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"If you give up," Sadie said, cupping Taret it for all the long, lonely years that follow So will he Nathan thinks he knohat he’s doing, but starving the bond will destroy both of you"
"How do I reach hiure out" Her ive you a hint--he’s a man Treat him like one"
TWO HOURS LATER,TAMSYN STILL HADN’T A CLUE ABOUT what she was going to do Frustrated in more ways than one, she sto hich to take herand needed an assistant But the house proved to be empty Sadie had left a note tacked to the back of the front door
Your father and I decided to go for a bit of a roa their animals’ need for the wild and who knehen they would be back It could be days
"Great," sheback into the living roo when she spied a box on the coffee table with her naht like to do these while things are quiet (and you’re sulking) We could do with so the box, she found it filled with homemade Christic Every year until the horrible day when a bloody nightmare had forced her to step into the position of DarkRiver’s healer, she had els and beads strung on fishing wire and beautifully detailed paper dolls But what held her attention were the round glass ornaments
Each was end Most had been done by Tamsyn and her mother as they sat side by side for hours, her father content to "supervise" She smiled Every ornament held a memory of happiness, of love Her hand found one decorated with the i’s not just about bones and cuts, Tammy, sweetheart
Tears pricked her eyes at the memory of Shayla’s patient voice Lucas’s mother had been a black panther like her son She had also been Tauidance Tamsyn missed desperately But today, in thisher the truths she needed to hear
This would be the second Christmas since the attack No one had been in the mood to celebrate the first, but perhaps it was time to heal her family, her pack
Even if she couldn’t heal herself
Her eyes narrowed at the self-pitying thought "Snap out of it," she ordered herself Sulking be damned--she would not let Nate’s idiocy ruin this Christ to make sure he knew it
Three
SOLIAS KING WAS A TP-PSY, A TELEPATH WITH A GRADIENT 8 ability That h to use mind control should he ever decide to Solias had done so before--politics didn’t allow for such niceties as high moral principles
His current plans, too, would have been far easier to implement had he been able to utilize his telepathic abilities to coerce and persuade Unfortunately, changelings had rock-solid natural shields He ht be able to turn one of them--and that with considerable effort--but he couldn’t control the entire DarkRiver pack "But it shouldn’t be necessary"
"What, sir?" his aide and son, Kinshasa Lhosa, asked
"Nothing of note" Solias turned "Do you have the details?"
"Yes" Kinshasa passed thehteen-year-old was extreood investment when he’d entered into a reproduction contract with the Gradient 7 Tp-Psy as Kinshasa’s mother Both Kinshasa and the second child froh Gradient minds, powerful in their respective abilities
"Give me a précis"
Kinshasa spoke from memory, his dark skin unlined "The land in question is perfect for your needs You can locate a small comm station and office there, then use it as a base for further expansion"
"The leopard pack?" Solias didn’t trust Kinshasa--he trusted no one, blood relative or not But the boy was undoubtedly good at research "Will they pose a proble the cool eroup with no real presence If ere going up against the SnowDancer wolves, it would be a different story They’re soressive"
That hy Solias hadn’t looked into "acquiring" wolf land "Begin preparations for development" The leopards--animals shackled by the choke of emotion--were clearly no threat
"Yes, sir" Kinshasa paused "There was another matter, sir"
"Yes?"
"The Psy Council has requested awith you"