CARESSED BY ICE

Brenna found herself transfixed by those most unexpected of words. At first, Judd’s voice had been a blur, but now it was a cool, clear anchor that hauled her out of her tears without compromise. That the words came from a Psy was not something she registered, only that they came from Judd, from the man who held her, his arms as unbreakable as steel bands.

She rubbed her cheek against the soft wool of his black turtleneck, able to hear the solid beat of his heart. “I’m sorry I fell apart on you.” She’d been holding things together with sheer stubbornness for so long and when he’d touched her, breaking that ever-present barrier of Silent Psy reserve, it had all rushed out in an agonizing emotional torrent.

“It’s understandable.” Not the petting words a changeling man would’ve used, but they worked for her. She didn’t need gentling. She needed what Judd had given her in those stark words whispered in her ear—the unflinching belief that she would get past this. “Do you want to go inside?” he now asked. “I can light the laz-fire.”

She shook her head. “I’d rather walk out here for a bit. We could go get my pack.”

“You’re not staying.” He released her and took a step back.

She rubbed her hands over her face, wondering exactly how much of a fright she looked—she was not a pretty crier. “Yes, I am.”

Those dark brown eyes seemed to darken to pure black. “You have no reason to be out here. I can’t do what I’m supposed to if I’m babysitting.”

Her eyes felt swollen when she narrowed them. “Good try but you can’t make me mad so I’ll leave.” She suddenly understood something else—the way he made enemies so that no one would even try to get close to him. “I can run the patrols with you.”

“This is not up for discussion.” A statement so arrogant, it reminded her of Hawke and her brothers. Great. Just great. “I’m putting you in your vehicle and you’re driving back to the den.”

“Unless you’re planning on using mind control, that’s not going to happen.” She was looking at him when she said that and saw something very dark and very dangerous awaken in those gold-flecked eyes.

“I’m fully capable of doing that.” A warning, a threat.

Going with gut instinct, she placed her hand palm down on his chest. “To me?” He didn’t speak and that was her answer. “Why do you allow me to cross barriers you don’t allow anyone else?” Surely that meant he had feelings for her.

“Enrique was one of my own. And he hurt you.”

“Guilt? That’s why?” Her stomach dropped.

His fingers closed over her wrist, turning that sick sensation into something hungrier, more sensual. “I don’t feel guilt. I don’t feel anything.” Surrounded by snow and ice, he was a man who appeared the blackest of shadows. Yet his hand was careful on her.

She smiled, confidence reassured. “I’m staying.”

“I’m driving you back right now.”

“I’ll turn the car around the second you leave.” Her skin tingled where he held it, his fingers strong, his own skin erotically rough. She wondered how that hand would feel stroking other, softer places. Heat uncurled deep inside her. “Why does my presence bother you so much if you don’t feel?”

His hand tightened a fraction before setting her free. “Don’t get in my way.”

“I wouldn’t dare.” A complete lie. “Let’s go get my things.”

He jerked his head toward the cabin. “Go and start the laz-fire. I’ll bring your pack.”

She was more than willing to let him walk off his temper. And the man had one, even if he wasn’t willing to admit it. “The code’s four-two-seven-zero.” Because it was a pack vehicle, it wasn’t keyed to any single individual’s thumbprint. “See you when you get back.”

He didn’t leave until she was safely in the cabin. Watching him walk away, so tall and starkly alone against the snow, made her want to run outside and hug him. Just wrap her heat around him until her warmth melted his cold Psy armor. The problem was, Judd seemed determined to maintain that icy shield.

Shivering though the cabin was well insulated, she turned from the window and went to start the laz-fire. Unlike most clean-air devices, the LAZ energy source had been created not by changelings but by Psy. The reason? Laz technology saved energy and therefore money. The single thing changelings had done to adapt it was to add a holographic enhancer. It turned the efficient but colorless block of a portable laz generator into what appeared to be a perfectly real blaze, albeit one with zero chance of starting a forest fire.