"But," Kaleb said, having kept his silence to that point, "he is not Council. He doesn't have our resources. We need to start hunting in earnest."

"Agreed." Five voices in unison. "The Ghost must be eliminated."

Kaleb wondered if any of the five realized they had just responded to him as if he were their leader.

Chapter 41

Talin had known something was up the entire day. Clay had gone ever more silent as the hours passed, his eyes so darkly possessive she'd felt their touch to the core of her soul. God, the man made her shiver with need, all with a single hot look.

"Are you going tell me what you've been brooding about?" she asked the second they reached home that night.

"No."

Sometimes, the bond they'd formed in childhood was a problem. They had none of the walls that other couples did, had been friends far too long before becoming lovers. It was a brilliant, powerful feeling she'd never give up, but honestly - "You drive me crazy sometimes!"

He took off his jacket and leaned down to kiss her. She tried to dodge it, but Clay was in the mood to show off. He held her easily in place as he melted her bones from the inside out. When she could breathe again, she scowled. "I mean it. Tell me what's up."

"What did you say to get Jon and Noor to stay on at Tammy's?"

She bit her lip. "That we needed to make some additions to this place so that there would be enough room. Are you mad? I mean, I just assumed - "

He put a finger against her lips. "Jon can plug his ears when we make out. Noor's a baby. What the hell's she going to do - eat your chocolate?"

She wanted to be mad at him, but he made it so hard. "Jon's not exactly...good."

He laughed, a jaw-cracking laugh full of true humor. "Baby, I have bad covered. Leave the kid to me." He kissed her again. "This place is a bit far out. We might have to consider moving closer to the other families."

"Maybe later," she said. "Right now, they need the security of knowing no one can get to them and it's not going to get much more secure than the middle of DarkRiver land. They can study at home for a while. We'll get a computer tutor set up."

"Whatever you want." He pulled her hair out of its ponytail and thrust a hand through it. "Soon as we decide what we want where, construction can begin. Two, three days and we'll have new rooms."

"So soon?"

"DarkRiver's in construction and I'm the boss as far as building goes." He grinned. "They'll haul ass. Dorian's already drawing up some plans."

"Is he really an architect?"

He tapped her lightly on the bottom. "Yes, and don't sass him. He's threatening to throw you into the nearest body of ice-cold water."

She stood on tiptoe, arms around his neck. "Nah. You wouldn't let him."

His smile turned violent in its tenderness. "No. You're mine to protect."

"Tell me," she whispered, her own smile dying. "Tell me what it is you're going to do."

"Why do you think I'm going to do anything?"

"Because," she swallowed, "you had that same look in your eyes the day you killed Orrin."

Green filled her vision as those magnificent eyes grew flame-hot. "And does it terrify you now, too?"

"Yes," she admitted. "It terrifies me to know I could lose you again because you care too much for me." A tear streaked down her face. "I'm not worth your life."

Clay hated seeing Tally cry, hated it. It wasn't the usual male thing with female emotion. It was this deep, eviscerating pain. Reaching up, he wiped away the tears with rough strokes of his thumb. "You are worth everything!" He was angry at her for thinking so little of herself. "Baby, you need to let me do this."

"What?"

"Keep you safe."

"I am safe. With you."

He shook his head. "The Psy need to understand that you're protected. Anybody who comes after you takes their life into their hands."

"There's more than one," she pleaded with him. "If you go after them, they'll - "

"I'm not alone either." He nuzzled at her, wanting to reassure her, to soothe her, but unable to accept her plea to let it be. He couldn't claw out the disease inside her but he could get rid of this threat. "You're part of a pack now. Accept what they need to give you." What he needed to give her.

"I adore you," she whispered. "If you die, I'm not going to make it." The words were stark, her heart laid open on her sleeve.

"Then don't ask me to sit on my hands while you stand in harm's way," he demanded. "I need to protect you."

"I'm already si - "

He kissed her before she could say anything. She wasn't sick, wasn't dying. He refused to let her go. "We'll talk about that later," he told her. "Tonight, just...tell me you'll be here when I return." Ready to touch him no matter that he came to her with violence painted across his body.

Her face set in stubborn lines and he felt his predator's heart stop. "You get one scratch," she said, "one single scratch, on your body and you'll be sleeping in the living room for the next month." Her lips trembled. "Do I make myself clear?"

He smiled at the threat neither of them believed she'd carry through. "Yes, ma'am."

Talin walked back into Tamsyn's by now familiar home late that night. "I'm going to head to the lair with Clay when he returns," she told the healer, already worrying for him.

"I know." Tamsyn smiled. "Want a glass of wine?"

"It's late." She unclenched her fingers, told herself he'd be fine. He would come back to her, he'd promised. He wouldn't leave her alone again.

"I don't think you'll be sleeping. Neither will Sascha."

"Sascha's here, too?" Having come straight into the kitchen after Clay dropped her off, she hadn't seen the other woman. She swallowed her fear, not wanting the cardinal to sense the depth of her scars. She knew Clay wouldn't leave her by choice. He never had. But in some hidden part of her, she was still a shocked and bloodied eight-year-old, and that child knew that, sometimes, you weren't given a choice. "Where is she?"

"Upstairs. Julian woke up and demanded she come cuddle him - I swear the twins can scent her a mile away." She shook her head. "They have the most enormous crushes on her. I think they'd fight Lucas for her if he wasn't so much bigger."

Talin forced her mind to the present. "I can guess why." The two women might not see it but they were very similar, both of them with the warm hearts of healers. And yet there was a strength in them that promised protection. "Jon and Noor?"

"Noor's asleep and Jon's keeping Kit company while he studies." She pointed upstairs. "Second door on the left."

Talin shook her head. "I think I've used up all my fuss points for the next month."

Tammy grinned. "He'll be okay with Kit."

"You always seem to have people around," Talin began, eager to know more about Clay's world. She never wanted to hurt him as Isla had done by not acknowledging his beast, by not accepting that he was different - in a beautiful, unique way. "Do you mind?"

"Lord, no. It makes me content to care for the pack. Part of the healing gift, I suppose." The other woman pushed a flute of pale gold wine across the counter. "That's why the pack healer always has a big house. Somehow, their home inevitably becomes the social center of the pack." She picked up a bag of coffee beans.

"Are you making coffee, too?"

"Faith and Sascha don't drink wine - Psy have an odd reaction to alcohol."

Right then, someone knocked on the front door. "I'll get it," Talin offered.

When she opened it, it was to find Faith on the other side. "Oh, hi."

"Hi." The F-Psy smiled before turning to wave at the seemingly empty space behind her. "Vaughn," she said in response to Talin's bemused expression. "He and Mercy are running outside border watch tonight. Nate's doing the inner region."

Something clicked in Talin's brain. "Is that why we're all here?" She stepped aside to let Faith walk in. Everyone knew that Psy didn't like to be touched and Faith wasn't exactly her best friend.

"Yes." The F-Psy put a large shopping bag on the floor beside the hall closet. "It's easier for them to cover us this way, since they're three short." She hung up her coat and, leaving the bag on the floor, began to head toward the kitchen. Talin fell in beside her. It took incredible force of will not to ask the question she so desperately wanted to ask - had Faith had another vision of Clay's future? What had she seen?

Faith stopped halfway down the hall and turned. "I owe you an apology."

"Why?"

"Emotion is still new to me." She shoved her hands into the pockets of her black slacks. "Sometimes I find it hard to handle."

"Everyone gets that way." Talin wondered what it was like to grow up without emotion. She couldn't imagine ever not loving Clay.

Faith's night-sky eyes seemed to turn darker. "Clay scared me when I first came into DarkRiver, but then he became my friend. So when you - "

"It's okay," Talin interrupted. "You were worried I was bad for him, so you went overprotective. The truth is," she admitted, "now that I'm not blinded by stupid jealousy, I'm glad for the tenderness you tried to give him. That's nothing to apologize for."

"Yes, there is." Faith's expression was resolute. "Sascha and Tammy were so nice to me when I entered DarkRiver. I should've remembered their example and treated you with the same warmth and respect."

"I figure we're even." Talin filled her voice with sincerity - so that Faith didn't have to guess at nuances of emotion. "I called you all sorts of names in my head."