Page 96 of Storm Echo

He took the glass she held out but put it beside the bed rather than drinking it. “I understand.”

“What, mi vida?” Seated on her knees beside him, her hair a dark rain over her shoulders, she ran her fingers through his own with an affection he’d never known he needed and now craved.

“That if I balanced this day with you against a lifetime without you, this day would win by such a large margin that it’s not a competition at all.” The man he was with her, it was an Ivan that was the very best of him. He’d be hollow without her. As she’d be without him.

It was a cataclysmic thing to accept, that he was so very important to her. But it was the truth. He felt it in her every touch, every look, in how her cat prowled inside his skin, and in her sheer delight at being with him. It was a thing as bright as the stars, as full of sunshine as his Lei.

Pupils huge and dark against the wild tawny-gold of her irises, Soleil lifted trembling fingers to his cheek. “Yes?” she whispered.

Turning his head, he kissed her palm. “Yes.”

And his entire world … shivered, things that had been subtly out of alignment falling into perfect lines.

“Oh,” Soleil whispered, her eyes wet. “Oh, there you are.”

He enfolded her into his arms. “For always.” For however long that always was for the two of them. Because they would fall together now, the mating bond complete in every way.

SOLEIL was still a touch shaky from the impact of knowing Ivan was now hers without conditions, without shields of any kind, but it was a happy kind of shaky—that was about to get even happier.

Salvador was bringing the cubs over to her. When she’d called Tamsyn to ask where Natal and Razi were so she could visit, she’d learned that they’d gone home with Salvador—and that they were awfully excited to see her new aerie after Tamsyn had mentioned it.

So Soleil invited Salvador to bring them over. After she and Sal cried on the phone at being reunited, she said, “Some kind packmate stocked up the pantry with supplies—I have countless people I need to find and thank—so I have everything I need to make cookies. They should be ready by the time you arrive.”

After she and Ivan’d had a quick shower together, full of tender touches and wonder at the bond that sang through them both, she’d retrieved her clothing and got to baking, while Ivan made a trip to the car to get their gear.

To protect the native vegetation, the pack had rules about where vehicles were permitted, so it was a twenty-minute round trip for him. Or it should’ve been—he’d apparently decided to run part of it, because he was back in under fifteen, hitting the verandah with the bags just as she popped the cookies in the solar-powered eco-oven set into the wall.

“You sure you’re not a cat?” she said with a laugh when he prowled back in, her shopping bag in one hand and his duffel in the other, with her daypack slung easily over one shoulder.

“Cat or Mercant, not much difference that I can see. Sneaky runs in the bloodline.” No smile on his face, but she could feel it in the mating bond and it was a little bubble of happiness inside her. Happiness she clung to, refusing to look at the grim cloud that hovered on the horizon.

Last time she’d asked, Ivan had said he’d hit full psychic strength early morning the next day. At which point, he’d walk back into the ChaosNet and be forced to use his ability, further eroding his control on it.

“Ivan?” she said when he emerged from the bedroom after dropping off the bags.

He looked up from his phone. “Sorry, message from Canto with an update on an ongoing security issue we’re looking into. It’s not urgent.” Slipping the phone away, he came to lean his shoulder on the wall at the end of the counter where she was preparing the second sheet of cookies. “What is it?”

“Your grandmother helped you create your shields against what you call the spider, right?”

“Yes, but they no longer work—or only to a limited capacity.”

Soleil used a fork to flatten the balls of cookie dough. “It’s been two decades, give or take. Why don’t you talk to her again? Could be she has some new ideas.”

When he stayed silent, she looked up. “I know you don’t want to do it because she’s never going to accept your cage plan—but that ship has sailed all the way to outer space. Your mate isn’t about to accept that, either.” She shook the fork at him. “No point being a chicken about your grandmother’s fury.”

A narrowing of his eyes before he walked over … and nipped sharply at her ear, exactly as she might do to a misbehaving cub. Squealing, she threatened to poke him with the fork. He managed to stay out of reach as he got behind her and wrapped her up in his arms, pinning her own gently to her sides.

“Take that back,” he murmured in her ear, the rumble of sound making her toes curl onto the wood of the floor.

“No.”

He tickled her.

“Hey!” That wasn’t fair! He wasn’t supposed to know how to tickle! But he’d somehow learned, and she couldn’t take it. Giggling so hard she dropped the fork on the counter, she said, “I surrender!”

“And?”

“And you’re no chicken.” Turning her head, she nuzzled his jaw, her cat so utterly delighted with him for playing with her that she’d let him get away with anything right now. “Where did you learn the tickling?”

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