Shield of Winter

Chapter 10

This world was once a true triumvirate, but we now exist as disparate pieces. Humans in their insular enclaves, Psy in steel and glass high-rises armed against intrusion, changelings in packs generally closed to outsiders. This cannot be a viable long-term existence. Change is inevitable.

Excerpted from an essay by Keelie Schaeffer, PhD (December 2073)

VASIC CALLED A meeting of his security team two hours after retrieving the parachutes used by Ivy’s assailants and assigning a covert guard to watch over her. He’d already made the decision that the ratio of Arrows to empaths at the compound would be one-to-one, with each Arrow being paired with a specific E. Security had to be high and it had to be tight; Pure Psy wasn’t the only group that might see the empaths as a threat.

The six males and three females he’d personally chosen for this duty stood in front him in the glade situated near the back of the subterranean green space at Central Command. All were dressed in identical black uniforms embellished only with a single silver star on one shoulder. “The empaths,” he said to them now, “are our priority. Anything that places them at risk is to be eliminated.”

“If we receive orders that contradict that directive?” asked a female operative trained as a combat telepath.

“You’re under my direct command,” Vasic responded. “Designation: Arrow Unit E1. If anyone else attempts to give you an order, you come straight to me.” Krychek wasn’t stupid enough to attempt to subvert Arrow leadership in that fashion, but the ragged remnants of Pure Psy weren’t as intelligent.

Not that Vasic believed any of these men or women would be disloyal. Some had been tempted by the idea of psychic peace espoused by the fanatical group, but any such leanings had died a quick death with the group’s first violent act. “If you believe yourself unsuitable for this task,” he said, because the Es would push them all to their limits with their simple proximity, “speak to me afterward.”

There will, he added telepathically, be no negative repercussions should you wish to withdraw from the team. During Ming LeBon’s leadership of the squad, the former Councilor had crushed any attempt at defiance or disagreement, to the extent of dosing Arrows with Jax, a drug designed to amplify their abilities as it turned them into ruthless assassins with no ability to distinguish right from wrong.

Vasic knew the team in front of him trusted him not to do the same, but he always made it a point to reiterate the message, remind his squadmates of their right to choose. Never again would anyone treat an Arrow as a disposable tool.

One of the males in the back row spoke up. “Will it cause problems if we request a transfer after the start of the operation?”

It was an astute question. None of the others had as yet spent any real time with an E, couldn’t know how he or she might react. “No,” Vasic said. “I’ve factored that into my plans.” He had a backup list of five substitutes. “Alert me to any issues as early as possible, however.”

Seeing there were no further questions, he used his gauntlet to bring up a holo-map and projected it to the left of his body. “We’ve been given access to a section of DarkRiver-SnowDancer territory.” The map delineated an area the wolves and leopards had described as “small” but that to Psy eyes was an expansive landscape.

Vasic preferred open spaces over the more contained areas favored by most of his race, but he could function in either. “The instant we move beyond the marked perimeter we’ll be considered hostiles and eliminated. The perimeter will also be rigged to cause injury or death.”

Abbot stirred. “If there is an exigent risk to the Es and the teleporters in the unit are inaccessible or out of commission?”

There were three Tks in E1—Vasic, Abbot, and Nerida, the latter one of the extremely limited number of strong female Tks in the Net. Telekinesis had been statistically shown to express more heavily in the male gender; Vasic had always considered it unusual that there was no counterbalance in the female population.

That mystery had been solved with the data coming in about the dormant empaths, the females outnumbering the males by a significant percentage.

Shelving that fact for the moment, he said, “I’ll arrange for an emergency code to be embedded into your wrist units that’ll link you directly to the changeling security team.” He and Aden had a meeting with the DarkRiver-SnowDancer team in an hour to discuss the finer aspects of the operation. “Study the details of your assigned assets, alert me of any security threats.”

Dismissing the team soon afterward, with none of the nine asking to be taken off the protection detail, he downloaded the files on the other Es. As the leader of the team, he had to have a complete profile of the situation. Paying specific attention to the images, he confirmed a fact he’d already suspected—it was only Ivy Jane’s copper gaze that made him feel stripped to the bone.

Aden found Vasic when it was time to ’port to the meeting with the changelings, the image he needed to anchor the transfer having been forwarded five minutes prior. “It’s an unknown situation,” he said to Aden. “I should do a reconnaissance.” Even Vasic wasn’t fast enough to avoid a bullet shot at him from point-blank range directly after a teleport, but it would be one death rather than two.

However, his partner shook his head, his stick-straight black hair having outgrown its severe military cut enough for the strands to slide against one another. “The changelings have never shown a tendency to pick a fight, and this situation is a delicate one. We should meet them halfway—not for Krychek, but because the squad needs to build alliances of its own.”

Aden, Vasic realized, was thinking years ahead as he always did, this time into a future where an Arrow might need friends outside the squad. “In two. One . . . two.”

They arrived in front of a sturdy log cabin surrounded by open land that merged into dark green firs set far enough apart that there was plenty of light on the ground. That ground was coated in snow that glittered in the sun burning from a crystalline winter sky, the sound of water flowing over rocks in the distance.

Standing with their backs to the cabin were the DarkRiver alpha, the SnowDancer alpha, and two others. Vasic didn’t know the tall female with the black hair and vivid indigo eyes who stood next to the wolf alpha, but he recognized the white-blond male beside the feline alpha. Dorian Christensen, the changeling who’d spoken to Vasic over the body of a young woman whose life and death Vasic had been sent to erase.

A dark-haired male who walked with the deadly grace of an assassin appeared from the side of the house at that instant. Judd Lauren, Arrow and member of the SnowDancer pack. There was no split loyalty; Judd had made it patent his primary loyalty was to the pack that had become his home. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t do everything in his power to assist the squad, so long as that assistance did no harm to SnowDancer or its allies.

Family comes first. Words Judd had spoken to Vasic in the deserted backyard of a Second Reformation church. But the squad is family, too. I won’t ever betray you unless you betray me by seeking to hurt those I love.

Love was a concept of which Vasic had no comprehension, though he knew how to recognize the signs of it in others. Learning the subtle physical cues that betrayed emotional bonds had been part of his training, intended to give him tools he could use to exploit targets from the emotional races. He didn’t, however, actually understand what it was any more than a trained animal understood the words spoken to it.

He could ask Judd to explain it to him, but he suspected he simply didn’t have the correct emotional foundations to comprehend the explanation.

“You have the final details of the security measures?” Aden’s voice cut through the sounds of the forest, the silence that disquieted many Psy nowhere in evidence—water, birds, wind, the hint of a wolf’s howl in the distance, it was a natural symphony.

Hawke raised an eyebrow. “I guess the pleasantries are over then.” Despite the wolf alpha’s lazy words, the pale blue of his gaze was that of a predator. Focused. Unblinking. “Judd’s got the schematics.”

The other Arrow pinned the hard-copy map to the side of the cabin using his Tk. “The inner perimeter”—he tapped a border marked in yellow—“is set with underground sensors that’ll detect any movement. No way to access them. They’re buried deep and in large numbers.”

Vasic had no intention of attempting to subvert the packs’ security, but Judd knew how Arrow minds worked, and the precaution was a good one. “Outer perimeter?” Marked in orange, it was some distance from the inner one, creating a significant buffer zone.

“Laser line. Set to incapacitate immediately.”

“You should set it to kill.” An Arrow needed only the slimmest margin to alter the balance of power.

No surprise in Judd’s expression. “That’ll be taken care of by the security measures in the red zone.”

“Are all the areas marked?” Aden broke in, attention on the map. “We’ll have civilians with us.”

Judd nodded. “Even a child couldn’t miss the boundary lines. Anyone who manages to survive the red zone will be tracked and eliminated in a far messier fashion.” A glint in the gold-flecked dark brown of his eyes that Vasic translated as humor. “Trust me, you don’t want to be torn apart by wolf or leopard claws.”

Vasic scanned the map into his gauntlet as a backup to the file Judd would no doubt send him. “That leaves teleportation.”

Holding his gaze, Judd said, “Do you intend to use a facial lock to breach the perimeter and enter Pack lands?”

“Not unless it’s an emergency where I have no other option.” A vow, Arrow to Arrow, one that was accepted without further discussion; if Judd had had doubts, they wouldn’t be standing here.

“The others can only ’port to a visual reference,” Judd pointed out, “and the entire area beyond the outer perimeter is heavily patrolled. Subtle light barriers will ensure any attempt at taking long-range photographs will produce a distorted image.”

Making them useless to an ordinary teleporter.

He’s always had one of the most inventive minds in the squad.

Vasic agreed with Aden’s telepathic statement. It was Judd after all who’d worked out a way to wean himself—and as a result, other Tks—off Jax, without sending up a red flag. Aden and Vasic had been working on the same problem for months when it became clear Judd Lauren had succeeded and that all they needed to do was quietly reinforce the changes he’d set in motion.

It’s a pity we didn’t realize he was one of us until after his defection, Aden said, referring to the other Arrow’s rebel tendencies. I almost approached him after the Jax maneuver, but he was such a “perfect” Arrow in every other way that the risk outweighed my instincts.

Vasic wasn’t so certain that had been a mistake. If we’d brought Judd in, he may have made different choices, and he wouldn’t be who he is now. An Arrow who hadn’t only survived, but who lived. It was a sharp distinction. Judd had a mate, a family, a real life that, unbeknownst to him, was a beacon to every splintered member of the squad.

Kaleb Krychek might be like them, but Judd was one of them.

In the ensuing minutes, the other man explained the remaining security protocols, the majority involving satellite surveillance. The trees in this area were spaced widely enough that the packs could and would keep a remote eye on the Psy in the compound—but the changelings promised to keep the surveillance at a general level as long as those in the compound made no aggressive or suspicious moves.

“We have no desire to spy on your lives,” Lucas Hunter said bluntly, his arms folded loosely across his chest as he leaned against the cabin in a manner that struck Vasic as lazily feline. “But we’ll come down hard the instant it appears you’re using the compound as a base for aggression.”

Any issues? Aden asked Vasic.

No. Their precautions are impressive. Vasic did have another geographic—as opposed to facial—lock in this territory, but it was not one with any military value. That hadn’t been the point. The Es will be safe here. Ivy and her pet would be safe here. The protections may be designed to keep us in, but they will also keep aggressors out.

“We agree to all the specifications,” Aden said aloud. “However, we do have a request.” He stated the need for an emergency safe-passage protocol.

A quick discussion later, Vasic’s proposed solution of an SOS code was accepted.

“Is Sascha Duncan willing to work with the Es?”

Lucas Hunter’s green eyes took on a feral glow at Aden’s query. “Yeah. But we’ll talk about that after your people are in.”

“We can build the remaining cabins,” Vasic began, but the changelings waved away the offer, preferring to do it themselves in order to minimize the impact on the natural environment.

Vasic made a note to sweep the dwellings for surveillance equipment before moving in his Arrows and the Es. The changelings didn’t appear interested in such intensive and invasive surveillance, but Vasic took nothing on trust. It made it much harder for people to betray him.

AFTER the two Arrows left the clearing, Hawke looked to where his and Lucas’s people stood talking a short distance away. Indigo grinned and shook her head at something Dorian had said. A second later, Judd replied—to Dorian’s sharp grin and quick retort.

“Could you have imagined this scene five years ago?” Lucas said at the same instant. “Not just leopard and wolf and Psy together, but the situation with the Arrows and the empaths.”

“Five years ago, SnowDancer as a pack was isolated and content with it.” The past had scarred Hawke’s men and women, hardened them to anyone who wasn’t their own. “We had no idea what we could be. I had no idea who I could be.” Not simply an alpha who would bleed for his pack, but a man who’d savage the world for his mate.

It was clear Lucas sensed the primal protectiveness that lived in Hawke, his next question directly related to Sienna. “You still planning to mount an assault on Ming in a month?”

Hawke’s wolf snarled inside him, lips peeled back to showcase its fangs. As long as Ming LeBon lived, he’d be a threat to Hawke’s mate, and that was unacceptable. “This”—he nodded at the compound—“is throwing a spanner in the works.”

He couldn’t leave his territory with so many Psy in the vicinity, and the operation couldn’t be moved forward. Ming was a combat-grade telepath with significant forces. They’d only get one shot at him, so all of the pieces had to be in place.

Lucas’s cat-green eyes held Hawke’s. “DarkRiver will help keep your pack safe.” It was the promise of one alpha to another, the blood bond between them set in stone. “Ming threatens all of us. You told me Judd’s contacts say he may have supported Pure Psy.” The leopard alpha’s jaw tightened at the mention of the violent force that had attacked DarkRiver and SnowDancer both.

Hawke had never trusted anyone with his pack, never truly would. That was part of what made him a good alpha—he took responsibility for each and every member of SnowDancer. However, if his and Sienna’s plan went as intended, he’d only be gone for a day at most, and not only were his lieutenants eminently capable of covering his absence, Lucas had earned his trust. “I’ll keep you updated.”

Indigo waved them over right then, and the two of them walked across to the stump the others were using as a table. “We’ve decided on a further nine one-bedroom cabins,” the lieutenant stated, “along with a larger cabin for the Arrows, since they’ll be sleeping in shifts.”

They discussed the placement of the cabins and the teams needed to get them up as fast as possible. Since DarkRiver was in construction, the leopards would take charge, with the wolves providing labor as needed.

“I know it makes humanitarian sense,” Indigo said, rolling up the map to carry back, “and Judd you know I trust your judgment to the core—”

“But your wolf’s still prickly at the idea of so many assassins in our territory,” Judd completed. “I’m the same. This is our home,” he said simply. “It’s instinct.”

Yes, Hawke thought, it was instinct of the deepest, most primal kind. Hawke’s wolf, too, was on aggressive alert, claws pushing against the insides of his skin. The Psy had savaged SnowDancer once, brutalized them to agonizing pain, and no wolf in the den would ever forget that—but his mate, his fucking heartbeat, had also come from the Psy. Sienna had saved life after life in a battle meant to annihilate the pack, with no care for her own. As had Judd. His brother had protected their young. No wolf would ever forget that, either.

So, they would give the Psy race this one chance.

Whether it ended in trust or in blood-soaked battle was up to them.