by Nalini Singh
Vaughn’s eyes caught his, the shade near-gold. “You okay if I take her? I’ve got the jetcycle but I can switch to an SUV.”
Fighting his overprotective instincts, Lucas said, “She loves the jetcycle.” Vaughn was a skilled driver, and the jetcycle’s maneuverability gave it an advantage should anyone attempt to follow Vaughn and Naya with the aim of doing harm.
Lucas wouldn’t steal joy from his child in the name of keeping her safe.
“Yeah,” Vaughn agreed. “She’s a little speed demon.” He put Naya on his shoulder, where she curled up as if she’d been doing it forever, wrapping her tail around his neck to anchor herself. “I’ll run in human form, hold her when she’s had enough. Message me when and where you want me to drop her off.” He tugged playfully on Naya’s tail. “Come on, Miss Naya. Let’s go run. But first we’ll sign you out of the nursery so the teachers don’t worry.”
Naya growled and made bye-bye noises at Lucas as Vaughn walked out the door. Lucas trusted his friend unconditionally. Yet he still had the urge to lunge up and haul her into his arms.
It took teeth-gritting will to fight the primal desire.
She was safe. Vaughn was a lethal predatory changeling. He’d fight to the death to protect her . . . and it was good for the jaguar to open his heart to such a small, helpless packmate. Lucas hoped Naya’s determined love of Vaughn would help the other man heal from the staggering loss that had devastated him as a child.
Lucas’s phone buzzed.
Looking away from the door through which Vaughn and Naya had disappeared, he answered to find his mate on the other end. Of course she’d picked up on his silent fight against instincts formed when he’d been a young boy helpless to protect his parents from a deadly attack. He’d been tortured, too, but Lucas could’ve borne that. It had been watching his parents die in front of him that had marked his psyche in a permanent way.
Sascha understood the brutal competing drives inside him.
“I’m fine,” he told her. “Vaughn’s bringing Naya home. Where do you want him to drop her off?”
“The aerie. I’ll be back by the time he actually turns up.” Sascha’s smile was in her voice. “You know he kidnaps her for hours and she’s a very happy kidnappee.”
“He lets her finger-paint the walls of his den, that’s why.” Their cub always turned up squeaky clean, without a speck of paint on her, but Naya couldn’t keep a secret.
“Forget about walls, Faith told me she came home last time to find Naya finger-painting Vaughn.”
Chuckling at the idea of the quiet, intense sentinel happily acting as the canvas for an enthusiastic toddler, Lucas asked, “How’s the lesson going?” Sascha was up in SnowDancer territory, working with Toby Lauren.
“He’s more reticent than usual. Lara warned me, said that he might be in the first stages of teenage-boy-itis.”
“I remember that phase. Being surly is a requirement.”
“I can’t imagine Toby surly.” A pause, a rustle. “I’d better go. He’s getting restless.”
Hanging up, Lucas forwarded Vaughn’s suggested changes to the summit idea to Aden, then got up and headed out to a work site. He needed to stretch his muscles, see how the project was going. It would also stop him from worrying constantly about Naya.
Sometimes, an alpha had to let go and trust his pack to watch over that which mattered most.
• • •
HAVING driven the jetcycle to DarkRiver’s Yosemite territory with a delighted Naya safely tucked up inside his zippered leather-synth jacket, only her head poking out and her eyes squinting against the wind that ruffled her fur, Vaughn parked the vehicle in a designated spot just inside the forest. Unlike when he traveled alone or with Faith, he’d logged this trip with Jamie and Desiree; the two senior soldiers were in charge of keeping track of pack children moving in and out of the city.
No cub was going to disappear and not be immediately missed.
Still straddling the powerful body of the jetcycle, Vaughn used his phone to check in, informing his packmates that Naya was safe inside the heart of DarkRiver territory.
He’d ensured they had no tail, his senses on high alert.
Swinging his leg over the jetcycle after sliding away his phone, he spoke to the cub who was a source of living warmth against his chest. “I hope you appreciate that I drove like an old lady for you.” He’d never forgive himself if Naya came to harm while in his care.
A tiny panther head nudged the bottom of his chin.
Scratching her under her own chin, he smiled. Truth was, it still hurt to see Naya, to hold her. She reminded him so much of Skye. His baby sister had been jaguar, not leopard, but she’d had the same mischievous spirit, the same affectionate sweetness. Vaughn might’ve been tempted to keep his distance from his best friend’s cub, protect himself, but it was impossible. From the instant he’d picked her up after her birth, Nadiya Shayla Hunter had owned a piece of his heart.
“Yes, we’re home,” he said when she made questioning sounds. “Down. Stretch your legs.” Placing her on the ground with careful hands, he watched as she got her shaky feet under her.
Then she “ran” beside him while he walked at a pace slower than a sleepy five-year-old’s. Tail curled up in pride, Naya growled at all sounds from the forest, the big predator who was going to eat anything that dared encroach on her territory.
Vaughn added his growls to hers, got an approving look in response.
He’d left his jacket with the bike in preparation for his run, but Naya lasted longer than he’d expected. Finally exhausted, she permitted him to pick her up and hold her against his chest as he broke into a full-speed run, the tall firs of Yosemite passing by in a greenish-brown blur while beneath his booted feet, the grass was a lush green that sprang back after the feline lightness of his steps.
Tiny claws dug into him, but he didn’t censure her as he would have had she used them in play. She was just holding on. But she wasn’t scared. Of course not. She was the daughter of an alpha.
She was exhilarated.
Slowing to a jog when he was almost home, he was down to a walk when he entered the cave system within which lay his lair. The scent he caught in the air made him grin, his jaguar rising to its feet inside him in wild welcome. “Hello, Red.”
Faith looked over from the sofa, where, clad in nothing but a short slip of a dress, she was eating a big bowl of cereal. “Naya!”
Her delighted cry had Naya scrambling down to run over.
Climbing up onto the sofa beside Faith through sheer grim effort augmented by a little help from Vaughn, she put her paws on the bare part of Faith’s thigh and peered curiously at the bowl of cereal. Clearly deciding that the brightly colored flakes looked delicious, she licked out her tongue.
Faith pulled the bowl out of reach just in time. “No, you don’t. I am not getting in trouble with Lucas and Sascha by teaching you bad habits.”
Plopping down on her butt, Naya shifted and tugged at Faith’s sea-green dress while making sounds that might’ve been her name. “There you go.” Faith fed Naya a spoonful after checking to make sure the cereal was soft enough with milk that it would be easy for her to eat.
Vaughn watched Naya eat it up, then ask for more. “She’s hungry after shifting so much today.” It took significant energy for the young, likely because their bodies were mid-development and because the shift did odd things at this age.
Like giving Naya the cub far more dangerous teeth than Naya the toddler.
“I can’t believe she’s shifting.” Faith fed their little guest more cereal. “Yes, you are clever,” she said, leaning down to kiss Naya on the cheek. “And you’re really hungry.”
Vaughn went into the kitchen area and found the box of cereal, as well as the milk. Putting both down on the small table beside Faith, he grabbed a throw to wrap around Naya so she wouldn�
�t lose body heat. “She’s too little to regulate her temperature like we do ours,” he told Faith when she looked up with a question in her eyes.
“So I should make sure she keeps the throw around her?”
“For the next few minutes at least.” He tugged on Naya’s hair. “Don’t get cold, Miss Naya.”
He got an enthusiastic nod that made the lush black of her tumbled hair gleam under the simulated sunlight of his and Faith’s lair. “She’ll be fine once she’s settled into this form,” he told his mate. “Just touch her skin, make sure she’s not chilled.” Getting a nod of confirmation from Faith, he dropped a kiss on the fiery red of her hair. “I’m going to shower off the sweat.”
She tipped up her head so that he could kiss her on the lips. Stroking his hand over the slender arch of her throat, he nipped at her lips, licked over the sensual hurt. Faith’s hand was just coming up to cradle his jaw when Naya made a grab for the cereal bowl. “Fae!” she said, as if trying to get her tongue around “Faith.”
Faith laughed, managed to steady the bowl. “Yes, I know. Less kissing, more cereal.”
Naya clapped her hands. “Kiss!” That was clear enough, especially when she tipped up her head to Vaughn.
Remembering Skye again, emotion a knot in his throat, Vaughn kissed the tip of her nose. Once. Twice. As Naya laughed, Faith lifted his hand, touched her lips to the back of it with a tenderness that said more than any words. He ran his knuckles over his mate’s cheek before walking over to the shower—which looked like a waterfall cascading from the stone wall, a feat he’d gone to great lengths to achieve.
Vaughn could hear his mate and his friend’s cub talking animatedly as he stripped off and stepped under the water. Naya was so engaged that it sounded like a real—if largely incomprehensible on one side—conversation. The sounds made him chuckle, and this time, his memories of Skye were of when they’d been happy.
She’d been just as chatty, talking his ear off about everything under the sun, including her favorite toys and flowers and how come the sun was yellow and the grass was green? And why did bees buzz? Her little face would screw up as she considered each question while waiting for his response.
He’d often replied with nonsensical answers that made her laugh so hard she’d fall to the ground with her arms wrapped around her stomach.
Grass is green because that’s the color of insect poop.
Bees buzz because they’re really miniature jet-choppers.
Washing off the suds with a smile born of the memory of his sister’s delight, he dried off, then pulled on a clean pair of jeans. He’d just grabbed a leftover slice of pizza for an afternoon snack when Faith got a call. She answered it, Naya busy amusing herself with a cardboard box that had once held a cutting tool Vaughn needed for his sculptures.
Right now, the box was on her head.
His shoulders shook.
Faith’s own smile was deep as she spied Naya’s antics, but when she spoke after hanging up, it was in a quiet tone. “My father says Tanique is in town.”
Vaughn knew it was important to his mate to truly get to know her younger half brother. They’d met, but only in passing. “You want to go?”
Faith nodded. “If we can.” She gathered Naya into her lap when the little girl pushed off the box to yawn and rub at her eyes with her fists. “Tanique’s on a museum contract, so he’s only in town tonight.”
“I’ll put on a shirt, take Naya so you can dress. We’ll head out soon as you’re ready.”
Faith looked down at the sleepy baby girl she was cuddling. She’d replaced the old throw with a soft pink blanket that Naya was rubbing her cheek against as she kneaded at it with a hand that had sprouted tiny claws. “We don’t have to rush that much.” A whisper. “I love holding her.”
Sitting down beside his mate, Vaughn stretched out an arm behind her. “We could try to make a cub of our own.” The idea of being responsible for a fragile new life was no longer scary now that he’d been around Naya for a year, been responsible for her countless times.
He’d kept her safe.
Faith’s smile was shy, startled, happy. “I’d like that . . . but not just yet. I’m still adjusting to the dark visions.”
Those visions came without warning and could relate to anything from a major disaster to a murder to a small accident. “Today?”
“No.” She leaned her head on his shoulder while continuing to pet Naya. “Before we try for a child, I want to be confident that if I have a dark vision while I’m alone with our baby, I’ll be able to ride it out.” A glance up, her cardinal gaze stripped bare. “I don’t ever want to scare our child by reacting badly to a nightmare vision.”
“No rush, Red.” Vaughn nuzzled at her, let her know he was with her. Always. “We’ve got plenty of time yet.” Plenty of years to play and grow together. “We’ll know when we’re ready.”
Faith pressed a kiss over Naya’s soft curls as Naya’s eyes finally closed, thick, curling lashes throwing shadows over her cheeks. His mate had a gentle smile on her face when she looked up. Her lips parted as if she was about to speak, then snapped shut as her eyes widened.
“Red?” Vaughn sat upright from his lazy sprawl. “You having a vision?”
A shake of her head. “My brother is a Ps-Psy,” she blurted out. “A strong one. Nine on the Gradient.”
Blowing out a silent breath, he turned boneless again. “Yeah, I know.” What Vaughn didn’t fully understand was how Tanique’s psychometric ability worked. The younger man could sense things when he touched physical objects, that much was clear. But what exactly he saw, if he even had a visual component to his ability or whether he simply heard the echoes of sounds, Vaughn wasn’t certain.
“The message in the bottle.” Faith’s voice was taut, intense. “Can you get it back? It’s really important.”
Realization dawned. Swinging his feet off the highly polished stump that acted as their coffee table, Vaughn got up. “I don’t know where BlackSea took it after we handed it over, but I know who to ask.”
Chapter 14
VAUGHN LEFT THE room to make the call using the comm in Faith’s workspace. As a DarkRiver sentinel, he had a contact number for BlackSea that was routed to whichever senior pack member was currently on shift as liaison. Today, that happened to be Malachai Rhys. The big male listened to Vaughn’s proposal, then connected him to Miane Levèque after a minute-long delay.
Vaughn knew what Malachai had been doing in that minute when Miane appeared on the comm and began to speak without Vaughn having to explain anything. “The bottle’s in a lab on one of our floating cities,” the alpha said. “I can pledge a BlackSea favor to get it to you via a teleport, but you tell me if I can trust this Ps-Psy.”
Vaughn was unsurprised by her wariness; Psy had long been the enemy of changelings and even now, Vaughn himself only trusted a rare few. “I can’t give you an absolute guarantee,” he responded. “Tanique is Faith’s brother, loyal to NightStar. And NightStar is headed by Anthony Kyriakus, who has no love for the Consortium.”
Wholesale chaos and violence was bad for the F-Psy who were a vital part of NightStar’s power base, especially with so many of them now opening up to visions outside the antiseptic limits of business contracts. If there was one thing Vaughn knew about Anthony, it was that the other man protected his foreseers, including Faith, with a merciless will. “On the flip side,” he added, “Tanique didn’t grow up in NightStar but with the maternal side of his family, so he may have loyalties we don’t know about.”
“Faith NightStar was the one who suggested we ask her brother?”
Vaughn saw where Miane was going. “Not a vision,” he clarified, “but she had a tone in her voice I’ve come to know. I’d never bet against her.”
“I’d be a fool not to heed the advice of the best foreseer in the world.” Miane put her hands on her hips, her cream
-colored long-sleeved shirt moving with a fluidity that made Vaughn wonder if it was one of the experimental luxe fabrics BlackSea was famous for creating.
“We’ll need the bottle within the next two to three hours,” Vaughn reiterated.
Miane’s curt nod was a silent promise they’d have it. “This is a massive risk on our part, cat.”
“Sometimes even sharks have to take a leap of faith.”
Miane’s lips curved at the implied question about her changeling nature, but there was no humor in her eyes. “I’ll kill Tanique Gray if he betrays us.”
Vaughn knew that should Miane attempt to take such an action, he’d have to get in her way. His jaguar, too, would never forgive betrayal, but like him, Faith had already lost one sibling. Vaughn didn’t think she could bear the loss of another. But he also had total conviction in his mate’s abilities—even when she didn’t have a vision, Faith “saw” things.
Like this morning, she’d insisted he wear his leather-synth jacket when he absolutely hadn’t intended to go out on the jetcycle today. If he’d refused to listen, he’d have had to return home to get it barely an hour later, after one of his packmates asked him for a favor that necessitated a trip to the city. And three days earlier, she’d called Tamsyn to tell the healer about a deal she’d seen for good quality chocolate chips.
“I bought them,” Tamsyn had said to Vaughn when they ran into each other yesterday. “Then today, Roman comes home and reminds me I promised to make chocolate chip cookies for his and Jules’s entire class after they finished a big project. I totally forgot, would’ve had to scramble if Faith hadn’t given me that tip.”
Small things, miniscule even, but they added up. “I don’t think you’ll have to kill Tanique,” he told Miane, but held her gaze so she’d know he was as big a predator as her, his dominance such that even Lucas couldn’t make him do anything. Vaughn’s jaguar chose to follow Lucas’s panther because that panther had earned its respect and loyalty. “Understand, he’s family.”