Wild Invitation A Psy Changeling Anthology - By Nalini Singh Page 0,67

single warning they'd get before we took action." A flash of teeth. "They couldn't get out fast enough."

"Good." Cooper didn't enjoy putting fear in the eyes of teenagers with more hormones than brains, but it had to be done.

SnowDancer's vicious reputation was its first line of defense.

The pack hadn't always been so outwardly aggressive. Their discipline and focus on family, however, had made their enemies believe SnowDancer weak; the ensuing bloodshed had devastated the pack. So many had been lost in the carnage - including Grace's parents.

Never again, thought Cooper.

"Keep an eye out for them," he said to Daniel. "Sometimes kids like to play chicken." Youthful stupidity knew no boundaries, regardless of whether the young were changeling or human.

"I'll alert the other sentries. What should we do if one of us catches them again?"

"Disable their vehicle and call me." SnowDancer had sole jurisdiction on its land.

Maybe Enforcement would've challenged that claim once upon a time, but not anymore - not with the world shuddering under the violent weight of a change that was redefining power itself. "I'll walk them out personally."

If the human pups were old enough to neck, they were old enough to know better than to dare a predatory changeling pack. Cooper intended to give the two misbehaving teens the same dressing-down he'd give one of the juveniles under his command should they pull a stupid stunt. "No one's ever come back a third time."

Daniel grinned.

Shoving his hands over the bristling roughness of his scalp after the soldier left, Cooper stared moodily at the view outside his window. While the majority of the den was underground, his office was located on the highest level, tucked into a natural curve of the mountain. The glass was treated so as not to reflect, but it afforded him a good view of the main path up to the den. Bathed in sunshine today, the land beyond was verdant with trees, until you'd never know the Mojave desert sprawled just beyond the distant ridgeline.

He liked being able to keep an eye on things from here, but the lack of windows in the main den didn't bother his wolves - they loved coming home to a snug den, a place where their pups were always protected. Added to that, the tunnels were wide and bathed in simulated daylight and moonlight depending on the time of day, the air-filtration and temperature-control mechanisms fine-tuned to create an effortless transition between the outside and inside.

SnowDancer's scientific arm had been responsible for the original development of the technology, but it was the highly trained systems engineers who maintained and calibrated the interconnected systems on a day-to-day basis. Each could handle most of the minor issues that cropped up from time to time, but they all had their specialties.

Grace's expertise was in the simulated natural light so important to the pack's well-being.

His hand fisted, his scowl returning at the reminder of how she'd trembled under his touch. Yes, he could be scary - hell, it was an asset when it came to protecting the pack - but he didn't want to scare Grace. He wanted to pet her, hold her, learn the intricacies of the smart, sexy woman who handled her high-tech tools with the care and elegance of a surgeon...and made him wonder how she'd use those same hands on him. Because he most definitely wanted to coax her to strip off the workmanlike coveralls that drove him wild, and breathe his fill of her scent as he explored those incredible, dangerous feminine curves with his body, his mouth.

A curl of wood falling to the floor.

He realized his claws had shot out, carved grooves into the wood of his desk. "Great," he muttered, retracting them into his skin. "If you're trying not to scare a woman, learn to keep your fucking claws in, Cooper." Shoving back from his desk, he strode out of his office, taking the steps that led down into the main core of the den two at a time.
Declaration of Courtship Chapter 3
BETHANY CAUGHT HIM just as he reached the bottom. "Coop, I need to talk to you about the juveniles."

"Whatever they've done," he growled, continuing on toward the exit, "handcuff the lot of them and put them in the brig. I'll spring them in a few years when they're full-grown adults."

"Funny." The short, curly-haired maternal female, her mouth bracketed by laugh lines that told of a life well lived, said, "Some of us remember when you were the worst of the lot.