“She got worried because shedidn’tfeel anything?”
“She says she’s constantly aware of the presence of everyone in the Web, a hum that lets her know you’re alive. But yesterday you shut down so violently she thought something might’ve happened to you.”
Vaughn didn’t particularly like the idea of being shadowed. “I want her to teach me how to block her.”
“Yeah, she figured. She’s been working on something for everyone.”
“Good.”
“So, you hurt?”
“No.” Nothing physical.
“Want to talk?”
“About as much as I want a lobotomy.”
“Then how about we go one-on-one?”
Vaughn decided that pounding Lucas into a pulp sounded like an excellent way to work out his frustration and anger. “Fine.”
They changed back into animal form and went at it. Lucas might be his alpha, but tonight they were simply friends. And Vaughn was a jaguar. They were generally bigger than leopards—he was no exception. However, Lucas was faster,a result of being born the pack’s Hunter, charged with the responsibility of executing former packmates who’d gone violently rogue. Put together, it meant they were evenly matched in most situations, but today Vaughn was full of so much anger that he was lethal, a savage hail of teeth and claws and dangerously powerful jaws.
When they finally called it quits, both were bruised and a little bloody. Lucas wiped a red streak from his chest. “Sascha’s going to be pissed. Maybe it’ll heal before she sees it.” It wasn’t a vain hope. Most surface cuts and scratches healed relatively fast on changelings.
“You’re gonna have a black eye.”
“Fuck.” Lucas touched the eye. “That’s not going to heal before tonight.”
“Yeah, well, you almost took off my hand.” He flexed his wrist, raw from the grip Lucas had had on his paw.
“Had to keep you from clawing off my ear. I don’t think my mate would’ve been too impressed with a one-eared panther.” Lucas began to grin.
Vaughn scowled. “What?”
“Faith’ll teach you.”
Dropping his head between raised knees, he blew out a rough breath. “Faith—” He couldn’t say it, couldn’t betray her even to Lucas. She was his mate. That loyalty came before everything else. Until she walked away, until she broke the bond, he’d honor it with everything in him.
Lucas gripped his shoulder. “She’ll tear you up worse than any animal, make you feel as if your heart’s being cut into a thousand pieces, but she’ll also heal you in a way no one else will ever be able to do.”
Ifshe came to him.
For the first timein over twenty-four years, Faith was absolutely lost. Her life had been circumscribed since birth.She’d never really had a choice. But now she had to make one that would change the course of her entire future. The problem was, she didn’t know how to make that choice.
So she spent the morning uploading a backlog of vision triggers into her mind, and the afternoon spitting out prediction after prediction until Xi Yun intervened. “You can’t sustain this level of activity.”
Showed what he knew. “Thank you for stopping me. I forgot.” What had once been truth had become nothing more than a useful excuse.
“It’s my job.” A small pause. “I’m sending a meal plan to your kitchen computer. Your bioreadings are showing low amounts of certain minerals.”
“Acknowledged.” Ending the communication, she went into the kitchen and took her time sipping the prescribed soup and chewing the meal bars.
But it was still only four in the afternoon when she finished. Restless, she went into her bedroom and opted to occupy her mind with the data flows of the Net. It was procrastination, but she decided she was allowed—no one should have to deal with as many shocks as she’d had to in the preceding days. Given room to breathe, maybe her subconscious would discern an answer on its own. In the meantime, she’d put her conscious mind to decoding the puzzle of the Council’s sudden interest in her. And they weren’t the only ones she had to be wary of.
Kaleb Krychek could prove a very dangerous adversary if he decided she posed a real threat to his promotion. She wanted to see whether she could learn anything further about him—likely a futile task given his skills, but it was better than obsessing over a jaguar who wasn’t there to confuse, challenge, and infuriate her.
Who might never be there again.