"That implies a certain lack of control," Nate broke in. "Everything else points to clockwork precision."
Clay frowned. "Could be the structure's breaking down."
"Or," Tamsyn suggested, "they've become overconfident. They could have started taking the specific children they want instead of waiting for a safe target."
"Maybe," Nate agreed, eyes intent. "Bottom line - you need to get Shine to give up the reason they single out children who might be termed gifted."
"Not all of them are," she pointed out.
Clay stroked his hand up and down her arm, a comforting act but also a disturbing one. "Maybe not, but there are enough that we need to know why."
"I'm not anywhere high enough in the organization. Dev knows me but - " She broke off as something beeped. "What's - Oh, crap." She dug through her pants pocket to retrieve a small silver phone. "The kids I'm watching over for Rangi have this number." Flicking it open, she held it to her ear. "It's Talin."
So close, Clay had no trouble catching the response. His entire body went on alert. A second later, Talin's hand reached out to clutch at his. "Tonight?" She looked at him, eyes huge with shock.
He nodded.
"Yes, okay. What time?" A pause. "All right. I'll talk to you then." She closed the phone. "Whoa, that was weird."
Clay tangled his fingers more firmly with hers as his cat batted the tone of what he'd heard in the air, considered the taste of it.
"I didn't catch the name," Tamsyn said. "Who was that?"
Talin stared. "You heard everything from the other side of the table?"
"Sorry." The healer winced. "Bad manners, but in my defense, human-level speech is pretty loud for us."
"I guess I need to invest in an earpiece." Her tone was intrigued rather than offended.
Clay wondered if she realized she was already thinking in the long term. Something very tight in him unfurled a fraction.
"The name," Nate prodded, when she remained silent.
"Clay." She looked to him, mischief in her eyes. His Tally had bounced back as she always did. But he still intended to pet her afterward. Being able to get past the pain of losing those under her care didn't mean it had stopped hurting. "You want to do the honors?"
He scowled at her for the way she was teasing the others. She grinned, unrepentant. "It was Devraj Santos," he said, his cat delighting in the small bit of fun. It would've surprised his packmates - he wasn't known for indulging in the kind of play that was second nature to them. But Talin had always made not playing impossible. He hadn't known how much he missed that aspect of their old relationship until this instant.
"Weird doesn't describe it," Nate muttered. "We talk about him and he calls. You sure he's not an F-Psy?"
Talin laughed. "No, he's very much human - I've heard he's got such a temper, he can't keep a secretary." She rubbed the pad of her thumb along Clay's where their hands lay intertwined. "The meeting's for nine at a restaurant about an hour from here."
Need a raw ache in his throat, Clay looked at Nate. "If we push the pack meeting to six, I can leave with Talin around eight."
"I'll make the calls." Nate stood. "Tammy, how about a hand?" His tone held an intimacy that was so deep and true, it needed no words to communicate itself.
Talin swallowed the lump in her throat and waited until the other couple had gone upstairs before turning. "Clay, you heard Dev say I should come alone."
He nodded, changing their handclasp so he could stroke his thumb along her palm.
Her cheeks colored. "Then, can I borrow your truck?"
"No." Soft, she was so soft.
Lines formed on her forehead. "Why not?" She tugged at her hand.
He refused to let go. "Dev knows very well I'm going to be with you."
"And you know this because you're a foreseer, too?" She smirked.
He wanted to kiss that smirk right off her lips. So he did. She gave a startled little whimper and then a curious stillness stole over her. He didn't push, didn't force, but neither did he back off. She could've done so by making a single move to the side but she didn't. So he kissed her, nibbled at that deliciously tempting lower lip, then licked his tongue over the small injury.
"I said no licking," she whispered into his mouth, her free hand closing over his shoulder.
He squeezed the one he held. "Don't you like it?"
"That's never really been a consideration with me," she said, sounding far too practical for a woman with kiss-wet lips. "To like, I'd have to be involved."
He wanted to bite at her for daring to tell him he might be nothing more than a faceless fuck, the urge so primitive, so animal, it stripped his emotions bare. "We already are involved." He waited for her to disagree - he'd kiss the lie right out of her.
"Yes." She returned his stare, unflinching. "You make my body respond."
He almost smiled. He knew Talin, understood the depth of her scars. Her body would've stayed dead to him if she hadn't already bonded with him on an emotional level - as a smart, independent adult female. Their past bond had survived everything, but it was based on the memories of the children they had been. But this, this was something that required the cooperation of the woman she'd become. And it required patience on his part. Exquisite, gut-wrenching patience.
Releasing his hold on her hand, he reached out to rub a thumb over her mouth. It was one of his favorite parts of her body. "You didn't answer my question."
"W-what?"
He liked that little hitch in her voice, that fracture in her composure. His Tally was tough, but she was beginning to trust him again. It was a trust he'd damn well earn this time. Memories of how he'd let her down the first time threatened to darken his mood but he fought them off. This moment was about a sweet, sexy, simple kiss. He let his eyes brush over the plump curves of her mouth again. "I asked if you didn't like the licking."
She sucked in a shaky breath, her breasts rising in silent invitation. "Does it matter?"
"Hell, yeah." He moved one arm to grip the back of her chair, while closing his other over the seduction of her hip. "Because if you don't like it, I'll have to learn some new tricks. I like doing it, have plans to lick my way across every freckle on your body."
Her skin flushed hot, her eyes brightening with a startled flash of touch hunger. "When did you get so verbal?"
He smiled, slow, pleased. "I talk when I have something to say. Stop avoiding the question."
"Fine." Jerking forward, she flicked her tongue along his lower lip.
One hot, wet, stroke and his cock so was damn hard it felt like it was made out of granite. "You like it." Body heavy with need, he began to lean toward her.
"On the mouth," she said, just before their lips touched.
He blinked. "The body?"
"Well, most parts of the body would probably be okay," she answered, her mouth brushing his. "But not there."
Surprised by her shyness with him - no matter their years apart, they had never been strangers - he ran his lips along her jaw and nuzzled gently into her neck. Her hand rose from his shoulder to push into his hair. It was tempting to take his other hand off the back of her chair and stroke it down to her breasts, but he kept it where it was, his grip white-knuckled. Slow. This had to be a seduction not of the body alone but of the mind, too. He'd lost Tally once. Damn if she was ever leaving him again.
"Why not?" he whispered against her neck, flicking out his tongue to taste the lush femininity of her skin.
She jerked but then, to his shock, nipped at his ear with sharp little human teeth. He'd never before had to worry about spilling in his jeans. "I haven't forgotten the question." But he had realized that Tally was going to drive him insane in bed. God, he couldn't wait.
"It's just so...well, the whole thing seems very embarrassing and undignified."
It was the last thing he'd expected to hear. The leopard wasn't quite sure how to react. "Well, now," he said after getting his voice back, "that's a challenge if ever I heard one."
Her hand clenched in his hair. "I didn't mean it to be." She sounded very young and very honest.
Unexpectedly, he felt the same way. "How about you let me? Once?" Right then, he could've been a teenager trying to talk his date into the backseat. But only if that date had been Tally - he'd never flirted this way with any other. Neither had she. He knew that in his gut.
"Clay." Her face was hot against his cheek, the tendons of her neck stretched taut. "We aren't going there. I told you."
He began to kiss his way up her neck. "Just once," he said, pressing a kiss below the curve of her ear and drinking in her responsive shiver. "You can even set a time limit."
"Stop it." But she made no effort to halt him as he nibbled his way along her jaw and back up to her mouth. "We aren't going to sleep together."
"Fine, we can do it with you on the kitchen table," he murmured, drowning in the rapid beat of her pulse. It echoed the thunder of his own. "Or maybe on the cushions with you on your hands and knees. I like that one."
She moaned and the kiss this time was open and hot and wet. When they broke apart, her eyes were huge, her lips bruised. "No."
He gave in to the leopard's urge to bare his teeth. "Why not? We're good together." And she sure as hell wasn't going to be touching any other men. A growl built up in his throat.
"You're my friend." She scowled. "Sex will mess that up."
He looked at that stubborn mouth, those expressive eyes, and suddenly understood what she couldn't say. Sex had ruined her childhood, scarred her so badly that she'd used it as a weapon to hurt herself. For her it was nothing good, nothing that could be allowed into this relationship.