CARESSED BY ICE

He wanted to laugh at her outrage. “I adore you.” And now he could truly protect her—what he hadn’t told her was that Enrique’s alterations had put undue pressure on her brain. Because her brain was changeling, not Psy, it hadn’t had any way to vent that pressure. Sooner or later, things would’ve gone to a critical state.

The reason for her present health was that, even dormant, the bond had somehow leached off enough of the overload—dispersing it through his psychic channels—that she didn’t collapse. But now he could consciously regulate the pressure, reducing it and shielding her, until she learned to do it herself. It would be hard but not impossible, not with Brenna’s strength of will. “You are the most stubborn, most beautiful woman I know.”

“Oh . . . how am I supposed to stay mad when you say something like that?” She stamped her foot but her lips were curving up into a smile. “You’re pretty, too.” She grinned at his scowl. “But you’re the most infuriating man I’ve ever met.”

“Too bad. You’re stuck with me.”

Standing on tiptoe, she spoke against his lips. “I like being stuck to you.”

He was about to kiss her when she wrenched away. “You want a kiss? Come and get it.” A taunt, an invitation, a lovers’ game.

Judd had never played much. He had a feeling that was about to change. “You should know never to dare an Arrow.”

“You’re all talk, Judd Lauren.” A blur of movement and she was gone.

Feeling his heartbeat speed up, he pushed off after her. He’d get his kiss. And more. Using the bond, he sent her explicit images detailing the prize he intended to claim.

Not fair, came the breathy response. Now I’m all hot and wet.

He tripped. You did that on purpose.

Nuh-uh. If I’d wanted to mess with you, I’d have told you about this fantasy I have of having you at my mercy.

That intrigued him. What would you do?

This.

Images cascaded into his mind, affectionate, lush, and so incredibly erotic that he found himself fighting his body’s desire to descend into pure sensation.

Let me?

He was used to protecting his back, to never giving anyone control over his body or his mind. I’m yours. It was the final surrender.





Sascha couldn’t believe the difference in Brenna when she saw her the next day, having come up to the den to talk to Lara about a different situation. “She’s happy, healed,” she said to Lucas on the trip home, her ears still full of the sound of the SnowDancer’s laughter. “And Judd—I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t felt it with my empathy. He might look unchanged on the surface, but he loves her.” So deep and true it almost hurt. Sascha knew—she loved Lucas like that.

“Then why do you sound so sad, kitten?” He threw her a concerned look before returning his attention to the rough mountain road.

“She was betrayed by one of her own,” Sascha whispered, shaken. “I thought Pack was safe, was family. If you can’t trust Pack, who can you trust?”

Lucas brought the car to a halt in the middle of nowhere and reached over to pull her into his lap. “Pack is safe. Pack is the cornerstone of who we are.”

“Then why? How?” She nestled her head under his chin. “Dieter was a SnowDancer soldier, but he’s so twisted.” Even walking past his cell had made her sick to her stomach. Waves of something rotten, putrid, had emanated from his soul.

Lucas stroked his hand down her back. “Having the animal inside protects us against many sins, but even changelings sometimes spawn evil.”

She thought about that for long minutes. “For there to be light, there must be darkness.” It was what Faith had said after her escape from the Net. But only now did Sascha truly understand. “If you try for perfection, you become exactly like the Psy.” A cold, robotic race without the ability to laugh, love, or cherish.

“No race is perfect.” He nuzzled at her. “And I kind of like you, flaws and all.”

She found her smile again. “Yes. Perfection is vastly overrated—if they measured the Psy race’s contentedness index, the results would undoubtedly be in the negatives.”

“God, you’re sexy when you talk Psy.”





CHAPTER 48


“You’re walking funny,” Lucy said, a shit-eating grin on her face.

Five days of out of this world sex with a starving man could do that to a girl. “You’re just jealous.” Brenna pushed through the door into DarkRiver’s business HQ.

Lucy made a mournful face. “Yes, I am. Goddamn but your man is hot. And he smiles at you! I’ve seen him do it, even if no one believes me.”

“I know.” She smiled herself and it was so wide, her face felt as if it would crack. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“I have to talk to Mercy about a joint holovision project. CTX thing.” Lucy looked over her shoulder after naming the leopard-wolf communications company. “Here comes your beautiful man. Talk to you later.”

Judd put a hand on her lower back as they walked down to the basement. He did that a lot—touch her. Her smile stretched impossibly wider. “I think we should play ‘who’s more patient’ again tonight.”