Page 51 (1/2)

The light swept through carefully placed pieces of colored glass to lay mosaic patterns on the carpets Her Psy anized but different with everythem from the bed when the wall- there was no way Vaughn was going to budge, she wiggled out from under his aret so with audio only

The voice that returned her greeting was so unexpected, she didn’t reply for ten cohn was fully awake and by her side She let him make the rest of the decisions Because for her, the person on the other side of the cohost

Chapter 26

Less than four hours later, Faith walked into a hn by her side Located near the bustle of Chinatown, the building was both central and heavily protected, not only by changeling strength but also by the huht secret In turn, the people of the area looked to DarkRiver for reciprocal protection against gangs

However, Faith’s ht then She was, in fact, incapable of any rational thought But she reacted al in "Hello, Father"

Anthony NightStar rose to his feet, but didn’t approach her "Hello, Faith"

Faith didn’t knohat to feel She’d readied herself for being cut off from the Psy, contact with her forbidden under Council hn’s silent presence "Privacy hn bristle, but he let her answer for herself "Vaughn is my mate He’s welcome to my secrets"

Anthony didn’t press the issue, which wasn’t surprising Her father was an eical otiable "Then let’s talk"

She took a seat across the table frohn’s arht instead of standing like a jaguar just waiting for an excuse to pounce

"Your defection has affected every aspect of the PsyClan"

"I know" Her choice had been the right one, but the far-reaching consequences continued to haunt her "How much did the clan lose?" How many jobs had been affected? How many lives?

"Not as much as ould have had we not taken preemptive action"

She frowned and saw Anthony’s eyes focus on the betraying gesture "I thought Juniper wasn’t yet forecasting with high accuracy"

Anthony shook his head "She isn’t She’s eight years old and nowhere near as skilled as you were at the sahn spoke for the first time "She’s a child Let her be one"

"Our worlds are different, Mr D’Angelo," Anthony responded, though he hadn’t been told Vaughn’s last naest would leave her abilities untrained and unshielded, open to exploitation" He raised a hand to forestall comment "Yes, the PsyClan will use her talents as we used Faith’s, but we’ll also undertake to ensure her welfare In the past, before the PsyClans ca, some F-Psy were kept captive by others of all races for personal gain"

"Father," Faith interrupted, "if not Juniper, then who?"

"You"

Vaughn’s entire body went hunting-quiet beside her She was glad She knew the power of the PsyClan and exactly how far it would go to get its way

"She’s no longer yours" A hue

"No But her ability exists whether she’s in the Net or not" Anthony didn’t flinch "She can be subcontracted to do the work for NightStar"

Faith had to catch heropen "But the Council - surely they’ve prohibited contact with hn to her "However, NightStar is no Council puppet"

Vaughn leaned forward "You told them to stick their prohibition where the sun don’t shine" A faint note of respect had entered his tone

"Crude, but correct They are our Council, not our absolute rulers And the pursuit of co off access to Faith would’ve affected thousands of businesses and none of those businesses was going to sit by and let that happen"

Faith’s htStar’s clients, with you as the go-between?"