Clay took a step toward her. “Kinky?”
She took a step back. “Uh-huh.”
“Human?”
“Definitely human. No claws. No growling. No sharp teeth.” She made her tone so firm, she almost believed herself. “Normal. Ordinary.” Things she had never been. “White picket fence.”
Clay’s eyes darkened to near black and he stopped his stalking advance. “Really?”
“Really.” She forced it out. “I’m tired of being on the outside.”
Clay’s instincts flared awake. “What aren’t you telling me, baby?”
“Nothing.” She looked up, then back. “I need to get to bed.”
“Where you can dream about your ordinary human boyfriend?” He advanced toward her once more, his shock that she might actually prefer a human male disappearing under the naked intensity of the emotions swirling in her eyes. “Maybe you’ll imagine yourself into a safe little fantasy world where bad things never happen?”
She held up her hands as he reached her. They hit his chest, palms flat. “What’s wrong with that? At least humans don’t go mad-protective and tell me I’m not-” She snapped her mouth shut, but he’d heard enough.
He lifted one of those slender feminine hands and pressed his lips to each fingertip in turn, aware of her racing heartbeat, her breakable bones, her trust in him. It was the last that ripped him to pieces. “Human families can be as territorial.”
She shook her head. “You predatory changelings take it to the next level. I feel as if I’m running a gauntlet.”
It was an unexpected confession. The Tally he’d come to know didn’t spend much time feeling sorry for herself. But, he realized with a deep wave of excruciating tenderness, she’d had a lot of shocks in a single day. “You’re mine. Therefore you’re perfect.”
Her lips twitched. “Idiot.”
“Maybe.” He nibbled at her fingers. “Once accepted, you’ll have the pack’s strength at your back. We never leave one of ours to drown. Never.”
“I won’t be accepted, Clay,” she whispered, shifting to lay her head against his chest, one hand still in his. “I feel like a dirty street urchin around the other women, my nose pressed to the window with you on the other side. I can’t shift, I don’t have Psy powers.”
The image broke his heart. “Did the women say something to you?”
“Forget it.” She drew back. “I was having a ‘woe is me’ moment. I’m over it.”
He knew better. “Tally.”
She pressed her lips together. He waited. She blew out a breath. “Fine! I got interrogated about my intentions toward you.”
He pulled her closer, holding her with his arms around her waist. “And what are your intentions?” he murmured, leaning down to brush his lips over hers. “Are you planning to divest me of my virtue? I’ll even ask nice.”
Her breasts rose against him as she drew in a deep breath. “Be serious. They’ll never accept me.” She put her hands back on his chest, spreading out her fingers as if testing the strength of him. He liked it.
“Some of us wanted to torture Sascha at the start.”
Her fingers dug into him. He liked that even better. “What? Why?” she asked.
“A Psy serial killer had murdered Dorian’s sister. We thought Sascha might have information. The pack was enraged and she became the target-Dorian almost ripped out her throat. As for Faith, the first time we met, I accused her of being part of a psychopathic race.”
“I never would’ve guessed.” Her fingers straightened, petted absently-he wanted to purr. “How did Sascha and Faith become so much part of DarkRiver?”
“They’ve proven their loyalty.”
“I have to do the same before they’ll accept me.” Sighing, she braced her forehead against his chest. “Is it okay for a human to bite people, too?”
He grinned, wondering if she even realized how easily she was cuddling into him. “Go to bed, Tally. You’re tired and grumpy.” He kissed the tip of her ear. The beast’s hunger was a razor-sharp blade, but it had been soothed by this contact. Not that it mattered. Clay would not take Tally until she was ready to come to him. He never again wanted to see fear of him in her eyes. It had damn near killed him the first time around.
She rubbed her face against him. “I might be, but you don’t have to point it out.” But she took his advice and broke away. “See you tomorrow morning?”
“Bright and early.” He waited until she was safely in her room before going downstairs and using the main communications panel to put through a call.
Vaughn’s face wore a scowl when he answered, his hair sleep-tangled. “What? Something wrong?”
“I need to talk to Faith.”
The other sentinel’s scowl deepened. “You got me out of bed because you want to talk to my mate? There are laws against that sort of thing.” A slender hand touched his bare shoulder and then Faith’s face appeared on-screen beside Vaughn.
“Clay? What’s the matter?”
“The matter is that I want you to leave Talin be.” Tally could look after herself but that didn’t mean she should have to. She’d spent too long doing exactly that. It was time for someone else to look after her.
Concern instead of insult dawned in Faith’s eyes. “I’m your friend.” She seemed to wrestle with her thoughts before adding, “I care.”
“Vaughn,” Clay growled.
Vaughn pressed a kiss to his mate’s temple. “Come on, Red. I’ll explain the facts of life to you.”
“Wait-Faith, you talked to the NetMind recently?” The NetMind was a neosentience that lived in the PsyNet-it was the Net, to some extent-and it liked Faith. It might prove the perfect source of information about any Psy involvement in the kidnappings.
Faith shook her head. “I get the feeling it’s being careful not to contact me. It may be because Councilor Krychek is too good at tracking its movements and it doesn’t want to give away the fact that it can talk to Psy outside the Net.”
Clay shrugged off the loss. Even if Faith had been able to contact it, communication with the neosentience was difficult. “Thanks.”
“Clay,” Faith said, her face tormented, “I want you to be happy.”
“Tally makes me happy.” He turned off the screen, a feeling of rightness in his gut. It was true-Tally might infuriate, anger, and frustrate him, but she also made him happy in a way no one else ever had. He wanted to do the same for her.
That thought in mind, he decided to bed down on the second level in case she needed him. They hadn’t spoken much about her episode from the previous night-she seemed to be trying to ignore it-but the fact was, whatever it was that was wrong with her, it was getting worse. And unlike when he’d been fourteen, Clay couldn’t slay the monster for her.
His claws sprang out. To hell with that! He’d kidnap an M-Psy if that was what it took to help Tally. He had no limits when it came to her. None.
The dream was one Talin had been having for years. Unlike the other things that haunted her, this one wasn’t a nightmare. It was almost peaceful.
She floated in a field of black, her body insubstantial. Occasional stars flickered in greeting, but it was the strands of living rainbow weaving through the darkness that truly captured her attention. They seemed almost alive, full of sparkling mischief.
As always, she halted, reached out, touched a strand. And as always, that was the moment when the peace disappeared. Need raced through her body, such deep, aching, incomprehensible need that it rocked her to the core of her soul, had her jerking awake, grasping the night air for…something, something important.
But there was nothing but emptiness there, nothing but stillness.
Heart thudding, she glanced at the small bedside clock. Four a.m. Her personal witching hour. She should stay here, she told herself. If she went downstairs, she’d disturb Clay-his hearing was too keen to allow her to move about undetected. A branch shifted against the window, throwing shadows into the room.