VISIONS OF HEAT

After spending all day on the sculpture of Faith, Vaughn met up with the other sentinels and their alpha pair late that night to work on shielding. The location was a glade close to Lucas’s lair, not far from a small river that bisected the area and turned the air damp. Tamsyn, their healer, was also present.

Sascha ran them through the drills over and over, merciless in her drive to make them invulnerable to Psy attack, only calling a halt when they started to snarl at each other. “Given your psychic blindness, you’re doing far better than I expected. You’re actually learning to shield on a level beyond the normal changeling defenses.”

“Which are pretty damn strong.” Nate threw an arm around Tamsyn’s shoulders. His mate smiled and laced her fingers through his hand.

“Yes.” Sascha nodded. “Soon you’ll be close to invincible.”

“We already are, Sascha darling,” Dorian said from where he was sitting with his back against a tree.

Sascha walked over to the blond sentinel and tugged him to his feet for a quick hug. Dorian was no longer the open wound he’d been straight after his sister Kylie’s murder at the hands of serial killer—and former Councilor—Santano Enrique, but he remained badly damaged. The violent loss had done nothing to affect his abilities as a sentinel, but they were Pack. And Pack didn’t look the other way when one of their own was hurting.

Dorian’s needs made him no less respected in a pack where touch-hunger was accepted and fed. Sascha’s empathy in particular seemed to reach the latent male far deeper than anyone else. Now, she leaned her back against his chest, his arms around her waist, and closed her eyes. “Let me check the Web to see if any of these changes are manifesting there.”

She opened her eyes a second later and looked straight across to where Vaughn crouched. But she didn’t say anything of what he knew she wanted to say. “Everything looks good.”

“Then school’s out?” Dorian asked. “Anybody got detention?”

“Go before I change my mind.” Sascha kissed him on the cheek, laughing at his attempt to steal a more intimate kiss. “Vaughn, could you stay? I want to talk to you about something.”

Mercy made a sound of doom. “In trouble with Teach, cat. Didn’t do your mental exercises, did you?”

“He’s been distracted,” Clay murmured, a shadow almost invisible in the darkness.

“It speaks!” Mercy threw up her hands into the air. “How many words does that make for today. Ten?” She was still kidding the silent sentinel as she walked with him and Dorian out of the training area.

Tamsyn hugged Sascha good-bye. “I think my sons are in love with you. You should hear what they’re like when they get home—Sascha said this and Sascha said that.” The healer shook her head. “Lucas had better watch out.”

Wrapping an arm around Tamsyn’s waist, Lucas dropped a kiss on her hair. “Tell your damn brats to leave her alone.”

“Lucas!” Sascha sounded shocked.

Tamsyn laughed. “Don’t take him seriously. He took my adorable brats out for a run yesterday with Kit and some of the others.”

“Sorry, I’m not completely used to the way you interact.”

Coming around to hug his mate from behind, Lucas began nibbling on her neck.

“Don’t worry, honey.” The healer smiled at Sascha’s attempts to make Lucas behave. “You’ve only been cat for a few months. Give it time.”

Nate took Tamsyn’s hand. “We’d better go pick up Roman and Julian before Lysa decides she’s no longer our friend.”

Lucas waited until Tammy and Nate were out of earshot before saying, “Why don’t we head home to talk? It won’t take long if we run.”

“What about me?” Sascha asked, looking from one to the other. Honestly, they kept forgetting she couldn’t go furry.

Lucas gave her his back. “Hop on, darling.” His smile was this side of sinful, reminding her of the very first time he’d offered her a ride.

Later. It was a mind-to-mind warning that turned into a promise.

Seconds later she was on his back and they were running. She trusted him absolutely, even at this breakneck pace. The changelings could move in either form. Holding on to the muscular body of her panther, she considered what she’d learned tonight. Only one thing was certain—Vaughn’s life was about to become very, very complicated.

A cold rush of wind across her face. The low rumble of Lucas’s growl as he warned away something in their path. The rich scents of the forest. It all dragged her firmly into the physical. Glorying in her freedom to indulge, she threw herself into the experience as only a former inmate of Silence could.

But the exhilarating ride was over too soon and they were at the lair. Leaving her alone with Vaughn, Lucas went to grab some drinks. Sascha glanced at the male lounging against the window ledge across from her. “Vaughn.”

“I know.” The jaguar folded his arms across his chest, his tattoo hidden by the gray sweatshirt he was wearing over his jeans.

Lucas walked back into the room. “Catch.” He threw a beer to Vaughn and handed her a bottle of cranberry juice—alcohol had an odd effect on Psy minds.