The Ghost didn’t know why he watched. He’d kept an eye on this region since before the battle with Pure Psy for reasons of his own, had dropped by tonight as part of a routine sweep, and caught the faint sound of music twining through the trees. It had taken him a significant investment of time to find this exact location—he’d never before ventured this deep into the heart of SnowDancer territory, conscious the wolves would go on red alert at the first sign of an intruder.
Now, taking extreme care not to touch any surface that’d hold a scent, he came close enough to see, but not be seen. Sienna Lauren’s hair, he thought, glimpsing her in the arms of a tall man—not the SnowDancer alpha—had darkened considerably. Her height, however, remained much as it had been at fifteen.
A single scan and he found Judd. Garbed in black, his fellow rebel was standing on the edge of the dance circle, but he wasn’t alone. A small blonde woman, a slice of cake on the plate she held in hand, leaned her back against his chest. One of Judd’s arms was wrapped with familiar ease around her waist as he spoke to a man the Ghost recognized as a SnowDancer lieutenant.
Kenji Tanaka.
Forking up a bite of cake, the blonde woman twisted and offered it to Judd. He leaned down to accept, the curve of his lips set in an unmistakable smile. The Ghost had only ever seen Judd in another context, and though intellectually he’d understood the former Arrow had a life beyond the rebellion, seeing it in reality made him take a risk, remain longer. For this, too, he could offer no rational reason. This was not a life he would ever have. It may as well have been an alien wilderness.
Yet … he continued to watch.
NOT far in front of Sienna, Mercy hauled Riley into a wild kiss. The senior lieutenant’s surprise lasted a bare instant before he snapped his hands around the leopard sentinel’s waist and dragged her close.
Turning to Hawke, Sienna said, “This is just so…” No words seemed enough.
“I think someone’s about to steal you from me again.”
Opening her mouth to protest that she’d hardly spent any time with him all night, she sensed the psychic energy of the person behind her. Her heart burst with love. “Sorry,” she murmured, touching her fingertips to Hawke’s jaw. “I’m going to ditch you.”
“Remember”—he rubbed his thumb over her lower lip before putting her hand into her new partner’s—“the midnight dance is mine.”
Always. It was a whisper along the mating bond. Out loud, she said, “Where have you been?” and fixed her brother’s hair.
He scowled. To her shock, she realized he’d gained several inches of height when she hadn’t been looking. No wonder he looked like a beanpole, if this was how fast he was growing.
“Jeez, Sienna. Don’t do that here.”
“Oops. Sorry.” Sometimes, she forgot he was heading toward thirteen, and then the incipient teenager in him would make an appearance. “You look very handsome.”
His smile was shy and sweet, and she had the thought that her empathic baby brother was going to grow up into an incredible man. “Thanks. I went online shopping with Lara.” Spinning her around in a slick circle, he grinned at her startlement. “Drew taught me that.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
Toby’s smile shimmered into a deeper, more poignant expression. “It hurts my heart in the best way that you’re so happy.”
“Oh, Toby.” Always, she had loved the brother she hadn’t been permitted to know as a child, but never had she been able to protect him from the psychic price demanded by her gift. “You’re the best kid brother a girl could have.”
I love you, Sienna. He spun her out again, sending her skirts flying.
When he finally relinquished her, it was to another member of her family. Walker’s hold was as calm as Toby’s had been exuberant, his pale green eyes intent. “He’s your mate,” Walker said, the warning clear for all that it was made in a tempered voice, “but if he ever does anything to hurt you, you come to me.”
“Are all men so bloodthirsty?”
“Lara’s father showed me his tools—then we had an illuminating conversation about how easy it would be to cut a person in half using one of the lasers. It was very civilized.”
Sienna stifled a laugh at the idea of gentle Mack threatening Walker, and tipping back her head, looked into a face she’d never seen violent either in anger or in love. That meant nothing. She knew Walker would die for her without blinking, that he loved her so fiercely, some part of her had sensed it even in the darkest part of her Silence.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “For being my father.” In every way that mattered.
Walker’s expression altered only the minutest fraction, but she saw the storm of naked emotion crash across the green before he stroked his hand over her hair and kissed her gently on the forehead. “You make me proud each and every day.”
Tears stung. Swallowing, she hid her face against the wide chest of the man who had always found a way to tell her that she mattered, that she wasn’t just an X but family.
COOPER waited until the dancing had gentled, and he and Riaz were sitting having a couple of quiet beers, before saying, “She’s gone.”
“What?”
“You’re looking for the tall senior soldier with those amazing eyes. Adria, I think.” Cooper shifted the upturned wooden crate he was using as a seat, settling it more securely. “She slipped away with Sam a few minutes ago.”
Riaz’s hand clenched on the bottle. He wanted to deny his raw compulsion toward Adria, but Coop knew him too well, would call him on it. “Enjoying the night?”
“Not even a question.” Dark eyes watched him with relentless patience. “You going to talk about it, or do I have to remind you I’m bigger and stronger?”
“In your dreams.”
Coop tipped back the bottle he held, his throat muscles moving. When he lowered it, he shook his head. “Something’s wrong with you, man. I should’ve picked it up earlier, but Grace scrambled my brains.”
Riaz looked out at where a lushly curved woman with ebony curls and skin like cream was dancing with Alexei, her smile shy. Big, bad Cooper’s mate was a sweet submissive, but she was managing to handle the male lieutenants—all of whom considered it their right to dance with her. “I can see how,” Riaz said, having claimed a dance earlier. “She’s something else, Coop.”
“I know.” The other man’s expression shifted from brutally tender to hard-ass the instant he returned his attention to Riaz. “Adria, she messing with your head?”
“Fuck, man,” Riaz said, finishing off his beer and dangling the bottle between his fingers, “let it go. It’s a night to enjoy yourself.”
Cooper raised an eyebrow. “Who screwed my head on straight when I was courting Grace? I woke you up at two thirty in the fricking morning twice and you didn’t tell me to shut the hell up. So talk—or we’ll be here all night.”
Riaz knew he could stonewall the other lieutenant. He also knew Coop wouldn’t stop battering at that wall until it gave. But he refused to taint the happiness of the other man’s mating with the bitter taste of his pain. “It’s a mess, and it’s a mess I might not ever be ready to talk about.” He held the near black of the other man’s eyes, let him see his resolve. “So I’m asking you to drop it.”
A long silence before Coop got up and grabbed them two more beers, moving with a predatory grace that was unusual given his size—and that made him a hunter no one ever heard coming. “You’re a stubborn asshole.”
“You surprised?”
Snorting, Cooper leaned forward with his forearms braced on his thighs. “Fine. I won’t push—for now.” Open warning. “I see you going downhill, I will come down on you like a ton of bricks. I will not let you go it alone, lone-wolf style.”
“I came home,” Riaz growled. “Not exactly lone-wolfing it.”
“I call bullshit.” Cooper held his gaze, his wolf apparent in the ring of yellow that now encircled his irises. “You fucking pick up the phone when things get too dark, or I swear to God, I will tie you up and ship you to my territory.”
Riaz’s claws slid out. “I’m not a juvenile, so back off.”
“No, you’re my hardheaded idiot of a friend.” He glanced up. “Grace is coming over, so let me just say this—the pack needs you whole and stable. Keep that in mind before you let whatever it is that’s messing with your head swallow you up.”
SLIDING her fingers around the cup of coffee Inés handed her, Adria took a seat around the laz-fire one of the other senior soldiers had set up far enough away from the main party that no one would stumble upon them by accident. It was a few minutes after midnight, and not a single SnowDancer was even close to ready for the celebration to end. Even the pups were trying valiantly to keep their eyes open—no one had the heart to send them off to bed, so they’d been snuggled into sleeping bags around the Pack Circle, watched over by elders who preferred to rest their bones.
“I didn’t realize you were doing this,” she said to Inés, not wanting to step on any toes since she hadn’t officially been invited. Sam was the one who’d brought her along.
Inés shook her head. “It wasn’t planned. Elias has some good news to give, decided tonight was the right night for it. He mentioned it to Simran, who mentioned it to me, I mentioned it to Sam, told him to grab you—”
“—and presto.” Adria grinned. This kind of thing had happened in Matthias’s sector, too, different parts of the pack breaking off to have their own informal gatherings during the course of a larger event. “Good idea to ask everyone to bring along some food from the Circle.”
Several purloined plates of cookies, cakes, and sandwiches, along with a bowl of corn chips with a side of guacamole, were being passed around, as was the thermos of coffee. Someone had also brought in beers and champagne for those who had already finished their assigned shifts on watch. Adria had one coming up, so she’d stick to coffee.