Allegiance of Honor (Psy-Changeling #15) - Nalini Singh Page 0,114

asked, and though she had to be fighting a brutal tumult of emotions, her tone was even. “Without that clue about Edward’s Pier, we’d never have got this far.”

“It’s different with people,” Tanique said. “Especially when it comes to race. Unless a changeling shifted right at the moment I pick up, or a Psy used his or her ability in an obvious way, all I can give you are my impressions.”

Again, he was leaving out the impact of emotion. A holdover from when he’d had to hide that aspect of his abilities under Silence?

“Understood,” Miane said. “What did you get?”

“Two people. One female, one male. No real impression of their faces.” Leila was bleeding, had been recently beaten, her face cut. Should I tell the alpha?

That last statement was sent telepathically to Vasic. No, he answered. Focus only on the practical facts.

Aloud, Tanique said, “My impression is of weapons around the male, not so much around the female, but that’s it. Nothing you can use for identification purposes.”

Miane’s mouth tightened but she didn’t push any further as Tanique went to the doorway. Keeping her voice low, she spoke to Vasic. “He’s more green than I realized. Pull him out if you think he’s in trouble—he helped us get this far and I’m not repaying that by screwing up his head.”

Vasic didn’t take his eyes off Tanique. “Even at the cost of your packmate’s life?”

Voice grim, Miane said, “He’s someone’s kid, too.” That statement was followed by one that was far more pragmatic. “And he can’t help us if he’s dead or if his brain is damaged by convulsions.”

In front of them, Tanique was running his hands all around the doorway. Satisfied with whatever he sensed, he put one foot inside, then two. He stayed there for about a minute before he walked back to join them. “Water,” he said. “The overwhelming impression is of water. Saltwater,” he specified. “They’re heading in the direction of saltwater.”

Vasic could sense Miane’s frustration. There were oceans filled with saltwater.

Then Tanique said, “Contained. The saltwater is contained.” He frowned. “Old concrete and saltwater.”

That immediately narrowed the focus but it still cast a wide net. Somewhere out there, there was a saltwater pool or reservoir where Leila had been taken either so she could swim and regain her muscle tone, or where she was being trained for an operation.

“Anything else?” Miane asked. “Even the smallest crumb could help us narrow down the search area.”

Tanique rubbed his temple. “It doesn’t make sense, but I did catch an image of a feline of some kind.” He lifted his hands instinctively above his head, cupping them in the shape of ears before he seemed to realize what he was doing and dropped them. “Its ears stood straight up and they had black tufts on the tops.”

“Could one of them be a changeling?”

Vasic had pulled out his palm-sized organizer and was scrolling through images of felines as Miane asked that question.

“I don’t know,” Tanique said. “It was a very faint impression, could even have been from a feline incursion into the building prior to your packmate’s captivity here.”

Vasic turned the screen of the organizer toward Tanique. “Did the feline look like this?”

“Yes. What is it?”

“A Canadian lynx.”

Miane blew out a breath. “There are multiple lynx packs across Canada, never mind the world, but at least we have a place to start.” She held out a hand toward Tanique. “Thank you. We owe you one.”

Vasic wondered if the alpha realized she’d just pledged a favor to PsyClan NightStar.

As he watched, Miane walked to the building, pressed her hand against it, and said, “We’ll find you, Leila. Don’t give up. Your pack is coming.”

PART 4

Chapter 33

MIDMORNING THE DAY after the unsuccessful attempt to rescue Leila Savea, and Dorian had tracked down the ship involved in the abduction attempt against Naya. Lucas had just authorized the plan the sentinel had put together for the capture of the ship’s captain when Devraj Santos arrived in DarkRiver territory with his wife, Katya, and a boy named Cruz.

The leader of the Forgotten had become a stronger and stronger ally over time, the relationship between DarkRiver and SnowDancer and the Forgotten such that he’d asked the packs to offer sanctuary to gifted Forgotten children and their families. That sanctuary was needed because the world had more than one mercenary individual who wanted to control the children’s unique new abilities.

Lucas had known Dev was coming, and now the two of them stood to one side of a small