"Siva!" The smallest cub, Dima, saw her on his way out of the pit, ran toward her after he exited. "Will you throw me?"
Reaching down, Silver gathered his warm, solid body into her arms. "I don't want to do harm," she said to Valentin.
"He'll be fine." He grabbed Fitz, who was jumping up and down next to him. "Throw just hard enough to get him into the balls--and watch for the other five in there. They know not to move when someone's about to be thrown in."
Having already noted the positions of those five, Silver watched Valentin throw his cub, noted Fitz's landing position, then looked down at the little boy she held in her arms. "Ready?"
A quick nod, eyes bright.
She threw.
Screaming in joy, Dima sank into the foam, bounced up an instant later, chortling so hard he fell back down and his friend--a cub who'd returned with the dissenters--had to pull him up. "Is there a trampoline below?" Silver asked, realizing the children were bouncing around like rabbits rather than heavy-boned bears.
"Not quite, but close enough." Valentin came to stand beside her as the children began to throw the foam balls at one another. "Part of the safety system--not a single accident here in the twenty-five years it's been running."
The furnace of his large body tempted her to edge nearer, sink into his warmth. "You did your research."
"I'm alpha," was the simple answer.
And these cubs were his responsibility.
She went to answer when a ball hit her on the nose. Startled, she looked toward the pool, saw several innocent faces. Arkasha began to giggle a second later, the sound quickly spreading to all seven cubs. "Come play!" sensitive little Sveta said. "Siva, Mishka, come play!"
Silver never saw it coming. One minute, she was standing on her own two feet disturbed by her compulsion toward the large bear alpha with whom she'd once shared skin privileges; the next minute, she'd been scooped up in his arms and was being launched into the air. He'd thrown her so gently that she barely felt the impact before she was bounced up. Much taller than the children, she ended up with her head above the balls even sitting down. Her hair tumbled out of its twist.
Around her, the children began to swim over. Valentin, meanwhile, was standing outside the pool laughing. She blew the hair out of her eyes, closed her hand around a ball. When the children reached her, she whispered, "Let's get Mishka." That was all the encouragement they needed.
They pelted Valentin with the foam balls.
Throwing out his arms and making the face of an enraged bear, he jumped into the pool and began to chase the cubs. They screamed and ran from him. Silver, meanwhile, continued to pelt him with balls. Valentin suddenly changed direction and dived toward her. She twisted out of the way, but he was too fast and she found herself pinned under him, his body keeping the foam off her face and his arms caging her on either side.
"Gotcha," he said, the bear in his eyes, a playful presence.
Silver couldn't speak, her stomach suddenly so tight it was difficult to breathe. The laughter faded from Valentin's face, a slow slide into something deeper, more tender. "Lyubov moya, solnyshko moyo." A harsh whisper colored in unconcealed, primal emotion . . . before he was assailed by balls from every side, the cubs coming to her rescue.
Backing off with a lionish roar that delighted the children, he began to chase them again. Silver, her heart a drum, simply sat in place. Her ears caught the sound of the children's laughter, Valentin's growls of mock pursuit, the odd noise from other areas of the play center, but nothing unusual. Her audio telepathy was under control.
The rest of her, however . . .
"Siva?" A small body scrambled into her lap. "I'm tired." Giving a big sigh, Arkasha collapsed against her.
She wrapped her arms around his body and said, "I think you need a drink of water." Getting up with the tiny gangster trustingly holding on to her hand, she walked to the edge of the pool and they got out. Arkasha drank deep of the glass of water she poured at their table, his eyes on the play in progress.
He was back in the pool seconds later.
Silver should have gone, too. She'd promised to participate. But it was too dangerous to her sense of stability, her mind in confusion, caught between who she believed herself to be, and who she was becoming. Though it was impossible not to watch Valentin, not to hear his deep voice as he played with the cubs, she stayed by the table using the excuse of being ready to give the children any sustenance they needed.
That afternoon passed by in a heartbeat--and it stretched forever.
Lyubov moya, solnyshko moyo.
My love, sun of my heart.
Valentin didn't touch her again, but when he dropped her off at the complex, the children having been picked up by Yakov and Anastasia, he said, "Remember who we were, Starlight. Choose us." His voice was unusually solemn, his gaze amber.
Silver couldn't reply, her blood a roar in her ears. She certainly wasn't in the right frame of mind to receive a telepathic contact from Ena. I'm just leaving Alpha Nikolaev's vehicle, she said when her grandmother asked if she was free to talk.
Valentin needs to hear this, too. Ask him if he is available to meet at your current home. Kaleb will bring me in.
Silver's fingers curled into her palm, her body half-out of Valentin's vehicle. "Grandmother is asking if you're free for a meeting."
His expression changed, became deadly. "Akshay Patel?" Not waiting for an answer, he said, "I'm free. Where?"
"My apartment."
This time, she didn't wait for him to reach her, jumping out of the vehicle and beginning the walk to her apartment before he'd opened his own door. It didn't take him long to catch up to her, of course. He was a big and warm presence at her side, his energy so vibrant she could almost touch it.
"Valya!" The call came from across the grass and two floors up, the woman hanging out the window a beautiful blonde Silver had seen around the complex but never met.
The blonde blew Valentin a kiss.
"Careful, Irina," Valentin called back. "My mate is the jealous type."
Clearly unabashed, the woman blew Silver a kiss, too. "Any woman worth my alpha would be!"
"She's clan?" Silver asked after the woman drew back inside the apartment.
"Half human, all bear." He winked. "Fariad has the biggest crush on her I've ever seen a man have on a woman."
"Oh? Does he knock on her door at the crack of dawn?"
A scowl. "I didn't have a crush. I was courting you. There's a difference."
"Right," Silver said, her shoulder brushing his arm as they walked.
Valentin pretended to bite her. "Grr."
"I quiver in terror."
"I'll have you know I do make people quiver in terror," Valentin pointed out with a sulky look on his face that made her want to--
Silver shook her head, attempted to calm her skittering pulse.
Searching for a distraction, she pointed out the sun-lounging area below. "Look." Several bears--in that form--lay lazing about on the lush green grass. The wolves lay on the other side of an invisible line of demarcation.
Every so often, they'd give one another a dirty look, then get back to sun worshipping. The first snowfall was forecast to hit any day. It wouldn't stop either bears or wolves from being outside, but they were making the most of the grass while it still existed.
Several bear heads went up at that instant, their noses turning unerringly toward Valentin. They began to rise; she knew they wanted to come to him, touch him, have that tactile alpha-to-clan-member contact all bears needed. But Valentin waved them down. "I'll be back after I take care of my mate."
His deliberately provocative response made several bears "laugh" before they settled back down. The wolves, too, were looking very interested. Apparently being mortal enemies didn't mean you weren't intrigued by gossip about the other party.
When she didn't say anything in response to his words, Valentin gave her a distinctly wary glance. "What are you planning?"
"You'll find out when you fall victim to it."
Valentin's smile was more real than she'd seen it since her operation, his bear right there in his eyes, so close to the surface that she could almost touch its fur. "You're a scary woman, Starlichka." Lifting a hand, he brushed tendrils of hair off her face.
Silver broke contact with a jerk that had those bearish eyes narrowing, a predator on the hunt. He closed the inches between them, until her sneakers brushed up against his boots. "Scared?" A challenge.
His body was a furnace, but Silver didn't back off. This wasn't the first time she'd tangled with this particular bear. "I don't get scared. I'm Silent."
"You sure you haven't been willing those filaments in your brain to build bridges?"
Silver thought of the card she still hadn't thrown out, of how she hadn't washed the sheets on which he'd slept, of how she kept permitting him physical contact . . . and how she hadn't ordered any food since she moved into this apartment. "Why would I exchange perfect efficiency for the messy chaos of emotions?"
"Wild-monkey skin privileges."
Silver stumbled into him at the rough words spoken against her ear.
Valentin caught her. "Was it something I said?" This time, his eyes were laughing, his body a muscled wall that invited her to snuggle in.
And her stomach, it did that strange thing again. "Must be the uneven floor," she responded, because to let him win this verbal battle would set a bad precedent.
Bear that he was, he'd think he could win all their arguments by bringing up physical intimacy. She broke contact, started to walk toward her apartment again. "Speaking of wild-monkey skin privileges--"
"Naked wild-monkey skin privileges."
"As I was saying, speaking of naked wild-monkey skin privileges," she repeated without a hitch, "are there changeling primates?"
"Nope. Nothing from that part of the animal tree." He glared at her. "You're trying to distract me from seducing you."
"According to Wild Woman magazine"--to which she now had a subscription, strictly to further her understanding of changelings--"bear males have delicate egos. I don't want yours crushed when I kick you out."
The deep rumble of his displeasure at her back, a big, dangerous presence that made her feel deeply safe, she cleared them into her apartment. The door slid back to reveal a room full of natural light. Greenery cascaded beyond the windows, while she knew from her orientation that the roof was a living carpet.
"I see you went wild with the decor, Starlight." The affectionate words had her looking at the apartment through his eyes; light and spacious, it was fitted out with modern furniture covered in oat-colored fabric.
That, however, was how it had come. Silver had added nothing to it, simply putting her clothes in the bedroom closet. Which was why she looked askance at the giant pink teddy bear sitting on her couch. "How did you manage that?" she demanded. "It wasn't there when we left."
"Don't look at me." His expression was affronted. "I would've gotten you a brown teddy bear." Folding his arms, he curled his lip. "There are no such things as pink bears."
Walking over, Silver looked at the furry thing. "Who does it smell like?"
Valentin looked pained but drew in a breath. "Yasha and Stasya."
Spotting the little bag that hung from the bear's neck, Silver tugged it off. Inside was a handwritten note folded into a small square.
We all thought you might be missing your bear, so we got you a substitute. (Honestly, he's probably just as good to cuddle up with in bed. Plus, his feet aren't boats and he doesn't snore.)
Valentin, who'd come to read over her shoulder, made a loud noise and, picking up the bear, went as if to tear it limb from limb. She touched her hand to his arm. And he stopped.
"It's a gift. Don't ruin it."
"It's pink." His chest rumbled. "And it is not as good as me."
She tried to pull the bear from his grasp. He held on. "Valentin." She tugged again.
The stubborn bear refused to let go. "Release this now, or you'll be facing Kaleb and Grandmother while holding a pink teddy bear."
"So?" he said, but released his hostage at last. "I'm going to dye that bear brown when you're not looking."
Leaving him scowling in the living area, Silver managed to get the plush toy into her bedroom and return right before her grandmother and Kaleb teleported in. Valentin still had a glare on his face, but he inclined his head respectfully at Ena. "Grandmother."
His greeting to Kaleb was a curt nod. "Krychek."
"Nikolaev," Kaleb responded in the same vein, sliding his hands into the pockets of his black suit pants, his shirt a simple white.
"Grandmother, please sit," Silver said, only taking her own seat once Ena was seated.
Valentin came down on the couch beside her, while Kaleb took a seat across from them. Ena sat to their right. They looked at her as one, waiting to hear what she had to say.
"I have," she began, "completed my meeting with Akshay Patel."
"I think you meant to use the word 'interrogation.'"
Ena gave Valentin a speaking look. "A meeting is far more civilized."
"My apologies," Valentin said with such perfect politeness, Silver had to check he was the one who'd spoken.
Then, as they listened, Ena told them what the CEO had confessed--and what he'd betrayed. "The Consortium did have a role to play in this," Ena said toward the end of her briefing, "but only in the sense it gave Akshay Patel tools to pull off actions he already wanted to take. The Bowen Knight incident was wholly Akshay and his brother-in-law--he didn't want to involve outsiders in human matters."
Valentin's claws had slid out long ago. When he spoke, his voice was gravel. "Tell me he's dead."
"No. He's more useful to us alive."
Chapter 49
SILVER STARED AT Ena. "Grandmother, you're not known for mercy."
"A slight understatement," Kaleb said in his usual emotionless way, which terrified people with its very calmness. "For many, the name Ena Mercant is synonymous with the words 'cold-blooded' and 'ruthless shark.'"
"I believe your picture would also suffice for that dictionary entry," Ena said without missing a beat.
Kaleb's smile was faint but real.
"Grandmother," Valentin said, his body a storm of turbulent energy barely contained, "I respect you, but that bastard tried to murder my mate. He needs to die."
"He might be able to give us the Consortium."
Her words filled the room with a potent silence . . . broken only by the noise of play from outside. The apartment was fully soundproofed, but that soundproofing wasn't a default, had to be switched on, since most changelings preferred to live in proximity to others.
Silver had never turned it on.
"I've had the briefing." Valentin flexed, then fisted his hands after retracting his claws. "Those bastards don't show each other their faces."
"Akshay Patel is extremely paranoid and distrustful. He's done everything in his power to discover the identity of the individual behind the creation of the Consortium. Already he's told me that the one who sits at the center--the spider in control of the web--is a woman."
"Interesting." Kaleb leaned back. "You believe him?"
"A man will do many things to protect his children." Her words were arctic. "Whatever his faults, Akshay loves his son and daughter."
Kaleb didn't move. "How will you control him once he's with his children and able to spirit them into hiding?"
"Our family's greatest strength is our intelligence network." Ena's words were directed at all of them. "Akshay is well aware that wherever he goes, it will never be far enough--and I have given my word that his children will be safe so long as he cooperates with us."
Silver could feel Valentin's body vibrating next to her, his shoulders knotted and thighs rigid against the denim of his jeans. "Patel's a murdering bastard," he said in a voice so deep it echoed inside her. "But it's not right to make a man's children pay the price for his crimes."
/> "If he does what we want, that will never be an issue." Ena's eyes were ice when they met Valentin's. "He has willingly bargained his freedom for their lives. He's the one who will pay." A pause. "You would've taken his life, and the children would've lost their father. Our moral compasses are not so different, Valentin Nikolaev."
Hands fisted, Valentin nodded at last. "You're right. But I wouldn't have won his compliance by threatening his children." He held Ena's gaze with the wild amber of his own. "That line should never be crossed."
Silver had never seen her grandmother back down against anyone. She didn't today, either, but Ena also did not stare Valentin down in the way she did those who didn't have her respect. "We have different lines, Valentin, but we both protect those who are our own."
Valentin nodded slowly. "I don't like leaving him alive--a man who uses poison, he's not the straight-up kind."
"He's broken," Ena said flatly. "I made sure of it. He is my puppet."
Kaleb tapped a finger on his knee, his voice flawless midnight when he spoke. If Silver hadn't seen him with Sahara, and if she didn't know the other woman well enough to understand the passionate way Sahara embraced life, she, too, would've believed him wholly without heart. "Can he actually be useful to us?" Kaleb's cardinal eyes were unreadable. "If he starts betraying Consortium plans, they'll know they have a mole."
"How we use him will require careful thought, but this is the closest we've come to the Consortium since they shied away after making initial contact with me," Ena said. "Silver, you'll undertake tracking their communication methods."
"I've already sent word to our people." Three of her family had trained in covert online operations. "They're working on it now, but the setup is clever, and the Consortium could switch to a different chat room without warning--should the individual behind the group once again utilize physical letters to achieve that aim, we'll be right back where we started."
"Understood."
"We should ask for Arrow assistance," Kaleb said. "Unearthing the Consortium is a shared goal."
"I'll contact them," Silver said without asking her grandmother; Ena had long ago given Silver carte blanche over network operations. But that wasn't the topic at the forefront of her mind. "Grandmother, you must make a promise." Even as she spoke, she ran her hand down Valentin's back, over the rigid knots of his muscles.