ARRIVING at Central Command sixty minutes later, having forced himself to release Zaira so she could return to her duties, Aden showered and changed into black cargo pants and a black T-shirt. He had no outside meetings today, intended to work in the valley, interact with the children.
An alpha was meant to be respected but not feared. Not by the innocent.
He never wanted to feel a child flinch from him as Tavish had done.
About to head out, he was halted by an incoming call from Judd. "Aden," Judd said before breaking off. "Give me a second."
In the background, Aden heard a childish voice, followed by Judd's deeper one. More children's voices followed before Judd spoke again. When the other man came back on the line, Aden said, "Where are you?"
"Watching over the pups. Their usual caretakers are having a meeting so we've been roped in." A warmth in the other Arrow's tone that Aden would've never predicted when Judd had still officially been part of the squad. "I was mediating a disagreement between three pups who wanted to play with the same ball."
"How did you mediate it?" It was a question with intent--if Aden's plans succeeded, Arrow children wouldn't be so perfectly behaved in the future. He needed to learn how to deal with these kinds of situations.
"I told them they'd have much more fun if they played a game between the three of them. Wolves are social by nature, so I didn't have to do much convincing." A short pause, the phone muffled again for a moment. "Okay, we can talk now. Drew's watching my group."
"Were you able to make contact with the leader of the water changelings?" The squad had kept a quiet eye on BlackSea the same way they kept an eye on any other group that might one day prove a threat, but they'd never been able to isolate BlackSea's leadership. What evidence they had pointed to a woman named Miane Leveque, but she was all but impossible to find if you didn't know where to look.
Vasic had once managed to teleport onto one of BlackSea's floating cities after using a known water changeling's face as a lock. He'd 'ported back with a bullet lodged in the armor covering his shoulder and a wound on his temple where another bullet had grazed him. If he wasn't so fast, he'd have been dead soon after arrival.
Ming, in charge at the time, had decided not to waste any more manpower on a group that kept to itself, and the water-based changelings had ignored them in turn. Until the Venice incident.
Judd, on the other hand, was part of SnowDancer. The wolf pack was not only the biggest and most powerful pack in the country, it held that position even when worldwide packs were factored in. There was no way the wolves weren't aware of BlackSea on a deeper level, the reason Aden had reached out to SnowDancer via Judd.
Judd's next words confirmed his call had been the right one. "We'll be talking to them in a few hours. I can't tell you how it'll go--according to Riaz, who deals with BlackSea most often, the water changelings make SnowDancer look friendly."
Aden didn't ask if he could join the meeting. The wolves had barely begun to trust the Arrows, had gone that far only because they had Judd and the other Laurens in their midst. A group as reclusive as BlackSea would never agree to a face-to-face with Aden at this point. "I'm sending you everything we have to date," he said to Judd. "Tell BlackSea we don't want a war, but we'll give it to them if that's what they want."
Aden would allow no one to hurt his family.
*
JUDD slid away his phone and walked back into the sunshine of the newly green play area outside the den, the snow having melted away about ten days earlier. Drew was no longer watching over things. The other man had shifted and was currently buried under a pile of pups in wolf and human form, all intent on beating him in battle.
Judd wasn't the least surprised when a breakaway group came to attack him. He allowed himself to be taken to the earth, squirming bodies all over him until they pinned him down and howled victory.
Holding one of the smaller pups against his chest as he sat up after he was set free, he put the girl gently on the ground. She raced off to play with the ball again, while Drew, still in wolf form, shook himself as if setting his skin in place, then padded over to sit on the ground beside where Judd had taken a seat with his back against a large rock.
It was over fifteen minutes of comfortable silence later that Drew walked off to shift back into human form, returning dressed in his jeans and white T-shirt. While changelings saw nudity as a natural part of life, they weren't exhibitionists. Certain rules of behavior were scrupulously followed--by everyone but the smallest pups. Seeing a naked pup gleefully running through the den was a familiar and amusing sight.
"Your Arrow friends?" Drew retook his earlier position, his legs stretched out and face tilted up to drink in the sun, lake blue eyes closed. "They figure out who tried to take two of them out?"
Judd shook his head. "It's the changeling involvement I'm having trouble understanding." Drew already knew the facts of what had taken place; Judd had been clear with Aden that though he was more than prepared to help the squad, he wouldn't withhold information from his alpha and other senior packmates.
"Can't say I blame you." Drew opened his eyes, focused on the pups again. "Human and Psy was a weird enough combination, but all three?"
"It doesn't seem to fit the natural order of things." Except for rare pockets like in SnowDancer, where all three races had connected, their world was not a functioning triumvirate. "BlackSea in particular seems the least likely pack to be involved in a conspiracy."
"Yeah, they're pretty standoffish." Drew's laid-back voice was suddenly granite hard as he said, "We know every group has its bad apples, so it's probably not BlackSea as a whole."
Judd knew the other man was recalling the SnowDancer traitor who'd wanted to brutalize the woman who was now Judd's mate. "Brenna handled him," he reminded Drew. Both Drew and Riley were protective of their sister, sometimes forgot that she could take care of herself. "Where's Riley?"
A snort. "Mercy is, like, seventeen months pregnant. Where do you think?"
Mercy was more like six months along, but Judd got the point. "She's displaying more patience with his overprotectiveness than I would've expected." The DarkRiver sentinel had no tolerance for anyone "mollycoddling" her, as she'd put it. She was still on active duty, though on the advice of the pack healers--both SnowDancer and DarkRiver--she'd scaled back her physical exertion.
Judd might have been surprised at what she continued to do if he hadn't seen other soldiers do exactly the same. Changelings were physical beings and bed rest was only ever advised if there were medical complications. The majority of pregnant changeling women remained highly active almost to their due date.
"Love, Judd." A grin on Drew's face. "She's kinda crazy for my brother. Crazy enough not to throttle him when he invites himself along on her shifts."
Judd understood in a way he wouldn't have before he mated with Brenna. It was a knowledge he wanted for all his Arrow brethren, but it wasn't something he could teach--his squadmates had to experience the dawning wonder and beautiful agony of it themselves. They had to choose to step outside the Arrow black walls of their existence . . . or be lucky enough to find a man or a woman who cared enough to batter down those walls.
"I haven't actually seen Mercy recently," he said, his mind on the woman who'd smashed through his own defenses and claimed him. "Brenna was asking how she was."
"Aside from the belly, she looks and acts exactly like the same old Mercy." Drew's grin grew wider. "Riley swears she popped out overnight--word from the healers is that she might not go all the way to nine months."
Judd came to attention. "You're not concerned?" Premature births could be very dangerous even with all the medical technology at the world's disposal.
"We get more multiple births than the other races," Drew reminded him, "so a lot more babies end up preterm. The healers are used to handling it, and the babies are usually much healthier than Psy or human babies born prematurely."
"Psy preterm babies are the most at risk."
A sla
p on the back. "Good thing any pups you and Bren have will have changeling blood."
Judd tried imagining Brenna with child . . . and succeeded. There was no block now, no fear of what kind of a father he might be. One day, when they were both ready, he would hold his and Brenna's child. For now, he'd help watch over both SnowDancer's and the squad's young. "I'm nearly afraid to ask how you know so much about gestation and birth," he said to Drew.
"Because I have a brother who's been barred from the infirmary in both packs unless he's bleeding or Mercy's giving birth." Drew's shoulders shook, the wolf in his eyes. "He's chewed the ear off both Lara and Tamsyn."
"I understand his worry." As far as anyone knew, this was the first time a leopard changeling and a wolf changeling had conceived together.
Drew's expression turned solemn. "Yeah. I think everyone does-- which is also why Mercy is being so weirdly nice." A suspicious edge to his tone, as if he expected his brother's mate to turn into a hissing, bad-tempered cat at any instant. "She says she can feel the pupcubs and they're as happy as pie, but since Riley can't feel what she does . . ."
A ball came rolling their way on the heels of Drew's words and Judd used his telekinesis to throw it back. Where that would've once made the kids look on in awe, now they just raced after the ball. He'd become normal to them, part of the landscape of adults they trusted without thought. Aden, he thought, was attempting to create the same for children who'd never known kindness at adult hands.
Judd had been one of those children until Walker hauled him back into the family. Now he was a man who'd fight for the innocent and the vulnerable at Aden's side. Because no child should ever grow up surrounded by coldness and fear.
Chapter 44
EIGHT HOURS AFTER waking in Aden's arms, Zaira went to the valley to speak to Nerida about more soldiers to add to the rotation on watch over the saboteurs. Even with the two extra people Nerida had already sent in, Zaira's crew was stretched--she didn't want them burning out, especially since they had to be prepared to strike should a higher-level target or targets present themselves.
She was heading into the main complex when she ran into a teenage trainee.
"I'm sorry, sir." The girl snapped into an at-attention pose.
"Not your fault," Zaira replied and was about to walk on when she realized she'd never seen this trainee at any of the sessions she led. "What's your name?"
"Beatrice Gault." The girl swallowed.
"Why haven't you attended the senior martial arts sessions?"
"I have, sir. In the back row."
Zaira stared at Beatrice's face, trying to remember. In the end, all she got was a vague recollection of a trainee who'd been wholly unmemorable. Beatrice had made no mistakes, needed no correction, but she'd also not been the best of the best. "I'll see you tomorrow." Zaira would be taking the session again.
"Yes, sir."
Walking into the building, she told Nerida her needs and the other woman said she'd organize the extra personnel. "Do you want Arrows who've worked or lived in Venice previously?"
"If you can spare them, yes," Zaira said, aware that her city had unique pitfalls newcomers might not understand.
Nerida scanned current placements and operations assignments on her organizer. "I may have to throw in one or two who haven't had experience there."
"That should be fine. I'll partner each newcomer with someone familiar with Venice." Leaving Nerida, she went to head out to catch her teleport back to Venice, hesitated.
After a moment's thought, she turned and made her way to the room where she knew Walker and Cris were going over personnel files and holding interviews so they could match up children with compatible adult Arrows. Flexibility was to be built in, in case of serious clashes, but the squad had to start somewhere.
Cris looked up as soon as Zaira entered, tawny brown eyes pinning her in place as the experienced Arrow had so often done when Zaira was one of her trainees. "Zaira--I thought you were dealing with the situation in Venice."
"I am." Zaira hesitated again because this wasn't her area of expertise . . . but something about Beatrice had triggered an echo in her. "Are you assigning the older teenagers and those in their early twenties to family groups?"
Cris gave her a considering look at what had to be an unexpected question coming from her. "Our focus is on the children," she said. "However, we are placing teenagers up to age sixteen. Anyone older will in all probability prefer independent accommodations."
"That doesn't mean they don't need families." Zaira had always had Aden. It had been enough to keep her sane, remind her she had value beyond being a cog in the Arrow machine.
Zaira's instincts said Beatrice might have no one who reminded her of the same.
Leaning back, Walker Lauren frowned. "You're right. Children return to a healthy family unit throughout their lives." He ran a hand through his hair before nodding. "We need to make sure every Arrow has a home to return to, regardless of age."
Zaira should've left then, her point made, but she couldn't forget Beatrice's voice--so flat and with an edge of defeat, as if she was used to not being remembered. Zaira knew what it was like to feel so alone, to feel that no one in the world knew of her existence. Sometimes, while she'd been trapped in the cell created by her parents, she'd screamed and screamed just to see if anyone would come.
No one ever had.
"Assign Beatrice Gault to me," she said.
Walker looked at her, careful and with the same intense quietness to him that was such an indelible part of Aden. "All right," he said at last, as if she'd passed some silent test. "The smallest children take priority, so it may take up to seventy-two hours for the assignment to be made. We'll have to speak to her first."
"Understood." Leaving the room, she reached for Aden's mind.
Her breath caught.
He'd left their private telepathic pathway open as if in invitation and as she slipped in, it felt like coming home. The rage wanted to curl around him like a wild pet, affectionate and sure of its welcome. Never had he rejected her. Never. Her emotions for him a primal pulse within her, she said, It wasn't your fault.
He'd accepted blame for her nightmares, but she was the one who carried darkness in her blood, not Aden. Somehow, he'd survived his childhood and come through Arrow training with his spirit intact. Not only intact but strong enough, generous enough, to embrace each and every broken soul in his care. Thank you for holding me.
Come find me so I can do it again.
She'd realized this morning that there was no going back. The idea of sleeping without him, of not having his mind open to her own, it hurt more than anything had ever before hurt in her life. If there was a chance she hadn't inherited the madness, that she could control her rages, then Zaira wasn't going to be a coward.
She would do this. After all, she belonged to him, always had. There was only one thing she needed before she could surrender to her craving to possess the extraordinary man who saw the shadows of her and found them beautiful. Don't let me become a monster, Aden, she said. If I go mad, promise me you'll give the execution order. She wouldn't ask him to do the actual execution himself; he cared about her, would be destroyed by it. Don't let me become my parents' shadow mirror.
You won't, Aden said as his face came into view, the two of them having been walking toward each other from opposite ends of the valley compound.
His faith in her made her soar, but she was too pragmatic, too aware of what lay beneath the thin shell of control. I need the promise.
No. A hard jaw, an unwavering expression.
Zaira had a raw moment of insight, of understanding. Giving the order would break him, too. Aden was incapable of harming her--and that knowledge, it made her heart ache. She'd thought the organ too stunted to feel with such passionate agony. But it did.
Because this beautiful, powerful, incredible man saw her as precious.
As if she was his shiny, sparkling treasure. One he'd permit no one to take from him . .
. not even her. "You are a stubborn man," she said, her voice husky.
"Only about things that matter."
He kept giving her more gifts, kept making her heart struggle to beat and giving strength to the tiny flame of hope inside her, the one that whispered she wasn't insane, just a little broken. That was okay. Vasic was a little broken and Ivy loved him. Aden had broken pieces inside and they fit into the astonishing tapestry of him.
Most of all, her lover wasn't scared of imperfection. "I'll wait for you in Venice," she said, brushing her fingers over his as another Arrow called out to him and her teleport spotted her. "Don't be late."
"I won't."
They separated but the telepathic pathway between them, it remained open until the teleport took her far out of range.
Chapter 45
BLAKE COULD FEEL his need building again.
He was having to go slowly with the human female. Beatrice had questioned him as to why the interrogation center was an abandoned warehouse and not an Arrow facility, and he'd had to pull rank to shut her down. She'd obeyed, of course, but he couldn't risk pushing her too far too soon. Beatrice was a long-term plan, one that required patience. If he could corrupt her, he'd have someone with whom to share his finest moments.
With that end result in mind, he'd allowed her to take the lead in the interrogation.
His prey wasn't a scientist's daughter and knew nothing of any codes; it was amusing to watch Beatrice attempt to get the data out of her, but so far, his apprentice hadn't done any real damage. That would change in two days, when he took over after her "failure." Blood would flow, sweet and wet, as his victim screamed, but right now, he had to satiate his urges elsewhere.
Having made sure his schedule was open for at least three hours today, he scanned the semilit pathway between two streets filled with restaurants. Humans and changelings were so often stupid; they believed that walking in pairs would save them. He'd never taken two bef--
His eyes locked in on a couple heading toward him.
Not human.
Not changeling.
Psy.
He could tell because they looked nervous to be holding hands, as if not yet sure of the fall of Silence. As he watched, the man floated a rose to the woman using what must be very minor Tk if he'd been allowed to remain a civilian. The woman clasped the flower to her chest.