“He hurt you.” No one was permitted to do that. “Now tell me where he lives.”
“Bozhe, but I love you.” Valentin kissed her.
Still coldly furious on his behalf, she kissed him, drank in his laughter. And all the time, the noise continued to grow in her head.
THE next day, Silver managed not to track down and kill Sergey. She also worked a full day despite the pounding in her temples, and she returned to Denhome at a reasonable hour. Given the high caliber of applicants and the fact she might soon be out of commission, she’d sped up the hiring process of the EmNet team. She’d spent the day interviewing and had sent through the first three names for Trinity approval before she left the office.
The approval came through as she reached Denhome. She’d expected as much: She’d chosen one human, one changeling, and one Psy. All, as it turned out, the best people for the job. That they covered the racial spectrum had simply made it difficult for anyone to object. She’d need more than three people, of course, but these three were experienced enough to cover her absence during her healing . . . or if the operation didn’t succeed.
She made the calls to the applicants from the car, then told them she was going to run them through a mock disaster scenario. That took an hour, and by the end of it, she was certain beyond any doubt that they’d be able to fill in with the help of her assistant. Everyone would be told that she’d been diagnosed with the beginnings of a cancerous tumor. That wasn’t a death sentence if treated at once—no one would be concerned if she was unreachable for a few days after the op, and only available remotely for several weeks afterward.
Valentin, who she knew had gone out to see the young healer in Sergey’s group, found her at the table where she was eating dinner with clanmates who’d also driven back in from jobs in the city or who’d just finished their shifts in work within the clan.
Putting one hand on Pavel, who was seated next to her, Valentin shoved the other man aside without the least semblance of politeness. Pavel made sure to grab his bowl of dessert as he moved—giving his alpha a grunt of welcome at the same time.
Valentin sat down, his thigh and shoulder pressing against Silver. In the middle of passing a platter to a clanmate across the table, Silver didn’t immediately respond.
“Hey, pay attention to me.” Valentin closed his hand over the back of her neck.
“Subtle, Valya,” the dominant across from them said with a roll of her green eyes. “Bears really know how to court a woman.”
As Valentin grumbled at the older woman, Silver said, “I prefer bluntness. Subtle emotion is more difficult for me to read.”
The other woman’s laughter was full throated. “In that case, you chose your man well. If he ever does subtle, the world might end.”
Silver thought of the shadows of memory she’d glimpsed in Valentin’s eyes, of the determined cheer that hid the deep sadness at the heart of StoneWater. Bears, she thought, could be far more subtle than the reputation they liked to foster.
Waiting until the others had returned to their conversations, she put her hand on Valentin’s thigh under the table. Heavy muscle clenched under her hand, Valentin’s gaze limned with amber. “You feel exhausted,” she murmured, sensing him through the mating bond.
He closed his hand over hers, rubbing the pad of his thumb over her skin. “Our bears are trying to deal with the fact we’re about to lose a chunk of our clan. I have to be there for them.” No hesitation in his tone at taking on so much emotional weight. “How was work?”
“I have the beginnings of a team.” She told him about the three she’d hired, including the partially paralyzed human male who’d previously held the military rank of sergeant. “I’ve appointed him as my deputy. You were right—my mock scenario showed we’ll have no difficulty communicating in an emergency. All of us simply need to wear earpieces so we have direct access to one another.”
“I’m always right,” her brash bear said with familiar arrogance, but his next words were a rough whisper against her ear, potent with emotion. “And you?”
“Holding on.” She hadn’t heard back from Ashaya Aleine, but then she hadn’t expected to—she was asking the scientist to come up with a quick solution to a highly complex problem.
Placing his hand on the back of her neck again, Valentin tugged her closer. “Have you spoken to your grandmother?”
“No. But I will—when we have a course of action.” She leaned into him, knowing that, to the bears around her, such affection was nothing unusual. To her, it meant far more—something Valentin alone would ever truly understand.
“Ena is tough.”
“Even the tough can break.”
A sudden commotion at that instant had Silver jerking around to look behind her. Valentin was up and running toward the sentry, even as the woman pounded into the center of the Cavern. Whatever words were spoken, Silver didn’t hear, her audio telepathy drowning her in a sudden, painful crescendo of noise that couldn’t augur anything good. It passed quickly, but the sentry had finished speaking by then.
Valentin’s reaction, however, told her all she needed to know: a shudder tore through him, his eyes closing for a long second before he opened them again and said something to the sentry that sent the woman racing back out.
Chapter 37
VALENTIN’S EYES SEARCHED for her, met hers. Their bond flared deep inside her. And somehow, she knew what he was about to say, though he wasn’t a telepath and she would never breach his shields. At that instant, the psychic form of an alpha bear filled her to the brim, her skin feeling as if it were coated with luxuriant fur, her hands powerful beyond compare.
Hands on his hips and eyes amber, Valentin shifted his gaze to speak to a clan that had gone unusually silent. “Our clanmates are coming back home. Make sure their rooms are prepped.”
A moment of utter motionlessness before everyone exploded into action.
When Dima clambered up to sit next to Silver, quickly followed by three other cubs of a similar age, she decided to assist by keeping them amused and out of the way. Even as she drew the cubs into a logic game, however, she kept an eye on the entrance to the Cavern. It wasn’t the entrance to Denhome, but it was the heart of this sprawling place, and it was where Valentin stood waiting.
He shot her a speaking look minutes later, holding out his hand.
“Stay here,” she said to the cubs in a tone she knew they’d obey.
She was standing by Valentin’s side when the air changed. Everyone went quiet, the frenetic activity coming to an abrupt standstill. Suddenly looking down at her, Valentin said, “Don’t kill Sergey.”
Silver narrowed her eyes. “I’ll decide once I hear what he has to say.”
The man who appeared in the large entranceway was tall and thin with granite-colored hair and deep grooves carved into his face.
Pain scored that face as he took in the solemn expressions of those who waited. His body was heavy when he stepped inside. Others came in behind him, including two people carried on stretchers. Nova walked next to the stretchers. She was barefoot, her commands crisp and clear as she ordered that the two be taken to the infirmary.
Cubs tumbled into the Cavern after the adults, went immediately to Valentin. He laughed and cuddled each one before giving them permission to join their excited friends at the table and around the Cavern. Dima and the others had stayed in place—though they were bouncing up and down and waving.
Under their chatter was a taut silence.
The adult newcomers, their faces gaunt with strain, lingered near the entrance as if unsure of their welcome. More than one gaze went to Silver.