by Nalini Singh
The problem with this truncated section was that it was almost but not quite far enough away from a relatively dense population matrix. Any gain in efficiency resulting from shifting the minds in this sector wouldn’t have been enough to justify the NetMind’s output.
Which meant the neosentient entity hadn’t created this roadblock.
It took him three hours to wedge open a small doorway in the wall of black without tripping the inbuilt alarms. Slipping through, he closed it behind himself, concealing the doorway for later access. The barricade proved to have been nothing but a firewall meant to discourage anyone from continuing to follow the trail—because it was hot again on this side.
Even as he swept through the slipstream in search of his target, part of his brain continued to sift and sort the millions of pieces of random data that floated past. Rumors, whispers, business information, snippets of fading conversation, it was all filtered out so it wouldn’t clog his mind. Until a single fragment made him pause.
…pushed the anchor down the steps, but his death…
Not halting his psychic pursuit, he touched the NetMind’s curious presence, asked it to follow the fragment. The vast neosentience returned to him in a split second with the report that the fragment was all that remained. The rest of the conversation had degraded, its energy absorbed back into the Net.
Regardless, only one anchor had died in that manner in the preceding weeks. And since the mode of his death had not been made public, the fragment appeared to infer the male had been murdered. What Kaleb couldn’t reason out was why. As he and Aden had discussed, the death of an anchor offered no one in the Net any advantage.
Following that logic, it was likely the murder was tied to something that had nothing to do with the victim’s position as an anchor. That other reason was often cold, rational money—the anchor’s heirs might simply have wanted to hasten the speed of their inheritance.
Kaleb sent Aden a telepathic message, taking care not to disturb the trail in front of him. It glowed a faint silver to his psychic senses, and he was almost certain this was it … when it disappeared with total abruptness.
I’ll follow up. Aden’s telepathic voice.
Kaleb responded automatically. Contact me as soon as you discover anything. He scanned his surroundings for any hint of the silver thread. But it was gone as if it had never existed.
Chapter 48
FIVE DAYS AFTER the visit to his parents, Riaz watched Adria jog past with a small group of her kids. Perched as he was on top of the jungle gym part of the training run, he had an excellent view, knew she was teaching them one of the emergency evacuation routes they might one day have to utilize to protect the pups, should all the dominants be needed to hold back an invading force.
Man and wolf both stopped what they were doing to watch the woman who, he was slowly beginning to see, was as much a nurturer as an aggressive protector. An unusual combination, rare in the hierarchy. While she was undoubtedly a dominant soldier with impressive offensive capabilities, there was a gentleness about her that was more akin to that of the maternal females. It was an aspect of her personality he’d brushed up against more than once without realizing it—and it made his protectiveness toward her intensify, until he knew he’d have to be careful not to cross lines that would most definitely annoy his amber-eyed wolf.
As if sensing his scrutiny, she turned to look over her shoulder, her expression softening. “Hey,” she mouthed.
“Hey,” he mouthed back.
Lips curving, she returned her attention to the teenagers around her, disappearing under the thick canopy of the trees not long afterward. His wolf stretched its neck, trying to catch a final glimpse of her, but it didn’t snarl when the trees continued to block its view—it knew she’d return to him, the bonds between them no longer cobweb fine. What had happened after Venice had changed things on a fundamental level.
He’d made his decision, made his claim.
Adria hadn’t rejected his possession—not the same as acceptance, but as he’d told her, he was a patient man. Smiling at the way this skittish wolf was beginning to trust him with pieces of her heart, he turned his attention back to the obstacle course that was the training run. The soldiers had begun to learn the old pattern, which meant it was time to reconfigure it into a new one, which he was doing, with Judd’s help.
The other lieutenant, his hair back to its normal chocolate brown shade—Riaz’s wolf snorted—teleported him a wrench when he called out for it. “Thanks.” He twisted a stubborn bolt into place, his mind going through the issues to be discussed at the upcoming lieutenant meeting. “Heard anything from Ashaya?”
“Just an update on how long her initial tests will take,” Judd called out from under the structure. “Approximately a month. Ashaya’s very dogmatic and detail oriented in her work.”
“Good.” Unscrewing a small piece, he snapped it into a new position on the right. “Bowen—what’s your take?”
Judd came out from under the structure to look up at him, wiping his forearm across his sweat-damp forehead and leaving a streak of grease behind. “He is, in a sense, an alpha. The Alliance looks to him for direction and protection—seen that way, his actions may be ruthless, but they’re for the good of his pack.”
“Spoken like a true wolf.”
Judd caught the wrench he threw down, waiting until Riaz’s feet hit the ground to say, “As Drew would say, if you can’t beat ’em…”
“Yeah, too late to back out now. We know where you live.”
Judd’s response was to put the wrench with the other tools and raise his eyebrow. Of course Riaz couldn’t turn down the challenge, and they were scrambling over the modified jungle gym in seconds. It dumped Judd on his ass two minutes in. Riaz lasted another ten seconds. “Damn,” he said with a satisfied laugh. “Got us both. Excellent.” No one was going to learn to beat this configuration in a hurry.
Eyes narrowed, Judd stared at the structure as if at a mortal enemy. Slapping his fellow lieutenant on the shoulder, Riaz said, “Don’t even think about it.” A pissed-off telekinetic versus the complex metal pylons and tubes of the jungle gym—the results would not be pretty.
Judd glanced at his watch. “I’ll destroy it later.” Cool as ice, but Riaz caught the glint, knew the Tk would be back until he’d beaten the obstacle. “We’d better get to the meeting. It’s almost two.”
Heading in, they put away the tools and quickly washed up before walking into the special conference room set up for lieutenant meetings. Hawke and the other lieutenants—via comm link and in person—were all present. Indigo, her feet propped up on a second chair, her legs crossed at the ankles, said, “You’re late,” without looking up from her datapad.
That datapad was suddenly hovering several inches in the air … before it zipped to a stop in front of Judd. Taking it, he said, “And you’re playing Wolf versus Leopard.”
Everyone laughed as Indigo threatened Judd with bodily harm, but the Psy lieutenant continued to study the datapad. “You have an excellent territorial strategy—though it appears this game skews to favor wolves. Was the developer a wolf?”
“I confess!” Tomás threw up his hands. “It was me.”
Nudging the datapad back to Indigo, Judd twisted a chair around to sit with his arms braced on the back. “If you want cats to play it, too, you have to even out the playing field.”
Tomás’s eyes gleamed. “I think you just volunteered to be my impartial test player.”
“Fine. As long as I get a share of what are certain to be huge profits, taking the competitiveness of wolves and leopards into account.”
Tomás tapped the side of his nose as more laughter filled the room. “I’ll have my people talk to your people.”
Hawke leaned back in his chair, tipping it so it balanced on two legs. “His ‘people’ is Brenna, so watch out or you’ll be lucky to come out of it with the shirt on your back.” Hands linked behind his head, he glanced at Riley. “Okay, what’s on
the agenda today? Any attempted mini-strikes by Pure Psy I don’t know about?” It was an irritated question. “It’s like that mole game where they keep popping up.”
“Nothing in the last four days,” Riley replied to a round of applause. “And Sam is leading the trap-detection pool with an impressive nine points.”
“Four days,” Indigo said in a musing tone of voice. “That’s the longest gap to date. Strain on their limited personnel beginning to show?”
“Moles reproduce very quickly,” Judd said dryly.
Jem almost snorted out the water she’d been drinking. “Enough with the moles, let’s not give them the satisfaction of sucking up more of our time.”
“I now declare a mole moratorium.” With that solemn statement—which made Cooper choke—Riley picked up the datapad in front of him. “BlackSea’s first on the list. Kenji, Riaz, give us an update.”
Riaz nodded at Kenji to answer.
“We had a bit of back-and-forth, but they’re now happy with the contract.” Pushing his shockingly sedate black hair out of his eyes, Kenji glanced at Hawke. “They made their decision about the alliance before they ever approached us. It was just a case of working out the details.”
Riaz had to agree. “It’s going to come down to the meet.” He and Kenji, as well as Riley, would accompany Hawke to the face-to-face with Miane Levèque, while BlackSea was sending along Emani and two other representatives of their ruling board with Miane. In deference to BlackSea’s preference to be near water, the meeting was set to take place in a waterfront building owned by DarkRiver. “Still no hint on why they’re suddenly so keen on an alliance.”
“We get an answer at the meet, or we walk.” The alpha’s smile was all teeth. “Beautiful Garnet. Report.”
Jem rolled her eyes. “Nothing new. I’ve still got the steady trickle of Psy coming into my sector. I think the majority are continuing on to San Francisco.”
Frowning, Indigo said, “City’s going to start having a population and housing issue if this keeps up.”
“It’s not that bad yet,” Riley replied. “Cats are keeping an eye on the situation—there are enough apartments in the general area for the time being. The Psy coming in are staying clear of den territory and DarkRiver’s territorial borders.”
Coop, who’d touched base with Riaz just yesterday, the two of them bullshitting over the comm, had nothing to report. Neither did Matthias, but Alexei was sporting an impressive black eye and a scowl. However, all he said was, “All quiet here.”
“No way, Sexy Lexie,” Tomás said, earning a deadly look, “fess up. Where did you get that shiner?”
“Dominance challenge.”
Hawke’s hands dropped, the legs of his chair slamming to the ground as his expression grew dark. “Another one?”
“Don’t worry—I took off the kid gloves.” White grooves bracketed his mouth. “He’s alive … barely. I don’t think anyone else will want to try their luck.”
“Good.” Hawke’s tone was without pity. “We might’ve gained two or three strong soldiers as a result of the challenges, but it’s a waste of your time dealing with them.”
“Did you even put ice on that?” Jem asked, wincing at the damage to Alexei’s face.
The young lieutenant shrugged. “Wasn’t time—I didn’t want to give him a chance to heal up before we delivered him to his pack.”
The message, Riaz thought, his wolf in complete accord, had to be brutal, unmistakable. “I think,” he said, when Riley turned to him and asked for an update on the Human Alliance, “it might be time to revisit the idea of a permanent liaison with them.”
The sound of teeth grinding. Nobody had forgotten or forgiven what Bowen had done the last time he’d been in the area.
Coop was the one who broke the silence. “Riaz is right. The Alliance is too big to simply ignore.”
Hawke shoved a hand through his hair, asked for opinions. Everyone had one, but they finally decided to feel out some kind of a liaison arrangement.
“Can you handle that?” Hawke glanced at Riaz. “You’ve got BlackSea as well.”
“Kenji can take most of the load there,” he said, receiving a nod from the other lieutenant. “And this isn’t a full alliance negotiation.” He caught Judd’s eye. “I might need your input now and then.” The other man had access to the PsyNet, and Riaz knew there were powerful people in the psychic network keeping an eye on the Alliance.
“No problem.”
“The possible civil war inside the Net,” Indigo said to Judd. “Any news on that front?”
“Close to ignition—all it needs is a single match.” A chilling prediction. “I’ve gotten the word out among the Psy in the city. The forewarning may save some of them.”
Some, Riaz thought, not all.
CLOSING the door to her office after completing the day’s session with the kids, Adria wiped her hands on her jeans, took a deep breath, and put through the call. It was answered on the second ring, her mother’s vivid blue eyes filling the computer screen, the honey brown of her hair tumbling over her shoulders—it was Cullan Morgan who had given his daughters the ebony of their hair, but Tarah’s and Adria’s eyes came from Felicity.
“Adria.” Heartfelt smile on her face, her mom reached toward the screen as if to touch Adria, then dropped her hand with a rueful smile. “How are you, my baby girl?”
Adria’s heart clenched at the love that sang in her mother’s every word. She’d kept her distance from her parents for too long, driven by a caustic mix of shame and anger, and her wolf ached to feel the fierceness of her mother’s embrace, the rough affection of her father’s touch. “Good. I went to Venice.”
“Oh, how lovely. I know you always wanted to.” Felicity beamed, glanced over her shoulder. “Cullan, come here! Your pumpkin’s on the comm.”
Adria laughed, knowing that regardless of her age or rank, she’d always be their surprise baby. “Hi, Dad,” she said when her father’s handsome face filled the screen.
“I should spank you, Adria Morgan,” was his growling response, his beard sprinkled liberally with silver. “When are you planning to visit your parents?”
“Soon as I can get three or four days of leave in a row.” Her parents were based in Los Angeles as a result of her mother’s position at the university, her father in charge of SnowDancer’s construction arm in the city. “Riley’s in a very good mood, so I might be able to swing it in the next few weeks.”
“Oh, I heard,” her mother said with a delighted grin. “He’ll make a wonderful father.”
“That he will,” Cullan agreed. “Always had a steady head on his shoulders—even when he was making trouble with Hawke, Cooper, Riaz, and the others when they were younger.”
Adria had decided to keep her silence on her deepening relationship with Riaz. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to share her family with him, didn’t want her parents to meet the intelligent, passionate lone wolf who was twining ever stronger bonds around her heart, but that she had to be dead certain. Never again did she want her mother and father to worry and hurt as they had when she’d been with Martin.
No, the next time she introduced a man to her family, it would be because she knew he loved her with his heart and soul, his devotion unflinching.
Chapter 49
SIENNA’S NERVES WERE shot by the time she shoved into Hawke’s empty office and sprawled in his chair late that afternoon. The scent of him surrounded her, but it wasn’t enough. Scowling because she wanted to sulk with him, she got up, deciding to track him down like he so often did her.
It didn’t take long—because she knew who to ask.
“I saw him, Sinna!” Ben volunteered when she interrogated the kids in the White Zone. “He’s fixing a car.”
“Thanks, Ben.” She kissed his cheek—and the cheeks of all the other pups who’d gathered around—then made her way down to the garage.
Hawke wasn’t, in fact, “fixing a car.” He was discussing a rugged all-wheel-drive
vehicle that looked like it had been taken apart piece by piece, with the head mechanic. Staying out of sight, she didn’t interrupt what seemed to be an important conversation, but she knew he was aware of her, his wolf rubbing against the mating bond in a primal hello.
She didn’t know how she knew which part of him she was talking to at any given time. She just did. And she’d learned to stroke the wolf through the bond, did so now. When Hawke finished his conversation and walked across to her, he just tapped her on the cheek and said, “My office,” having clearly sensed her mood.
The instant they entered it, he raised an eyebrow. “Someone’s been sitting in my chair.”
She slumped in it again. “The maternal females hate me.”
Pale, pale blue eyes suspiciously bland, Hawke leaned back against his desk in front of her and looked down to meet her no-doubt temper-foul gaze. “I’m guessing shadowing Ava didn’t work out.”
“Her baby was fussy today, so she arranged for me to shadow Nell instead.” Cocking her fingers, she pretended to shoot herself in the head. “Do you know how many times I was pulled up in front of Nell as a juvenile? Well, she does. Has a memory like a steel trap.”
“I see.”
“Stop laughing,” Sienna muttered, glaring at her mate though he hadn’t made a sound. “This is serious.”
An infuriating chuckle before he used his foot to push the chair away, then pull it back in so she ended up between his legs. “Tell me exactly what happened.”
“I showed up to meet Nell in the nursery, and we spent an hour with the pups. That was nice.” She loved the innocence of the babies, the way the toddlers shrieked in delight, their joy guileless and forthright. “It was when we left that Nell decided to wander down memory lane. Her ‘favorite’”—she hooked her fingers to create air quotes—“one about me is from that time my class was camping in the mountains, and I convinced the girls to steal and hide every single stitch of clothing owned by the boys. She said she was impressed by the precision timing involved in the raid.”