Psy & Changelings 10 - Kiss of Snow

aren’t you telling me to stay the fuck away from her?” he asked, because while it was too late for that, it angered him that her family hadn’t thought to protect her.
    Judd’s own anger was an icy whip. “You insist on seeing her as a child when the truth is, she was forced to make adult decisions long ago. She’s earned the right to live her life as she pleases.”
    “Doesn’t that piss you off? That she was never allowed to be a child?” It sure as hell pissed him off.
    “Yes—but she survived.” Not even by the flicker of an eyelash did Judd betray the depth of emotion that had to be riding him, but the chair next to him turned into a pile of splinters between one breath and the next.
    Hawke’s wolf saw, understood. “You’d kill them all if you could.”
    “Sienna could do that herself.”
     
     
    SIENNA knew they were talking about her in there, and though it frustrated her to be shut out, she’d been part of the pack long enough to understand hierarchy. The truth was, annoyance at situations like today’s aside, she appreciated it.
    SnowDancer, at its core, operated very much like a military unit—albeit one with a warm emotional center, and that was a pattern of behavior her mind understood and accepted, the strict nature of it acting as an outside restraint on her abilities. Sienna was deathly certain she wouldn’t have survived in a more laissez-faire environment.
    However, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be letting both Hawke and Judd know what she thought of their arrogance in excluding her from a conversation that had her as its focus. The irritated thought had just passed through her mind when a brilliant spark of joy burst onto her psychic senses. Toby . Her brother had phenomenal shields, but he tended to broadcast when in high spirits. What’s got you so happy?
    Sascha’s here.
    Sienna frowned. Really? It didn’t fit with what she’d witnessed of Lucas’s protective nature.
    Lucas is with her. And like a hundred other soldiers.
    That made more sense. Be good.
    Drew says I should be bad sometimes.
    He’s a terrible influence. But she let Toby feel her laughter, hear that she was joking. Just don’t be too bad.
    A starburst of love from a brother who’d had this aspect of his abilities buried in the Net. Then Toby was gone from her mind and the door to Hawke’s office was being pulled open. “Sascha and Lucas are here,” she said to Hawke when he followed Judd out into the corridor.
    “I know.” He held up a sleek black phone. “Riley will handle anything they need. We”—his eyes locked to Sienna’s—“are heading out for a while.”
    Per their agreement, she didn’t question the order until Judd left them at the junction. “You were talking about me,” she began. “I—”
    “Uncles,” Hawke interrupted, “brothers, fathers have always had and will always have private ‘discussions’ with males who want to touch their women. You’re never going to win that argument”—a playful tug on her braid—“so give it up.”
    Glaring at him, she pulled her hair from his grasp. “That is the most sexist statement I have ever heard.”
    “Doesn’t mean it’s not true.” He shrugged. “Ask Riley sometime about the nice little chat Mercy’s brothers and father had with him.”
    Irritation derailed by curiosity, she said, “What about Indigo?” The lieutenant was the third-highest ranking individual in the pack, needed no one’s protection.
    “You know Abel,” he said, referring to Indigo’s father. “What do you think?”
    Sienna knew right then that the arrogant wolf had won, because Abel adored his girls, had probably threatened to rip out key parts of Drew’s anatomy. “Where are we going?” she asked, foul-tempered and not bothering to hide it.
    “In a bit.” Nodding his head toward one of the conference rooms, he said, “Toby’s in there.” An unasked question, silent consent if she needed to go to her brother.
    “He’s fine,” she said, wondering how the wolf-eyed male could be so infuriating and so very wonderful at the same time. “He loves his lessons with Sascha.”
    “She gets something out of it, too, you know.”
    “She’s a cardinal empath. Toby’s E abilities are barely 3 on the Gradient.” Her brother’s cardinal status came from his telepathy.
    “But he is an E in some part,” Hawke pointed out. “He exists.”
    Yes, she thought, Hawke was right. It explained the hereto inexplicable depth of Sascha’s joy