“I’m heading to the city,” he told Silver, raw pain intermingling with the anger. “A StoneWater team will follow.” He’d give the order as he was leaving—as he’d said to his Starlight, people had been having a good time, but despite appearances, nobody was drunk. “The cowards behind this will see a coordinated response, see a united city that can’t be so easily broken.”
“I’ll go with you.” Silver held up a hand, even as his bear lunged to its feet in rejection of the idea of her going out into the cold night. “Yes, I’m weak, but if I don’t show up at an incident in my own city that’s claimed mostly—perhaps only—human victims, I may as well resign as director of EmNet.” With that, she disappeared into her room and when she returned, she’d shed his sweatshirt and changed into a fresh white shirt.
She’d also swapped out her sneakers for ankle boots.
That quickly, she was cool, elegant Silver Mercant again, even in jeans and with not a single gray hue in sight. “People of all races need to believe in me for EmNet to work.”
Biting back his protective urge to throw her on her bed, order her to rest, and shut the door—all that would get him was a sore head when Silver turned her telepathic muscles against him—Valentin instead ran to Nova’s quarters and borrowed one of his sister’s coats. It was darkest gray.
Tracking Silver’s scent to the exit from Denhome after he’d spoken to Stasya about sending in a rescue team behind them, he felt his raging protectiveness calm. “No emergency teleport?” He hated the idea of her being out of his sight when she hadn’t yet recovered from the attempted poisoning. Especially if she’d left without a coat when the temperature had plunged.
“I don’t want to split Kaleb’s energy.” Accepting the coat with a nod of thanks, she added, “I’m used to coordinating resources remotely, so a delayed arrival on-site won’t matter.” She did exactly that during the drive, using both her phone and her telepathic senses as necessary.
She updated him in the short periods when she was free. “First responders have pulled out three survivors so far, but my sources say the bar was packed for a private celebration. A wedding reception.”
Valentin’s claws shoved against his skin, the ugly pointlessness of it all infuriating him. “There were probably changelings in there, too.”
“No bears identified,” Silver said, her tone careful.
Valentin’s hands squeezed the steering wheel. “As far as I know, no one was in the city to attend a wedding reception, but I’ll alert Pieter to check that all our people are accounted for.” The thought of losing even one more person from his clan . . .
The two of them were still ten minutes out from the city when Silver’s phone beeped. The person on the other end must’ve spoken as soon as Silver answered, because she listened in silence.
Valentin couldn’t hear anything, Silver utilizing the earpiece that had been part of the tech package he’d given her. A button microphone was attached to the collar of her shirt.
“Yes,” she said a short time later. “Moscow does need to show a united face to our enemies, but that can be done by a single high-ranking member of your pack at the scene.” A pause. “It would be better if it wasn’t you. Alpha Nikolaev will be there very shortly. Kaleb is present already. I don’t want all three alphas in the region in one place.”
Selenka.
He didn’t need to ask Silver to confirm: there were only three true alphas in this region—Valentin, Selenka, and Krychek. And Silver was right. The three of them shouldn’t be in the hot zone at the same time. It might prove too tempting a target for anyone who wanted to destabilize the area.
“You should pull in the nonpredatories,” he said after she ended her conversation with the BlackEdge alpha.
“Already in progress,” Silver replied. “A disproportionately high number of the local mountain-pony herd are in the medical field. The others, I’ve asked my EmNet assistant to contact.”
Valentin knew her assistant was Psy; the stern woman had given him the stink eye many a time when he dropped by to speak to Silver. “You need to have a human and a changeling in your inner circle,” he said as he drove hell-for-leather through the traffic in the city proper.
“It’s more efficient to work with fellow telepaths.”
“Everything you do in EmNet is finely balanced—you made that clear when you came along on this trip.” Even though her face was too pale and her strength shaky.
Biting back his bear’s bellow of displeasure at how she was mistreating herself, he said, “No one race can be seen to have more influence or power.”
“I’ll take the suggestion under consideration.” Silver’s fingers moved on her phone. “The problem with choosing a changeling is that many of you are antagonistic to other changeling species. Predators won’t always accept orders from a nonpredatory workmate, while two different predators can get into dominance battles.”
Valentin couldn’t argue with any of that. “You’re the smartest person I know, Starlight.” Bar none. “You’ll figure it out, but you can’t keep it Psy-only at the top.”
Noticing the traffic jam up ahead, dust rising up to blur the glittering Moscow skyline and a sea of brake lights coloring the night scarlet, he brought the vehicle to a stop on the side of the street. “Can you walk the distance?” He knew better than to offer to carry her, but he could bull his way through in the all-wheel drive. It’d be messy and noisy and it’d piss off a lot of people, but it was doable.
And he was a bear. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d made people swear and wave their fists at him.
“I can walk.”
Exiting the vehicle, the two of them moved down the sidewalk; it grew more and more congested the nearer they got to the disaster zone. He made sure he was in the front, so Starlight wouldn’t be jostled. Most people shrank back from the force of his dominance—or maybe it was the scowl on his face.
They arrived at the cordon set up by the first responders, were immediately waved in. Controlled chaos lay beyond, with an Enforcement officer attempting to organize the surge of help from various agencies and groups. Sweaty and overwhelmed, he clearly didn’t have the training for it.
Valentin saw his shoulders drop in open relief when he spotted Silver. “Ms. Mercant,” he said in Russian. “I think this qualifies as an EmNet situation.”
Silver caught the ball, ran with it. “Who’s already here?” she asked without preamble. “Tell me what resources I have to work with.”
The officer, looking much less harassed now that someone else was in charge, listed all available personnel on-site. Valentin forced himself to take a mental step back. He was used to being a caretaker, but if he hovered, he’d do more damage to Silver’s reputation than if she collapsed.
It had nothing to do with being the director of the world’s biggest humanitarian organization and everything to do with being Silver Mercant. Tough and in control and without weakness. “I’m going to see if I can help scent out survivors,” he said when the Enforcement officer paused for breath.
Silver’s eyes met his, all frost and sexy intelligence. “Take the southeast quadrant. That sector has no changeling assistance, and the lights currently on-site are limited. Your greater night vision will be welcome.”
Realizing she’d received a telepathic update, he nodded, would’ve left, but she said, “Valentin. Be careful.” No change in her tone, but it was the words that mattered. “The debris is unstable.”
Despite the circumstances, despite the permanent bruise on his heart, a smile formed inside him. Of all the changelings here, he was undoubtedly the one most able to survive half a building falling on him. But it was him she was warning. “You, too, Starlight.”