Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 121389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Soleil bristled beside Ivan. “Ahem.”
Her alpha shook his head. “Doesn’t mean you can’t protect yourself—but that you won’t if in a situation where people are wounded. Your first instinct will be to assist. Ivan’s will be to blow off the heads of anyone who tries to hurt you.”
Ivan decided he liked Lucas Hunter; the man understood him.
Inside his mind, Soleil’s cat sat grumpily because she knew damn well that the alpha wasn’t wrong.
“You’ve been assigned an aerie close to Yariela, as well as Salvador and the two cubs,” Lucas told Soleil, “and they have to be my priority.” A glance at Ivan. “Are you safe around children?”
Ivan thought of the spider that sat in hunched readiness inside his head. “At present, I have full control over my actions and I’ve never harmed a child. But I may destabilize without warning.”
“Bullshit,” Soleil said, so angry at him for how he saw himself that she forgot herself in front of her alpha.
Lucas didn’t react except to raise an eyebrow. He might be far more dangerous than Monroe, but his presence was a thousand times more stable. Soleil had the feeling this man never just flew off the handle—he was the calm heart of the pack, the one who steadied everyone else.
His scent alone was enough to comfort her cat, and she’d never before had that experience. For the first time in her life, she understood what it meant when changelings said they had a good alpha. Despite what she’d just thought, she realized then that it wasn’t about personality, about whether an alpha was gregarious or quiet, full of laughter or more inclined to just smile now and then. It was about their ability to be the center that held, no matter what.
And it was about heart.
Monroe’s heart had been a small, jealous thing.
Lucas’s was wide enough to embrace each and every member of his pack—and that included strays like her who’d been enfolded into the pack. She was one of his now, was a cat of DarkRiver.
“For the safety of the vulnerable,” he said right then, “I’m going to have you shifted to an aerie on the very edge of our forest territory. It’ll mean a thirty-minute run to visit the cubs.”
Soleil wanted to hug him. So she did. “Thank you.”
Warm arms around her, affection given freely by this man who had no need to be cruel to hold on to power.
“I’ll give you the location now,” he said after they drew apart. “You two can drive there yourself. No restrictions on seeing anyone in the pack, but only you, Soleil, can go deeper into the territory until Ivan’s certain of his control. Otherwise, they have to come to you.”
“Of course.” Soleil didn’t believe Ivan was in any way a threat, but she wasn’t about to break Lucas’s faith in her—especially when Ivan was determined to think the worst of himself. Even now, she felt the grim shadows threatening to swamp the shimmering flame-kissed silver of him. “Thank you for your trust.”
A slow smile. “I feel you inside me, healer of DarkRiver,” he murmured. “I know who you are down to your core.”
Lucas directed his next words to Ivan. “I’ve spoken to your grandmother. She’s an alpha, too, and she’s raised a powerful pride of children and grandchildren. Ena has given me her word that your family wishes to be an ally and not an enemy.”
“My grandmother doesn’t lie, not when she says things so bluntly,” Ivan said, and Soleil found herself startled by his phrasing.
To Soleil’s surprise, Lucas chuckled. “I’m a cat, Ivan. I understand all about sliding through small openings and taking out prey without warning. But face-to-face, predator to predator, there is no sophistry. We wear only our true skins.” He straightened. “I see why your grandmother has such a fan in Valentin.”
His gaze went once more to Soleil, those green eyes taking her in. And she had the thought that he was judging her status, her wellness. When he said nothing, just went to get them the location of the aerie, she knew he’d decided she could handle the situation.
Her alpha’s confidence in her meant so much it threatened to close up her throat, her cat overwhelmed in the best way.
The Psy who’d just infuriated her squeezed her hand in silent comfort.
Chapter 43
While the latest scans show no changes in your brain, I am concerned about the increased levels of neural activity centered in the affected region.
—Dr. Jamal Raul to Ivan Mercant (18 June 2083)
SOLEIL WHIRLED ON Ivan the instant they were alone in the car he’d driven over from the parking garage while she made a quick visit to the nursery. “Your brain is not defective!” she said. “A difference doesn’t equal a defect.”
He pulled away from the HQ in a smooth move. “A part of my brain is literally misshapen.” An ice-coated tone that wasn’t the same as that he used with strangers—this one, she was sure, was a shield against red-hot anger. “There’s no way to sugarcoat that, or erase it, or change it. It’s an indelible part of who and what I am.”