Just over twenty-four hours after his conversation with Commander Brecht, Max exited his gate at San Francisco’s domestic terminal with a single suitcase and one very pissed-off cat in an industrial-strength carrier. A cat whose yowling was starting to make people look at Max with the narrow-eyed stare reserved for those who beat their dogs and ran their horses to exhaustion.
“Max!”
Looking up, he saw a familiar tawny-haired figure. Putting the suitcase and carrier down, he picked Talin up in his arms and gave her a kiss on the lips. “Damn, you look good, Tally.” Her face glowed with health, her freckles golden against skin that had managed to retain the burnished hue of summer even in the crisp chill of January.
A growl emerged from the green-eyed man on Tally’s right, his gaze vivid against rich, dark skin. “Once, I’ll allow. Kiss her again and all you’ll be kissing is the asphalt.”
Grinning, Max put a laughing Talin on her feet and held out his hand. “Nice to see you, too.”
Clay shook it. “Hello, Cop.” His eyes went to Max’s feet.
And Max realized Morpheus had gone utterly silent the instant they neared the couple. Glancing down, Max saw the black-haired ball of indignant fur staring at Clay. “I think he’s trying to figure out what the hell kind of cat you are.”
Talin bent, went to reach through the bars as if to pet the cat.
“Don’t,” Max warned, one hand on her shoulder. “He bites.”
“He bites Tally,” Clay said, looking at the cat with eyes that were no longer human, “I’ll show him my teeth.”
“Shh, now,” Talin said, stroking Morpheus gently on the forehead. “He’s just mad about being cooped up, aren’t you, gorgeous?” Looking up at Max, she mock-whispered, “Clay gets snarly on flights, too.”
“Watch it,” Clay said, but the curve of his lips made Max grin. Man was well and truly a goner.
“I’m glad you brought him,” Talin said, rising to her feet. “He’d have missed you.”
“Nah—he’d have found another sucker to feed him,” Max said, knowing the former alley cat had the survival instincts of a rat on a sinking ship. “But since I’m not sure how long this’ll take, I figured Morpheus might as well come and see the world with me.” Nodding thanks at Clay as the changeling male grabbed his suitcase, Max took the carrier. “I appreciate the pickup.”
“I voted to leave you stranded,” Clay muttered.
Talin linked her arm with Max’s. “Don’t mind him. Secretly, he loves you.”
“Very secretly.” Max’s heart went tight in a good way at seeing Talin so happy. They’d become close during the investigation into several missing kids a while back, but he’d known her on and off for years, their beats colliding in New York. She’d worked with troubled kids—and Enforcement was always picking up those kids.
But it wasn’t just that. He and Talin had a connection, one they’d never really articulated but which was simply understood. They’d both been children caught in the foster-care system, understood the scars that could leave. It wasn’t the kind of thing you could really explain to anyone who hadn’t lived through it.
But Clay got it. Max didn’t know the big man’s history, but the connection Max shared with Talin was slowly being formed with her mate as well. Max had taken them to dinner the last time they’d come up to Manhattan, had ended up getting well and truly drunk with the leopard. Talin had herded them home from the bar, promising to tear the hides off them the entire time, but she’d tucked them both in that night—pushing Max down onto their hotel couch and telling him to stay put.
Grinning at the memory of the pulsating rock music she’d played the next morning as punishment, he looked down at the wild mane of her hair. “Did you check out the apartment?” He’d e-mailed them the details of the place where he’d been put up for the duration.
“It’s near Fisherman’s Wharf,” Talin said, “not that far from the Duncan building. Nice area—close to the shops.”
Clay glanced up as he stowed Max’s bag in the trunk of the car. “You sure you don’t want to tell us what you’re doing for Sascha’s mother?” His eyes were human again—and full of a keen intelligence, as befitted one of DarkRiver’s top men.
“Sorry, can’t say anything. Not yet.” Max put Morpheus in the backseat. “I might be able to share more once I know what’s going on.” Getting into the seat beside the still silent cat, he strapped up and waited for Clay and Talin to get in. Except . . . “What the—” Reaching beneath his thigh, he found himself holding some sort of a weird pink-haired doll with joints in impossible places.
“That’s a Metamorph,” Talin told him, turning to look over her shoulder. “They change into animals.”
BONDS OF JUSTICE
Nalini Singh's books
- Ascendancy of the Last
- Blood of Aenarion
- Broods Of Fenrir
- Burden of the Soul
- Caradoc of the North Wind
- Cause of Death: Unnatural
- City of Ruins
- Dark of the Moon
- Demons of Bourbon Street
- Edge of Dawn
- Eye of the Oracle
- Freak of Nature
- Heart of the Demon
- Lady of Devices
- Lance of Earth and Sky
- Last of the Wilds
- Legacy of Blood
- Legend of Witchtrot Road
- Lord of the Wolfyn
- Of Gods and Elves
- Of Wings and Wolves
- Prince of Spies
- Professor Gargoyle
- Promise of Blood
- Secrets of the Fire Sea
- Shadows of the Redwood
- Sin of Fury
- Sins of the Father
- Smugglers of Gor
- Sword of Caledor
- Sword of Darkness
- Talisman of El
- Threads of Desire (Spellcraft)
- Tricks of the Trade
- Visions of Magic
- Visions of Skyfire
- Well of the Damned
- Wings of Tavea
- Wings of the Wicked
- A Bridge of Years
- Chronicles of Raan
- Dawn of Swords(The Breaking World)
- A Draw of Kings
- Hunt the Darkness (Guardians of Eternity)
- Lord of the Hunt
- Master of War
- Mistfall(Book One of the Mistfall Series)
- The Gates of Byzantium
- The House of Yeel
- The Oath of the Vayuputras: Shiva Trilogy 3
- The Republic of Thieves #1
- The Republic of Thieves #2
- Edge of Dawn
- A Quest of Heroes
- Mistress of the Empire
- Servant of the Empire
- Gates of Rapture
- Reaper (End of Days)
- This Side of the Grave
- Magician's Gambit (Book Three of The Belgariad)
- Skin Game: A Novel of the Dresden Files
- Murder of Crows
- The Queen of the Tearling
- A Tale of Two Castles
- Mark of the Demon
- Sins of the Demon
- Blood of the Demon
- The Other Side of Midnight
- Vengeance of the Demon: Demon Novels, Book Seven (Kara Gillian 7)
- Cold Burn of Magic
- Of Noble Family
- Wrath of a Mad God ( The Darkwar, Book 3)
- King of Foxes
- Daughter of the Empire
- Mistress of the Empire
- Krondor : Tear of the Gods (Riftwar Legacy Book 3)
- Shards of a Broken Crown (Serpentwar Book 4)
- Rise of a Merchant Prince
- End of Days (Penryn and the End of Day #3)
- Servant of the Empire
- Talon of the Silver Hawk
- Shadow of a Dark Queen
- The Cost of All Things
- The Wicked (A Novella of the Elder Races)
- Night's Honor (A Novel of the Elder Races Book 7)
- Born of Silence
- Born of Shadows
- Sins of the Night
- Kiss of the Night (Dark Hunter Series – Book 7)
- Born Of The Night (The League Series Book 1)
- The Council of Mirrors
- Born of Ice
- Born of Fire
- Born of Defiance
- Gates of Paradise (a Blue Bloods Novel)
- A Very Levet Christmas (Guardians of Eternity)
- Darkness Eternal (Guardians of Eternity)
- City of Fae
- The Invasion of the Tearling
- The Book of Speculation: A Novel