“Yeah?”
“You have any contact with that new leopard pack up in the Smokies?”
“That’s Remi’s pack,” Lucas said easily. “RainFire.”
“Remi?” Dev shook his head. “Sounds like he should be hunting alligators somewhere.”
“Short for Remington. Pisses him off big time when anyone uses that name.”
“Thanks for the tip.”
Lucas grinned.
“How long’s RainFire been around?”
“’Bout a year. Remi rounded up a few loners he knew through his roaming, found territory, and sent out the call that the pack was open. I hear they’ve got a reasonable group now.”
“How’s that work, the territory thing?”
“You asking for a reason?”
“I’ve got nervous people in the area, people who own their land fair and square.” A lot of Forgotten had settled in that region, finding comfort in the massive shadow of the mountains.
Lucas shook his head. “Won’t be a problem. Remi bought up a huge tract of land for his people, and under the amendments to the Constitution after the Territorial Wars, he’s got changeling rights to the areas in public ownership.”
Dev had read those laws himself. “As long as he maintains the natural landscape and can hold it against other changelings, it’s his? Doesn’t that go against the Peace Accord?”
“That area was unclaimed,” Lucas said. “If it had been claimed but the pack was weak, he could’ve gone in then, too. Fact it was empty makes it even easier.”
“And my people’s access to that public land?”
“Still theirs, but if Remi succeeds in holding it, they’ll have to follow his rules.”
“Not exactly fair.”
Lucas shrugged. “If he does hold it, he also pledges to help the people in his territory, so the humans and nonpredatories get leopard protection. It’s not a bad deal.”
“Unless Remi is a piece of shit.”
A grin spread across the leopard alpha’s face. “I’ll tell him you said that.”
“I’d rather you give me his direct line. I can’t pin the bastard down long enough to talk.”
“He’s busy establishing his territory.” But Lucas took out his cell and sent the data wirelessly to Dev’s own phone. “Remi’s okay. It’ll be interesting to see if RainFire sticks together—like I said, the pack’s based around a group of leopards who chose to walk alone until Remi sweet-talked them into joining up with him.”
“You seem to know a bit about him. I thought the packs were independent.”
“Times change,” Lucas said, no amusement in his tone now. “Intelligence is a useful tool—even for the most isolated packs.”
Dev met the other man’s eyes. “There are Forgotten across the country.”
“Maybe we should talk.”
CHAPTER 28
Katya spent most of the rest of the afternoon watching archived news footage on the small comm unit in her room. More and more of her memory was coming back, and several times she found herself prompting the anchor. When that happened one time too many, she turned off the panel and decided to stretch her legs.
No one bothered her when she went into the kitchen. After grabbing an apple from the bowl on the counter, she opened the back door and stepped out.
“Going to be a nice night,” Tiara said from where she was going through a graceful exercise routine on the back lawn, her hair swept up in a sleek ponytail, her body covered by a flowing white top and black leggings.
Taking a bite of the apple, Katya looked up at the early evening sky. “How can you tell?”
“I’ve got weather-sense, as my
“
“My grandmother.” Tiara stretched out her long limbs in an almost feline way. “She was born in Indonesia, but her ancestors were all sea-folk over from the Netherlands. No one can read weather like a sailor.”
The apple left a sweet, slightly tart taste on Katya’s tongue. Relishing it, she took another bite. “Did your family intermarry with the Indonesian population?”
“Can’t you tell? I’m a mutt.” A wink from an eye that was uptilted just enough to whisper of ancestors far from Europe.
Katya couldn’t help but smile. “You’re doing some kind of yoga.”
“It’s one of the more athletic versions.” Spinning in a slow curve, her leg held out like a dancer’s, she smiled. “Want to join me?”
Being stronger, Katya thought, would only help in her escape. “Can I do it in these clothes?”
Tiara ran a critical eye over her jeans and sweatshirt. “No, you need lighter gear. You can borrow something of mine.”
“You’re about a foot taller than I am,” Katya pointed out.
“And more than a few pounds heavier.” Tiara grinned, one hand on a curvy hip.
She was, Katya thought, the embodiment of the female ideal so many of the human artists liked to draw. All ripe curves and height and an almost electric kind of beauty.
“Right,” Tiara said with a nod. “I know what we’ll do. Strip off the sweatshirt, and get rid of the jeans. Sun’s still out, so the T-shirt will do with some leggings I bought last week.”
Katya walked back inside to do as ordered. Tiara threw in a pair of leggings a minute later. Though they were loose enough on her thin frame that she had to use a pin to hold them up, they were otherwise fine, reaching to midcalf—which meant they were likely knee-high on Tiara. Sweeping her own hair into a ponytail, she walked back out to the lawn in her bare feet.
As Tiara began to show her the basic stretches, Katya felt her body flow into the rhythm almost without thought. A few minutes later, the other woman gave her a considering look and said, “Let’s try something else.”
Katya watched as Tiara demonstrated, then copied the deceptively slow move.
Tiara nodded. “You’ve done this before.”
“Yes.” Katya flowed into another move. “My body remembers, even if my mind doesn’t.” Her brain supplied the information that yoga was considered a valuable form of exercise in the Net, as it meant training the mind as well as the body.
“Awesome. That means we can skip the baby stuff.”
“I don’t think so.” Rubbing at her quivering calf muscles, Katya shook her head. “My body might be willing, but it’s not as able as it should be.”
Tiara smiled that megawatt grin. “If you’re tough enough to mouth off to Dev, you’re tough enough for Tiara’s Yoga Class.”
“How do you know I mouth off to Dev?” Getting into position, she ran her body through a slow, basic routine.
