Psy & Changelings 01 - Slave to Sensation

other would bite. It was time to take the next step, to build strength the Psy would truly fear. “I’m going to invite you into this home.”
    They’d always done their talking out in the open, away from their personal places. Though it had never been said, they both knew it was so that those places wouldn’t be tainted by violence if blood was spilled. Theirs was a fragile trust and it was no longer enough. With his invitation, he’d not only accepted, but expanded, the offer that had been hinted at when Hawke’s lieutenants had treated DarkRiver juveniles as their own.
    Ice-blue eyes looked at him without blinking. “That’s a good deal of trust.”
    â€œDon’t make me regret it.” He held out his arm.
    The other alpha clasped it at the elbow and they went toward each other in the hard embrace of two hunters. When they drew back, Lucas turned to head toward the safe house. Hawke followed with his lieutenants stalking behind him.
    â€œFree passage,” Hawke said as they walked. It was clear enough to be heard by the other changelings.
    Lucas thought about the war that might break out, thought about the safety of his people. And then he thought about what they would want, what he had no right to deny them. They were predators but they were also human in a way the Psy would never be. “Free passage.”
    With those two simple words each, they’d turned their alliance into a blood bond. They’d given each other’s packs free passage in all of their respective territories, the right to come and go without any of the current stipulations. But that wasn’t the important part.
    As of now, the wolves would come to the aid of the leopards and the leopards would die for the wolves.
    No matter what the fight.
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    Once inside the house, the lieutenants and sentinels placed themselves in a protective circle, watching each other and their alphas. They might now be blood allies but complete trust would take time.
    â€œDorian.” Lucas gave the other man the signal to fetch Sascha. Everything in him wanted to take care of it himself, wanted to protect her every step of the way. But he couldn’t leave his people alone with the wolves, or betray his driving need, need which was this raw only at the final stage of mating.
    Hawke couldn’t be allowed to guess that the mating dance was incomplete. It wouldn’t damage their alliance but it would probably make the other alpha back off from placing any faith in Sascha.
    The beast wasn’t convinced by the logical argument. It wanted Sascha. Now . It was taking too much of Lucas’s will to fight the possessiveness of the panther. He didn’t even trust the sentinels at this stage. It was part of the price he paid for being a leopard, an alpha, and a Hunter.
    Nobody spoke until Sascha walked back into the room followed by Tamsyn, with Dorian shadowing their backs. Tammy didn’t need to be here, to be vulnerable. Protecting one of their women was going to put enough pressure on the sentinels. Nate was clearly furious at his mate, his eyes narrowed in anger. Already, her presence was affecting their ability to defend.
    â€œTamsyn,” Lucas said, walking over to pull Sascha to his side. “You need to leave.” He rarely gave Tammy orders, knew he was too easy with her. He even knew why.
    It wasn’t because his mother had been a healer as many people thought. No, it was because he’d seen the condition she’d been in after trying to save his father’s life. She’d almost killed herself, given everything she’d had in that slender seventeen-year-old body. And when they’d found him, Lucas, she’d tried desperately to squeeze impossibly more from her worn-out soul.
    However, right now, he couldn’t afford to have her fight against him, couldn’t afford to show any weakness. If she spoke up, he’d have to get very harsh and he didn’t want to do that to Tammy. To his shock, Sascha was the one who spoke. “She needs to be here.”
    The SnowDancers raised their brows, but there was a kind of shadowed respect in their eyes. The rules were different for the mates of Pack alphas. No one wanted their alpha mated to a weak female.
    â€œWhy would that be?” Hawke turned to face them, his back to the mantel.
    Lucas moved until Sascha and Tamsyn were both half-hidden by his body. “None of your business, wolf. You came