Nalini Singh: Play of Passion

To two wonderful friends in different corners of the world: Junko, who made sure I wasn’t lost in translation; and Cora, who has both courage and heart; with a special shout-out to Cian and Calisto from Roman and Julian

In alphabetical order by first name

Key: SD = SnowDancer wolves DR = DarkRiver leopards

Abel RiviereSD soldier, father of Indigo and Evangeline

Andrew KincaidSD tracker, brother of Riley and Brenna

Anthony KyriakusPsy Councilor, father of Faith

Ashaya AleinePsy member of DR, former Council scientist, mated to Dorian

BenSD pup

BraceSD juvenile

Brenna KincaidSD tech, mated to Judd, sister of Andrew and Riley

Devraj SantosDirector of the Shine Foundation, one of the Forgotten (Psy who dropped out of the PsyNet over a hundred years ago and intermarried with the changeling and human populations)

Dorian ChristensenDR sentinel, mated to Ashaya

EliasSD soldier, mated to Yuki, father of Sakura

Evangeline (Evie) RiviereSD, sister of Indigo

Faith NightStarPsy member of DR, cardinal F-Psy (foreseer), mated to Vaughn, daughter of Anthony

GhostPsy rebel

HawkeSD alpha

Henry ScottPsy Councilor, husband of Shoshanna

Indigo RiviereSD lieutenant, daughter of Abel and Tarah, sister of Evangeline

JoshuaSD juvenile

Judd LaurenPsy member of SD, lieutenant, mated to Brenna, uncle of Sienna, Toby, and Marlee

Kaleb KrychekPsy Councilor

LaraSD healer

Lucas HunterDR alpha, mated to Sascha

LucySD, trainee nurse, assistant to Lara

MatthiasSD lieutenant

Max ShannonHuman, Nikita’s security chief, married to Sophia

Mercy SmithDR sentinel, mated to Riley

Ming LeBonPsy Councilor

Nikita DuncanPsy Councilor, mother of Sascha

RiazSD lieutenant

Riley KincaidSD lieutenant, mated to Mercy, brother of Andrew and Brenna

Sascha DuncanPsy member of DR, cardinal empath, mated to Lucas, daughter of Nikita

Shoshanna ScottPsy Councilor, wife of Henry

Sienna LaurenPsy member of SD, sister of Toby, niece of Judd and Walker

SilviaSD juvenile

Sophia RussoJ-Psy, works for Nikita, married to Max

TaiSD, novice soldier

Tarah RiviereSD, mother of Indigo and Evangeline

Tatiana Rika-SmythePsy Councilor

TeijanRat alpha

Walker LaurenPsy member of SD, father of Marlee, uncle of Sienna and Toby

Xavier PerezHuman priest

The Psy havebeen pure, have been Silent for over a hundred years, their emotions conditioned out of them until a wall of ice separates them from the world. Passion and love, hate and sorrow are no longer things they know, except as weaknesses of the emotional human and changeling races.

But as winter thaws into spring in the year 2081, change is more than a whisper on the horizon. Too many powerful Psy have defected, too many are breaking conditioning, and too many fractures riddle the Net.

Some say it is inevitable that Silence will fall.

And some will kill to hold it.

Indigo wiped therain off her face, clearing it for a split second, if that. The torrential downpour continued with relentless fury, slamming ice-cold bullets against her skin and turning the night-dark of the forest impenetrable. Ducking her head, she spoke into the waterproof microphone attached to the sodden collar of her black T-shirt. “Do you have him in your sights?”

The voice that came back was deep, familiar, and, at that instant, lethally focused. “Northwest, half a mile. I’m coming your way.”

“Northwest, half a mile,” she repeated to ensure they were both on the same page. Changeling hearing was incredibly acute, but the rain was savage, drumming against her skull until even the high-tech receiver she’d tucked into her ear buzzed with noise.

“Indy, be careful. He’s functioning on the level of a feral wolf.”

Under normal circumstances, she’d have snarled at him for using that ridiculous nickname. Tonight, she was too worried. “That goes double for you. He hurt you in that first tangle.”

“It’s only a flesh wound. I’m going quiet now.”

Slicking back her hair, she took a deep breath of the watery air and began to stalk toward their prey. Her fellow hunter was right—a pincer maneuver was their best bet of taking Joshua down without damage. Indigo’s gut clenched, pain blooming in her heart. She didn’t want to have to hurt him. Neither did the tracker on the boy’s trail—the reason why the bigger, stronger wolf had been injured in the earlier clash.

But he’d have to if they couldn’t bring Joshua back from the edge; the boy was so lost in anguish and torment that he’d given in to his wolf. And the wolf, young and out of control, had taken those emotions and turned them into rage. Joshua was now a threat to the pack. But he was also their own. They’d bleed, they’d drown in this endless rain, but they would not execute him until they’d exhausted every other option.

A branch raked across her cheek when she didn’t move fast enough in the stormy weather.

Sharp. Iron. Blood.

Indigo swore low under her breath. Joshua would catch her scent if she wasn’t careful. Turning her face up to the rain, she let it wash away the blood from the cut. But it was still too bright, too unmistakable a scent. Wincing—their healer would strip her hide for this—she went to the earth and slathered mud over the superficial injury. The scent dulled, became sodden with earth.

It would do. Joshua was so far gone that he wouldn’t detect the subtle undertone that remained.

“Where are you?” It was a soundless whisper as she stalked through the rain-lashed night. Joshua hadn’t taken a life yet, hadn’t killed or maimed. He could be brought back—if his pain, the vivid, overwhelming pain of a young male on the cusp of adulthood, allowed him to return.

A slashing wind . . . bringing with it the scent of her prey. Indigo stepped up her pace, trusting the eyes of the wolf that was her other half, its vision stronger in the dark. She was gaining on the scent when a wolf’s enraged howl split the air.

Growls, the sickening clash of teeth, more iron in the air.

“No!” Pushing her speed to dangerous levels, she jumped over fallen logs and new-made streams of mud and water without really seeing them, heading toward the scene of the fight. It took her maybe twenty seconds and a lifetime.

Lightning flashed the instant she reached the small clearing where they fought, and she saw them framed against the electric-dark sky, two changelings in full wolf form, locked in combat. They fell to earth as the lightning died, but she could still see them, her eyes tracking with lethal purpose.

The tracker, the hunter, was bigger, his normally stunning silver-colored fur sodden almost black, but it was the smaller wolf, his pelt a reddish hue, who was winning—because the hunter was holding back, trying not to kill. Aware her drenched clothing would make stripping difficult, Indigo shifted as she was. It was a searing pain and an agonizing joy, her clothes disintegrating off her, her body turning into a shower of light before forming into a sleek wolf with a body built for running.