being pulled into DarkRiver. But Talin was scared of him. She had told him that to his face, and the sharp knife of it was still buried in his heart. The man wasn’t sure he wanted to chance another rejection. Keeping the animal’s instincts in check, he finally stepped out of the shadows. “Do you want to be held, Talin?”
Her damp eyes widened at the blunt question, then she nodded in a little jerking motion. Something in him quieted, waiting. “Then come here.”
A pause during which the entire forest seemed to freeze, the night creatures aware of the leopard’s tense watchfulness.
“Oh, God, Clay.” Suddenly her arms were wrapped around his back, her cheek pressed against the white cotton of his T-shirt.
Hardly daring to breathe, he closed his own arms around her feminine warmth, blindingly aware of every inch of her pressed into him, every spot of wetness soaking through his T-shirt.
She was so small, so damn soft, her humanity apparent in the delicacy of her skin, the lightness of her bones. The Psy might be fragile in comparison to changelings, but they had powers of the mind to compensate. Humans had the same fragility but none of the psychic abilities. A wave of protectiveness washed over him.
“Shh, Tally.” He used the nickname because, at this moment, he knew her. She had always had a heart too big for her body, a heart that felt such pain for others while ignoring its own. “I’ll find your lost one.”
She shook her head against him. “It’s too late. Three bodies already. Jonquil is probably dead, too.”
“Then I’ll find who did this to them and stop him.”
She stilled against him. “I didn’t come here to turn you into a killer again.”
CHAPTER 4
“I
“I’m not part of your pack.”
“No.” So why was he going to help her? Especially after she’d made her opinion of him crystal clear. “No child deserves to die that way.”
A small silence. “Thank you.” She didn’t let go. “You’ve become so strong.”
“I was always strong compared to you.” Now he could snap her in two without thinking. It was that difference in strength that had always kept him away from human females. The rare lovers he took were all changeling. He was who he was. And gentleness was not part of his nature. “Unless you’ve muscled up and it doesn’t show on the surface?”
She laughed, a warm, intrinsically feminine sound. “I’m still a shrimp, but you—you’ve become a leopard.”
He understood. She had known him as an angry boy trapped inside the claustrophobic walls of their apartment complex. The lack of clean air had stifled the leopard, wounded him on an elemental level. He hadn’t even been able to shift without someone calling the cops to report a wild animal on the loose. Then there was Isla, unable to bear the sight of her son in leopard form.
“Are you happy with DarkRiver?” Talin asked now.
“They’re my family, my friends.” For Clay, that loyalty meant everything. They accepted him as he was, didn’t give a shit that he preferred to roam alone more often than not, invited him into their homes without compunction.
“Who was the blond man with you?”
He stiffened. “Dorian’s a sentinel, too.” A pretty one according to most women.
“You two were being rough with those boys.”
“They earned it. Got drunk and smashed up the bar.”
“So you came to take them home.” He could hear the smile in her voice. “You look after each other. Your pack, I mean.”
“I’ll be kicking their asses three ways to Sunday soon as they sober up. We’re no Swiss Family Robinson.” They couldn’t afford to be, especially not now, with the Psy Council attempting to take down the only changeling groups—DarkRiver and SnowDancer—that had dared challenge its absolute rule.
Something made a rumbling sound.
“Hungry, Tally?”
She nodded, but remained plastered to him. “I was so nervous about meeting you, I didn’t eat all day.”
“If you don’t want to piss me off,” he snapped, “stop talking about how much I scare you.”
“It won’t change the truth.” Talin knew she’d surprised him. His muscles bunched. Then he let out a low growl that rolled down her spine like a thousand tiny pinpricks.
“Stop flinching or I’ll bite you and really give you something to worry about.”
She blinked. “You wouldn’t bite me.” Would he?
“Try it and see.”
Surrounded by all that powerful male muscle, feeling warm and safe, she decided not to push him. Not today. “Will you help me?”
Her answer was a hot breath at her ear. “Keep asking silly questions and see where it gets you.”
She took that as a yes and, though her heart threatened to rip out of her chest, she remained stuck to him. And she prayed. Prayed that she could do this without betraying the one secret that would make Clay truly hate her.
Twenty minutes later, she found herself sitting in the same bar the young males had smashed up. “It doesn’t look too bad.” She nodded at the relatively undamaged walls.
“Manager knows how to build tough. Joe’s a packmate.”
“Oh.” She went silent as a curvy blonde with a bad-tempered expression placed Talin’s meal in front of her before turning to Clay.
“I hope Cory, Kit, Jase, and the rest of those drunken monkeys get the same punishment I did. Joe thinks it’s hysterical to make me wear this frickin’ getup.” Her voice was a snarl as she waved at her pink baby-tee and black miniskirt. Teamed with knee-high boots, it turned her into a sexy stunner. But Talin had a feeling that any man stupid enough to put a move on this woman would soon find his arm broken into tiny little pieces.
Clay lifted his beer and took a long pull. “Should’ve thought of that before you punched out his real waitress, Rina. You’re Opal as long as it takes for her nose to heal.”
Rina stamped her foot. “There’s nothing wrong with Opal’s nose! I only tapped her!”
“You’re a DarkRiver soldier. You don’t get to throw your temper around.”
Rina’s scowl turned into a sensual pout. “Clay, please.”
“Don’t even think about it, kitty cat,” he said, a spark of amusement in his eyes that hit Talin with the nausea—inducing strength of a punch to the solar plexus. “Where’s my burger?”
Rina actually hissed, all flirtatiousness leaving her face and body. “You know what your problem is? You need to get laid!”
Talin tensed, waiting for the explosion of Clay’s sleeping volcano of a temper, but all he did was put down his beer and crook a finger at the blonde. When the scowling woman leaned down, he whispered something in her ear that made her blush bright red. Rising back up, she went straight to the kitchen.
“What did you say to her?” Talin was shocked by the sharp claws of jealousy dragging their way through her body.
“Rina’s young. She just needed a little gentling.” His eyes watched her play with her food with disconcerting intensity. “Eat.”
She couldn’t, stomach churning with thoughts of how he had “gentled” the sensual young woman. But she took a bite in an effort to keep her mouth shut.
Clay’s meal arrived seconds later, delivered by a still-blushing Rina. The young woman hesitated, then leaned down to peck him on the cheek before walking away, all feminine heat and long blonde hair.
Talin had to force herself to swallow the bite she’d taken. That kiss—it had been familiar, affectionate. It
