She frowned at him when he refused to release her. "Someone has to be or you'll run yourself into the ground." Then, unable to resist, she cupped his face in her hands, his unshaven jaw rasping against her palms, and kissed him . . . and kissed him. Phantom fingers stroked intimately between her legs in time to the thrust of his tongue in her mouth and she gasped. "Stop that," she said. "You're running on empty as it is."

He used his telekinesis to caress her once more before the sensation faded. "Unfortunately, you're right. I can feel my brain shutting down."

That decided it. She bullied her much bigger and stronger mate into the car and took them home. He insisted on a shower, but she made sure it was a quick one, pulling back the sheets so he could fall facedown on the futon after doing a haphazard job of drying himself. Picking up the towel he'd dropped on the floor, she rubbed it over his hair as he turned his face sideways on the pillow, his strong body sprawled naked across the bedding.

Her own body shimmered with flame at the temptation of him, and she couldn't resist running the towel slowly over the sweep of his back and lower, patting him dry with loving motions. "Sleep," she murmured, kissing the soft skin behind his ear. "I've got plans for you when you wake."

"Stay." It was an almost soundless request as sleep sucked him under, but she had no intention of doing anything else. Shucking off her clothes after putting away the towel, she crawled into bed beside her mate. Though he was lost in deepest sleep by then, he reached out and hauled her against the heat of his body.

For the first time since he'd left the den, she closed her eyes and fell into true, deep sleep.

Andrew had managed to corner Indigo in her office and was demanding a kiss in exchange for the little fossil he'd picked up for her when her cell phone started beeping in what he knew as the emergency code. He stood back as she took the call.

"What is it?" he asked after she hung up.

"Signs of Psy incursion in an entirely different location from where we've got most of our people," Indigo said, leaving the office at a jog. "Equipment, scent of explosives."

"Can we redirect our soldiers to that area?" he asked as he went with her to find Hawke.

She shook her head, told him the position of the site. "The terrain means we have a better chance of reaching it faster from here." They walked into a small training room to find Hawke sparring hand to hand with a sweating Harley.

Dismissing the boy when he saw Indigo, Hawke came to join them. His wolf was in his voice by the time Indigo finished speaking, but his orders were cool, intelligent. "Prep a team. We won't let them push us into responding half-a.s.sed, but neither are we going to sit back while they play games."

"It's a trap," Indigo said, voicing what Andrew was thinking. "No question about it. They probably chose that location because they still have cameras there. They'll be able to confirm if you're with us before they strike."

"Are you asking me to stay behind?" A soft question.

Andrew stepped up beside Indigo. "They can't a.s.sa.s.sinate you if you're not there."

"How do you think the pack will take the knowledge that I sat here safe while my people walked into danger?"

s.h.i.t. Andrew looked at Indigo, saw the same realization on her face. Hawke's lack of partic.i.p.ation would do as much damage as his being hurt.

After that, it took only twenty minutes to put together a team. Indigo, Andrew, D'Arn, Riaz, and six other soldiers would go with Hawke, while Riley would organize a team to protect the den just in case. "Where's Judd?" Riley asked.

"Down," Indigo answered, "but that's as well. We can't risk exposing him-not unless it's absolutely necessary." As far as the rest of the world-especially the PsyNet-was concerned, the entire Lauren family was long dead.

Riley gave a swift nod. "I've let Mercy know what's happening. She'll get the word out to the cats that there might be trouble in the city, too."

Grabbing high-powered weapons, they streamed out of the den and toward the area that looked to be the focal point of activity. The three SnowDancer sentries who'd detected the intrusion were already in position.

But the Psy had learned from their earlier mistakes when coming up against keen changeling senses. They teleported in just as the changeling group began to crest a rise at least a ten-minute walk from the site of the reported incursion.

The black-garbed men were shooting with high-impact projectile weapons as they appeared, the bullets designed to hit hard and splinter inside the body, ensuring the shrapnel would ricochet within walls of flesh, causing severe organ damage.

The SnowDancer group was directly in the line of fire.

CHAPTER 44.

"Down!" Hawke's call came as he twisted out of the way of a bullet, slamming D'Arn out of the way of another.

No one was. .h.i.t in the first volley as they used bursts of changeling speed to find cover, but Andrew felt a hard punch across his mind an instant later. His natural mental shield protected him from brain damage, but his ears rang-and he knew the shield wouldn't protect him if the Psy paused long enough to concentrate the blast of telepathic power.

Which meant the changelings couldn't allow them time to focus.

Leaving the sharpshooting to the marksmen in the group, Andrew circled out and around the Psy in the early evening gloom, sensing more than seeing two other SnowDancers melt away into the forest to do likewise. The Psy spun around, attempting to pick them off in the trees. But this was wolf territory, and Andrew didn't even need to look to see where he was going.

Not bothering to strip, he shifted into wolf form. And waited. When the Psy who'd trained his gun on the trees finally decided he'd killed what awaited within and turned, Andrew made his move, streaking out to sink his teeth into the man's throat. He'd ripped out that throat and was gone before the Psy's colleague noticed how far his partner had ventured from the tight formation of the attacking group. Even when they did notice the fallen male, a lone man turned to protect their flank.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

And it didn't have to do with the fact that they were unmistakably only interested in Hawke-even to the extent of leaving themselves open to enemy fire. A moment later, he heard gunshots from the other side. Somehow, in spite of the security beyond, the Psy had flanked them, pinning the SnowDancers.

The human half of Andrew might've sworn, but the wolf thought only in terms of turning the tables on this threat. Running to a better position, he saw Hawke, Riaz, and D'Arn standing back-to-back, holding off the Psy with well-placed bullets from weapons of their own. Indigo was gone, as were Elias, Sing-Liu, and a couple of others, and he knew Hawke had spun them off to deal with the group approaching from the other side.

The two other wolves who'd shifted had stayed behind, and Andrew saw one of them dart out and take down another Psy soldier when the man lowered his guard. A shot rang out and the wolf disappeared back into the trees, but the Psy male was already dead or dying, his throat so much meat.

Good. One less enemy to worry about.

As Andrew shimmied forward on his belly, having crept up behind another Psy attacker, he scented D'Arn's nose start to run. The mental a.s.saults were beginning to get through. Seeing that his prey had moved far enough away from the main group to be vulnerable, Andrew bunched his muscles, ready to take him out. But then he noticed the man in the center. He was shooting, but only enough to cover himself, most of his attention seeming to be on looking at Hawke . . . as if he was sending through a visual transmission.

Andrew realized what was about to happen a fraction of a second before another Psy teleported in directly in front of his alpha. Even Hawke's superhuman speed couldn't have avoided a bullet at that range. But Andrew had jumped toward Hawke in the split second between realization and the appearance of the a.s.sa.s.sin.

The bullet felt like a f.u.c.king anvil thrust into his abdomen, b.l.o.o.d.ying his fur and sending him crashing into Hawke and the others. His alpha went down, but didn't stay in place, rolling with Andrew to take up a more secure position behind a tree, Riaz and D'Arn doing the same on the other side. "Stay with me, Drew," Hawke ordered, putting pressure on Andrew's gushing wound. "If you die, Indigo will f.u.c.king skin me."

Andrew, his body starting to shut down, kept his eyes open long enough to see the Psy fall. They'd left themselves too open in focusing on their charge toward Hawke and now had no cover. Riaz took down two, D'Arn another. Two of the Psy managed to teleport out. That left three. Keeping pressure on Andrew's wound with his knee, Hawke steadied his arms and took aim. He shot the closest Psy operative in the kneecaps. As the target collapsed, Hawke took aim at the man next to the fallen Psy, his mouth grim, blood streaking his chest from Andrew's wounds.

But before Hawke could shoot, the second man turned his gun on his colleague and drilled a bullet through the injured male's skull. Hawke's bullet took him out a second later. The last man fell to a shot from Riaz.

Silence.

Indigo, Andrew thought as his chest spasmed, as blood began to pour out of his mouth, where was Indigo?

A rush of scent an instant later, of windstorms cut by steel.

His soul sighed in peace. His eyes closed.

Indigo felt her heart stop. "No, no!" Falling beside the severely injured wolf, she replaced Hawke's hands with her own.

"Judd," Hawke said, his gaze icy with control. "He can fix-"

"He wasn't just sleeping when we left-he was unconscious," Indigo said, throwing Hawke her new sat phone. "See if he's awake."

Hawke made the call, and she knew from his bleak expression that Judd remained unconscious. His powers to use telekinesis on the cell level, literally putting shattered bodies back together, would take time to regenerate after his recent trip.

Time Drew didn't have.

"Lara," Indigo said, determined not to lose this wolf who'd chased, charmed, and played his way into her heart. "We need to get him to Lara."

Hawke didn't bother to tell her that Drew was too badly injured, that they'd never be able to get him down to the den in time. He simply slipped his arms beneath the heavy body of the wolf and said, "Hold him here."

Hold him here.

Her wolf didn't hesitate. It dropped even its innermost barriers, and Indigo's heart, her soul went wide open. For an instant, nothing happened, and she wanted to keen in agony. It wasn't fair. He was hers! A mate could hold her other half to life, could will him to live.

Then untrammeled power slammed into her with such force that she went to her knees, her mind crashing with pain that wasn't hers as the mating bond snapped into place. "I've got him," she said, holding on to Drew's fading spirit with steely hands. "I've got you, Drew. Don't you dare make me fall in love with you and then leave. I'll hunt you down in the afterlife if I have to."

Hawke was already moving. And, somehow, she was walking beside him.

Riaz, she belatedly realized, had one muscular arm around her waist, was almost carrying her. "You just hold him," the lieutenant whispered in her ear, his voice harsh. "Hold him, Indigo."

She'd have nodded, but she didn't have the energy. It was taking everything she had to keep pushing her will, her anger, her fear, into the mating bond. She wasn't Psy, couldn't see the bond. But she could feel it, could almost touch it. And she knew when it flickered. So she poured more of her energy, her strength into it. She refused to allow herself to think of anything but success.

Of course it would work. Of course Drew would awaken to torment her again. Of course he wouldn't leave her. Please, Drew. She didn't know if she said the words out loud, but she knew when Lara ran out of the trees close to the den, her healer's heart having felt the tug of hurt.

"Drew," the healer said with pain shattering her voice before her expression turned practical, her shoulders going stiff. "Put him down. I'll see if I can heal some of the damage here."

That was the last thing Indigo was aware of hearing, her mind encasing her in a dark good-night. But she held on to Drew even then. He was hers. She would not let him go.

Lara glanced at Indigo even as she placed her hands over Drew's injury and fed her healing power into him. "G.o.d, she's stubborn. I'm going to have to kiss her after she wakes. She held him. She's still holding him."

Hawke glanced at Indigo's unconscious body and then at Drew. He said nothing, knowing Lara was well aware she could pull Pack energy from his body. It was something every healer could do, but only when it came to her own pack, her own alpha. He felt it when she began to pull, opened himself up to give more and more. He'd give the last drop of his blood for his pack.

Except this time, he wasn't sure if it would be enough to save two lives. Because if they lost Andrew, Indigo would go with him, stubbornly holding on to the very end. "Lara?"

"He's stable enough to move," the healer said, lines of strain flaring at the corners of her eyes. "But there's so much damage. The bullet shards ripped through most of his major organs."

Hawke said nothing as he carried Drew, with Riaz at his heels with Indigo. He simply concentrated on gathering strength from his blood bond with his lieutenants. It flowed in from Riley, from Riaz, from all of them across the state, strong and pure and given freely. He even felt Judd's cool energy as the Psy male responded in spite of his unconscious state. "We can't lose them, Lara."

Andrew was one of the "heart" pieces of the pack, those wolves who connected them all to each other in a way that was difficult to explain, but integral to the functioning of a healthy pack. Losing him would cut that heart wide open, leave them all bleeding . . . and losing Indigo would crush what hope remained. She was one of SnowDancer's strongest support pillars, the woman everyone-even Hawke-went to for advice.

"We won't," Lara said as they reached the infirmary, and she began to work, using both her healing gifts and her skill as a medical pract.i.tioner. Her a.s.sistant, Lucy, chased out everyone except Hawke, who stayed with one hand on Lara's shoulder to ease her access to the Pack energy inside him-and of course Indigo, who had woken long enough to collapse into a chair at the top of the bed, her hand on Drew's head.

It took hours.

Indigo came to consciousness again toward the end. He met her namesake eyes, saw that they were devoid of tears. He understood. Now was not the time to cry. Now was the time to fight. Finally, deep in the early hours of morning, he felt Lara stop drawing from him, from his lieutenants.

Her normally tan-brown skin holding a tinge of gray, she nodded at Indigo. "Tell him to stay in wolf form for the time being."

Indigo didn't argue, just said the words, and Hawke knew she'd be sending the force of her command down the mating bond as well. "Don't you dare shift until I say it's okay." Her voice was taut, her will absolute. "Lara?"

"I think I got the major damage," the healer said, her body trembling from the exertion.

Hawke tugged Lara to the warmth of his body. "He finally got Indigo to accept the mating bond," he said. "Do you really think the d.a.m.n stubborn wolf will give that up?"

That made Lara's lips curve a little and she rested against him as Lucy started to clean up. But she only allowed herself a short break. "I don't think we should move him, but we need to change this sheet. I have just about enough energy left for that."

"Hold on." Releasing her after a small squeeze, he moved around to slide his arms under the body of the large silver wolf as Indigo did the same for his head. "Lucy?"

The trainee nurse, her eyes red with unshed tears, nodded. "Ready."

As they lifted, she whipped out the bloodied sheet and slipped in a new one, with Lara helping from the other side. It only took a few seconds, and Drew didn't stir once.

CHAPTER 45.

Shoshanna put down the incident report. "Your unit failed."

"Yes." The only positive news was that the highly intelligent man who'd organized the operation had made it out alive. "We won't get another chance. They're continuing to dismantle the surveillance and they've further strengthened their security."

"You should have hit the wolf alpha in the city."

Henry wondered if his wife thought she was in charge of their "partnership" again. But he said nothing on that point. Let Shoshanna lull herself into a false sense of superiority. It would, in the end, make her easier to kill. "Such an operation would not have fit in with our long-range plan."

As that plan included taking the city and its resources as cleanly as possible, Shoshanna had to agree with her husband. "The others?"

"My men were ordered to eliminate the DarkRiver alpha, but as our surveillance efforts were focused on the wolves, they could not get to him. It appears he spends most of his time away from the city at present."

"Protecting his unborn child," Shoshanna said. "A child that should not exist."

"Be that as it may, we've tipped our hand and they are now all on high alert." Henry's head gleamed mahogany dark under the lights as he rose to his feet. "It may be time to change the long-range plan."

Shoshanna wasn't Henry's wife except in the legal sense, but she'd worked with him long enough to comprehend his meaning. "You want to sacrifice San Francisco."

Henry turned from the window. "It will cause economic chaos on a ma.s.s scale, but that can be managed once we remove the roots of the trouble."

Shoshanna considered their options. An all-out war would have a serious impact on the world, including on the businesses that had backed the Scotts to date, but by the same token, a clean strike would eliminate ninety percent of the problem. "How strong is your army?"

"Give me two more months."

And then, Shoshanna thought, San Francisco would burn.

CHAPTER 46.