Shards of Hope (Psy-Changeling 14)

It was SnowDancer that had taken point during the initial negotiations with BlackSea, since the water-based changelings had reached out directly to the wolves. The DarkRiver leopards, their closest allies, had agreed to remain in the background, though the lines of communication between the two packs had stayed open throughout. Prior to the final alliance, however, all three alphas had met face-to-face, because SnowDancer would not ally with anyone who did not also ally and deal with DarkRiver and vice versa.

The two packs had a blood bond that went deeper than any relationship they had with another pack. While neither alpha would admit it, Judd had the sense that the packs were becoming one while remaining distinct and separate. They were two branches of a powerful family, a truth that would be sealed the day Mercy gave birth.

“No seacraft spotted,” Lucas told them as they stepped out of the back of the warehouse and onto the private pier protected from prying eyes by high fences on either side. “We did sense a disturbance in the water a few minutes out. They’re on their way.”

Hawke folded his arms, pale blue eyes narrowed. “Since when can you sense disturbances in the water, cat?”

“Since we placed sensors in a deep perimeter into the bay, wolf.” Lucas’s own eyes glinted panther green in the quickly falling darkness. “Seemed smart if we’re going to have water changelings coming in and out on a regular basis. Wouldn’t want to miss an invading force.”

“So little trust.”

“Exactly the same amount as you.”

Both alphas grinned. Because an alliance was one thing. True trust took years to form. And a blood bond such as that between SnowDancer and DarkRiver was so rare that most other changeling packs couldn’t believe it was real. Especially given that both were predatory packs.

Respect, Judd thought, was the bedrock of that relationship.

The water stirred in front of them at that moment, a woman in a sleek black wetsuit rising out of it, her eyes a translucent hazel uptilted a tiny bit at the corners and her black hair slicked to her skull. Two others rose with her, men Judd tagged as Malachai and Griffin from his premeeting briefing by Riaz.

Malachai dwarfed Miane’s five-foot-five or five-foot-six height, his shoulders broad and his body muscular. Griffin, by contrast, wasn’t much taller than Miane, but he moved the same way Judd had seen the most dangerous DarkRiver cats move. Light on his feet, his muscles fluid.

The two males were wearing only wetsuit pants, their chests bare, while Miane Levèque’s suit appeared to have no zippers or other fastenings that Judd could see now that she’d hauled herself out of the water and onto the pier.

No one had moved forward to offer help. In time, the BlackSea alpha might accept Lucas’s or Hawke’s assistance in such a situation, but that would take a friendship that hadn’t yet formed. Until then, like any alpha, Miane Levèque would not appreciate any such courtesy—would, in fact, see it as an insult.

“Welcome to DarkRiver territory,” Lucas said, as Miane made eye contact with him and Hawke in turn. Her eyes were no longer a human hazel, but an intense, endless black that echoed the deepest part of the ocean. So pure was the onyx of her irises that it made it appear as if she had no pupils.

Stefan had once described the silken darkness of the depths to Judd. Living on Alaris gave the other Tk a unique perspective on the world. Judd wondered if Miane Levèque swam that deep, looked in through the portholes of the deep-sea station financed in large part by BlackSea.

“Thank you for the welcome.” Miane inclined her head in a regal move. “We tried not to damage any of your sensors.”

Lucas’s lips kicked up at what was very much an alpha comment, challenge and amusement entwined. “I appreciate it.” A nod back toward the warehouse. “Would you like to come inside? My packmates can bring in towels.”

“We do not mind being wet.” Miane’s expression remained cool. “My people and I have investigated the members of BlackSea involved in the attempt against the Psy squad you term allies.”

The Arrows weren’t yet full allies, but Judd appreciated that neither Hawke nor Lucas had made that distinction when asking for information. He knew it had to do with family: the Laurens were packmates, the Arrows their family, and thus by extension, due some measure of loyalty so long as they didn’t act against either pack.

“And?” The silver-gold of Hawke’s hair caught the fading light, the strands afire. “Find anything useful?”

Miane Levèque nodded at Malachai. The large male, who was standing with his hands clasped in front of him, spoke without moving an inch out of position. “Jim fell away from BlackSea eight months ago. Though he remains a technical member, paying a percentage of his income into the pack fund so that he can access BlackSea’s resources, he hasn’t attended any Gatherings in that time frame and, as far as I can ascertain, has broken contact with all his compatriots but three.

“Those three,” the sea changeling continued, “are scattered over remote parts of the world, so his connection with them is distant. None have heard from him in the past two months.”

Lucas slid his hands into the pockets of the black pants he wore with a dark green shirt open at the collar. “He’s turned loner?”

Miane Levèque was the one who answered. “Many sea-based changelings are loners by nature, or tight with only a small family unit. Prior to eight months ago, Jim was part of a pod of ten.”

“His pod doesn’t know why he went his own way,” Malachai said, following on so flawlessly from Miane that Judd wondered at their relationship. It wouldn’t be the first alpha-lieutenant pair he’d heard of since becoming part of SnowDancer.