Mine to Possess

CHAPTER 34

“Sure, we learned about it in school.” Thousands of changelings had died in the bloodshed, taking the other races with them.

“Do you know the name of the man who helped draft the laws that ended the war?”

“Adrian Kenner,” she said, flipping through her memory files to retrieve the name. “He was a side note in a history textbook.”

“A side note to the other races, maybe,” Clay said. “He’s considered a critical figure in changeling history. All our children know his name. What most people forget, though”—he brushed his lips over hers—“is that Adrian Kenner was only human, too.”

She wiggled up the bed until they were face-to-face. “Really? But how? Why?”

“The predators would’ve torn each other’s throats out. A nonpredatory negotiator would’ve been ignored by the predators.” Matter-of-fact words. “As for the Psy—they tried but the changelings wouldn’t trust anyone who had the ability to mess with their minds. Plus, they had a nasty way of looking down on us for being animals.”

“The Psy were like that before Silence?”

“Why do you think Silence took so well? The seeds were there.”

Talin mulled his words over. “You’re saying we’re neutral territory.”

“No, you’re the bridge. Changelings trust only Pack. Psy stay in the PsyNet. But humans move freely between all three—or did, before Silence.”

She bit her lip. “The Forgotten—more of them married humans than changelings.”

“Yes. It’s almost impossible to breach the walls of a changeling pack. We’re as unwelcoming to outsiders as the Psy.”

“You’re not so bad,” she murmured. “I like how you care for each other.” The depth of that loyalty was an almost visible force.

“But we need the occasional human to come in and shake us up. All the humans who’ve mated into DarkRiver have made us stronger, given us bonds outside the pack. You’re not only human, Talin. You’re beautifully, powerfully human.”

She nodded, but her mind was less on his words than why he’d said them. For her. To bolster her confidence. Was it any wonder she loved him? “I’m so glad I came to you,” she said, just as a low beep cut through the air.

“That’s my cell phone,” Clay told her. “It’s on the bed stand—can you grab it?”

Knowing it had to be important if he was willing to cut short their conversation, she turned, grabbed it, and gave it to him. She stayed with her head on his arm but put enough distance between them that she could see his face as he flipped open the phone. “Thanks for getting back to me,” were his first words.

“Yes.”

“When?”

“I’ll see you then.” He closed the phone.

She figured it had to be pack business and was practical enough to know it would most likely not include her. It was, she thought, one thing to become his lover, quite another to be welcomed into DarkRiver. “You have a meeting?” She tried to keep her voice bright, unwilling to spoil the morning by asking for something he didn’t want to give her.

“We have a meeting.” There was a satisfied glint in his eye.

Her determination not to ruin things gave way to interest. “With whom?”

“A SnowDancer. I gave him a call last night before the dance. I had a feeling Judd still had some very interesting contacts inside the PsyNet.”

“But, the SnowDancers are wolves.” She frowned. “How could he have contacts?”

“He’s Psy. Mated to a SnowDancer wolf.”

Excitement tore through her with the force of lightning unleashed. “Would he be able to find out if they’re taking the children, confirm if it is the Psy?”

“Damn Psy walks like an assassin—who knows what info he can get his hands on.” He kissed her without warning, derailing her thoughts with the dark heat of it. “But I know what I want to get my hands on.”

Half an hour later, she glanced at her neck in the bathroom mirror and scowled. “Why didn’t you just bite me?” she asked, rubbing at the mark he’d left.

“I did.” Patting her on the bottom as he passed, half-dressed in jeans, his hair wet, he gave her an unrepentant grin. “Want me to do it again?” His gaze angled downward.

Blushing, she pushed him out of the bathroom and continued brushing her own wet hair. “Make me tea!” she called out after him, knowing they had time since this Judd person was coming down from the Sierra Nevada.

“How the hell do you make tea?” he muttered. “I don’t have tea.”

“Yes, you do. It’s on the top shelf—I got some from Tamsyn.” She really had to go grocery shopping if she was going to be living with Clay. That thought froze her. “Clay?”

He heard her, though her voice had been a whisper. “I’m making the damn tea.”

“I had a question.”

“What?”

“Are we living together?”

A few seconds of silence and then he was in the doorway, his eyes cat-green. Walking over, he kissed the mark on her neck. “You try to leave and I will hunt you down.”

Relief poured through her, but she smacked at his thigh with the back of her brush. “Like a rabid dog? Very romantic.”

“I’m serious. This is it. Forever.”

She met his gaze in the mirror and wondered how long forever would be. As yesterday’s inexplicable allergic reaction had proved, the disease in her blood was getting stronger day by day. But, she thought with a fresh wave of fury, damn if she was giving in. “Forever.” She’d fight hell itself to stay with him this time.

He rested his hands on her hips and bent down until their faces reflected side by side. He was so beautiful—all masculine arrogance and possessiveness—that she knew she’d have to be on her guard constantly. Otherwise, she’d give him everything he wanted.

His fingers pushed up, touched skin. “You want me.”

“We’ll be late.” But she leaned into him, luxuriating in the strength contained within that muscular body, needing him enough to indulge this small selfishness.

“Judd hasn’t been mated long,” he murmured, hands slipping up to curve over her unbound breasts.

Her breath caught at the bold move, at the sultry image of his hands moving under her T-shirt. “What’s that got to do with anything?” The last word was a moan as he began playing with her breasts, sure of his right to touch her as he pleased.

“It was early when he called.” He flicked out his tongue in a quick catlike caress she was already addicted to. “He’ll be delayed.”

It took her desire-fuzzy brain several seconds to get his meaning. “Oh. Oh!” The last was a cry as he did something with those big hands that was surely illegal. But even as she surrendered to him, part of her knew that this was an illusory happiness. The ache in her belly, the endless need, it was a silent cry for something Clay could no longer give her.

Now that she’d met some of the couples in the pack, learned more about the leopard side of Clay’s soul, she understood the depth of her mistake. These predators loved with wild fury, but they were also darkly possessive, crossing the boundary into what humans might term obsession. But for a leopard male, it was simply part of his nature. Clay would never forget what she’d done, the way she’d given her body to others.

With a human man, she might have continued to argue that he had no right to judge her. But the truth was, it wasn’t about judgment. And Clay wasn’t human, his changeling blood was too strong. For him, it was about fidelity, about loyalty. It didn’t matter that they had been children when he killed Orrin to keep her safe—they had already belonged to each other. Until she had cut their link. Now the past was an unacknowledged third between them, pouring a corrosive acid on the love they had managed to salvage.

He kissed her. Enough, she thought, banishing the ugly thoughts to a far corner of her mind. She was with Clay; that was what mattered. Finally, for the first time in two decades, she was almost whole.

She and Clay arrived at the meeting point—a small cabin on DarkRiver land—at almost exactly the same time as the SnowDancer. Judd Lauren was the coldest man she had ever seen. Dressed in a black T-shirt and black jeans, his eyes measured her with icy precision. She’d have run very fast in the opposite direction had Clay not been beside her. And had Judd not been holding the hand of a small blonde with amazing eyes of brown shot with blue, and the brightest smile Talin had ever seen.

“Judd’s mate, Brenna,” Clay said, lips brushing her ear.

Brenna’s expression shifted to pure astonishment. “Good Lord, the rumors are true—Clay actually talks to you.”

Talin couldn’t help it, she burst out laughing despite the painful thoughts swirling in her head. “Does he?” She gestured at Judd.

“If I’m very good, he sometimes says two whole sentences in a row.”

Talin was about to reply when Clay clamped a hand over her mouth from behind—at the same time that Judd wrapped an arm around Brenna’s neck. “Before they start comparing other things,” he said to Clay, “let’s talk.” Taking Brenna with him, he walked up the steps and grabbed a chair, while Brenna curled up on the swing.

Following the other couple onto the porch, Clay chose to lean against the railing. Talin stayed attached to his side, all amusement gone. Judd wouldn’t have asked them to sit unless he had something to tell them, which meant Dev was probably right—the Psy were kidnapping the children…doing things to Jon she might not be able to erase.

“You trust her?” Judd asked, cold gaze fixed on Talin.

The blunt question froze her in place. She told herself not to hope, not to wish for the impossible. Yet, when Clay replied, she felt as if he’d flayed the skin off her flesh. “Tally’s mine.” Possession, not an affirmation of trust.

But it seemed to satisfy Judd. “Are you aware that Silence functions by conditioning young Psy not to feel?” he asked her.

She scrambled to regather her shattered resources. “Yes. Clay explained.”

“The process no longer works well enough for the Psy Council,” he responded.

Sliding a hand behind Clay’s back, Talin held on to him as Judd continued speaking. Clay’s arm—already around her shoulders—tightened.

“Because of the number of people who aren’t taking to, or who are breaking, Silence,” Judd continued, his voice getting ever more arctic, his eyes shifting to killing black, “the Council has initiated the beginnings of an Implant Protocol.”

As Talin watched, Brenna reached out to curl her hand around Judd’s upper arm. Though he didn’t seem to notice the touch, when he next spoke, his voice was less inhuman. “They want to put implants in children’s brains to ensure full implementation of Silence. The chips will turn the PsyNet—currently composed of individuals—into a hive mind, with the Councilors as the controlling entities.”

“Don’t they see that it’ll kill the Psy?” Talin asked, horrified at the idea of cutting into developing brains. “It’ll destroy innovation, bury brilliance for the sake of conformity.”

Judd’s classically handsome face burned with deep anger. “The Council sees power. That’s the only thing that matters to them.”

“What’s the connection to the kidnappings?” Clay asked.

“Until a few months ago, the Implant lab was located in this state. But after it was sabotaged and the research destroyed, the Council moved its activities to a hidden location.”

Talin felt her hand turn into a claw against Clay’s chest. “You’re saying the kids are being taken to this hidden lab?”

“I’m guessing,” Judd corrected. “They could have other facilities. But this one is isolated enough to provide the perfect base of operations.”

Clay put his hand over hers. “Any way to find out for sure?”

“My contact was able to confirm Psy involvement, but nothing further.”

“Do you believe him?”

Judd shrugged. “He’s loyal to the Psy race, so he won’t betray them. But he considers the Implant Protocol the worse evil. I pointed out that there is a possibility the kidnapped children are being used as test subjects.”

Talin choked back her rising terror. “Do you really believe that?”

“I can’t see the worth of using non-Psy organs to test such a sensitive implant.” He paused. “However, things are chaotic in the Net at present. The Council’s attention is scattered. It may be losing control over some of those it previously contained.”

Brenna’s expression grew solemn. “The monsters are starting to escape.”

“That could explain why we’re finding bodies at all—if the Council was running this, they wouldn’t have left a trail,” Clay said, as Judd picked up his mate’s hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. “Is there any way to infiltrate this lab and verify whether or not it is the base of operations?”

“That,” Judd said, continuing to keep Brenna’s hand in his, “is the issue. If I give you the location of the lab and you go in openly, it may blow my contact’s cover. Only a select few have access to that data.”

“But if we could save Jon—and others they haven’t yet taken—wouldn’t it be worth it?” Talin asked, angry at the SnowDancer male for being so damn uninvolved.

Then she saw the quiet fury in his gaze and realized her mistake. “If my contact is unmasked and the Council shifts the lab again, we might not be able to stop the Implant Protocol. It’ll affect hundreds of thousands. I’m not asking you to make a choice between this boy and the Psy children who will be implanted. I’m telling you there is no easy answer.”

With those words, he turned black and white into gray, left her grappling with a moral dilemma that appeared to have no solution. “I don’t suppose we could sneak in?”

“It’s located in the middle of cornfields deep in Nebraska, open visibility in every direction.”

Clay found himself thinking of the story Tally had told him about her secret caves. “What about underground? There has to be some system to bring in supplies—even if it’s just replacement medical equipment. It can’t be a hermetically sealed environment.” He also knew that if the children were being taken to this facility, the Psy would need to have a system in place to transport the bodies out. But he kept his silence. Tally’s heart was already breaking—she didn’t need to hear that.

Judd’s expression shifted, became thoughtful. “They could be teleporting in everything, but I’d say that’s unlikely. Tele-porters are thin on the ground—the Council would never waste them on such menial tasks.”

“And,” Brenna murmured, “they can’t be trucking or flying things in. The traffic would give away the location.”

“There has to be a hidden access point.” Animal instinct told Clay he was right.

“Pity we don’t have a teleporter ourselves,” Talin muttered.

“Wouldn’t help,” Judd told her. “They need an image of where they’re going, particularly when buildings are involved. Otherwise, they could end up inside a wall or stuck halfway through a ceiling. Organs sliced in half, instant death.”

Talin shivered.

“There’s one other thing,” Clay said. “A witness saw Jon disappear off the street. Any way to explain that if we work on the theory that this isn’t a teleporter?”

“They probably threw out a wave of telepathic interference. It would’ve blocked any humans from ‘seeing’ the snatch. Sloppy work if your wit was aware Jon had disappeared—either that or the wit was changeling.”

Clay made a note to check up on that. If one of the Rats had fathered a child, he could understand their protectiveness in hiding the kid, but DarkRiver needed to know. “What’s the closest safe insertion point to the lab?”

“Cinnamon Springs—only town within any reasonable distance.”

“We’ll fly there tomorrow, check it out,” Clay said.

Judd reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a data crystal. “The exact location. Keep it on an absolute need-to-know basis. One slip and they’ll move the lab. If you want me to go in with you, call. Otherwise, everything I know is on that crystal.”

“There has to be a way in,” Brenna murmured. “Sorry, darling, but Psy often don’t think about us animals.”

“Even Psy learn,” her mate responded with an amused smile that was so unexpected, Talin’s mouth fell open. “They’re wary of cats and wolves now. There’s a high probability the area’s been seeded with sensors calibrated to pick them up.”

Clay stirred. “Yeah, but what about snakes? Snakes can hide in corn and, in animal form, they’re unique enough that the sensors shouldn’t go off.”

“You know a snake? Oh!” She suddenly remembered his story about a changeling with shimmering black scales. “Do you think your friend will help us?”

“I’ll ask.” Clay nodded at Judd. “Best-case scenario—we go in without setting off alarms, kids are there, we get them out.” A pause. “High-tech security like that—I’m not sure we can maintain your secret.”

“If you think it’s going to turn to shit, warn me. I need to alert my contact.”

Talin met the Psy man’s cold gaze. “Why?” They could be undoing everything he had worked to achieve, but he hadn’t flinched.

“Sometimes,” he said, “you have to save the innocents you see in front of you and worry about the ones to come later.”

At that instant, Talin realized that who Judd seemed was not who he was. She was about to thank him when her brain suddenly presented her with the answer to a question she hadn’t been conscious of considering. “You know, I was always good at puzzles.”

Everyone looked at her.

“How do we get information from inside a locked room without opening the door? We have someone send it to us, of course.”

Judd shook his head. “The lab is under a blackout. No PsyNet access.”

“What about the Internet? Telepaths tend to ignore it, but it works just fine.” Brenna sat up straighter. “Judd, baby, do you have a link on the inside?”

“We have suspicions that a certain scientist may be open to being turned but no proof.”

“You able to put out some feelers?” Clay asked.

A sharp nod. “I don’t know how much good it’ll do. My contact is…not good as you would think of it. He’s not evil, either, but he won’t do anything unless it complies with his personal code. That code involves a deep loyalty to his race. However, since he passed on the information about the kidnappings, he may be willing.”

Talin hoped with all her heart that the humanity within this unknown Psy was stronger than the Silence.