Allegiance of Honor (Psy-Changeling #15) - Nalini Singh Page 0,38

a look of wide-eyed innocence, Lucas picked up their child and held her black-furred body against his bare chest.

His growl was echoed by an excited one from her.

Lucas nipped her on the nose, the affectionate act of a panther with his misbehaving cub. “Want some food, princess?”

Butting her head against his chin, Naya made sounds of impatience.

“I get it. You want to go for a run in the forest first.” He knew Naya couldn’t really run. She could barely walk without falling over. But tonight, she wanted to be a panther.

Naya scrabbled at him at the pronouncement, her claws making fine furrows on his skin.

He didn’t correct her this time; predatory changeling parents had to tread a careful line between teaching their children not to use claws against their playmates and to use them ferociously if defending against an enemy. In his current protective mood, Lucas decided his cub should learn the ferocious part first.

Her older playmates would teach her the rules of play soon enough.

Putting her on the floor, he pulled off his jeans—to his mate’s sigh and his grin—and shifted. Then, before Naya could escape, he used his teeth to grip her by the ruff of her neck. Her tiny body went instinctively limp in his hold as he padded to the front door.

Sascha had already unlocked it, so he went straight out onto the balcony that had a railing only along one side. Glancing back to see his mate had squeezed her eyes tightly shut, he huffed in laughter and jumped off. He landed on the forest floor with the grace of the cat he was, his cub safe. Putting Naya down, he looked up and growled at Sascha to let her know they were unharmed.

She peeked over the edge, one hand on her heart and her hair tumbling around her face. “I’m coming down,” she said in a breathless voice. “Don’t go too far.”

He and Naya had barely gone three feet before Sascha scrambled down the rope ladder to join them. All wobbly limbs and wild curiosity, Naya was distracted by a thousand things at once. He watched her with a father’s patience, giving her praise when she did something clever, helping her get upright when she fell.

The night was cool and calm around their small family, the stars overhead a glittering quilt, and when Sascha came to her knees beside him, her hand on his back as they watched Naya try to chase fireflies, his heart felt too huge to stay inside his chest.

For this woman, for this child, for his pack, he’d do anything.

Trinity would not defeat him.

Neither would the Consortium.

Chapter 11

KALEB WAS UNSURPRISED when, late that night, Ivy Jane Zen requested he show her the dangerously subtle new damage in the PsyNet. The president of the Empathic Collective had proven to have a steel will beneath her soft exterior. He was surprised that she turned up on the Net without an Arrow escort.

“Where’s Vasic?” The teleporter was Ivy’s husband and second in command of the squad.

Ivy answered his unspoken question instead of the one he’d asked. “I’m an empath, Kaleb. I know exactly how much you love Sahara.”

And Sahara called the Es her friends. Thus, Kaleb would never touch a hair on their heads unless they turned into a threat to the woman who was his heart. Then, of course, he would annihilate them to bloody pieces.

Kaleb didn’t enjoy being so transparent. The twisted darkness in him reared up in an aggressive stance, too long used to fighting the enemy to ever trust easily. “Breaching shields, Madam President?”

Laughter in Ivy’s reply. “No need. I’ve seen you two together, remember? You look at her like . . . like she’s a rare, beautiful gift.” Her mental voice grew softer. “To cherish, to protect. I know, because I see the same in Vasic’s eyes when he looks at me.”

In the physical world, standing on the deck of his home, Kaleb raised an eyebrow. “Does Vasic know you’re here alone?”

“Does Sahara know she’s mated to an overprotective Neanderthal?”

Kaleb’s lips curved. Ivy’s sharp response was so close to what Sahara might’ve said in similar circumstances. “You’re ready? Heavy shields?” He might not appreciate the way certain Es were so good at seeing through a man’s skin, but he’d permit no harm to come to them.

Without the Es, the Net was dead and Sahara needed the Net to breathe, to live.

“Yes.”

“Meet me at these PsyNet coordinates.” He was already in that dark, diseased location devoid of other Psy