Branded by Fire

CHAPTER 23

Mercy woke the next day to the clawing viciousness of her cat, a twisting, agonizing need that refused to let her rest. What worried her was that it wasn’t only sexual. She missed Riley. “Oh, God.”

She’d have sublimated her need in work, but she’d been ordered to take time off by Lucas, given the “ridiculous number of extra shifts” she’d pulled over the past few months. Saying he needed all his sentinels fully functional when this calm broke, he’d gone so far as to cancel her rotation on the city surveillance, meaning she was utterly free.

And miserable.

Hoping a cold shower would snap her out of it, she dragged herself to the bathroom. A message was waiting for her on the comm panel when she exited. Noting the familiar number, she called through. “Ashaya, what’s up?”

Ashaya’s distinctive blue-gray eyes widened in surprise. “That was quick.”

“Lucas ordered me to take the day off. The cheek.”

Ashaya smiled—that smile was still new, but there was no doubting it came from the heart. “I was going to ask you for a favor, but you should do something fun on your day off.”

“I’m going insane,” Mercy muttered, rubbing a hand over her heart. “Please give me something to do.”

Ashaya’s smile faded into concern. “Mercy? What’s wrong?”

“My hormones are taking over my brain.” God, she was going to bite Riley hard for doing this to her. How had he addicted her to him so quickly?

“Oh.” Ashaya nodded. “I’ve had a few of those moments since my defection.” Turning, she laughed at something Dorian had probably said before looking back. “As for the favor—I promised Amara I’d bring up something I’ve been working on. Do you think you could do it for me?”

Ashaya’s twin was seriously nuts, but she was also smart as hell. “Won’t she want to see you?”

“No, we’ve set up a meeting at a later date.”

“What am I transporting?”

“One of those chips we found on the humans who attempted to kidnap me,” Ashaya said. “I’ve been taking it apart bit by bit, trying to figure out how it works, what it does. Amara has a copy of her own, but I want her to see something I’ve found, get a second opinion.”

“You get the report with my notes on Bowen’s take on the things?” she asked.

“Yes. I’m attempting not to jump to conclusions, however. I also got your message about speaking to Nash.”

“Any luck?”

“No,” was the disappointing answer, “but I’ll try again in a day or so. He may just be overwhelmed right now.” She turned again, the electric curls of her hair shifting with abandon. “Wait, Dorian wants to say something.”

The screen switched to audio-only and she realized Dorian must’ve taken the portable handset outside. “Merce, I did that Enforcement check for you. The same knife was used in both kills in Tahoe.”

“Damn.”

“I’ve renewed the alert to our people in that area and they’ll get the word out to the nonpredatories. Drew’s handling the info-spread on the SnowDancer end. Problem is, Enforcement’s got nothing else yet, so we can’t get specific.” His voice dropped and he blew out a breath. “Where the fuck do they keep coming from?”

“I wish I knew, Blondie.” She used the childhood nickname on purpose, nudging him away from the edge of darkness. He’d become so much more balanced since mating with Ashaya, but she knew he’d always mourn his murdered sister. So would she—as a child, Kylie had been determined to be included in all of Dorian and Mercy’s nefarious schemes, no matter that she was far littler.

After Kylie’s death, Mercy had made a determined effort to remember the good times, the mischief, but her heart still hurt at odd moments—like when she saw something she knew Kylie would’ve loved. She couldn’t imagine how much worse it was for Dorian. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she said, “Or should I call you Boy Genius? That one seems to be catching on.”

“Watch it, Carrot,” he said, then chuckled. “I’m handing things back to Shaya—Keenan says I’m missing the best part of today’s episode.”

The comm filled with Ashaya’s face again, her curls looking wilder than before. “What’ve you been doing?” Mercy asked with a grin.

Ashaya blushed. “Let’s say Blondie is a fast mover.”

Any lingering concern Mercy might’ve had for Dorian disappeared. “I’ll be by in, say, two hours? That okay?”

“We’ll probably still be curled up in bed, watching cartoons.” Her eyes filled with affection. “My mate and son have discovered a mutual love of superheroes and breakfast in bed. They’re determined to convert me.”

The image Ashaya had sketched—of a lazy family morning—was so appealing that Mercy was almost surprised. Almost. Because she’d realized long ago that family was an integral part of her dream. “Don’t get crumbs on the sheets.” As she hung up to the sound of Ashaya’s laughter, she realized that Sierra Tech, where Amara worked, was smack bang in the middle of SnowDancer territory.

Riley’s territory.

The leopard came to attention. So did the woman. And that fast, all sensible thought was buried under a crashing wave of anticipation.

Riley finished going over his worklist for the day, and handed out the assignments by phone. Unfortunately, the routine task didn’t succeed in keeping his mind off Mercy—for the first time in months, he’d dreamed not of Brenna’s abduction, but of a redheaded cat who refused to come to him. It had left him sweaty, the sheets tangled around his limbs like so much plastic.

Even in his dreams, she defied him.

However, despite his jaw-clenching frustration, he was almost finished when Hawke came in and grabbed a seat. “What’s my assignment?” he asked after Riley hung up.

It was a serious question. Riley’s job was to coordinate their resources. Hawke was the best they had. It would’ve been a waste not to use him—though Riley always had to have a backup in place in case Hawke got pulled away on alpha business. “I’ve got an assignment you’ll love.”

Hawke blinked, the slow, lazy blink of a predator very much on alert. “If the name Sienna appears in that assignment, I’m going to shred you open, tie your intestines in a bow, and feed you to the feral wolves.”

Riley smiled and kept going as if Hawke hadn’t spoken. “You need to take care of a certain juvenile Psy female you gave sanctuary to when her entire family defected from the PsyNet.”

“I should’ve given orders to eat them all.”

“Psy taste rubbery,” Riley said straight-faced. “I know. I tried to chew off Judd’s arm once while we were hunting.”

“Stop laughing,” Hawke said, though Riley hadn’t made a sound. “Just tell me what she’s done now.”

“Nothing.” Riley dropped the bombshell and waited as Hawke’s mouth fell open.

His alpha took several seconds to recover. “Nothing?”

“Nothing,” Riley repeated. “But you’ve been slacking off. You need to find her a position in the pack.”

“She’s—”

“No more excuses, Hawke.” Riley folded his arms. “She’s been eighteen for almost three months now, and she’s been in training with Indigo for what—ten months?” He brought up Sienna’s file on his handheld. “No, you stuck her in training over a year ago. She can protect herself well enough to do a number of tasks.”

“She’s volatile.” Hawke’s jaw tightened.

“She’s a telepath, a strong one.” Sienna was a cardinal—her abilities were off the scale.

“She’s got abilities aside from telepathy. I’ve seen her lose control—she can do serious damage.” Hawke shoved a hand through his hair.

“So can you,” Riley said pointedly. “She’s learning. Just because she—”

“Don’t go there.” A growl.

Riley raised an eyebrow. “I was going to say, just because she’s Psy doesn’t also mean she’s not an eighteen-year-old going stir-crazy.”

“Fine.” Hawke was gritting his teeth. “I’ll handle it.”

“Then I’ll leave it with you.” He’d made his point and Hawke was certainly not stupid. “I’m going to go up, check out the bear population in sector 2. There’ve been reports they’re getting sick.” If it was something serious, their vets would need to go up and investigate. Because whatever was affecting the bears could trickle down through the other animal groups in the area, decimating entire herds. And as the pack that claimed territorial rights over this area, SnowDancer was also its caretaker.

More than that, Riley needed a chance to get out of the den before his frustration led him to strike out. The wolf was starting to claw at him, pacing this way and that, wanting blood if it couldn’t have sex.

Mercy handed Amara the chip Ashaya had packed in a small, impermeable case.

“Is it all good?” she asked Ashaya’s identical twin.

Amara didn’t reply until she’d checked it under a microscope. “Yes.”

Having a conversation with Amara was hard. She didn’t throw out verbal cues like most people—but at least she wasn’t homicidal any longer. “Anything you want me to take down to Ashaya?”

Familiar blue-gray eyes looked into hers, but Mercy had a feeling she’d never mistake Amara’s gaze for Ashaya’s. “Not at this stage.”

“Cool.” Nodding at the test tubes lined up on the workbench, she asked, “Looks interesting.”

“Don’t worry,” Amara said, “I’m not creating another monster virus.”

Since that was exactly what Mercy had been thinking, she grinned. “Never crossed my mind. What is it?”

“A child’s game—to make colors.” She lifted a stunning blue one. “Copper sulphate.”

“You don’t strike me as the playing type.”

“A perceptive observation.” She put the test tube down next to one with a bright yellow compound inside. “But Sascha Duncan says I must try.”

With any other person, Mercy would’ve waited for them to continue. With Amara, she had to be blunt. “Why?”

“She says play appears to help with . . . emotion.” Shrugging, she picked up an empty test tube. “I don’t pretend to understand the workings of an E-Psy, but if I do this, she leaves me alone for a few days.”

Mercy hadn’t known Sascha had been spending that much time with Amara—especially given what she knew of Sascha’s initial reaction to Amara’s absolute coldness. But their alpha’s mate was nothing if not determined. Amara needed to be helped in this unfamiliar new world, so Sascha was helping her. It was nothing more—and nothing less—than that. “Play teaches us things,” she said to Amara now. “It lets us try out ideas without worrying about whether they’ll work. Think of it as a creative form of brainstorming.”

Amara stared at her. “That’s extremely astute.”

“Somehow, I don’t think that was a compliment.”

Amara said nothing. After a second, Mercy realized it was because she hadn’t asked a question. “Was it?”

“Of a sort,” Amara said. “I thought changeling soldiers were pure brawn.”

“Your sister’s mated to Dorian and you think that?” Her fellow sentinel was hella smart.

“I still want to kill him sometimes, so Ashaya doesn’t leave us alone much.”

Mercy’s lips twitched at the straightforward answer. “Don’t worry—he gives me homicidal thoughts at times, too.” Then she got serious. “Fight it. Fight whatever it is that wants to drag you down. Giving in is for wusses.”

Isn’t that what you’re doing with Riley?

Even as her mind bucked against that unexpected mental whisper, Amara blinked. “It’s no wonder my twin says you’re her favorite. She never gave up either. Even on me.”

Deciding that would do for today, Mercy turned to leave—she couldn’t deal with her own rebellious thoughts and Amara at the same time.

“Mercy?”

She turned back at the door. “Yeah?”

“Look.” Ashaya held up a new vial. “It’s the color of your hair.”

Hawke strode toward the Laurens’ quarters—Sienna had chosen to remain with her uncle, Walker, his daughter, Marlee, and her own brother, Toby, even after she turned eighteen and was entitled to a separate one-bedroom unit in the den. Whatever else he might say about Sienna, one thing was undeniable—she was a good cousin, a good sister. Marlee and Toby both adored her. So, for that matter, did a lot of the other pups.

Too bad she turned into a demon every time he came within breathing distance. “Riley’s right,” he muttered under his breath, staring at the closed door of the apartment. Half the reason Sienna was bent on driving him insane was that she had too much spare time on her hands.

She was bright, and her uncles had ensured she was enrolled in a distance-learning degree course run by a major university. But that did nothing to release her physical energy. Indigo, too, had been nudging at Hawke to get Sienna into a position within the pack—because, for better or worse, she was now part of SnowDancer, and not being given a position was an insult.

Hawke felt his jaw set. Insult or not, he had to balance the rights and well-being of every single member of the pack—Sienna had less control over her impulses than almost anyone else in her year group. He couldn’t chance her not following orders when it might mean life or death for the rest of her team.

And how do you think she escaped the PsyNet? By being a ninny and disobeying Walker and Judd?

Sometimes he hated that voice in his brain, the one that slapped him upside the head anytime he got too stupid. Funny, it happened a lot with Sienna.

“Whatchya doing?”

He glanced down at the owner of that tiny voice, having scented his miniature shadow several feet down the corridor. “Looking for Judd.” The lieutenant hadn’t been in his quarters, and Hawke wanted to get his take on Sienna’s psychic control.

Ben took a slurp of his orange popsicle. “Not here.”

“Yeah?” Crouching down, he made eyes at the popsicle.

Ben immediately turned it in his direction. “Wanna bite?”

“No, I was just kidding.” This pup, he thought, would grow up into the kind of man any pack would be proud of. An alpha simply knew with some. “Do you know where Judd is?”

“Outside. With Brenna.” Another slurp. “Doing kissy stuff.”

Hawke grinned. “And you know this how?” Ben was too young to be allowed out of the White Zone, and Judd surely wasn’t doing “kissy stuff” in the area where the little ones played.

“He told me.”

“He told you?”

“Yeah. I asked him how come I couldn’t come, and he said he was going to kiss Brenna so I’d probably get grossed out.” This time he took a bite and chewed. “I decided to come visit Marlee instead.”

“She in there?”

“Yeah. With Sinna and Toby.”

“Then I guess I’ll be speaking directly to Sinna,” he said, saying the name as Ben had. “You knock.”

Ben tapped with a little fist. “Are you mad?”

“No.”

“You’re scowly.”

And that was when Sienna opened the door.