat.
The intensity of his response surprised even him.
"When"d Riaz get back into the country?" While he continued to fight the wolf"s primal urges, Andrew knew without conceit that no one would guess he was having trouble maintaining an even keel-that ability to slide under the radar was a skill he"d had all his life. But he"d truly honed it to perfection in the months following his sister Brenna"s abduction and torture. Riley had had nightmares. Andrew . . . Andrew had run himself into exhaustion every night for weeks. Alone. "Last I heard, he was in Europe."
"He was," Hawke said, interrupting the dark wash of memory. "Landed in New York only a few hours ago. Should be in San Francis...o...b.. this afternoon."
"I"ll pick him up," Indigo volunteered.
Andrew flexed his hand on the side of his chair hidden from Indigo"s view, his claws slicing in and out. "Is that everything?" He needed to escape the intoxication and provocation of Indigo"s scent, get a handle on himself before he did something else stupid.
Hawke shook his head. "I"ve got something I want you two to do." Settling back, he blew out a breath. "The thing with Joshua? Shouldn"t have happened. And it"s a pack issue, not a case of one or two individuals dropping the ball."
Andrew relaxed a fraction as his wolf"s protective drive toward the pack overcame its more primitive instincts. "We"ve been so busy with protecting SnowDancer against the Council that we haven"t paid enough attention to the young ones."
"Drew is right." Indigo braced her forearms on her thighs, her scowl apparent in the tone of her voice. "We"ve been focusing on training up the older soldiers, the dominants, to the detriment of the other ranks, and that"s not how a healthy pack, how our pack, is supposed to work." She sounded both angry and frustrated-with herself, Andrew knew. "Why the h.e.l.l didn"t we notice the problem earlier?"
"Someone did. I told him it wasn"t a priority."
Startled, Indigo followed Hawke"s gaze to Drew, who shrugged in that fluid way he had. "I should"ve pushed you harder on the point," he said to their alpha, "but it didn"t seem necessary at the time-and Joshua was shoved over the edge by a highly volatile situation. None of the others are anywhere near that stage. I would"ve made you pay attention if it was that bad."
Indigo wasn"t used to finding herself out of the loop. It irritated her, but more, it made her wonder exactly how much more she didn"t know about the things Drew did for the pack, for Hawke. Sitting up straight, she folded her arms and pinned him with her gaze. "How is it that you"re so on top of what"s happening with the juveniles?"
"People talk to me." Easy words, but there was an edge to them, his wolf baring its teeth in response to her aggressive tone. "It"s not just the den kids," he continued. "There are a few out in the wider territory who are struggling in various ways."
"Get them up here by the weekend," Hawke said, pale eyes dangerously intent.
Indigo wondered what he saw, but she didn"t ask. Because she wasn"t sure she wanted to know. Drew had changed the status quo last night, changed it in a way that left only confusion and a restless fury in its wake. It wasn"t a feeling she appreciated. "What"re you planning?" she asked Hawke, determined to find her balance again. Other wolves might enjoy chaos, but Indigo, wolf and woman both, preferred order. Hierarchy was the solid core of that order. No wolf pack as strong as SnowDancer could survive without it.
Now Hawke, the man at the top of that chain of command, said, "I want you two to take the affected juveniles up into the mountains for a couple of days, give them some intense one-on-one attention, find out if there are more serious issues below the surface that we need to be handling." He pushed across a piece of paper. "These are the names Drew gave me last time. Add any others you think might benefit. If we have too many, we can split them into two groups."
Indigo"s wolf saw the sense in what he was suggesting-bonding was at the heart of a healthy pack. And at present, things were relaxed enough that they could take time out to nurture those in danger of faltering. But the idea of spending that much time alone with the young male sitting to her left rubbed her fur the wrong way. Before last night, she"d have gone with him without a blink, trusting him to do what was necessary-and not act the a.s.s.
However, below all that-the frustrated anger, the inability to understand why he"d done what he had-she was still a SnowDancer lieutenant. "They"ll want to see you, too," she said to Hawke.
"I"m clearing the decks so I can join you for at least one of the days." His facial muscles tensed without warning.
A second later, Indigo caught a familiar scent on the air currents. Not long after that, a pretty girl with brown eyes, her hair tamed into a long braid, poked her head around the corner. "Oh, I"ll come ba-" she began at seeing the three of them.
"No. We"re just finishing up." Drew rose to his feet with a muscular grace Indigo had always known about, having sparred with him more than once. They"d also done any number of climbs together, both of them enjoying the thrill that came with pitting themselves against the peaks of the Sierra Nevada. But she"d never truly seen that grace until this moment.
The sudden awareness of him as a male, and not only that, but as a strong, handsome male, unsettled what balance she"d managed to regain. For the first time, she found herself seriously worried that things would never return to the way they"d once been-that their friendship had died in his room last night. The thought shook her enough that she had to make a conscious effort to catch Drew"s next words.
"We"ll finalize the list today," he said to Hawke. "We can decide the details, time of departure, et cetera, once we"ve contacted everyone. That work, Indy?"
Her concern was swept away under a surge of annoyance as she wondered if the d.a.m.n copper-eyed wolf thought he could smooth things over with so little effort. "Fine. You take care of contacting the out-of-towners; I"ll do the juveniles in the den."
Andrew nodded and headed toward the door, sentient to the rising tension level in the room-and it wasn"t all his and Indigo"s fault. Sienna gave him a small smile as he came close to where she waited in the doorway. Even after all these months, it was strange to see her with those eyes and that brown hair that was nothing close to her spectacular true shade. But no matter the sh.e.l.l she"d had to don to allow her to move safely in the outside world, her personality shone through. Quiet, determined . . . and with a little bit of h.e.l.lion thrown in for spice.
Leaning down, he cupped her jaw in his hand and kissed her on the cheek. "How are you doing, little sister?" The question wasn"t a simple courtesy. She"d been in trouble, her psychic abilities starting to spiral out of control before she"d moved away from the den to spend time in the care of the DarkRiver leopards.
"Good."
"That"s all I get after I sent you a whole box of premium chocolate-cherry cookies?" he said, feigning extreme disappointment. "Just "good"?"
Furrows appeared between her brows, dark little lines that marred the beauty of her sun-dipped skin. "Drew."
But when he grinned and took her into his arms, she not only allowed the affection, she slid her own arms around him. It had taken him months of patient care to get her to trust him with her body in that way. "Is that leopard boy . . . what"s his name"-Andrew pretended to think-"that"s right, Kit. Is Kit treating you right?" He murmured the question at a volume Hawke was certain to overhear, knowing full well he was throwing the cat among the pigeons.
"Drew." Sienna pulled back, fisting a hand on his chest. Her eyes sparked fire at him, and for an instant he could almost see through the dark brown of her contact lenses and to the night-sky eyes beyond. White stars on a spread of black velvet, it was said that the eyes of a cardinal Psy reflected the stark, sprawling beauty of the PsyNet.
Leaning down, he kissed her other cheek and-dropping his voice low enough that it would skate under even his alpha"s acute hearing-said, "Give him h.e.l.l, sweetheart. Then come tell me about it." Ruffling her hair, he finally let her pa.s.s and exited the office.
Indigo fell into step beside him a second later. "The famous Andrew Kincaid charm in action?" Her question was sharp . . . but held an undertone of amus.e.m.e.nt. Because she"d been close enough to hear what he"d said to Sienna at the end.
His wolf wasn"t fooled-the ice hadn"t melted. It had simply been eclipsed momentarily by the wolf"s curious nature. "Sienna could do with some charming." The Psy girl-young woman now-had been through things that would"ve broken far older and stronger men, been scarred by them. "If Hawke would figure that out, he"d be much happier."
Indigo snorted. "Yeah, I can just see him pulling charm out of a hat."
Andrew angled his body toward her. He"d planned to apologize for his behavior last night as soon as they had privacy, but as he went to open his mouth, he glimpsed a fleeting expectation in her eyes. The lieutenant was waiting for him to say it. When he did, she"d forgive him-both because she wasn"t the kind of woman to hold a grudge and because it would shove them firmly back into the roles she"d decided were the only acceptable ones.
His wolf went quiet, thinking.
Better, he thought, feeling sneaky and downright delighted with himself, far better to keep her angry and thinking about him. Oh, there was no question he"d been a d.i.c.k and needed to apologize, but he"d do so in a time and place of his own choosing-and in a way that would further his cause, not hers. "See you later, Indy."
He was almost sure he heard a low feminine snarl as he strolled off down the corridor.
His wolf peeled back its lips in a feral grin.
CHAPTER 5.
Sienna ran her hands self-consciously over her hair, wondering how badly Drew had messed it up. "I didn"t mean to interrupt." The words came out stiff, jerky. No matter how composed she was around everyone else-until more than one wolf in the den had called her an "old soul"-she got to Hawke and it all fell apart.
He rose to his feet, his desk between them. "We were done." Ice blue eyes swept over her face . . . her cheeks-which she knew were ridiculously freckled after all the time she"d been spending out of doors.
"I didn"t know you and Drew were close." It was a question phrased as a statement.
She fought the urge to cover up the cheeks he continued to stare at and shrugged-a very human or changeling motion, something she"d picked up after spending almost three years outside the PsyNet. Once, she wouldn"t have answered Hawke"s implied question, awaiting a direct query. But once, she"d been Silent, her emotions chilled like so much ice . . . not full of so much fire that it terrified her.
"Drew figures that since his sister is mated to my uncle," she said, focusing on a spot beyond Hawke"s shoulder in an effort to regain her equilibrium, "that gives him the right to claim me as family." She was a cardinal Psy, her psychic power blinding, but she still couldn"t figure out how Drew had snuck in under her defenses and made room for himself in her life. She just knew she"d miss him horribly if he ever left. "But," she said, her voice stupidly breathy, "he says he"s not old enough to be an uncle, so he"s decided to treat me like another younger sister."
Most people would"ve rolled their eyes at the convoluted reasoning, but Hawke simply nodded, as if it made perfect sense. Of course, to him, it probably did. The predatory changelings she knew were all big on family-and she had to admit, it was . . . nice to be treated with such easy affection by those she trusted. Drew understood that she was powerful, that she could cause incredible damage, and yet he continued to tease her as mercilessly as he did his real sister, Brenna.
Sometimes, Sienna even teased him back. Self-defense, she called it.
"Do you want permission to return to DarkRiver land?" Hawke asked, and his voice was as cool as Drew"s had been warm, shattering what stability she"d managed to recapture. But no, she thought, remembering what Sascha had told her the last time she"d spent the night in the home of the woman who was a fellow defector from the PsyNet-and an empath able to sense and heal emotional hurts.
No one can take from you what you don"t want to give. It is your choice.
And, she thought, steeling her spine, she chose not to let this strange compulsion toward a man who wasn"t interested, who would never be interested, break her. "I wanted to say thank you," she said, controlling her volatile emotions by reciting a calming mantra she"d learned during her conditioning in the PsyNet, "for letting me spend so much time with the cats."
Hawke finally walked out from behind that desk he always kept as an impa.s.sable wall between them. And that quickly, everything shifted, her shields trembling under the impact of him.
"Has it helped?" he asked.
"Yes." She would not give in, not today. "My control over my abilities is far better." Because he wasn"t constantly there, wasn"t breaking through her defenses with nothing but his presence. "Sascha and Faith have been helping me refine and strengthen my shields."
"Faith?"
"F-Psy," she said, referring to Faith"s ability to see the future, "have incredibly tough shields. And Faith"s recalibrated hers for maximum effectiveness." For now, those same shields were giving Sienna a measure of peace.
Though now, today, her heart beat like that of a trapped rabbit against her ribs, her skin suddenly too tight over heated flesh.
Reaching out, Hawke touched the top of her right cheekbone. It was the barest graze . . . but it was the first time he"d touched her in over a year. Fractures cracked across her shields, sudden and vicious and threatening to shove her into the black abyss of her power.
Trembling, she stepped back. "Please don"t touch me." Choked-out words.
Hawke curled his hand into a fist at Sienna"s near-silent command, his wolf snarling to get out, to teach this slender girl that he would not be rejected. "You have a cut there."
Her fingers lifted to that cheek, a cheek that also bore a scattered spray of sun golden freckles she hadn"t had the last time they"d spoken. "Oh," she said after a moment, "that must"ve been from when I was with Kit yesterday."
His wolf pulled back its lips, baring the lethal sharpness of its canines. Kit was young, extremely dominant, and very close to Sienna in age. That didn"t mean he was right for her. "He hurt you?" It came out a cold question, his wolf gone predator-still.
Sienna"s eyes widened. "No. I wasn"t looking where I was going on the run back from a sparring session and I tripped." An embarra.s.sed look. "I"m never going to be as graceful as a changeling."
Hawke said nothing, could say nothing, his mind filling with images of the young leopard male touching her, laughing with her as he helped her up from the earth. "How much longer are you planning to stay in the den?" He"d fought against her going to DarkRiver, but there was no arguing that she was far more stable now than she"d been before.
"A while longer. I miss Toby so much when I"m with the cats," she said, referring to the little brother she loved with an intensity that was almost wolf in nature. "I also want to talk with Judd about some things to do with my abilities. But later this month, I"m going on a small hiking trip with Kit and a few other novice soldiers in DarkRiver."
"Make sure you speak to Indigo so she can adjust your duties." Hawke"s wolf was sc.r.a.ping at the insides of his skin now, his vision starting to blur. "And stay out of my way while you"re here." The order came out harsh as the edge of a rusted blade.
Sienna"s face went white even as fury tightened the corners of her mouth. "Don"t worry. I didn"t come back to see you."
Indigo stood with her back to the airport wall, waiting for Riaz to exit his gate. She"d already tracked down and spoken to all the teenagers on her half of the list, informing them they needed to be packed and ready to head out into the cold but spectacular beauty of the mountains in a couple of days" time. The responses had ranged from gulps to outright glee.
She"d also had a message from Drew saying he was almost through his half of the list, too, but hadn"t actually seen him since the meeting with Hawke. That only fired up the burner on her anger-because if nothing else, she"d expected an apology for his behavior. Instead, he"d acted like nothing had happened. Idiot.
Scowling, she lifted her head just as Riaz appeared in the stream of pa.s.sengers disembarking from the New York flight. At six feet two, he was taller than her by four inches and built along the lines of his solid grace in wolf form. It was all pure muscle-and Riaz knew how to use it well.
He scented her from the gate, teeth flashing white against his dusky skin as their eyes connected. "Hola, bella," he said, dropping his bags on the floor and lifting her up in a powerful hug as she met him halfway.
Laughing, she kissed him on the jaw, feeling the rasp of stubble against her lips. "h.e.l.lo, stranger. You back for good?"
"Depends who"s asking." A lazy smile in those eyes that were such a pale brown as to be beaten gold. Unusual. And for most females, fascinating. He raised an eyebrow when she continued to stare. "Did I grow a second nose or something?"
Stepping out of the soap-and-earth-and-warmth of his embrace, she watched him pick up his bags. "No, but you"ve put on some more muscle." It was a dodge. Because in truth, she"d been thinking something far different-that Riaz, with his jet-black hair and eyes of Spanish gold, was gorgeous and s.e.xy and-very importantly-a dominant only just below her in the hierarchy. The difference wasn"t enough to bother her wolf. And they"d never had a problem with physical chemistry.
All facts to consider.
Riaz"s lips curved into a deeper smile as he hefted one duffel over his shoulder while gripping the other in his free hand. "So you noticed. Want to feel?"
"s.e.xy you might be; Don Juan you"re not." Laughing at his affronted look, she led him to the vehicle, and they clambered inside after dumping his bags in the trunk. "How was Europe?"
"It was all pretty girls, flash hotels, five-star food," he moaned, pushing back his seat as far as possible so he could stretch out those long, powerfully muscled legs. "I thought I"d go mad."
Smile tugging at her lips, she waved her debit card at the parking gates, and they opened with a quiet swish. "Poor baby."
Riaz said nothing for several minutes, putting down the window to let the wind ruffle his hair. "G.o.d, it"s good to be home, Indigo." Heartfelt words, the homesickness of his wolf evident in every syllable. "I can"t wait to run through the forests, to walk in the den, to shoot the bull with the rest of you."
"You"ve been back now and then."
"I always knew I"d be leaving again," the other lieutenant said, "so I never really gave myself a chance to settle. But now . . ." He exhaled, long and slow. "Anything I should know?"
"Riley"s gone to meet his mate"s grandparents."
Riaz shook his head, that black-as-night hair whipping off his face as she accelerated. "I couldn"t believe he"d mated with a cat when I heard, but having met Mercy on my last trip home, I can say the man has excellent taste." Another comfortable silence, then, "So, what was that at the airport about me being tall, dark, and irresistible?"
"I don"t recall using those words."
Eyes of beaten gold met hers full-on for a single instant before she returned her gaze to the road, and he moved his hand to the back of her neck, ma.s.saging gently. It was a familiar and intimate touch. Unlike with Drew, her wolf allowed this one. Because Riaz had earned the wolf"s trust on that level, been given that right. He hadn"t simply tried to claim it the way Drew had-as if a few kisses gave him the prerogative to demand everything. Her hands clenched on the manual steering wheel.
"I"m not attached, Indigo," Riaz said with a solemnity that struck her as somehow "wrong," though she couldn"t put her finger on why. "So if you"re thinking you need someone with whom to work off the tension, I"m more than happy to oblige."
Shoving away the memory of Drew"s kisses, the infuriating arrogance of his attempt to use her touch-hunger against her, she nodded slowly. "I"m thinking about it."
It gutted Andrew, f.u.c.king eviscerated him, to see Indigo laughing with another man, a man who had no concept of the true value of the woman beside him. No, that was unfair. Riaz"s remarkable eyes sparked with intelligence, with respect, when he looked at Indigo. The male lieutenant understood exactly who she was.
Staying in his shadowed spot-in the back of the room where all the senior members of the pack had gathered to throw Riaz an impromptu welcome-home party-Andrew sucked on his beer and forced his attention off the couple on the other side-to something, anything, else.
He saw Hawke speaking with Elias and Yuki, glimpsed Sing-Liu playfully grabbing her mate"s a.s.s, and-He blinked. Walker Lauren was here. That wasn"t a huge surprise, because though quiet, the Psy male had turned out to be a genius when it came to dealing with young hotheads, to the extent that Hawke had a.s.signed him as the go-to man for the ten-to-thirteen-year-old crowd.
What held Andrew"s attention was the fact that Walker was standing very close to Lara, and from the expression on the healer"s fine-boned face, the way she was all but poking the much taller man in the chest, she was well and truly p.i.s.sed. Walker"s own expression was more difficult to read, but- Low female laughter. Intimate. Painfully familiar.
Clenching his jaw, he refused to turn, to watch.
"You look like you"ve been gut-punched." Quiet words from a man who"d once been the shadow in the dark, the a.s.sa.s.sin you"d never see, never know about, until it was far too late.