by Nalini Singh
She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Lissa might disagree with you there.” A laugh that made the wolf inside Riordan stretch out, as if it was being stroked. Noelle did that, petted his wolf with unhidden pleasure. And the leopard inside her had allowed his touch, all gold and black and gorgeous under his palm.
“You might be identical twins, but you’re not the same.” The words made absolute sense to him—he’d never, not once, mixed up Noelle and Lissa; he couldn’t understand how anyone could. They both glowed with life, but each was utterly unique. “Where is your shadow anyway?”
“She should be here soon.” Eyes lingering on his face as her smile faded into another raw emotion, she lifted her hand to brush his jaw. “Thank you for never trying to exclude her.”
“That would hurt you.” Riordan was a dominant predatory changeling, possessive as all hell, but he’d accepted that Noelle and Lissa were a pair, their hearts entwined since childhood. “I’m glad she’s not trying to take a back seat anymore.” At first, when Riordan and Noelle started going out, Lissa had been very careful not to intrude, to the point that she’d turned down invitations to join them.
Instinct had driven Riordan to make personal contact with Lissa, to tell her he truly meant the invitations. “How can I know Noelle without knowing you?” he’d said to her, his wolf deeply conscious that he was missing out on seeing a large part of what made Noelle who she was.
Lissa had looked at him suspiciously for a long time before giving him a dimpled smile. “You might be okay, wolf.”
The three of them had gone to a theme park that night and he’d never seen Noelle happier. Her joy that Lissa and Riordan liked one another was more than enough reward for his effort in reaching out to her twin.
Now, the girl who held his heart laid her head on his shoulder. “We had some bad experiences when we first started dating. Some guys got so jealous, even when we told them that a sister relationship is a totally different thing from a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.” She kissed his jaw, his affectionate cat with the sunbright sea in her eyes. “As an example, Lis doesn’t make me want to pounce on her and strip her naked”—another kiss—“and your gorgeous brown eyes glaze over when I start talking nail varnish and pedicures.”
He grinned. “Smart ass.”
Her phone beeped before she could respond.
Checking it, she blew out a breath. “Lis is almost here. Kit’s driving the car she’s in and Nico’s got the wheel of the other one.”
Riordan’s own phone beeped right on cue, the message from Sienna. “The others are coming too. They decided to run down—everyone I invited is on the way.”
Sliding away their phones after acknowledging the messages, they stood up and walked partway down the stairs to wait. There was still snow at this elevation, the landscape a soft and lush white, the dark green of the firs beyond the clearing glittering with icicles and dusted with white. Lissa and Noelle and Riordan had together added some solar powered paper lanterns to the verandah railing and the colorful lanterns whispered in the pre-sunset breeze.
Noelle squeezed his hand. “I’m so nervous.”
“Yeah.” His own heart was thumping. Turning to Noelle, he cupped her cheek with one hand and lowered his head to hers because she was it for him. His port in any storm, his playmate, his laughter.
The kiss was slow and hot and when she purred in the back of her throat and kneaded at his chest with the claws that had sliced out of the fingers of her free hand, he felt like a conqueror. Smiling against her mouth, he rubbed his nose against hers. “At least there’s no bar to wreck.”
Retracting her claws, Noelle poked him in the chest. “Only Mercy and Riley’s house.” She shuddered. “We should’ve organized this in a barren clearing where no one could break anything.”
But a heartbeat later there was no more time for second thoughts. The SnowDancer group, laughing and flushed, ran into the yard from one side just as the DarkRiver group walked in from the other, having parked their vehicles a short distance away.
It was almost funny how everyone just stopped and stared at each other, eyes narrowed. Everyone that is, except for Lissa, Kit, and Sienna, who grinned and waved at one another. All three had been in on the secret from the word “go.” Arm wrapped around Lissa, Kit then looked at Riordan and Noelle and gave them a slight nod.
There was something about Kit that Riordan had never quite been able to put a finger on—it wasn’t just the leopard’s potent dominance. It was a sense of absolute confidence that seemed built in and that affected everyone around him. And though Riordan wasn’t leopard but a wolf, Kit’s backing had an impact on him, too.
“Welcome to our New Year’s party,” he said to the group, immediately getting their attention. “Noelle and I decided it was time our friends became friends.” Wolf and leopard had worked together more than once, but friendship was a rockier thing.
Scowls appeared on several faces at his words, a growl lifting on the air. A second growl followed.
“Stop it,” Noelle said, her voice so hard that everyone stared.
Sweet, loving Noelle never sounded like that. Ever.
Astonished and delighted, Riordan just stood beside her as she laid down the law.
“SnowDancer and DarkRiver are now allies,” she said. “No more of this territorial wolf-leopard rubbish. Especially since in not so many months, we’re going to have to share some packmates.” Putting her free hand on her hip, she narrowed her own eyes. “Riley and Mercy let us borrow their house for this party because their pupcubs are going to grow up in both packs and they do not want their kids feeling unwelcome in either.”
“Aw, Noelle,” Cory said sheepishly, sandy brown hair falling across his forehead. “We’d never mess with the pupcubs.”
“Neither would we,” Cadence said pointedly from the wolf side of the line.
“That’s not enough,” Noelle replied. “Kids are smart, they pick up on tensions. It’s time to bury the hatchet once and for all.”
A few grumbles, some folded arms. Rolling her eyes, the cardinal starlight no longer startling, Sienna strode over the line and linked her left arm with Lissa's right. Kit shifted his hold to Lissa’s hand and the three of them walked up to Noelle and Riordan.
“So,” Sienna said, “is there a bar for me to climb?”
Someone snort-laughed on the wolf side, quickly stifled it, but it was too late. One of the leopards whispered, “Last warning, baby,” and suddenly, the entire group was in hysterics.
Sienna winked, being a good sport about the incident that had led to her being thrown over Hawke’s shoulder in a changeling bar. Lissa grinned and eyes glinting, Kit shook his head before turning to the group.
“Since none of us have any desire to be assigned to the back of beyond night shifts forever,” he said to everyone, “I suggest we take damn good care of Mercy and Riley’s place. Otherwise, let’s get this party started.”
People started pulling out food and drink from backpacks, and all too soon, the tables Riordan and Noelle had set up on the verandah with cake and nibbles and a few bottles of champagne, started overflowing with all kinds of other party supplies. Mercy and Riley had given them permission to use the inside of the house, too, but except for moments now and then when those who wanted a little quiet went in to sit on the couches and talk, the group stayed outside.
Nico and Tai worked together to hook up the speaker system and music filled the clearing now colored orange-gold by sunset. Minutes later, people decided spontaneously to dance in the snow rather than stay up on the verandah. Riordan liked the atmosphere but he was disappointed to see that the two groups stayed relatively separate...but then Cory crossed the invisible dividing line and held out his hand to Cadence.
Gray eyes assessing, the dominant wolf soldier said, “Don’t try anything, cat,” and accepted the offer.
Grin feline, Cory drew her close to his taller frame. “Cats always try something, wolf.”
Riordan saw
Cadence trying not to smile and dared believe this might just work out. “Dance with me,” he said to his own cat.
Running onto the snowy dance floor, his hand in hers, Noelle came into his arms. Snuggling close, she swayed to the music with him, as around them, more and more of their friends crossed pack lines. Food was eaten, champagne was sprayed, slow dances turned to rock and back again, and when midnight came, Riordan wasn’t the only wolf who kissed a cat and vice versa.
~
Mercy braced herself to return home the next morning. “Do you think the house is still in one piece?” she asked her mate. “No one’s heard from any of the group that went to the party.”
Riley had a dubious look on his face. “Either they got into a big fight, or they had one hell of a good time.”
Neither, Mercy thought, augured good things for their home. “It’ll all be worth it,” she said, patting her belly. “I want our pupcubs to feel as welcome in SnowDancer as in DarkRiver.”
Riley reached out to rub his knuckles over her chin in silent agreement just before he brought their four wheel drive vehicle to a stop next to two other vehicles covered by snow. “They’re still here,” he said, surprise in his tone.
“God.” Mercy stepped out. “I hope they didn’t murder one another.” It was ten in the morning on the first day of the new year. The two of them had spent the night with family down in DarkRiver land—Riley’s siblings and mates, their families as well, had all come down to join them. The two of them were getting really good at alternating packs for events and it was wonderful to see the bonds being built between their two families.
“If they did murder each other,” Riley said quietly, “we’ll bury the bodies and feign ignorance.”
Mercy laughed and rose to haul her mate down to her mouth for a possessive kiss. “Sometimes, you think like a cat.” She approved.
He squeezed her ass, his slow smile making her heart melt into goo all over again. “Come on, kitty-cat, let’s go see the damage.”
Walking into the clearing below their home hand in hand, the first thing they saw was the churned up snow out front.
“No blood,” Mercy said, taking a sniff of the air. “Beer and champagne and cake but no blood.”
The two of them continued forward, up the steps...to find a big brown wolf fast asleep on the left of the verandah, his body protectively curved around those of two sleek and identically spotted leopards who’d fallen asleep on their paws.
Lifting a finger to her lips, Mercy tiptoed around the verandah to find more changelings in animal form. A couple of wolves there, a couple of leopards here, another wolf next to a leopard. Mercy recognized that leopard as her youngest brother, Grey, a surge of affection making her bend down to stroke his sleeping head before she rose back to her feet.
“They’re asleep all over the verandah,” Riley told her when they met again at the front door. “No injuries that I can see.”
“I didn’t spot any either.” Mercy stepped into the house.
Sienna was inside, her ruby red hair flowing over the arm of an armchair in which she’d curled up to sleep, a thick blanket pulled over her.
“I can’t believe Hawke didn’t come looking for her,” Mercy murmured in Riley’s ear.
“Oh, I guarantee you he did,” Riley murmured back. “He probably came down and got his midnight kiss without any of the others being the wiser.”
Mercy could well believe that. The SnowDancer alpha would never have allowed the new year to come in without having his mate in his arms, but like Mercy’s own alpha, Lucas, Hawke was an alpha who understood the importance of this night and of Sienna building tight bonds with her peer group. Luc and Hawke also both knew that group needed to figure out things for themselves without interference from senior pack members.
Sienna wasn’t the only one who was in non-animal form. Amos was sprawled out on one couch, Jason on the other with Nicki snuggled up to him. No one however, had ventured past the living area, and aside from a few discarded clothes where no-doubt-tipsy partygoers had shifted, along with the odd plate or glass, the house was in one piece.
There was even a covered plate on the dining table with two large slices of cake on it. The note beside it said: Thank you for the loan of your house. Can we have it again next year?
Laughing softly, Mercy licked up some frosting with a fingertip, fed another fingerfull to her mate.
“They’re good kids,” Riley said afterward, pride in his tone. “Drunk and likely to have hangovers from hell when they wake up, but good.”
Mercy felt the same pride flow through her veins. “Yeah, they are.” Joy bubbled in her that her and Riley’s babies would be born into this sprawling, loving, dangerous, wild, and perfect family.
Looking up at the SnowDancer wolf who belonged to her, she drew him down into a kiss, his stubble rasping against her skin. “Happy New Year, wolfie.”
His arms came around her, strong and warm and of the man she adored beyond life. “Ditto, kitty-cat.”
Copyright © 2014 by Nalini Singh
Naya's Most Important Visitors
Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t yet read Kiss of Snow, you might want to save this short story to read later.
Author’s Note: This is part of my series of shorts focusing on the everyday lives of the characters, away from politics and danger. Set soon after Naya’s birth, this short story features...well, I’ll let you read it for yourself!
For those of you new to the Psy-Changeling world, this short story is set in the changeling leopard pack DarkRiver (changelings are able to shapeshift into their animal form at will). Sascha is the mate of the DarkRiver alpha, Lucas, and a Psy member of the pack. The Psy race is gifted with incredible mental abilities from telepathy to telekinesis.
Naya’s Most Important Visitors
By Nalini Singh
“Naya’s most important visitors are about to arrive.”
Sascha smiled at that announcement from the panther in human form lounging in the bedroom doorway, his black hair tousled from the way she’d run her hands through it earlier. “I wondered how long they’d last.” Julian and Roman had been talking to the baby in her womb for months, telling her all the things they were planning to teach and show her.
“I’m surprised it’s three days later,” Lucas said, his sun-bronzed skin strokable against the deep green of his favorite T-shirt. “I expected them here in twenty-four hours or less.”
“Tammy probably didn’t tell them.” Sascha folded away a soft one-piece in sky-blue that had been a gift from one of the elders in the pack. “I think she was worried I was getting overwhelmed.”
“Are you?” Lucas came over to massage her nape. “We’ve had a lot of visitors since the birth.”
“No.” She turned into his body, drawing the quintessentially male scent of him into her lungs. Always she’d loved him for the man he was. Now, she loved him for the father he had become, a predatory changeling alpha who made no bones about adoring his child. “It’s wonderful to have everyone so excited about the baby.” To live in a pack that showed affection with wild openness.
Lucas nuzzled a kiss against her ear and allowed her to turn to face the bassinet—located in the bedroom because neither one of them could bear to be parted from Naya.
Reaching into it, she gently touched their sleeping baby’s cheek with a careful fingertip. “I still can’t believe she’s ours.”
Chin propped on her shoulder and muscular arms wrapped around her, Lucas said, “What are you talking about? She belongs to Rome and Jules. They were very clear on that.”
Sascha was still laughing at that affectionately feline comment when the twins tiptoed into the cabin, whispering, “Sascha darling,” as they came in, instead of yelling it like they usually did, cheeky grins on their faces.
Mystified, she crouched down to their level. “Why are you whispering?” she whispered.
They bent identical heads toward her, all hair of rich brown and eyes of midnight blue
. “Because,” Julian replied, “Mommy said we had to be quiet because the cub was very small.”
“Really, really small,” Roman put in, forgetting to whisper until the last word.
Her heart filled with love for these two babies who weren’t her own but who belonged to her as Naya belonged to the rest of the pack, Sascha cuddled them close. “Want to meet her?”
Enthusiastic nods.
Tamsyn appeared in the doorway a second later, Nate beside her. “Sorry about that,” she said with a smile as warm as the twins was infectious, the dark amber of her gaze lit from within. “They escaped soon as we got within sight of the cabin.”
“They were quiet,” Sascha told Tamsyn solemnly.
The twins beamed, neat little angels in their checked shirts—red for Roman and yellow for Julian—paired with jeans.
Sascha wanted to pick them up, but her body wasn’t quite ready. Rising, she held out her hands and the boys took one each. Once in the bedroom, she had them sit on the bed. Then, reaching inside the bassinet, she lifted Naya and came to sit between the two, conscious of Lucas returning to the bedroom after greeting Tammy and Nate. “This is Naya.”
“She is small,” Roman pronounced after staring carefully at the baby. “Does she have a long name, too, like me and Jules? Like I’m Roman.”
“Her long name is Nadiya.” She smiled as Julian touched the baby’s fisted hand with a little finger of his own.
Roman petted her silky cheek.
Naya yawned in her sleep.
Giggling, Roman said, “She smells all soft.”
“Is that going to be her real smell?” Julian didn’t sound too enthused about the baby scent that made every maternal instinct in Sascha’s body sigh in wonder.
She glanced at Lucas for help. Her panther came over to grab a laughing Roman in a growling hug before setting him down on the bed again. “No, that’s her scent for now. She’ll develop a deeper scent as she grows.”