Allegiance of Honor (Psy-Changeling #15) - Nalini Singh Page 0,59
hard-out football with her complete with bruising tackles. Of course, she hadn’t been innocent of hooliganism herself. In fact, she might’ve pushed Bas and Sage into a mud pool first.
Grinning at the thought of her own children playing rough and tumble games with each other, she said, “Is your lynx coming over after work?”
“I’ve messaged to let her know you need another kitchen slave so she’ll be roped into cherry pie prep.” A deep smile. “She said she’ll pick up the supplies on the way.”
“Did I tell you I adore your mate?”
“She is highly adorable.”
Laughing at the smug cat look on his face, Mercy went back to her plans while Bastien busied himself in the kitchen.
The first problem was location.
Usually when DarkRiver held such gatherings, it was in the Pack Circle. SnowDancer had a comparative space up in their territory. DarkRiver was a much smaller pack and as such had a smaller central gathering space. However, SnowDancer’s celebration area was in the Sierra Nevada and at a higher elevation. If the event was to be held soon after the birth, then Mercy and the pupcubs would have to travel to that elevation.
The babies might feel like linebackers inside her, but they’d be very small at that stage and she didn’t want to shock their little bodies. It would’ve been different were they to be born in the Sierra Nevada, but they’d be born in DarkRiver’s Yosemite territory. She wanted them stronger before taking them up.
Any wolves who wanted to visit would be welcome in DarkRiver lands.
“Hmm.” Tapping a finger on the dining table, she picked up her phone to contact Riley. Her mate was worried she’d go into labor while he wasn’t with her, had only reluctantly left to run an errand for SnowDancer. Mercy couldn’t argue with his concern—most changeling multiples were already born by this stage of the pregnancy.
He’d given the pupcubs strict instructions to stay put while their daddy was away. Mercy could almost feel them listening as he spoke, had full faith they’d behave—because she was not having them without Riley next to her. The end.
Location for party? she messaged him. DR circle is too small and I don’t want to switch elevations on the pupcubs so soon after birth.
Pupcubs are half wolf, Riley responded. They won’t mind.
That was a good point. Regardless of what their babies chose to shift into, they had Riley’s genes as well as her own. And Riley was built for the higher elevations, barely felt the cold. He was also tough, gorgeously sexy with those big shoulders and that wall of a body that could take anything she could dish out.
Mercy pressed her thighs together. I wanna pounce on you.
Your pregnancy hormones are going to kill us both . . . and we’ll die happy.
She giggled, slapped a hand over her mouth before Bas heard and grew curious.
What about the area around our place? Riley sent.
She knew he wasn’t talking about this cabin; he was referring to their permanent home, a home that was part Swiss chalet, part rugged mountain cabin. It’ll also mean an elevation change, she replied, but not such a big one. And it’s where the older teens and early-twenties group had their new year’s party. A successful effort to get that age group talking to one another across pack lines.
Only problem is I’m not sure there’s enough open space.
Mercy considered Riley’s point. Cutting down trees wasn’t an option. No changeling would ever damage the environment for such a fleeting reason. We could use our house and the land around it as the focus and people could spread out into the trees.
Close to the house, those trees weren’t packed so tightly together that it would make mingling difficult. We have enough open space for dancing and for the kids to play.
Riley agreed before messaging: I’ll be home in a couple of hours. You good?
Getting fatter by the minute but otherwise happy. So are the pupcubs.
He sent her back a whole bunch of hearts. She melted. Senior SnowDancer Lieutenant Riley Kincaid did not message little pink hearts. Saving the message, she hugged the phone to her chest for a moment before messaging back some hearts of her own. She added puppies. Because she could be goofy and mushy with her mate. He wouldn’t see her as any less strong.
Positively buoyant afterward, she sketched out several more ideas. A temporary dance floor—maybe backlit?—was a definite, as were pretty lights in the trees. Beside each point, she jotted down names of