Sascha stared at him. “I didn’t realize pregnancy of four weeks’ duration made me incapable of standing upright.”
“It makes me incapable of reason,” Lucas said, charm in every inch of him. “Humor me.”
Rolling her eyes, Sascha turned back to Mercy. “We should go in and grab seats—Tamsyn was here when you woke this morning and she said you’re going to be fine, but you need more bed rest. Lara gave the same orders to you.” She pointed an admonishing finger at Riley.
“Sascha darling, I don’t know what you and the cat get up to in bed, but those two aren’t resting.” Hawke padded over, and Mercy noticed that though he was wearing jeans and a white tee, he was barefoot. Crazy wolf.
Lucas cut Hawke off, opening the door to usher his mate inside. Mercy went in with Sascha and Riley followed. They heard a thump an instant later, and then some swearing, but when the two alphas walked in, there wasn’t a bruise on either of them. Sascha gave them both a narrow-eyed glance, got choirboy smiles in response.
“I’m assuming,” Mercy said, trying to control her laughter, “that something weird’s happened with the Web?”
Sascha nodded. “When you and Riley first mated, it was as if the Web and the SnowDancer network didn’t know what to do. In most cases, I think one of you would’ve been pulled out of your network—a connection across networks is theoretically impossible.”
Riley’s fingers played over her hip. Worried. Possessive. She leaned into him. “So what happened?”
“The impossible.” Sascha’s eyes sparkled. “The mating bond snapped into place between you two, without removing either of you from your respective webs.”
Riley stirred. “Are you saying you can see both the SnowDancer and DarkRiver networks now?”
“Not exactly.” Sascha blew on the surface of the glass coffee table to steam it up, then used her finger to draw the connections as she explained. “Lucas and Hawke have a blood bond because of the alliance, so the packs are already bonded on some level.”
Hawke shifted and Mercy’s cat picked up an edge in his movements. Not directed at anyone in the room but there. “Why didn’t our networks merge?” he asked.
Sascha looked from wolf alpha to leopard alpha. One was by the fireplace. One behind his mate. Opposite sides of the room. “Because neither of you will submit to the other.”
“Hell, no!” From two different throats.
“See.” Sascha threw up her hands. “I think a changeling network has to have an alpha at the core—and you can’t have two alphas. But the alpha-to-alpha blood bond has obviously had some psychic effect. I can’t see the wolf web,” she explained, “but I can sense that it’s now side by side with DarkRiver’s web on the psychic plane. The mating bond goes from Mercy and disappears, and since you two are mated . . .”
“It means it reappears on the other side.” Mercy thought about it. “If the blood bond hadn’t been there between DarkRiver and SnowDancer?”
“Honestly,” Sascha said, “I don’t know. Could be we’d have ended up with the same result. You’re both so dedicated to your packs—with changelings, such things seem to matter a great deal when it comes to the psychic plane.”
Riley straightened his unbroken leg. “You want us to choose.” A glance at Hawke, then back at Lucas.
“It’s necessary,” Hawke said, pale eyes intent.
Lucas nodded. “Your animals won’t like not having a concrete answer. Plus, we need it for the stability of the pack structure.”
Mercy turned to Riley and raised an eyebrow. “Okay?”
Nodding, he looked to Hawke. “I’ll stay SnowDancer, she’ll stay DarkRiver.”
“There won’t be a loyalty issue,” Mercy said. “My loyalty is to my mate first, then my pack.” It was how it had always been. Pack was built on the ties of family. And family began with mating. “Don’t ask us to keep secrets from each other.”
Lucas made a mock obeisance at her pointed reference. “As if we’d even try,” he said, rising to his full height. “Mates come first.”
Riley brushed his lips over Mercy’s hair in a caress so tender, her toes curled. “It would also,” he said, “make our domestic life easier if you two didn’t declare war against each other anytime soon.”
“Why would we do that when we now have the liaison team of our dreams?” Lucas was all but rubbing his hands. So, for that matter, was Hawke.
“I hate you both,” Mercy said without heat.
Riley put his arm around her. “Me, too.”
EPILOGUE
There was a celebration in the Pack Circle a week later, after Tamsyn and Lara had cleared both Mercy and Riley. It was a joint celebration—of the new life coming into the pack, and of Riley and Mercy’s mating.
Bas thumped Riley on the back. “Look after her or I’ll scalp you in your sleep.” A smile so feral that if Mercy hadn’t known better, she’d have thought her brother didn’t even know what a suit was, much less a financial market.