Psy & Changelings 11 - Tangle of Need

one would kill them; but the question had to be asked. “You think they have an informant?”
    “No.” Hawke’s response held utmost confidence. “I’m betting they’ve been using spy satellites to scan our territory—the canopy makes it difficult in most cases, but there are open areas.”
    Riaz gave a slow nod. “All they’d have needed was a single glimpse of Sienna”—her hair that distinctive ruby red—“and then they just had to be patient.” He considered the other implications if Hawke was right. “No normal person would have access to that kind of satellite data. Or to a teleporter.” Flying or driving any unauthorized vehicle into the territory without being caught was so difficult as to be impossible.
    “Pure Psy,”Riley said, his eyes on the map, “lost the majority of their Tks in the fight. If Judd’s right about the rumblings in the Net, the group’s probably got other priorities at this point.”
    “Ming is the most obvious suspect.” Riaz was aware the man had been the military mastermind of the Council. “But we don’t have enough information to rule anyone out. Kaleb Krychek for one.” The lethal telekinetic could see Sienna as a threat to his own power.
    “Shoshanna’s gone suspiciously quiet, but she was the force behind Henry for most of their sham of a marriage,” Hawke said, and Riaz knew the alpha’s brain was working with cold efficiency in spite of his rage. “And Tatiana’s always been very good at hiding her involvement in any number of ops.”
    “I’ll talk to Judd.” Shutting down the map, Riley retrieved the data crystal. “He might be able to get us more concrete data.”
    “I’ll tap my contacts in Europe,” Riaz added, knowing Ming used an estate in the Champagne region of France as his home base. “See what I can dig up.” Glimpsing the look in his alpha’s eyes, he said, “No one will get near her, Hawke. We won’t let them.”
    Hawke knew his people would bleed to protect his mate, but he didn’t want Sienna to need that protection, to be forced to live in another cage. “We make sure she’s safe on our land,” he said, his anger an icy blade. “This needs to be her home, where she can walk without fear.”
    Riaz’s phone beeped a sharp alarm into the silence. “Damn,” the lieutenant said, glancing at the screen after switching it off. “I have the comm-conference with Kenji and the BlackSea rep.”
    “Go,” Hawke said, thinking past the fury that clawed through his veins. “That’s your priority.” BlackSea brought far too much to the table to disregard. “I need to talk to Sienna anyway.” Any defensive response SnowDancer formulated would need her input—she knew the strengths and weaknesses of her enemies better than anyone.
    Riley shot him an openly concerned look after Riaz left. “It might go better coming from me.”
    Hawke didn’t take it wrong—Riley wasn’t only his senior lieutenant, he was also Hawke’s friend, knew exactly how this might make him behave. “No, I’ve got it.”

    HAVING tracked Sienna to the nursery where she was doing a volunteer shift, Hawke watched his mate talking with a two-year-old. Thank God she was inside today—he didn’t know if he’d have been able to handle his primal response if she’d been out in the thick green of the forests.
    He knew she’d sensed his presence, but she didn’t break off what appeared to be a serious discussion. Nodding solemnly at something the little boy said, she helped him finish building his wooden-block masterpiece before rising to her feet and walking over to Tarah.
    A short conversation later, she headed toward him. “I asked to leave early,” she said, and he knew he’d failed in his attempt to shield the raw emotions that had his wolf pacing, claws out.
    “Walk with me.”
    Not asking questions, she accompanied him down the corridors and to an exit from the den that led into a less utilized section of the White Zone. Where he leaned against the moss-covered wall of the den and gathered her into his arms, just held her for a long, long time.
    Sienna was intensity and fire and energy, but today, she stood quiet, letting him take what he needed, his mate who knew him better than he knew himself.
    When he drew back at last and told her what Riaz had discovered, the cardinal starlight of her gaze turned to endless midnight. “It was predictable,” she said, no shock in her, just an anger as deep as his own. “No one likes a rogue