Nalini Singh: Branded by Fire

“Could be both,” Riley murmured, his beautiful hair turning bronze in the quiet dawn light. “A very deliberate demonstration of power, and a smoke screen.”

“They failed with the assassination attempts on the Councilors,” Mercy said. “Which leaves Bowen and his group as the most likely targets.”

Riley was thinking along the same lines. “We need to warn them.”

“And get the bomb squad out there.” Mercy pulled out her cell phone.

“After you do that,” Hawke said, “I need both of you to head up to the Glade.”

Riley felt Mercy bristle. “You’re not my alpha.”

“Technicality,” Hawke said with his customary arrogance. “It’s for the meeting with WindHaven.”

Riley decided he’d have to punch Hawke—several times—when Mercy turned to him after the other man left to talk to someone else, and bit out, “I don’t care what we have to do, I’m not leaving my pack even if we mate.”

“Even if?” He grabbed her arm, pulled her toward him. “You are not doing this to me. We’re as good as mated.” If she took back everything that had happened between them, if she said it hadn’t mattered, it would fucking break him.

“I’m still not a wolf.” A baring of teeth. Then, to his surprise, she kissed him with all the firestorm intensity of her nature. “And I’ll never call that asshole my alpha.”

Riley didn’t even consider defending Hawke. “There has to be some way to leave you connected to DarkRiver.”

“I can’t think how.” She sounded frustrated, angry, at the end of her rope. “If I lose that . . . if the blood bond snaps . . . God, Riley, what will I do?”

He closed his arms around her, understanding exactly how she felt. Being a lieutenant wasn’t a position, it was part of who he was. “Mercy, I—” What the hell could he say? There was no way to fix this. One of them would have their blood bond to their alpha broken. And if it was tied to dominance, as it most likely was, then there was a high chance it would be Mercy. “I wish I could fix it so I’d be the one who’d have to leave my pack.”

Her body tensed. “You’d hate giving up your blood link to SnowDancer.”

“Not as much as I hate being helpless while you’re hurting.” He held her tight. He was her mate, her protector. And yet he knew that if they became one, he’d hurt her as no one had ever before hurt her. That was unacceptable.

“Maybe we can manipulate the dominance somehow,” he said, seeing possibilities, “fix it so it’s me who shifts packs.” It would rip out a massive chunk of his heart, but if it was the only way to protect his mate, he’d do it a hundred times over. “Dominance is fluid, capable of change. All we have to do is find the right trigger.”

“Riley—”

“Shh. Just let me hold you. Just for a second.”

She softened in his arms, showing a courage he wasn’t sure even he possessed. “Kitty cat, we’ll figure out a way.” Because he never wanted Mercy to feel less, feel broken. He’d savage himself before he’d allow that.

The Information Merchant was dead. But his computers weren’t. They ran with quicksilver efficiency. And when the final check-in deadline passed with no contact from their master, the computers shifted operations.

The Information Merchant had been an honest man as far as spies went. He’d found information and he’d handed it over for the agreed price. He’d never held anyone to ransom, never used what he’d discovered for blackmail. It was bad for business.

However, he knew that not everyone was like him. So he’d made contingency plans—he saw no reason to maintain the faith with anyone who would kill him. Five seconds after the final deadline, his computers sent comprehensive details of his last employer—the Human Alliance—the information he’d found, and the plans of his associates to the Council.

But the computers didn’t stop there. The Merchant had decided to leave a mark on the world. A second set of data, this one limited to the details of the other plans he’d managed to unearth, was sent to media stations in the affected areas, the information routed through servers around the world to confuse the trail.

Only after those tasks were complete did the computers begin the total erasure of their files. Ten minutes later, the Information Merchant truly was dead.

Mercy was in the car on the way to the isolated warehouse that Bowen and his people were currently evacuating, when her phone rang. “Sage? What is it? Is Grey—”

“It’s not Sage,” said an unfamiliar female voice. “It’s Clara, from CTX. I’m using Sage’s office line. I knew he’d have your number as a quickcode—”

“Slow down, kitten,” Mercy said over the girl’s rapid speed. Clara, she recalled, was a human intern. A very young one. “What do you need me for?”

“An e-fax came through a minute ago and I can’t find anyone—” A pause, the sound of air being gulped. “Sorry. I’m just freaked. There are probably people here but I thought you should know—the fax says there’s going to be a bomb going off in the city in half an hour. Exactly 7:32 a.m.”

Mercy sat up. “Details?”

When Clara read them off, Mercy blew out a breath. “Anything else?”

“It says the Human Alliance is behind this and other fatal attacks around the world, and asks for a boycott of their businesses in protest. Shall I send the fax to your phone?”

“Yes.” She shot it to both Hawke and Lucas as soon as it landed in her in-box. “And, Clara—good call.”

Hanging up on the relieved girl, she turned to Riley. “Floor it. We have a deadline.”

Riley did as asked, and they made it to Bowen’s group in plenty of time. Warned by Mercy, the team had cleared out with military precision. Though Bowen was pissed.

“How the fuck did they get a bomb inside?” Near-black eyes narrowed. “It had to be one of us, someone they turned.”

The tiny Eurasian woman beside him frowned. “We can’t know that.”

“Where the hell is Claude then? I haven’t seen him for twenty-four hours.”

Mercy left them arguing in low voices and headed over to rejoin Riley. “Chance of collateral damage?” she asked, looking around in the unexpectedly cloudy morning light. At least the fog was manageable, barely licking at their ankles.

Riley shook his head. “None. Other warehouses are empty. Bowen and his team swept them for vagrants on their way out, and I did a second sweep.”

“Good.” She rubbed her forehead. “Bomb squad’s setting up now—they might be able to find and disarm the device using one of their bots.”

Glancing around to ensure that everyone was out of the danger zone, he nudged her to follow. “We need to clear the perimeter.”

As they walked, Mercy could sense his wolf clawing at the surface of his skin. Her leopard wasn’t much better. But she knew it was worse for him. It was just the way nature worked—the mating dance could push a predatory changeling male close to insanity. Riley was holding it together. For her.

And for a wolf changeling of his possessive, intensely protective nature to fight the instincts of his beast . . . it had to be a trip through hell itself.

I wish I could fix it so I’d be the one who’d have to leave my pack.

It had been no false promise. She knew he’d do it if it was in any way possible. Riley would give up everything to keep her from being hurt.

He’s got a heart as big as Texas—he’ll die for you without blinking. But he doesn’t expect anyone to do the same for him.

Maybe, she thought, her own heart expanding past all fear, all worry, it was time Riley learned what it was to be mated to a leopard. That leopard was finally ready to take a leap in the dark, trusting he’d catch her on the other side. And for her, it was very much a conscious decision—she was too strong, too independent, to fall into this by chance.