Allegiance of Honor (Psy-Changeling #15) - Nalini Singh Page 0,127
very rooted in one another that they were woven into the very fabric of each other’s being. When Nathan held Tamsyn, when she placed her hand over his heart, they needed to say no words, ask no questions.
Today, as Tamsyn shifted to stand by his side, Nathan tangled his hand gently in her deep brown hair. He was a handsome man, with a face that held enough lines to be interesting, including the grooves around his mouth that said he laughed often.
“You hear the latest odds on Mercy?” he asked the room at large. “Rumors are four girls.”
“I don’t believe it.” Clay’s eyelids lowered to hood his eyes. “I’m sure those two are playing everyone.”
Talin grinned. “Mercy’s probably having a great time dropping ‘inadvertent’ hints to start these rumors—and I bet you she’s talked Riley into helping.” She waggled her eyebrows at Tamsyn. “I don’t suppose you want to end the speculation?”
“When it’s so much fun watching you all try to figure it out?” The healer shook her head. “Plus, it’s not going to be long now.”
“I wouldn’t bet on that,” Talin said. “Last time I spoke to Mercy, she said the pupcubs are having too good a time inside her. She’s convinced she’s going to be the first ten-month multiple pregnancy on record.”
As everyone chuckled, the children padded inside, Jon included. He was carrying a cheerfully naked Naya in one arm. Sascha’s daughter was currently smacking kisses on his cheek and saying, “Pe! Pe!”
“She’s calling you pretty,” Sascha translated for the bemused teenager.
Jon sighed. “I don’t want to be pretty. I want to be dangerous and kick-ass.”
“Pe! Jon!”
Jon blinked, grinned at Naya. “Hey, you know my name. You can call me pretty.”
Naya kissed him on the cheek again before stretching out her arms toward Sascha. “Mama.”
“Come on, baby.” Settling her little girl into her lap, Sascha went to ask if Jon could grab the baby bag turned toddler bag, only to discover the boy had already put it within reach.
“We get any news from the water changelings about the woman who wrote the message in a bottle?” he asked when she smiled at him in thanks.
“No, not yet, but they’re working hard to find her.”
Worry radiated off him. “I heard Faith’s brother helped.” The rough edge of frustration in the set of his shoulders, in the way he pulled off his cap and began to twist it in his hands. “I wish I could do something.”
“You plucked out that bottle,” Sascha reminded him. “We wouldn’t even know Leila was alive without that.” This tall, beautiful boy, he still carried a lot of hurt in his heart that made him act out on occasion, but when it came down to the bone, he was one of the good ones, with more compassion in him than the world had any right to expect.
His own scars were healing day by day, surrounded as he was by love and by pack. And by a little girl who adored him.
“Jon, look.” Leaning against his leg, her blue dress now bearing streaks of dirt and her hair ribbons threatening to slide off, Noor showed him something on her palm. “It’s a ladybug,” she whispered.
Jon hunkered down. “Wow, it’s blue.”
“Jules showed me, but we have to put it back. He says we always have to put them back.”
Tugging on a lock of her hair, Jon said, “Yeah, Clay made me put back the wolves I caught, too.” His eyebrows lowered, his tone dark. “And I had them all neatly wrapped, ready to ship to Timbuktu. I’d even stuck on the postal stickers.”
Sascha bit back a laugh, well aware she shouldn’t encourage the pranks Jon pulled against wolves his own age, even when those pranks were inspired. Not that the SnowDancer juveniles were taking it lying down. The last retaliation had involved a slime pit and a sulfurous stink so noxious he’d had to bathe in antiseptic wash to get it off.
“You shouldn’t catch wolves,” Noor scolded her adoptive big brother. “The wolves are our friends.”
Jon clutched at his chest with melodramatic flair. “But yeah,” he added after Noor laughed, “you should put the ladybug back. It’s meant to live outside and you can see it when you come again.”
He walked out with Noor as she held her hand carefully half-cupped to protect the ladybug.
Julian and Roman meanwhile had stayed in cub form and were currently being petted by their father, who’d crouched down to rub their heads. When they shifted without warning, Nate didn’t miss a