His expression didn't change. "Sure."
Recognizing that his protective walls had gone up, and able to guess why - he was afraid of losing her to Clay, to DarkRiver - she gentled her voice. Jon hadn't ever had anyone stick by him, didn't quite understand that he, too, was now part of the pack. "About being mutts," she said, "the truth is, I never knew who my parents were. At least now, I know something of my genetic history."
The Shine records had listed the name of her mother, though they had been unable to trace her father. Talin had no intention of making contact with the woman. She had no need to chase love, not when she was adored by a predator who would take on the world for her. But..."I think knowing is better than not knowing, don't you?"
"Even if what we learn isn't something we want to know?"
"Haven't you ever wondered why you can do the things you can do?"
He shrugged. "I can't do shit."
"Watch your language." Clay kept his tone quiet but infused it with steel. He knew teenage boys. They needed Talin's kind of softness, but they also needed discipline.
Jon's spine straightened. "Or you'll throw me out?"
Clay saw echoes of himself in that angry pride. "No, we're like the mob. Once you're in, you can't get out. Try it and see."
The boy's eyes widened, then shifted to Talin. "Is he joking?"
"I don't think so," she whispered. "They're a bit possessive." Her words were for Jon but Clay knew her mischievous tone was for him. "Would you really leave Noor?"
The boy shook his head. "How come you want me?" he asked Clay point-blank. "I'm a piece of sh - " He paused at Clay's growl. "I mean I'm a troublemaker."
"So was I," Clay said. "I came into the pack when I was eighteen."
"But you're a sentinel."
"Being a sentinel isn't hereditary. Earn your place and no one will deny you." It had been eight months into his stay with DarkRiver that he'd truly accepted his new way of life. That was the day he had walked out with Luc, Nate, Vaughn, and several others and destroyed a bloodthirsty pack called the ShadowWalkers. No one had made his acceptance hinge on blood. It was the leopard who had decided - this was his new family and he'd do whatever it took to keep them safe.
"What if - " Jon paused. "Kit told me about pack hierarchy. I can't shift into animal form. Guess that means I'll never get a high rank, huh?"
Clay raised an eyebrow. "Ask Dorian."
"He can't shift?"
"No."
"But he's a sentinel, too!"
"Exactly." He left the kid that information to chew on.
Talin had remained silent throughout the conversation, knowing the importance of what was going on. When Jon nodded and returned to his previous position, his head against her knee, she relaxed.
That was when Sascha and Lucas walked into the room. It had been decided the alpha pair needed to hear this, since by accepting Jon and Noor, they were allying themselves to Shine by default.
Clay stirred behind her, his hand sliding down to cup the side of her neck in a hold as protective as it was possessive. She swallowed, reached up to close her hand over his wrist. His fingers played over her skin. "I already input the code," he told Lucas.
Nodding, Lucas pressed the Enter key and sat down in the other armchair. Sascha perched on the arm, leaning into her mate, who slipped an arm around her waist, his hand lying loosely on her hip. It was an easy pose, the pose of a couple that had been together long enough to have created their own patterns, their own secret language.
She wanted that with Clay, she thought, would do everything in her power to gain it. Pulling his hand away from her neck, she pressed a kiss to his palm. He leaned down until his lips were against her ear. "Behave, Tally. Or are you calling in your winnings?"
The husky reminder made her grin. Releasing his hand, she sighed in pleasure when he pushed aside the neckline of her V-necked sweater to close it over her bare shoulder. That was when the comm screen cleared to reveal Dev's face.
"Sorry for the delay. Had a last-minute situation spring up in Kansas."
Anger rolled through her like fire. "Not another abduction?"
"No." His eyes looked over her head. "I think that problem has been permanently resolved."