Nalini Singh: Branded by Fire

“You thinking the chip could be a plant?”

He looked down the street, as if seeing what had happened the night before. “I had a call from Lucas while you were talking with your informant—Nash’s professor says he’s being courted by several Psy firms.”

Mercy blinked. “Psy are very, very insular. Especially with R & D. Why would they want a changeling?”

“A gifted changeling. Nash’s apparently a genius in nanotech. And we both know the Council is missing two of its top technical scientists.”

Mercy blew out a breath between her teeth. “The Implant Protocol crashed and burned with Ashaya’s broadcasts.” That protocol had been meant to turn the individuals of the PsyNet into a true hive mind, interconnected and seamless.

“Yeah, but what if someone’s got the idea to keep it on the back burner for the future?” He shrugged. “It’s a theory.”

“But if you’re right, either the Psy took Nash and pinned the blame on the Human Alliance, or—”

“The Alliance took him and did a sloppy job.”

Mercy rubbed her forehead. “Or we could be screwing ourselves up by making this too complicated.”

“I guess we’ll find out when we find Nash.”

She jerked up her head, hearing a very dangerous thread in his voice. “Hey, cut that out. We’re in a human neighborhood.”

The eyes that looked at her weren’t brown anymore. “And this is wolf territory.”

“Leopard and wolf.” She refused to back down under that predatory gaze, though it chilled her to the soul. She’d never seen Riley lose it like that. And so rapidly. “What flipped your lid?”

“If Nash is hurt, Willow’s going to blame herself for not being able to help her brother.”

Oh. “He won’t be—he’s a predatory changeling. We’re not easy to kill.” She made her voice as arrogant as she could. “Now, pull yourself out of that slobbering mess of self-pity and get with the program. This isn’t about you.”

Riley stared at her with those cold wolf eyes, a rich amber that held pure menace. “One day,” he said calmly, “your mouth is going to get you into more trouble than you can handle.”

Mercy felt a whisper of relief brush across her face. She was confident she could hold off Riley in a real fight long enough for help to arrive, but if he truly went wolf on her, there was a high chance he’d kill her. Unless she cheated. Which, in a fight to the death, she absolutely would. Sometimes, it wasn’t about strength, it was about intelligence. “Oh?” she said, and very deliberately ran the tip of her tongue over her upper lip.

Riley sucked in a breath and the wolf was gone between one heartbeat and the next. “Using sex to distract me?”

“Whatever works.” Oddly enough, much as she liked to piss him off, she didn’t like to see Riley hurting. Not over this. He’d gone through hell when Brenna had been abducted. So now, she grinned and said, “Plus, I know you’re going to be tormented by that image the rest of the day.”

To her surprise, Riley’s lips curved. Just a little. Just enough to make her stomach dive. “So, you want to play, kitty cat?”

“Men.” A disdainful snort, but Riley saw the flash of something richer, hotter, far more enticing in those changeable leopard eyes. Good. Because this wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.

“Can we get back to work now?” An arch question.

No one ever talked to him like Mercy. If he hadn’t had her all but purring for him only a night ago, he’d have imagined she didn’t know how. “There’s not much more we can do at this stage.” He thought over their options. “Lucas and Hawke have taken care of getting the word out to our informants, and looks like the Bakers weren’t able to give us any other possibilities to investigate. Have the comm lines been tapped?”

She nodded. “Nate organized it. Techs know to check all other cell phones and computers in the house—data’ll go through to Dorian automatically.” The blond sentinel was a genius at computers. “He’ll alert us if anything jumps out.”

“I’ll get Brenna to work on the satellite end of things.”

Mercy knew SnowDancer had full control of at least one satellite so that made sense. “I also tagged some out-of-state packmates while we were back at Tammy’s. They’re going to go chat with Nash’s friends at MIT.”

“Then, until we get a tip about the van, or the scene processing team comes up with something, we wait. Could be the abductors contact us.”

Mercy made a sound of frustration. “I hate waiting.”

“Leopards are good stalkers.”

“The human half of me prefers action.” Kicking at the grass, she nodded. “Okay, you’re right. Are you going to head back to the den or stay down here?”

He glanced at his watch. It was five after four. There was a chance something would break today. “We might as well go over the new training schedule.”

“I’d rather eat needles.” But she started walking back to their vehicle. “Why did we think it was a good idea for the cat and wolf juveniles to mix?”

“So the alliance would become stronger.” Riley wasn’t sure anyone had realized how volatile the combination would be. Leopards and wolves were both predators used to being at the top of the food chain. Add teenage hormones to the pot and you had a recipe for trouble. “It needs to be done.”

Mercy’s cell phone rang before she could respond. “Yeah?”

“Merce,” came Rina’s voice, “I’m tracking two gorgeous men heading to your place. Do I let them go?”

“They’ve got safe passage,” Mercy muttered, rubbing at her temples. She loved her grandmother to pieces, but she was going to strangle her for this. “And I don’t plan to be home anytime this century.”

“You need to make time, because wow. Hot. Beautifully, lickably hot.”

“You’re welcome to them.”

“Oh, no, I think they most definitely want you .”

Mercy hung up to the sound of the younger woman’s laughter . . . and realized Riley’s wolf was in his eyes. “Don’t go there.” She immediately turned down the volume of her phone.

“Who are they?”

“No one you need to concern yourself about.” Shoving the phone into a pocket, she raised an eyebrow. “You hungry?” Neither of them had eaten since before lunch.

It took him a long time to respond, but he finally nodded. “Yeah.”

They ended up parking in front of a fast-food place along a small suburban shopping strip. “Meat and grease. Yum.” She licked her lips, stomach rumbling. “I luuuuuuve burgers.”

“It’s crowded,” was Riley’s only comment.

“You can sit in the car. I’ll bring you something after I finish eating.” A smirk. “It’ll be cold and congealed but hey, wolves have no taste buds anyway, right?”

He got out and followed her to the restaurant. When he paid for her order, she shrugged and decided that was one battle she didn’t care to fight. With predatory changeling men, you had to make some allowances, or you’d give yourself a concussion. They were that bloody hardheaded. And since she still wasn’t letting Riley drive, this was a good enough compromise.

Not that Riley thought so. His expression was so irritated when they took their seats that the teenagers sitting at the next table—a group of nonpredatory changeling kids—gave them wary looks.

“Relax,” she told the kids. “He’s just grumpy because they didn’t have sweet-and-sour sauce.”

One of the girls ventured a nervous smile, but the kids went back to their meal.

Riley thrust a burger at her. “Put that in your mouth.”

“Are you telling me to shut my piehole?” She bit down on her burger and made a low purring sound in the back of her throat. “Nice.” It came out “Niishe.”