His hands tightened convulsively on her flesh, his expression promising retaliation. "Do you want to?"

It was an act she'd never willingly performed. But there was a deep curiosity in her about the taste of this man who made her feel like the sexiest thing on this planet. "Maybe." She stretched, ran her tongue along her upper lip. "Depends how far in debt I am."

Her provocation had the desired effect. His head dipped and he wasn't lapping now. He was kissing her in earnest, destroying any puny defenses she might've had.

She got into a lot more debt before he was finished.

"Embarrassing and undignified?" he asked as he kissed his way up her trembling body.

Her face flushed at the reminder of how she'd once described the luscious thing he had just done to her. "I think it's growing on me."

"Good. Because I like the taste of you." His voice was rough.

She glanced down his body, saw the arousal shoving at his jeans. "Take them off." Her hands went to the waistband and she found the first button already undone.

"Careful," he whispered in her ear as she began to lower the zipper. It caught on something. "Jesus, Tally."

She kissed his chest. "It's only your underwear. Don't be a baby." A second later, the zipper was undone and she was sliding her hand into that underwear and finding him, hot, hard, and oh-so-aroused.

He seemed to stop breathing as she closed her hand into a small fist. "You're so big." He would fill her up, take her over.

"Remember that," he groaned. "And tell everyone you know."

It made her want to laugh, except that her body was starving of this hunger that had been a lifetime in the making and all she wanted was to see him. She released him, to the accompaniment of his complaining groan. "Take off your clothes." She began to push at his jeans, exposing the erotic line of his hip bones.

He kissed her before rising in a smooth catlike move and disposing of his clothing in what amounted to seconds. Then he was coming down on her again and in the light, his body was pure male animal, his skin molding to muscle, his body heavy with arousal.

He settled between her thighs, making room for himself by spreading her legs wider. She cooperated. But she wasn't ready to surrender yet. Not giving him warning, she slid her hand between their bodies and gripped him once more. He groaned, his back arching, the tendons on his neck standing out in vivid relief.

Raising her head, she kissed him at the base of his neck before lying back down, her hand fisted around him. He shuddered, dropped his head. "You can play later."

She ran her fisted hand up and down the straining length of him, pushing her own arousal to the limit even as she pushed him. To her delight, he didn't rush her, though his eyes warned that she was about to push him too far. It only made her hotter. To be in bed with a man she trusted this much was a revelation. "I adore you."

He groaned. "Tally."

Her hunger spiked and when he tugged off her hand, she didn't fight him. He was nudging at her a second later. She gripped his shoulders, drew the scent of him into her lungs, and waited. He nudged the tip of his erection into her and every nerve in her body went haywire. He was so hard, she was buttery soft. It was perfect - if he'd move. She tried to rock forward but he held her in place.

She was about to tell him this was no time to tease when she realized he was trying to find control. He was much bigger, far stronger than her. But she didn't want him in control. And she trusted him with every cell in her body, her surrender to him absolute.

"Clay, I swear to God, if you don't bury yourself in me right now, I'm going to reach down and bring myself to - " Her throat froze up as he pushed himself into her in a single thrust. He was stretching her apart, killing her with pleasure. Parts of her body that had never before been touched were being touched and she wanted to beg for more. Because this was Clay, she did. "Move," she said, voice husky. "Please move."

He nuzzled at her throat, caught her lips in a kiss. "Ready?"

She looked into his eyes and nodded. "Ready."

The last thing she remembered thinking was that she had never seen a more beautiful man in her life. A moment later, pleasure crashed through her like thunder and Clay became her world, her universe, her reason for being.

Sometime during the night, Clay had carried her upstairs and to bed. Talin wasn't sure how - she had vague memories of being tossed over his shoulder, his hand on her upturned bottom. But really, she didn't care. Because when she woke, it was to find her face snuggled against Clay's chest, his thigh between hers.

Smile wide, she pressed a kiss to the skin below her lips. He did that purring thing again. "My kitty," she teased, stroking her fingers over the silky heat of him.

Grumbling, he squeezed the thigh he'd pulled over his hip. "Go to sleep."

"It's daytime," she pointed out, able to tell from the light seeping in through the windows.

"Too early." Then he pretended to snore.

She kissed him again and laid her head against his chest. His heart beat strong and steady, anchoring her. "What will we do today?" Her laughter faded.

"Get one step closer to finding your Jon." He pushed his hand into her hair, cupped the back of her head. "Have faith."

"I do. I just...I wish I could swoop in and save him like a hero out of some comic book."

"You are his hero, Tally. You made sure he wasn't forgotten."

"You know, when I thought I might have a lot of Psy blood, I was angry. I like being human." The genetic link had threatened her identity, the one thing no one had ever been able to steal from her. "But at the same time, I can't help but wonder if I could've done more to save the children if I had had Psy gifts or changeling strength." Surrounded by the extraordinary power of both races, it was difficult not to feel weak.

"Don't." Clay's voice was firm. "You're you because you're human. I like you."

She rolled her eyes even as her lips threatened to curve. "I like you, too, even if you're only half human," she teased. "But sometimes, being only human - "

"Be quiet and listen," he ordered in that dominant tone that intrigued her even as it infuriated. "Do you know about the eighteenth century's Territorial Wars?"

Chapter 34

"Sure, we learned about it in school." Thousands of changelings had died in the bloodshed, taking the other races with them.

"Do you know the name of the man who helped draft the laws that ended the war?"

"Adrian Kenner," she said, flipping through her memory files to retrieve the name. "He was a side note in a history textbook."

"A side note to the other races, maybe," Clay said. "He's considered a critical figure in changeling history. All our children know his name. What most people forget, though" - he brushed his lips over hers - "is that Adrian Kenner was only human, too."

She wiggled up the bed until they were face-to-face. "Really? But how? Why?"

"The predators would've torn each other's throats out. A nonpredatory negotiator would've been ignored by the predators." Matter-of-fact words. "As for the Psy - they tried but the changelings wouldn't trust anyone who had the ability to mess with their minds. Plus, they had a nasty way of looking down on us for being animals."

"The Psy were like that before Silence?"

"Why do you think Silence took so well? The seeds were there."

Talin mulled his words over. "You're saying we're neutral territory."

"No, you're the bridge. Changelings trust only Pack. Psy stay in the PsyNet. But humans move freely between all three - or did, before Silence."

She bit her lip. "The Forgotten - more of them married humans than changelings."

"Yes. It's almost impossible to breach the walls of a changeling pack. We're as unwelcoming to outsiders as the Psy."

"You're not so bad," she murmured. "I like how you care for each other." The depth of that loyalty was an almost visible force.

"But we need the occasional human to come in and shake us up. All the humans who've mated into DarkRiver have made us stronger, given us bonds outside the pack. You're not only human, Talin. You're beautifully, powerfully human."

She nodded, but her mind was less on his words than why he'd said them. For her. To bolster her confidence. Was it any wonder she loved him? "I'm so glad I came to you," she said, just as a low beep cut through the air.

"That's my cell phone," Clay told her. "It's on the bed stand - can you grab it?"

Knowing it had to be important if he was willing to cut short their conversation, she turned, grabbed it, and gave it to him. She stayed with her head on his arm but put enough distance between them that she could see his face as he flipped open the phone. "Thanks for getting back to me," were his first words.

"Yes."

"When?"

"I'll see you then." He closed the phone.

She figured it had to be pack business and was practical enough to know it would most likely not include her. It was, she thought, one thing to become his lover, quite another to be welcomed into DarkRiver. "You have a meeting?" She tried to keep her voice bright, unwilling to spoil the morning by asking for something he didn't want to give her.

"We have a meeting." There was a satisfied glint in his eye.

Her determination not to ruin things gave way to interest. "With whom?"

"A SnowDancer. I gave him a call last night before the dance. I had a feeling Judd still had some very interesting contacts inside the PsyNet."

"But, the SnowDancers are wolves." She frowned. "How could he have contacts?"

"He's Psy. Mated to a SnowDancer wolf."

Excitement tore through her with the force of lightning unleashed. "Would he be able to find out if they're taking the children, confirm if it is the Psy?"