Chapter 6

FOCUSED ON KNITTING the bone back together, Lara held her response. When she looked up after what the digital clock at the head of the bed told her was over forty minutes of concentration, it was to see Riordan lying there with his lashes closed, a half smile on his face. “Rory?” she whispered.

“I’m awake.” Lashes lifting, the smile warm in those gorgeous brown eyes that had made him a heartbreaker as a little boy. “When you heal…it feels like sunshine. It’s nice.”

The words made her own lips curve. She kissed his cheek, ran a hand over his chocolate-dark curls, as she rose back to her full height. Rubbing away the ache in her back, she said, “What’s got you so stressed out, hmm?” She’d babysat him when she’d been a teenager, been charmed by his sweetness and sense of mischief—he’d grown up, become a responsible member of the pack, but he’d always maintained his joie de vivre. Never had she seen him so tense.

“It’s nothing.”

“You know what you say to me in private will stay between us.” Human physicians took an oath of confidentiality. Things worked slightly differently in a pack, as there were situations where the hierarchy meant Lara was permitted and expected to share information, but regardless of that, she never divulged information a packmate had asked her to keep confidential.

A long, steady look. “Even now that you’re mated?”

“Walker understands who I am,” she said, turning her attention to the muscle, ligaments, and blood vessels he’d bruised or torn. “He doesn’t expect me to betray confidences.”

It was a subject important enough to Lara that she’d brought it up during their courtship. “I will keep some secrets from you,” she’d said, aware how crucial honesty was to Walker after his experience with Yelene. “But those secrets are given to me in trust, not to be shared. You do understand?”

Walker had brushed her hair off her face in that way he had, held her gaze. “The secrets you hold are a tribute to your packmates’ faith in you. They’re not for me to know.”

The memory shimmered as Riordan’s chest rose in a deep breath, fell in a long exhale. “You remember that time Hawke busted up our group at Wild?” he asked, referring to the bar/club not far from SnowDancer territory frequented by younger members of the pack—though as far as Lara knew, no one had been there since the battle.

Right now, it was about being with Pack.

“That incident is legend.” The news that Hawke had carried Sienna out over his shoulder had spread through the pack with the rampant fury of a wildfire. “Never to be forgotten so long as we all should live.”

Riordan’s lips kicked up in a wicked smile. “That was some night.” His smile faded as quickly as it had appeared, an unexpected maturity taking its place.

And she thought—this is the man he’s going to be. Quick to laugh, big of heart, but with a depth that would surprise people who saw only the surface.

“I met someone,” he told her. “From DarkRiver.”

“Ah.” She started checking each fine blood vessel, noting with a corner of her mind that she wasn’t feeling as depleted as she normally would after a complex operation of this kind. “Is your girl leading you a dance?”

“No, I mean, that’s not it. I don’t mind playing with her.” Another grin, that of the wolf he was. “I think this has the potential to be serious.”

“Okay. So what’s the problem?” Catching his look, she said, “I know she’s a leopard, but a leopard/wolf relationship is hardly taboo these days. Not after the success of Mercy and Riley’s mating.”

“Yes, but they’re sentinel and lieutenant,” Riordan pointed out. “Hawke’s talked to us about the subtle differences between the two packs, and how we should be careful to make sure both parties are on the same page during any kind of a courtship.”

“But?”

“But I don’t know if we’re supposed to inform our alphas when a relationship turns serious, whether there are rules we’re meant to follow to make sure we don’t inadvertently hurt the alliance if something goes wrong. Riley and Mercy had direct access to that information—and the standing to fix any problems before word ever reached Hawke or Lucas.”

Lara saw his point. Though the DarkRiver-SnowDancer alliance was rock solid, the two packs were still learning how to navigate these particular waters. “If I know Hawke, he’s already aware of the issue.” The alpha was nothing if not plugged in to the beat of the pack. “But I’ll drop a word in his ear anyway—not about you and your girl specifically, but about the whole inter-pack dating situation.”

Riordan reached up with his good hand to touch hers. “Thanks, Lara. I’d do it myself,” he said, and she knew it for the truth, “but I don’t want him or Lucas paying too much attention to us yet. It’s…new.”

“I understand.” She’d appreciated the fact that her courtship with Walker had been a private matter for the most part, and could understand the need Riordan had for the same. “But will you tell me about her?”

His lush brown eyes warmed from the inside out. “Her name’s Noelle.”

“Zach’s sister?” The other male was a DarkRiver soldier.

“Yeah. He’s real protective of her and Lissa,” Riordan muttered in the way of young males trying to court other men’s baby sisters the world over. “Lissa is Noelle’s twin.”

“That’s right.” Lara’s mind filled with the image of two identical girls, both with long black hair, vivid aqua-colored eyes, and skin the shade of sun-kissed copper. “They’re lovely.” Had grown into their coltish bodies over the past two years. “How old are they now? Eighteen?”

Riordan nodded. “Only a year younger than me.” A pause. “Lissa’s this wild, chatty tornado”—an affectionate grin—“while Noelle’s gentle, quiet. It’s like she’s a peaceful spot in the world, but she holds her own.” His wolf prowled to the surface of his eyes. “First time you meet the two, you might think Lissa runs the show, but I’ve seen how Lissa always asks Noelle for advice anytime it’s anything important.”

He was, Lara thought, falling very much in love with Noelle. “Does Zach know you two are dating?”

“No, but Lissa does—I don’t think Noelle’s ever kept a secret from her.”

“Does that bother you?”

He took a moment to think about his answer, which made her believe him when he said, “No. I knew how close they were from the start.” He held out his arm for the scanner, waited while Lara did a double-check to confirm all was as it should be.

“I hate sneaking around,” he bit out after she put down the device, “and that’s part of why we need clear guidance on the situation from Hawke and Lucas. As things stand, Noelle doesn’t want to cause Zach any extra stress.”

Lara frowned. “Why? Zach’s as tough as any soldier.”

“Yeah, but he’s a bit crazy right now, with Annie being pregnant and everything.”

“What? As of when?” While Lara didn’t know Zach particularly well, she did know his mate. The other woman was a teacher at a school that drew from changeling territory, and ever since the DarkRiver-SnowDancer alliance, enough wolves had moved into the area that there were more than a few pups who attended the school.

Lara had met Annie at a parent-teacher conference she’d gone to on behalf of a couple who’d been out of town at the time, and stayed in touch with her ever since.

“They just found out a week ago,” Riordan said with a grin.

“Well, I’m delighted for them both.”

She was still smiling over the news an hour later when she met Walker for lunch, the two of them choosing a spot on the slope overlooking the lake.

The sun was out and so was the first-grade class of the internal SnowDancer elementary school, the pups having the time of their lives on the pebbled shore of the lake while their teachers stood indulgent watch. Deeply content, she opened the container that held the lunch Walker had brought for her and laughed. “You’ve been in cahoots with my mother again.”

•   •   •

WALKER shook his head when Lara offered him a forkful of her mushroom and herb risotto, which he’d picked up for her from the kitchens—Aisha and he were in perfect agreement when it came to looking after Lara, though his mate didn’t always appreciate their partnership. “I prefer my boring chicken and bacon sandwich.”

She snuggled closer to him, her hip pressing against his, the warm feminine scent of her in his every breath. “Are you ever going to let me forget I said that?”

He finished half a sandwich, picked up the second half after taking a swig of the coffee Lara had taken responsibility for bringing. “No.” It felt strange and yet perfect to tease her, to know that he had the ability to play in this way.

Wrinkling her nose at him, she ate another forkful before saying, “Can you look into the web for me?”

“Anything you ask.”

Pausing in her meal, she pinned him with eyes gone wolf. “I adore you.”

Her love stunned him, as it always did…but he thought he might be becoming used to it deep within. Never would he take it for granted, but he might just come to expect it, and that was an agonizingly beautiful gift she’d given him, that expectation of love, of tenderness. “What do you want to know?”

“I did a fairly complex healing earlier,” she said, sipping from the coffee when he lifted the cup to her lips, “but I don’t feel drained at all.”

Interest spiked. “You think the neosentience in the web is feeding you Sienna’s excess power.” Every psychic network had a “mind.” The one in the SnowDancer Web, which now included his entire family, was but a speck, nothing like the vast NetMind that was the guardian and librarian of the PsyNet. But it did exist, and as they’d seen in the aftermath of the battle, it could influence the web.

Lara chewed and swallowed before answering. “It crossed my mind.”

Opening his psychic eye, Walker looked at the energy currents that rippled along the familial and blood bonds, saw the rerouting that must’ve taken place this morning. “You have priority,” he murmured, closing one of his hands over her raised knee. “When you need the energy, it goes directly and only to you.”

“That’s good to know. If I’m ever in a triage situation, I’ll be better able to judge what I can or can’t do.” Having finished her risotto, Lara put the container neatly in the thermal carry case.

“Here,” she said, handing him his second sandwich. “I hope you brought more food for yourself. You’re way too tall and muscular to survive on two sandwiches, non-boring or not.”

Her frown as she dug into the carry case made parts of him he’d believed long buried stretch to enthusiastic life. No one had ever worried over him, not the way Lara did. If he’d considered the idea of it before they’d become a couple, he would’ve probably predicted an annoyed reaction to any such care—but he wasn’t the least annoyed by his mate’s desire to look after him.

Not when he felt the same piercing need to care for her.

“Here we go.” Having discovered a closed container, she opened it to reveal two more thick sandwiches. “Seriously?” A laughing look. “Oh wait, this one’s ham with cheese and tomato. You wild man, you.”

Tugging her to him with his hand on the back of her nape, he kissed her laughter into his mouth. “Eat your fruit,” he murmured afterward, nipping at her lower lip…and suckling at it when that wasn’t enough.

He wasn’t sure how the food got pushed aside, Lara stretched out on the grass beneath him, but they were tangled in a hot, wet kiss, his hand splayed on the silken skin of her abdomen when someone sprayed water all over his back and nape.

Jerking up, he found himself looking into the innocent eyes of a wolf pup who’d just shaken himself dry after jumping into the lake and racing up the slope to them. Recognizing the scamp, Walker gripped him by the scruff of his neck and brought that furry little face close to his own. “You are in big trouble.”

Ben growled at him, batting at his chin with tiny claws that did no damage.

Husky laughter intertwined with the baby growls.

Turning, he found Lara sitting back up, having fixed the pretty spring green cardigan she wore as a top. “Give him to me.” She shook her head at the teacher who’d started to clamber up the slope after the runaway.

Grinning his thanks, the older male went back down to the shore. “You,” Lara continued, “finish your lunch before time runs out.”

Realizing they only had about twenty more minutes, he obeyed the order as Lara gave Ben a smacking kiss before putting the pup down in the sunshine. “Dry off first, then I’ll cuddle you.”

Ben gave a huge sigh, but sat down on his haunches, muzzle turned toward Walker and ears pricked so hard they might as well have been frozen. Wanting to laugh, Walker broke off half his sandwich and held it out for the pup to grip in his teeth.

Lara leaned into him as Ben put the sandwich on the grass and sprawled down to nibble at it with surprising neatness. “They are so adorable at this age.” Affection in every syllable.

“Want one of your own?”

Her fingers, having curved around his biceps, squeezed. “Walker…are you serious?” Huge eyes. “I wasn’t sure— After—I took care that I wouldn’t accidentally fall pregnant.”

Cupping her cheek, he shook his head, humbled once again by the depth and generosity of her love. “There is no comparison.” His painful experience at Yelene’s hand, when he’d lost his unborn child to her mercenary desire to protect her own “uncontaminated genetic line,” didn’t blind him to the truth that Lara would fight to the death to protect their children. “I want to have more children, and I want to have them with you.”

Her eyes shone wet, her voice shaky when she spoke. “Changelings are less fertile than Psy or humans, so it might take time, but I hope not.” Throwing her arms around his neck, she rained kisses on his face, her happiness a luminous warmth. “Marlee and Toby will be such good older siblings. I don’t want too big an age gap.”

Throat thick, he held her tight. No one would’ve blamed her for forgetting Toby and Marlee at this moment, but she hadn’t, her heart huge.

A cold nose poked between them, followed by a wiggling body, Ben excited to join in their fun, though his curious eyes said he didn’t understand what had just occurred. Chuckling, Walker brought the pup into their embrace.

“Yes,” Lara said, laving more affection on the boy, “I want one just like him…with his daddy’s green eyes.”