Allegiance of Honor (Psy-Changeling #15) - Nalini Singh Page 0,120
should be marked and celebrated.” The alpha’s eyes were leopard when they met Aden’s. “Your cubs have to follow rules, as do mine, but we have to balance that by giving them a chance to run wild.” A slight grin. “Your kids are probably far better behaved than ours, but give them an opportunity to realize the rules have been relaxed and I predict sweet mayhem.”
Aden couldn’t imagine the children under his care ever causing mayhem . . . but then he thought of how little Jojo had “attacked” him on his last visit, growling and snarling playfully without so much as scratching him, and knew he wanted his tiny Arrows to feel the same freedom even as they continued to learn how to control their violent abilities.
“An event to celebrate the bondings in the squad.” He nodded, his eyes on the sprawling vista of trees and mountains visible from this vantage point. “I’m going to speak to my senior people, see what we need to do to pull it off. Thank you for the advice.”
Touching his water bottle to Aden’s, Remi said, “I knew I was the brains of this outfit.”
Aden felt his lips curve at the leopard alpha’s statement, right as another mind touched his. “Vasic just asked if I have time to meet him for a sparring session.” The request had been between friends, rather than Arrow to Arrow. “I’ve invited him to join us instead.”
“Hell, yeah,” Remi said. “I want to see him climb.”
Vasic ’ported in at the bottom of the rock face ten minutes later, having returned home first to change into clothing and boots suitable for climbing.
Instead of telepathing—that would shut Remi out of the conversation—Aden yelled down his and Remi’s climbing time. “See if you can beat that!”
Vasic’s wintery eyes were brilliant in the early evening sunlight when he looked up and pointedly raised his single arm. Aden shrugged, as beside him, Remi said, “Minimal use of your telekinesis permitted—just enough to compensate for your other arm!”
Vasic’s eyes narrowed. Stepping back from the rock face, he looked at it carefully for several minutes before returning to take his first grip. Aden could tell within minutes that Vasic was actually using far less Tk than would’ve been permitted under Remi’s rule. “He’s utilizing pure muscle and intelligence.”
Remi whistled. “I told you. Man moves like a cat.”
Watching his friend, Aden thought of the endless training sessions they’d done together at the orchard, of how hard Vasic had worked to regain his balance and fluidity in movement. Losing an arm changed everything about how a person moved, but Vasic had never complained. He’d simply learned to adapt.
Because the man who had once wanted only to die now had multiple reasons to live.
“You’re getting slow in your old age, Zen!”
Vasic glanced up at Remi’s heckling and Aden saw the shadow that passed across his face at the reminder of the man whose name he bore—a name he’d chosen to bear. On its heels came determination. “Want to put a wager on it?”
Remi snorted. “Do I look mentally challenged? Only an idiot would bet against a Tk, one-armed or not.”
Laughter dawned in Vasic’s eyes before he returned to his careful yet strangely fluid climb. As Aden sat there under the light of the evening sun and watched his best friend take on what should’ve been an impossible challenge, while a new friend sat beside him, and Aden’s mate spoke with friends of her own, he felt a dizzying sense of possibility and hope.
Ming LeBon might be stirring trouble, the Consortium was waiting in the shadows, and BlackSea’s vanished remained lost and alone, but today, this night, it was a dream an Arrow would’ve thought impossible even six months earlier.
Chapter 35
CHANCE PUT LUCAS with Devraj Santos again when Jamie sent in a note the next day confirming mission success, with details to follow. Lucas glanced at the message with grim satisfaction, then slid away his phone so he could start the car. He’d offered to drive Dev up to SnowDancer territory, where the leader of the Forgotten planned to check in with the children and families SnowDancer had given shelter.
Since Lucas had business with Hawke, it was convenient for them both.
It turned out Dev was thinking of pulling his people out of pack lands. “Not that you haven’t kept them safe and treated them well,” he said to Lucas, “but the kids are starting to need more and more specialized help as their abilities develop. And while Sascha and