Page 31 of Storm Echo

He was a cold-eyed predator coiled and ready.

Soleil braced for an alpha’s rage. From what she’d seen in her grandfather, then Monroe, alphas did not like being challenged. And while Ivan was no doubt powerful, he was exhaustedandthey were in the heart of leopard territory. A single nod from Lucas was all it would take to bring multiple predators down on Ivan.

“It’s fine,” she said quickly. “I can look after myself.”

Lucas raised an eyebrow with … was thatamusementin his gaze?

Her cat was arching its spine in mortal insult when he said, “Sure, little healer,” as if she wasn’t five feet nine in her bare feet. “While you fall flat onto your face because you’re so wiped.”

“I certainly will not,” she said, while hoping he didn’t notice the tremor in her hands.

“Stubborn. It’s like you’re all born that way.” A grumbling mutter. “Sit. Eat. I’ll get nutrient drinks sent over for both of you.”

He shoved a hand through his hair, his eyes capturing hers. “I see you.” A low and deep murmur that made her cat stand at attention, because those words had been meant for the animal heart of her, not the human part.

“As for you,” he said, turning his attention to Ivan, “we’ll be having a long-overdue discussion. Until then, look after the little healer.”

A hot flare in her gut that razed reason to ash. “I am notlittle.”

Lucas pinned her with his gaze. “No,” he said slowly. “You’re not, are you?” A glance at the bar clutched in her hand. “I said,eat.”

She hated that his growl affected her. Lifting the bar, she bit off a piece and chewed in angry silence as Lucas rose and went to talk to a tall redhead in jeans and a fitted black shirt who appeared to be checking in with the traumatized humans and nonpredatory changelings in the street.

That redhead was a cat, too, her grace sinuously feline. And despite the stylish cut of her clothing and the cute black boots on her feet, she was a soldier. Soleil could see it in the cool grit in her expression, the lithe musculature of her body. She was also someone senior in the pack hierarchy—that was obvious from the way she interacted with Lucas.

DarkRiver’s senior dominants, she realized, were tougher than Monroe had ever been. Forget about Lucas Hunter; the redhead alone could’ve taken him down.

SkyElm had never stood a chance.

“I can get you out of here.” Ivan’s voice was a subvocal murmur that shivered over her skin.

Favors always come with a price.

One of the things her father had often said. While it might be true of many adults, it was never true of children. Children didn’t keep score. They gave you their treasures just because they thought those treasures might make you happy—even if it was a cookie they’d been waiting to eat.

Soleil missed the children the most.

Her heart hurt.

“Why would you?” she asked this man who was nothing like those innocent souls.

“Because I saved your life,” Ivan said, the compulsion to be with her no less powerful than the first time they’d met; Soleil had been written into his life, never to be erased. “It’s now mine to protect.”

A flash of temper in eyes that were ocelot, not human. “I be—” She slumped over, and it was only by moving with all the speed at his disposal that he managed to catch her before she slammed sideways into the ground. As it was, he stopped her downward motion with her head a bare inch from the asphalt.

Chapter 16

Alpha.

Healer.

Sentinel.

They are the foundations. The firm soil on which we all stand.

—FromA History of DarkRiverby Keelie Schaeffer, PhD (continuing project)

SHE WAS INCREDIBLY light, far too light. Changeling bones were heavier than Psy or human, and Soleil was lightwiththat factored in. Her shoulder bones—revealed by her tank top—jutted out against her skin, her arms were barely clothed in flesh, and he could feel her ribs against the arm he’d used to stop her from falling.

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