way to his left. When she stayed on course, however, he returned his attention to her; she was close enough now to truly see those extraordinary eyes, see the white stars on black that was a cardinal’s gaze.
After coming to know Sascha and Faith, she’d realized cardinal eyes weren’t all the same. Each was distinctive . . . and this pair, she would never, ever forget. Throat thick, she came to a halt about two feet from him, the two of them far enough away from everyone else that they had privacy. It was clear he didn’t recognize her. Why should he? She’d been a small, skinny girl of seven at the time he last saw her.
He’d been a child, too, but those eyes. Those eyes.
“May I be of assistance?” he asked when she stayed silent. “I can teleport you back to your seat if you’re in pain.”
Annie shook her head, her eyes burning. “It’s you,” she whispered.
He stared at her for several seconds before his gaze went slowly to her leg, then to the cane on which she rested her hand and her weight. When he lifted that starlit gaze to meet hers once more, she knew he remembered. Remembered the freak bullet train derailment, remembered the small girl trapped under a crushing weight of metal, remembered lifting that metal so she could be pulled out.
“They saved your leg.”
Swallowing, she nodded. “Plassteel that grew as I grew,” she told him. “It was the most advanced operation at the time.” There had been progress since then, and Annie had been considering one more operation that would fix the remaining issues, but then she’d fallen pregnant and decided the operation could wait. “My name is Annie Quinn.”
“I saw you with an infant.” Kaleb’s voice was as midnight as the sense of power that swirled around him.
“Yes, he’s mine. Mine and Zach’s.” A tear rolled down her face. “Thanks to you, I’m here and I’m—”
“Angel.” Zach’s voice, holding a hard edge. “Why are you crying?” He placed a hand on her lower back, Rowan cradled in his other arm.
Looking into his beloved face, she said, “Zach, it was Kaleb.” More tears rolled down her face. “All those years ago, it was him.”
Her mate’s grim expression changed into one of quiet respect. Sliding his hand out from behind Annie, he held it out to Kaleb. “It’s an honor.”
Kaleb shook Zach’s hand, though Annie could guess he wasn’t a man at ease with skin privileges on any level—except with Sahara.
“I did what was necessary,” he said with no change in his intonation or expression.
“You did what was right.” Annie refused to allow him to brush aside his heroism. He’d been a boy with such old eyes, and he’d done what was right. From what she’d learned of the Psy since becoming part of DarkRiver, she knew that choice would’ve cost him.
Under Silence, a telekinetic child would’ve been strictly supervised . . . and likely tortured in an effort to teach him control. “You were a hero that day,” she said through a throat gone raw. “I will never ever forget what you did.”
Zach pressed a kiss to her temple. “Thank you for saving my mate,” he said to Kaleb afterward. “I’ve wanted to say that to Annie’s ‘boy with the cardinal eyes’ for a long time.”
Kaleb inclined his head very slightly. “There is no debt,” he said, as if he’d tried to work out why she’d approached him and come up with that answer.
Smiling, she wiped away her tears. “I know. You’re a good person.”
“I believe you’d be one of two people on the planet who’d say that. The other one is the woman changelings would describe as my mate, so she’s understandably biased.”
That made her laugh wetly while Zach grinned. “Can’t say the man’s not honest.” He rubbed her lower back. “You want to tell him or shall I?”
“I want to.” Touching her fingers to her baby’s, she said, “This is our son, Rowan.” She looked up to hold Kaleb’s eyes. “I’d like to use your name as his middle name.” Without Kaleb, she wouldn’t be here, wouldn’t have a mate and a son. It was important to her to honor the act of courage of the boy he’d been in a way that made him part of her family.
Kaleb took several seconds to reply. “Are you sure you want him linked to me?” he asked at last.
“Yes.” She knew what the world saw when they looked at Kaleb Krychek, but she saw