Allegiance of Honor (Psy-Changeling #15) - Nalini Singh Page 0,179
was an order. “Tonight is a time for pack and for family, whether of blood or of the heart.”
Chapter 53
TEIJAN AND HIS people weren’t used to walking so blatantly into a predator’s territory. Yes, the Rats had a business agreement with DarkRiver, and DarkRiver had stepped in more than once to save the lives of those who lived Below, while Teijan and his people had stayed and fought rather than run when war rained bullets on the city.
However, when it came down to it, Teijan’s Rats simply did not and could not play at the power levels held by the leopards and wolves.
He was proud of his people and all they’d achieved, but he also understood that their lives would always be at the margins of normal society. Only in their world in the disused tunnels below San Francisco did they feel free to laugh, to live. But this, tonight . . .
“You sure about this?” Zane asked as they got off their jetcycles after parking the vehicles at the mandated spot in DarkRiver territory.
“No,” Teijan said to his friend and second in command. “That’s why everyone else is forty-five minutes behind us.” If this invitation to a joint DarkRiver-SnowDancer event was a true gesture of alliance, friendship, and respect, then Teijan couldn’t afford to reject it. If it was something else . . . then as alpha, he’d take the first blow.
His people knew not to come in any closer until and unless they heard from him.
“Well, at least Clay delivered the invite.” Zane fixed the cuff of his tailored white shirt, which he wore over black pants and under a black jacket. “He’s always been straight with us.”
“Yes.” That relationship was why Teijan was here.
“Teijan.” As if summoned by the mention of his name, Clay walked out of the trees.
Unlike Teijan and Zane, the leopard sentinel wasn’t wearing a suit, but his clothing was just as crisply formal—a collarless dark green shirt worn over black pants and glossy black boots. The only thing that didn’t fit was the pink beaded bracelet around his wrist with his name spelled out in square white blocks.
But of course it did fit. Zane was currently rocking a temporary princess tattoo on the back of his left hand, complete with a glittering crown. Daughters had a way of getting their fathers to stand still for things they’d allow no one else.
“Just you two?” Clay asked after a quick scan.
Shaking the leopard’s hand, Teijan said, “The others are following.”
Clay’s slight smile held no insult. “I’m your guide. Come on.”
Fighting primal instincts that told him to get the fuck out of danger, Teijan followed. A number of his people had advised him against this, fought bitterly against his decision, but Teijan had been resolute. “If we hide and stagnate, we will eventually die,” he’d said. “The last time we took a risk, we earned the official right to claim these tunnels, and we ended up in a business partnership that’s brought the pack countless opportunities and given our youths the funds to study Above in specialties we could’ve never before afforded.”
His words hadn’t swayed the doubters, but they were in the vehicles following—because disagreement or not, Teijan’s Rats were loyal. That most of them were technically human, the flotsam and jetsam of society, made no difference. Together with the three adult rat changelings and one child, those discarded and abandoned bits of humanity had become a powerful intelligence network that made Teijan proud each and every day—and that had given all his people back their own pride.
“Where’s everyone else?” he asked Clay, because while he could hear faint sounds in the distance, there’d been no other vehicles where he and Zane had parked. No wonder Zane’s eyes were darting around waiting for an ambush at any instant. Teijan’s own vigilance was at fever pitch.
“That’s the designated parking area for your pack,” Clay said without missing a beat. “We had to spread around the projected number of incoming vehicles to protect the forest.”
It all made sense, but Teijan couldn’t silence the wary voice of caution . . . until a leopard cub pounced on him from a tree. Teijan caught the small body instinctively, for a child was a child. Even when that child growled at him, green-gold eyes glinting in challenge.
Catching Clay’s amused look, Teijan bared his own teeth, let them elongate. And suddenly, the child was shifting in a shower of light.
Teijan heard Zane catch his breath, felt his own heart kick.