Mine to Possess

“I think he’ll be okay with that,” Talin said, a lump in her throat as she thought of the future now within Jon’s reach. “And he hasn’t hit his growth spurt. Another year and he’ll be taller, his body different. He’ll start shaving.”

“Tell him he’s getting that tattoo lasered off.” Tamsyn made a face. “It’s hideous.”

Talin had to agree. “And distinctive. His hair-it’s distinctive, too.”

Clay grunted. “He’ll cut it, no problem.”

Talin went to argue with him, then stopped. Jon probably would cut his shoulder-length hair without a peep-the boy was already showing the first signs of hero worship, and it was Clay he’d fixated on. Just like Noor. Talin could guess why. There was a deep protectiveness in Clay, a sense that once he made you his own, he’d do anything to keep you safe. Like he had for her.

She turned into his embrace. He dropped an absentminded kiss on her hair and at that moment, everything was right in her world. The Psy weren’t out there looking for more innocent children, she wasn’t slowly dying from a disease that was stealing into her very cells, and Clay trusted her without exception.

A few hours later, Clay found himself standing in a corner of the yard, watching Talin talk with the kids. When Dorian walked up to him, he didn’t waste time. “What didn’t you say in front of the others?”

The blond sentinel folded his arms. “How did you know?”

“I’m older and wiser, Boy Genius.”

“Knock it off.” Dorian scowled in Talin’s direction. “I swear if that nickname takes off, I’m going to take your Tally and dump her in the nearest body of ice-cold water.”

“Then I’d have to beat you up.”

“Hey, I spar with a Psy assassin on a regular basis and I’m not dead.” He began to play his pocketknife over his fingers in a familiar fashion. “Ashaya gave me some information I didn’t think you’d want Talin to hear.”

Clay kept his eyes on the tableau in front of him as Sascha came out of the house and headed toward Talin. For the first time, Clay realized how glad he was for Sascha’s presence in the pack. Without her, they might have lost Dorian forever after his sister’s murder. The sentinel Talin teased-it wasn’t the same Dorian as the one who had once wanted to tear open Sascha’s throat.

He hoped his alpha’s mate could help Jon and Noor, too, but knew that even the most gifted empath couldn’t fix everything. Until Tally had come back to him, Clay had been in danger of hurtling into such deep violence that nothing could’ve brought him back. And if she dared die on him, he’d hunt her into the afterlife.

“So,” he said, calming the leopard’s possessive violence by focusing on Tally. She made his heart so fucking tight, it hurt. “What did Aleine tell you?”

“That these two”-Dorian nodded toward the children-“might be safe, but the people running these experiments aren’t going to stop. Head guy’s name is Larsen. Ashaya thinks the man will come after Talin, too.”

His leopard roared to angry wakefulness. “We knew that. With Max down, she’s become their most visible adversary.”

Clay reached up and caught a football that seemed to come out of nowhere, then threw it across to the other side of the yard-in the direction of the woods that backed onto Tamsyn’s home. Nico and Jase were just walking out. The teenagers grabbed it, waved, then jogged over to join Talin and Sascha.

Nico was clearly taken with Tally. Clay didn’t interrupt the kid’s flirting. The boys knew what lines they could and couldn’t cross, and the fact that Nico was secure enough to seek affection from Tally meant he saw her as part of DarkRiver.

“We’ve got to clean up the loose ends.” His blood simmered at the hint of danger to his mate, but that wasn’t his top concern. Anyone who dared threaten her would die, end of story. He had seen her broken once. Never again.

Tally, eyes glazed, face splattered with blood, huddling in the corner. Quiet. So quiet. Even then, even after he’d terrified her with his violence, even after he’d left her alone with strangers, she had protected him with her silence.

Zeke got desperate when I still wouldn’t talk…

His Tally had gone mute rather than betray him. She had continued to love him though he’d broken every damn promise he’d ever made to her. It enraged the leopard that he couldn’t keep her safe now, reminded him of those years when Orrin had been hurting her and he hadn’t known. She was his life. He’d destroy the world for her. Yet this disease left him helpless.

“I had a call from Dev Santos earlier.” He forced himself to think past the blood fury. “He’s disposed of the mole.”

Dorian gave him a curious look. “Disposed?”

“I’m guessing in very small pieces.”

“I like this guy already.” Leaning back against the wall of the house, Dorian frowned. “You know, if these kidnappers have lost that source of information, they’re going to need a new one.” He swore. “They won’t kill Talin. They’ll try to take her alive.”