Page 98 of Storm Echo

The contact made Salvador smile, his body immediately more at ease.

The cubs jumped down from her arms at the same instant and ran around the tree before trying to climb it. They were too little, of course, but their antics made her and Salvador laugh.

Sal had so many questions for her, and she for him. When she glanced at Ivan, he gave a slight nod, telling her without words that he’d keep an eye on the cubs. Sending him a wave of love through the mating bond, she let herself focus on the kind and brave member of her pack who’d put his life on the line to protect the cubs during the darkest time in SkyElm’s history.

She and Sal had been chatting for several minutes when she became aware of the silence from the cubs; she glanced over to see Ivan crouched down, both cubs in front of him. They were staring up at him and he was returning the scrutiny with as much interest. When Razi hesitantly put a paw on his knee and rose up on her hind legs, he scooped her up against his chest with one hand.

Nattie, not to be left out, jumped up on Ivan’s knee, then climbed up onto his shoulder with the liquid fluidity of an ocelot cub. Where he settled in, his tail flicking against Ivan’s chest. Razi, meanwhile, was licking his jaw and play-biting at his throat. He tugged her back with utmost care, then met her gaze and shook his head before pretending to nip her on the nose.

Razi made a happy sound and so did Nattie—right before the two swarmed him in an effort to “win” the battle. Ivan handled their wriggly, playful bodies with ease while giving them the freedom to play.

“He’s a good man.” Salvador’s words were quiet but potent. “When I heard that you, of all people, had mated a Psy, I couldn’t imagine it. But now I see …” He leaned against Soleil. “They went to him because he carries your scent, but they’re playing with him because of who he is.”

Soleil’s heart, it could barely withstand the beauty of the moment. She’d remember it always, this instant when her frosty-eyed Psy allowed two ocelot cubs to climb all over him without ever losing control of the situation. “He’ll make an amazing father.” It was a bone-deep knowledge, a thing primal.

That certainty only grew over the joyous time that followed. The cubs shifted into their human forms when they sat down to eat the cookies, and Salvador got them both into little overalls of olive green that he’d brought in the bag.

“Otherwise,” he said, “they’ll run off into the woods and come back with cuts and bites.” He waved a finger under Razi’s button nose, her skin a shock of cream and her silky dark hair cut in a style that reached her shoulders and was fringed over her brown eyes. “Certaincubs seem to forget their human skin isn’t as tough as their cub pelt.”

Giggling, Razi threw her arms around him, while Nattie, his eyes a greenish hazel he’d inherited from his mother, and his hair all black curls against rich brown skin, grinned around the cookie he’d already half eaten. He sat leaning against Ivan’s side, one of Ivan’s arms braced behind him.

When she met her mate’s eyes, she caught a painfully vulnerable expression in that gaze of striking ice—but alongside it was a violent protectiveness.

Ivan Mercant wouldn’t only make a wonderful father, he’d be a dominant the cubs in the pack adored. Because he had in him both the gentleness needed to not hurt their small hearts and the strength to maintain discipline, giving cubs the boundaries that made them feel safe.

Soleil couldn’t believe he was hers.

Her cat preened, delighted with itself for having grabbed hold of him before it was too late. And for this time under the late-afternoon sunlight, Soleil allowed herself to simply bask in that happiness. The darkness could wait.

Chapter 46

My grandmother is many things. First and foremost, she is a warrior for our family.

—Canto Mercant to Payal Rao

ENA WAS USED to being on top of situations, but this one she’d never seen coming. “He is as Ivan as always,” she said to the sleek black cat who sat by her side looking out into the stormy seas beyond.

His message to her had been simple:Grandmother, I would like to introduce you to my mate. I also need to speak to you about my ability.

“His mate.” She took one final sip of her tea, then set the delicate teacup aside. “And I have heard nothing of this even though Arwen and Genara were both in San Francisco of late.” As the cat twitched its tail, she sighed. “Yes, Arwen is a vault on such things, and Genara had other business. So, let me go and see this woman who has managed to make Ivan lower his shields.”

Mating was for life, so there wasn’t anything Ena could do about it if Ivan’s mate was someone not worthy of him. Then again, there was a lot Ena could do about many things. Her moral lines were gray at best when it came to actions to protect her family. And Ivan … she’d always felt she needed to protect him even more than the others. So of course he turned out to be the one who wouldn’t accept protection at all.

A stir in the air at her back.

Turning, she saw a woman of about five-two with hourglass curves—curves that had been denigrated under Silence, yet this woman had carried them with cool will and an equally steely refusal to bow down to the surgeon’s scalpel. She was dressed in tailored and wide-legged pants of gray into which she’d tucked a cream-colored blouse that buttoned up to the neck and at the cuffs. The woman’s dark hair was pulled back into a neat twist, her makeup flawless against the warm brown of her skin.

“Payal. Thank you for taking the time.” Payal Rao, anchor, member of the Ruling Coalition, and CEO of a major business empire, was a powerful and busy woman. Normally, Ena would’ve rescheduled this meeting until one of the other family teleporters was available—but Ivan asked for her so rarely and she’d made a promise to herself that she’d always respond when he did.

“It isn’t a problem, Grandmother.” Payal’s eyes held a brightness that had grown in the time since their first meeting—a brightness Ena saw echoed in her eldest grandson, Canto. He and Payal had bonded to the core.

“Canto has told me to spy for him,” Payal said in her clipped way that betrayed nothing. “He has no idea why you need a teleport into DarkRiver territory, and it’s annoying him so much that he’s currently baking croissants from scratch.”

Ena had come to view Canto’s fiancée as another grandchild, liked her a great deal; she understood better than most what it was to hold a shield against the outside world for so long that it became all but automatic. Looking at Payal just now, no one would guess that she’d die for Canto—and kill for him.

“We are in the same boat,” she told Payal. “It appears Ivan has mated.”

Payal blinked once. “In DarkRiver territory?”

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