Mine to Possess (Psy-Changeling 4)

Don't kill me! I promise I won't touch her again!

Orrin had begged for his life, promised to turn himself in after the first slash of Clay's leopard claws. Clay had executed him anyway. For the pain he had put in Tally's eyes, for the childhood he had stolen, Orrin Henderson had deserved to die. But to the authorities, Orrin's words would have changed Clay's act from manslaughter in defense of a child, to cold-blooded retaliation.

They would have been wrong.

Clay had stopped thinking straight the second he'd heard that first, faint cry, the utter despair in it a violation. As Orrin broke Tally, something in Clay had broken, too. He could have no more stopped himself from killing Orrin than he could have left Tally to take the hurt. Part of him wondered if, deep down, she still blamed him. His leopard's heart remained deeply scarred by the failure.

Without warning, warmth soothed into his bones, a silent whisper telling him the past was over and done. What they were now was the truth. He accepted that whisper, accepted it was Tally speaking to him, though she might not know it yet. He understood full well that she thought they weren't truly mated. He hadn't done anything to correct her misapprehension - with the shadow of disease hovering over her, she didn't want to bond him to her in such an inescapable fashion, didn't want to handicap him.

Sometimes, Tally could be very stupid for a smart woman.

She was his life, his soul. Without her, he would have gone rogue sooner rather than later. Faith had said that to him, once. That he was on the thinnest of edges and that his time would come. Now, Clay felt blood fury roar through him, inciting the urge to maim, to tear, to annihilate this creature who had dared threaten Tally...and knew that what Faith had foretold had come to pass. Today would decide his future, tell him whether he could be the mate Tally deserved.

"They're coming." Dorian's voice. "Unable to confirm if male is the one described by Jon. Female is blonde, possible match to description of Ashaya's assistant."

Clay buried his emotions, knowing he had to act as a man tonight, not a ravaging beast. A second later, he felt his nostrils flare as the night air brought him the sharp metallic stink of Psy. Not all of the race had that scent - Vaughn's theory was that it only marked those who had accepted Silence on the most fundamental level. The ones who retained some spark of humanity, they smelled human, normal.

Clay could smell the female, too, but couldn't tell if the sharp metallic scent was her own or an overwhelming echo of the male's. The leopard didn't particularly like hurting women, but he had been in this cold war with the Psy long enough to know that female hearts and minds could carry as much evil as male - Nikita Duncan, Sascha's mother, would've had no compunction in ordering the extermination of her own daughter if she'd thought she could get away with it. But knowing that didn't make him any less uncomfortable with the idea.

"I can see them in Tally's room. No lights." Dorian again.

Clay frowned. "That's Talin to you, Boy Genius."

Dorian's growl was low. "Ice-fucking-cold water."

They went silent as their earpieces picked up the sound of floorboards squeaking. Neither intruder had spoken yet. If they remained silent, interrogation might have to give way to a simple execution, Clay thought with cold logic. Once his identity was confirmed, Larsen had to die, no ifs, no buts.

"Should I pull the curtains over this window?" a female voice asked.

Damn! Clay could've kicked himself for leaving those curtains up there. One pull and Dorian's line of sight was gone.

"Leave it," the male said. "We can't risk some nosy neighbor catching the movement and becoming suspicious."

"As you say. What should I look for?"

"Do you have no initiative?" The man's voice was pure Psy, but there was an ugly undertone to it the animal in Clay understood all too well. Safe behind the shield of Silence, this monster enjoyed abusing and bullying those weaker than himself. "Look for any signs of where Talin McKade might have gone after she left this apartment. She was here a few hours ago - there should be some evidence of her presence."

"This seems an illogical endeavor," the woman persisted. "Have you checked the detective's records?"

"Why do you think we wasted our time going to that motel in Sacramento? He had it listed as her place of residence."

Good on Max, Clay thought with a savage grin.

Something crunched and he realized one of the two Psy had stepped on the broken holo-frames scattered in Tally's living room.

"Careful," the male hissed. "We don't want someone calling Enforcement."

"I thought you had Councilor LeBon's support. Surely he can stifle any Enforcement action."

A pause. "It seems Ashaya has used my absence to convince him that my results are worthless. I need Jonquil Duchslaya to prove her wrong - and Talin McKade is certain to know his present whereabouts. The human will serve the dual purpose of providing me with a new access point into Shine's databases."

"You think Councilor LeBon will allow you to continue your experiments?"

"Yes, of course, once I'm able to return and show him the real results."

"Why continue?"

"Are you questioning my judgment?"

"Your findings indicate beyond any doubt that the brains of the Forgotten are different from ours. They can't be utilized as test subjects."

"It's not about using them as test subjects." The man's voice held a superior tone, as if he was deigning to share a secret. "It's about finding out what they've become, eliminating the possible threat to the Psy."

"That's an illogical presumption," the female said. "They are no threat, their powers have mutated, weakened - "