Tangle of Need (45 page)

That hair was cut into a blunt fringe above her eyes, throwing them into sharp relief. Her skin was a shade that placed her ancestry in Northern Africa or the Middle East, or possibly part of South America. Riaz didn’t have to guess—he’d done his research, knew she’d been born in the port of Cairo to an Algerian mother and an Egyptian father.

“Hawke.” She held out a hand that bore scars from more than a few nicks and cuts, though her nails were manicured and polished a glossy shade Riaz thought might be called oyster.

Hawke shook it, holding her cool, almost cold gaze. Riley introduced himself a second later, giving Miane a reason to look away. It was an
almost ritualistic dance when two alphas met for the first time. Left to their own devices, they’d stare until one of them either backed down or drew first blood.

Riaz remained in the background with Kenji, his attention on the men who’d come with the BlackSea alpha, both clearly there for her protection, regardless of any status they held in the Conclave. That wasn’t an insult—he and the other lieutenants were here for Hawke’s protection. None of them would drop their guard at any time, in case this was a giant double-cross and BlackSea was aiming for the assassination of the most powerful alpha in the country.

“Please,” Miane said, taking a small step back, her feet encased in black leather-synth heels that made a clipping sound on the plascrete, “join me on my vessel. The stateroom is more than adequate for this meeting.”

A gracious offer meant to put them off their game, their wolves having a strong dislike for the motion of the sea. They could bear it, but it would fray tempers, reduce concentration.

“Thanks, but I’ll decline.” Hawke bared his teeth in a smile that was a silent warning. “If you prefer not to enter the warehouse, we can talk here.”

Miane considered it, one of her men whispering in her ear at a sub-vocal level. “Malachai says it will be easier to spy on us outdoors, use audio equipment to pick up our voices. The most secure place would be out at sea.”

Hawke just waited. He’d made his intentions clear, and now it was up to Miane to accept or walk away. After a tense pause and another muted discussion with the hard-eyed male named Malachai, the leader of the BlackSea Conclave inclined her head, and Riaz knew she’d decided to trust them this much at least. “Let’s proceed inside.”

Riaz left the doors open behind them. Intercepting a glance from Emani, he said, “We can use audio disrupters to make certain the conversation remains private,” and produced the small, round devices from a flat case in the back pocket of his jeans.

Emani checked the disrupters with a handheld scanner and nodded. Together, they set out and activated four of them, one in each corner of
the warehouse. No one spoke until they’d returned to stand behind their respective alphas.

“We,” Miane said, “have been pleased with SnowDancer’s willingness to work with us on an agreement.”

Hawke watched her without blinking. “Let’s cut to the chase—the only remaining questions are whether we can work together on the ground, and the real reason why you’re suddenly so keen on an alliance.”

A slight widening of her eyes was the sole indication of Miane’s surprise. “Blunt.”

“We worked with you on the contract because it made sense with your people being so spread out,” Hawke said, “but that’s not who we are, and that’s not how we function. Better you know that now than be surprised by it later.”

A faint hint of warmth in the cold intelligence of Miane’s eyes. “Did you know that changeling sharks are so rare,” she said, “they’re considered a myth even by some of the changelings in BlackSea?”

Hawke’s responding smile was razor sharp. “I’m guessing you don’t believe the same.”

“As to that, I’ll keep my own counsel, but I will say I understand predators.”

“In that case, let’s talk.”

Chapter 54

HAVING BEEN ASSIGNED
to a shift at the infirmary at the last minute, Adria lifted a questioning eyebrow at Elias when he joined her. “Last I checked,” she said, “we didn’t have any dangerous criminals in here.”

“They’re hoping to wake Alice Eldridge.” Elias kept his voice low. “Hawke wants extra security until Lara can get a read on her while she’s conscious—there’s no way to know what she was programmed to do before being put to sleep.”

Shifting slightly, Adria glanced into the patient room. While access to Alice was strictly controlled, Adria had seen the comatose woman in the aftermath of the battle, when she’d helped move Alice’s bed to the side to make room for injured SnowDancers. Alice lay as she had done then, ashen and motionless. Around her stood three women, each with a frown of concentration on her face, their voices overlapping as they talked over last-minute adjustments.

Lara, Adria knew and respected. Ashaya Aleine, too, was familiar after that dinner at Mercy and Riley’s, her tight curls pulled severely off her face into a neat bun, her blue-gray eyes startling against the rich brown of her skin. The third woman, with her soft curves, honey-toned skin, and cardinal eyes, was no one Adria had ever spoken to, but recognized nonetheless.

Sascha Duncan, mate to the DarkRiver alpha, an E-Psy.

Adria’s wolf wasn’t quite comfortable being around a woman who could sense its emotions—especially when those emotions were so painfully deep and complex. Living with Riaz, it was
nothing
like living with
Martin. The man was dominant and pushy and arrogant enough to want his own way, but he was also perverse enough to be delighted with her when she snarled at him.

The thought made her lips twitch for a fleeting second, before darker emotions rose to the fore. In spite of the realization she’d had on the wildflower-strewn meadow in the mountains, a desperate kernel of self-preservation kept warning her to keep a piece of herself separate, apart. Not to hurt him … but because she wasn’t Riaz’s mate, never would be, their relationship unbalanced on the most fundamental level.

PERIPHERALLY
aware of Eli and Adria in the doorway, Lara glanced at Ashaya. “Yes?”

The scientist nodded. “We’ve done as much as possible without injecting her.”

Conscious the M-Psy was profoundly concerned about the damage they might cause, Lara said, “If we do nothing, she’ll die. Her body is failing.”

Ashaya’s head snapped up from the panel at the end of the bed. “I told you to warn us if she went downhill. We could’ve moved faster.”

“I spoke to Amara,” Lara said, thinking of the woman who was physically identical to Ashaya, but so very alien in her thinking. “She told me that if we injected Alice with the uncalibrated serum, the risk of failure rose by seventy percent. I made the decision to wait.”

Ashaya gripped the top of the panel, her bones pushing white against her skin. “My twin has a way of being right while hiding things, Lara. You know that. You should’ve double-checked with me.”

“I didn’t want to distract you at such a critical stage.” Ashaya herself had told Lara the final calibration would take precision work—so much so that the scientist had spent two days away from her mate and son, in the dedicated lab DarkRiver had built for her.

“No harm done—the serum
wasn’t
ready.” Ashaya went as if to shove a hand through her curls, realized they were bound, and dropped it back on the bed. “For future reference, though, my twin is very, very smart, but she has no moral compass.”

Sascha made a small sound in the back of her throat. “I didn’t like
Amara when I met her,” she said, clearly still troubled by what she’d described to Lara as an overwhelmingly hostile response. “Even now, she sends a chill through my bones because of the
lack
in her, but that lack isn’t as total as it once was. I don’t think she’ll ever be capable of the normal range of emotions, but she may be showing a stunted kind of awareness of the emotions of others.”

Ashaya’s face held painful hope. “You’re not certain, though?”

“No, I’m sorry.” Sascha touched the other woman on the arm. “I have such a strong reaction to her that I find it difficult to get a clear read, and as you said, her intelligence is unquestioned. She’s fully capable of manipulating her responses.”

Smart enough, Lara thought, to fake empathy.

“But,” Sascha added, “there
has
been a change in her, that much I can verify. It might simply be the effect of being in a clean psychic network—there’s no DarkMind in the Web of Stars, no hidden miasma that’s seeping into her brain.”

“I’ll take that.” Swallowing, Ashaya returned her attention to the computronic readout on the panel in front of her. “Unless either of you disagrees, I think it’s time we spoke to Alice.”

Lara and Sascha both nodded at her to go ahead.

Pressure injector in hand, the scientist looked to where Sascha’s fingers now intertwined with Alice’s. “Are you sensing anything?”

“Frustration again,” Sascha said, three deep vertical lines between her eyebrows. “But there’s something else.” Lashes lowering, she squeezed the bridge of her nose between the thumb and forefinger of her free hand. “Determination.” Her eyes flicked open. “I’d bet my life she’s trying her hardest to wake up.”

“That’s enough for me.” With no more hesitation, Ashaya pressed the pressure injector to Alice’s neck, punching the serum into her bloodstream. “The effect should be apparent within two or three minutes if it works as it’s supposed to.”

No one said a word, the silence so pristine Lara could hear the hushed breaths of everyone in the immediate area, including Eli and Adria. If the room had boasted an old-fashioned ticking clock, she thought, every tick would’ve sounded like a bomb.

One minute.

Checking the data coming in through Alice’s computronic skullcap, Lara shook her head at the others.

Two minutes.

It was Ashaya who checked this time, her fingers flying over the panel. “No change.”

Three minutes.

Four.

Five.

Disappointment a heavy rock on her chest, Lara squeezed Ashaya’s arm in silent sympathy, and they walked to stand across from Sascha. However, the cardinal empath paid them no attention, her eyes gone a midnight that denoted either strong emotion—or a powerful use of her abilities.

Exchanging a taut, hopeful glance with Ashaya, Lara maintained her silence.

“Ashaya,” Sascha said almost half a minute later, her voice muted, as if her attention was elsewhere, “do you have more of the serum?”

“Yes, but a second shot could kill her.” Ashaya fiddled with the settings on the injector, paused for a second. “Amara’s confident we can safely give her another eighth of a dose.”

Recalling the other woman’s earlier warnings, Lara turned to her. “You trust her on that?”

“This is a challenge.” Ashaya’s answer held a clarity that said she saw her twin’s faults and flaws as well as her gifts. “Amara doesn’t like failing, and Alice’s death would constitute failure.”

“I can feel her struggling,” Sascha said, her fingers now locked so tightly with Alice’s that the warm honey of her skin was bloodless. “She knows she’s trapped—there’s panic, fear. God, it’s like she’s suffocating from the terror of being entombed inside her own body.”

Clearly shaken by the report, Ashaya put the injector to Alice’s neck. “Are you sure, Sascha?”

“Yes. Quickly.”

A press of Ashaya’s thumb and a one-eighth part of the serum blasted through the permeable barrier of Alice’s skin.

Alarms blared a second later, Alice’s body arching so severely off the bed that she almost bent herself in half before falling back onto the sheets in a jagged spasm. Scanning the alarms, Lara grabbed the oxygen mask and placed it over Alice’s mouth and nose. “Ashaya, stats!”

“Rapid spike in her mental activity. Irregular heartbeat, insufficient oxygen being absorbed.”

Slapping Sascha’s hand over the oxygen mask to keep it in place, Lara reached for another injector and pressed it to Alice’s upper arm. “Now?”

“Heartbeat is stabilizing.” Ashaya tapped the screen. “Oxygen levels reaching optimum. Brain activity continues to be erratic.”

“Alice,” Sascha’s gentle voice turned somehow ruthless, it was so intent. “Alice, you’re safe.
Focus
.”

That was when Lara looked down and realized that Alice Eldridge’s eyes, so rich a brown that pupil and iris were near impossible to differentiate, were wide open.

HAVING
returned from the meeting with BlackSea to be told the news about Alice Eldridge, Riaz spent several minutes talking with Ashaya and Hawke. It wasn’t simply about the human woman that they spoke.

“I’ve been focused on Alice,” Ashaya said, “but what I’ve studied so far of the Alliance chip hasn’t raised any red flags. However, that’s not saying much—I’ll begin intensive work on it as soon as Alice is stable.”

Waiting until after the scientist had returned to the infirmary, Hawke said, “When’s Bo getting back to you about his liaison?”

“Next few days.” Riaz folded his arms. “What do you think about the BlackSea situation?” The secretive changeling group had finally shared why it was they needed SnowDancer as an ally.

Hawke’s expression was grim. “They’re a valuable group to have as friends. We help them as much as we can—Miane knows I won’t do anything that’d leave SnowDancer vulnerable.”

Riaz had had the same thoughts. “Do you want me to set up another meeting to finalize the alliance?”

Hawke took a second to think about it, shook his head. “I’ll talk directly to Miane, make sure there are no misunderstandings. Can you take some
of Riley’s load? I figure he’s earned a rest … and some spare time to stalk Mercy.”

Riaz’s lips twitched. “Not a problem.” As a result of arranging things with Riley, as well as staying late to take several calls from the men and women in SnowDancer’s international network, Riaz didn’t get a chance to speak to Adria until after nightfall. Unable to find her in the den, he shifted and began to check out her favorite spots in the forests one by one.

He found her at the third location, the full moon a spotlight across the large clearing dotted with young saplings that had come up after a storm felled many of the mature trees a couple of years back. Silhouetted against the midnight blue of the night sky, their slender profiles added a haunting beauty to the scene.