Wolf Rain (Psy-Changeling Trinity #3) - Nalini Singh Page 0,67

but Memory deserves better. I know she comes across as tough, but this is a big, scary world for her. And you have such wide shoulders, Alexei.”

“She has no pack, no family. I can’t abandon her.” It went against his every instinct.

“I’d never ask that. Just . . .” Sascha’s features had cleared. “Give her space to claim the cabin as her territory. It matters. Memory is far more than we’ve seen yet, and to grow into herself in a way she’s never before been able to do, she needs that sense of ownership.”

Alexei wasn’t about to stunt his lioness’s growth. So he’d given her space to stamp her mark on the cabin—but when he woke sometime around two in the morning, he couldn’t stop from checking up on her.

Before he left, he raided the pack’s stores. When a packmate on night shift poked his sandy-haired head inside and said, “Not quite your style, Lexie,” Alexei gave the smart-ass a death glare.

The lanky man grinned, his amusement reaching the light green of his eyes. “What’s her name?”

Fuck, now the whole pack would know; wolves were nosier than a parliament of gossipy magpies. “Go away and I won’t tell Sing-Liu about the secret anniversary present you’re hiding in Elias and Yuki’s quarters.”

D’Arn’s mouth fell open. “How do you even know about that?”

“I don’t see you leaving. I feel the urge to find your mate.”

“I’ll get you back for this,” D’Arn threatened darkly before adding, “She must be special. Can’t wait to tell—” The other man took off laughing when Alexei lunged at him.

Growling, Alexei packed up the very useful item he’d chosen for Memory, then left the den.

The Arrows didn’t stop him when he walked into the compound and up to her cabin. He could scent her inside . . . could scent himself, too. Frowning, he glanced to where he’d left his clothes and boots; no rain fell to blur the darkness, the landscape clear to his night vision. His clothes were gone. A slow smile curving his lips despite himself, he put her gift beside the doorway, then stepped away and made his way back to the den. He’d just walked inside when his phone buzzed.

It was Brenna, Judd’s mate and part of the den’s tech team. “You said to let you know when we tracked down this Renault psycho.”

Alexei altered direction, aiming himself toward the tech center. “What’ve you got?” Brenna’s focus was meant to be on cutting-edge research, not computronic tracking, but Alexei knew the dark reason why she’d thrown her considerable brain power behind the search for Renault.

“An address beyond his official business or residential ones,” she told him. “You know the cats checked out those addresses for us when you first sent us the name? Bastard was gone by then.” Brenna’s voice held the urge to slice and dice the man who’d kept Memory prisoner, her wolf fully on Memory’s side despite having never met her.

“Yeah. Hawke told me.”

“Well, E. David Renault laid an excellent false trail,” she continued. “I’m finding signs of serious long-term planning. I’ll say one thing—the psycho is intelligent. He exists on a superficial level, but dig below the first two layers and it’s all smoke and mirrors.” A pause before Brenna said, “Will she be all right?”

Having reached the tech center by then, Alexei entered and made his way to her. “She’s like you,” he said to this packmate who’d survived her own monster. “Tough as nails.” Brenna let him run her ponytail through his hand, the silky blonde strands dipped in pink at the bottom. “She has plans to get strong, then chop Renault into small pieces.”

“Tell her I’ll carry her knives for her.” The pinched look faded from Brenna’s extraordinary eyes, the dark brown of her irises shattered by arctic blue shards. A scar she’d turned into a badge of survival. Those eyes were innocent as she said, “Did she really accuse you of being a chicken?”

Alexei growled. “Was it one of the asshole cats prowling around the compound? It was, wasn’t it? Tell me. I need to know who to kill.”

A giggle from the packmate next to Brenna’s workstation, while Brenna herself rose and kissed him on the cheek, her own cheeks creased in a smile that lit up her whole face. After that, it was all business.

Brenna told him that her team had already ruled out two locations—one in Arizona, one in Nevada—that had earlier come up as Renault’s secret home base. She’d gotten a couple