"Yeah, it is." Grinning, she used one of the broken pieces to scoop up the salsa Sascha had already made. "I got some info for you on Sienna." She filled Sascha in.
"Hmm, I'll have to go up and see what's happening. I've been working with Toby, but I don't think I've talked to Sienna in several weeks." She leaned against the wall and looked at Mercy with those penetrating cardinal eyes. "You're wound up tighter than tight."
Mercy decided to take up the implied offer. "Riley's pushing."
"That's what predatory changeling men do." A meaningful glance at the broken taco shells.
"Not that kind of pushing - though he does that, too. He's pushing for more than sex." She paused, then admitted the truth. "It already is more than sex." The strength of these new emotions threatened to crush her heart, steal her breath.
"Ah." Sascha took a few moments. "Is there a possibility he could be your mate?"
"I'm not what he's looking for in a mate, trust me." A stab deep in her soul, a twisting pain that seemed to get stronger with every day that passed.
"That hurts you."
She went to deny it, then decided it was unmitigated stupidity to lie to an empath on the subject of emotions. "Yeah, it does. But I'm glad he was honest - that's more important than anything. As long as he doesn't try to mold me into what he wants, I can deal." Because she wanted him, too, the idiot.
And maybe, since he wasn't asking for a lifetime, her leopard wouldn't resent being tied down, perhaps even find some peace in it. Except . . . "The way he draws me, the sheer strength of it . . . I don't know what to do."
Sascha gave her a surprisingly mischievous smile. "Doesn't mean you can't enjoy him while you figure it out."
And the tension broke, just like that. Mercy threw part of a taco shell at Sascha. "Some help you are."
They were still laughing when Dorian arrived, followed by Clay. The four of them managed to demolish the salsa by the time Lucas returned, with Nate and Vaughn on his heels. None of the sentinels' mates had come today, which was surprising. Mercy said as much.
"Kids are at Tammy's - Tally's gone to dinner with Ria," Clay told her. "They're calling it a strategy meeting - how human females deal with changeling males."
Everyone but Dorian laughed. His next words told them why. "Shaya's with Amara."
"She'll be fine," Lucas said. "Your mate's tough."
"Yeah." A proud smile. "I can't help but worry, though. Keenan's at Tammy's."
"Faith, too," Vaughn added. "And Brenna was there when I left."
No one found that strange. Brenna and Faith had quietly become very good friends over the past months. "Did Judd come down?" Mercy asked.
"Probably." Dorian passed her a box of take-out fried rice. "He has trouble letting Brenna out of his sight."
"Oh, please," Mercy muttered, "you're all so overprotective you'd be delighted if you could pack your mates in cotton wool and put them inside glass bubbles."
Sascha started laughing so hard, she almost dropped her egg roll. "I think that's Lucas's secret fantasy."
Her mate growled at her. "All I said was that you looked a little tired. You didn't have to blow a gasket."
"You told me to go lie down." Sascha poked her chopsticks in his direction. "Do I look like an invalid to you?"
Of course, that was just an invitation for the men to throw in their support behind Lucas, while Mercy had to back Sascha on principle. Come to think of it, the cardinal did look different. Not tired exactly. A little more fragile. Softer. More breakable.
"Enough." Sascha cut off the discussion with a hand. "We have actual work to do."
"Right," Lucas said. "Clay, you had some intel."
"Rats." Clay named his source. "They're catching hints that a group of people are gathering chemicals that could be used to make bombs. Low-tech bombs, but they'll do the job same as high-tech."
Everyone went quiet.
"Alliance?" Dorian finally asked.