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Mine to Possess

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Mine to Possess
Mtp 2
Author Nalini Singh
Publication date February 2008
Publication Order
Preceded by
Caressed by Ice 		Followed by
Hostage to Pleasure

Mine to Possess is the fourth book in the overall series. Chronologically, it falls between the novella Stroke of Enticement and the short story "A Conversation."

Synopsis[]

Clay Bennett is a powerful DarkRiver sentinel, but he grew up in the slums with his human mother, never knowing his changeling father. As a young boy without the bonds of Pack, he tried to stifle his animal nature. He failed…and committed the most extreme act of violence, killing a man and losing his best friend, Talin, in the bloody aftermath. Everything good in him died the day he was told that she, too, was dead.

Talin McKade barely survived a childhood drenched in bloodshed and terror. Now a new nightmare is stalking her life–the street children she works to protect are disappearing and turning up dead. Determined to keep them safe, she unlocks the darkest secret in her heart and returns to ask the help of the strongest man she knows…

Clay lost Talin once. He will not let her go again, his hunger to possess her, a clawing need born of the leopard within. As they race to save the innocent, Clay and Talin must face the violent truths of their past…or lose everything that ever mattered.

Characters[]

Main Characters[]

Recurring Characters[]

New Characters[]

Mentioned or non-Speaking Roles[]

Plot[]

Please be aware this book contains depictions of sex shaming, sex worker shaming, alcohol consumption, dissociative states, consensual somnophilia, drug use, kidnapping, incarceration, sex addiction, self-harm, terminal illness, child abuse, references to mass suicide, human experimentation, and murder.

Prologue[]

Prior to Silence, the Psy married humans and mated with changelings; the children of such unions were among the most vociferous opponents of the Protocol. While most chose to stay in the PsyNet and thus subject to the mandate in 1979, many chose to leave. It's unclear what happened to them and there were rumours of mass suicide or they were the first to undergo rehabilitation. Now most Psy believe the Council wiped them all out.

Chapter 1[]

28 year old Talin McKade has been tracking Clay Bennett for two weeks and has followed him to a bar. She remembers him from her childhood and how he'd killed someone, she'd been scared of him then and she's terrified now, plus burdened with regrets over their history. Her fear isn't eased any as she watches him literally toss several drunk juveniles out of a bar, then dump them in the back of a truck.

Kit, Cory, Jase, and some other boys were drunk and causing trouble in Joe's bar, so he called Clay and Dorian to drag them back home. While loading them into a truck, Clay hears a noise and recognizes the voice, which belongs to someone he knows to be dead. Leaving Dorian to drive the truck, Clay takes off after a Jeep that pealed down the street, only to be stymied by a landslide that happened less than an hour ago.

He recognizes the driver's scent, but it's wrong somehow.

Chapter 2[]

The driver - he calls her Tally - greets him by name and he's shocked to see her because he thought she's been dead for 20 years. He'd made a childhood promise to return to her and thinks that she'd assumed he'd broken that promise. She admits she'd asked he be told that she'd died in a car wreck because she had settled with a good family and was trying to live a normal life, but could feel him hunting her ever since he left juvie. Her fear and confession are like a knife to his heart.

Clay insists she was his to protect, but Talin argues that she was never his. He sees that she's very different from the girl he'd known. Although he never hurt her, she can't forget what he'd done, literally because she has an eidetic memory. She blames herself for his prison sentence, but he tells her that she didn't make him slaughter her foster father. He was the only person she could trust not to hurt her as a child, but he turned out to be the most violent one of all and she was afraid he'd turn that violence on her. Now she's ashamed and feels like she let him down.

Chapter 3[]

Clay's quietly furious and cruel to Talin. After killing her abusive foster father, Orrin Henderson, there was a media circus and some wanted to put him down like an animal, but details of Orrin's abuse was leaked to the press and child protective services was forced to intervene. Talin's new social worker, Zeke, was a good one and carefully vetted all adoption offers - which were numerous due to the media attention - and placed her with a kind family in rural Iowa named the Larkspurs. She found herself living on a farm in rural Iowa with two boys who were older than her and two girls, one older and one younger than her.

She'd felt like she'd stolen four years of Clay's life and hadn't wanted to burden him for the rest of his life because he'd already taken on the role of caretaker for his mom as a kid. If she'd relied on him, then she'd never have developed her own strength or been able to care for herself.

Juvie was hell for Clay. The only thing that kept him sane was the facility was in a rural area and he was able to get outside and run. He'd learned to cage his anger, then unleash it like a weapon, something he learned from the Psy who came to observe captive animal behaviour. Since changelings usually deal with their own and Orrin was human, he was the only changeling in long-term incarceration.

After graduation, Talin worked with kids in New York City until moving to San Francisco earlier that year. He'd been catching hints of her scent and thought he was going crazy. She didn't even know he was in the area until she saw him on the street near DarkRiver HQ a few weeks ago and thought she was hallucinating, until she went onto their website and found him listed there, but under a different last name. He'd changed his surname to avoid the media attention.

She tells him that kids have been disappearing across the country, but Enforcement's written them off as runaways. She says she has proof. The body of one of her kids, an eleven year old named Mickey, was found. He'd been beaten to death. Then there were two more bodies and another is still missing.

Angry and upset, Talin starts crying. Even though Clay's hurt, he offers to hold her and she cries in his arms. He promises to help her find her lost one and get the people behind it. She protests, not wanting to make him kill again.

Chapter 4[]

Over burgers back at Joe's bar, Clay tells Talin he is a killer because in the changeling world, killing to protect Pack is understood and accepted. She protests that she's not part of his pack. No, but no child deserves to die. She tells him that one detective, Max Shannon, has taken her seriously and told her of other similar disappearances across the country. She has a gut feeling, something that's rarely steered her wrong, that there's something more going on than runaway kids or a serial killer targeting them.

Talin tells him they found the bodies of the Hendersons' other victims in the junkyard behind their apartment complex where they used to play. Although she'd never seen them, she heard them watching the videos of the abuse and murders they committed late at night. She'd been mute for nearly a year until her desperate social worker bribed an administrator to get Clay outside where Talin could watch him from the parking lot overlooking the exercise yard. She watched him run laps for hours and see that he was surviving. She figured that if he could survive, even locked up as a changeling, then she could survive, too. He remembers the exact date and time because he'd caught her scent, but thought he was just desperate to see her again.

Dorian shows back up at the bar as they're leaving and messes with Talin, asking Clay if he'd give her to him because she was a bit small for him. Yanking his chain right back, she tells him she doesn't do "I don't do pretty boys. In fact, I don't do boys at all." Once Dorian's inside, Clay asks her if she's a lesbian, which she isn't. He asks her what she does like. The answer's men, lots and lots of men, so many not even she can remember with her eidetic memory. Shocked, Clay tells her she didn't use to be like that and she points out he knew her before puberty. She flings the information at him like she wants to hurt him.

Secretly, Talin doesn't know why she told him that. Later, she learned the promiscuity was a form of self-harm common among survivors of childhood abuse, but she still hates herself for it and has been celibate for eight years. Sometimes she wonders if she was truly the "whore" Orrin had called her and tried to make her into. Other times she wonders if it's genetic since she'd been abandoned at a free clinic frequented by prostitutes. She thinks he must hate her for hurting herself, treating herself so cheaply, after he'd saved her life.

Clay drives her home and when he leaves, she cries alone in her car.

Chapter 5[]

Nikita Duncan calls on Ashaya Aleine for a report on the implant. The development's back to square one due to sabotage, helped along with a little of her own secret contributions. Ashaya's making plans for how to hide among humans and changelings.

Chapter 6[]

Entering her apartment, Talin finds the words "Stop or you're next" scrawled on the wall in blood. Photos of the kids she's cared for are utterly destroyed. Numb and fighting flashbacks to Orrin's death, she starts to call Clay's number listed on the DarkRiver website, but stops and calls someone else instead.

Clay goes back to the bar and proceeds to drink himself into oblivion. He punches Dorian when he tries to stop him. Nathan shows up and remarks the only time he'd ever before seen Clay drunk was the night they met in a bar in New York City. On a spiral of self-destruction, he'd picked a fight with Nate, who wiped the floor with him before taking him back to his hotel room and Tamsyn. They were the first leopards Clay had ever met. They dragged him into DarkRiver, ultimately saving his life. Nate knows Clay's binge then was because of Talin and Rina, who's playing waitress for punching Joe's usual waitress, had told him he'd been in earlier with a woman. But Clay's not in the mood to talk.

Nathan reminds him he's supposed to be guarding Lucas and Sascha tomorrow when they meet with Nikita Duncan. That gets through to him and he realizes he's let down his alpha pair. Nate tells him he'll cover since Clay's compromised. He and Dorian have to carry Clay out when he blacks out.

Detective Max Shannon arrives at Talin's apartment with a forensics team and discover the blood on the wall is human. She's certain it's from one of her missing kids and they believe it's a warning because she's the only one pushing for investigation into the missing and murdered kids. Max thinks he prefers the changeling way: execute anyone who harms a child, an act usually performed by people in higher levels of predatory packs. Reminded of the brutality in Clay's world, Talin breaks into a cold sweat.

Max wants her in protective custody and tells her she can't stay at her apartment, but she doesn't want to run again and lose her chances with Clay, the only one who ever saw any good in her. Lying, she says she'll stay with a friend and the cop says he'll drive her there once they're done processing the scene.

At Tammy's, Clay wakes up to two tiny cubs who want to play. When he gets up, he decides to hunt down Tally because he won't let her get away again.

Chapter 7[]

Arriving at her apartment, Clay finds Enforcement there and is disgusted with himself for leaving her in her car in the dark, knowing she's afraid of the dark. He's also mad at Talin for not calling him when she was in danger, but doesn't get into that in front of Max, although he does get possessive. The cop assumes Clay's the friend she said she was staying with and she lies, saying yes. Max fills Clay in on the situation and wants to make sure he'll take care of her. Figuring Clay's part of DarkRiver, they plan to meet for an unofficial chat.

In his car, Clay questions Talin about how the intruders got in, what type of security she has, etc. The breaking point's when he asks if the blood was fresh and has him pull over so she can throw up. She'd never liked blood, but it got worse after Orrin's death and thinks she's too screwed up to fix since therapy hadn't helped. Clay asks her when she became so scared and lost her spine. They argue because Clay thinks he should have known she was being abused and stopped Orrin long before he tried to kill her on her eight birthday.

Talin tells him of her time with the Larkspurs. She'd tried to get better, but she never did and never let them get too close.

She doesn't want him to take her home with him because she worries he and/or his pack will get hurt. Clay just laughs and says he'd like to see them try to hurt DarkRiver. At his lair, he asks why she smells wrong. At first, he'd thought it was because her scent changed as she grew, but now he knows there's a wrongness to it. She claims to not know and he tells her not to lie to him. She tells him to stop trying intimidate her, but he keeps pushing until she snaps and yells at him that she's sick and dying.

Chapter 8[]

Talin hadn't wanted to tell Clay because she didn't want his help out of pity and tells him to forget it since it's not relevant to the situation. Of course he doesn't leave it at that. As a kid, she'd had fainting spells and patches of lost memory that she'd usually remember days later. Over time, these instances became worse, keeping her unconscious longer and sometimes she wouldn't regain the lost memories at all. The experts she's seen believe an unknown disease is eating away at her brain cells and estimate she only has 6-8 months to live.

Despite this, Talin insists that Jon, one of the missing kids under her care, comes first. Clay yells at her for not coming to him years earlier and he could forgive the girl for running, but it's clear he can't forgive the woman.

Chapter 9[]

Trapped in a dark cell with only the occasional sounds of screaming to keep him company, Jon thinks about the last time he saw Talin when he'd gotten caught shoplifting. She paid the fine and talked the judge into probation instead of jail, then told him that he had once chance left and if he blew it, she was done and he could "collect jail tattoos." It was the first time she was anything other than kind and gentle with him.

She told him he was one of hers and she loved him. Uncomfortable with how that made him feel, Jon blew her off by crudely twisting her words. Talin told him again she loved him and his pride got the better of him, he told her he didn't want or need her love and could shove it.

She paid the fine and talked the judge into probation instead of jail, then told him that he had once chance left and if he blew it, she was done and he could "collect jail tattoos." She told him he was one of hers and she loved him. Uncomfortable with how that made him feel, Jon blew her off by crudely twisting her words. Talin told him again she loved him and his pride got the better of him, he told her he didn't want or need her love and could shove it.

He'd been kidnapped a week after running away from his foster home, not because it was a bad one, but because of his pride. He regrets telling the only person who ever loved him that he didn't need her. He hopes Talin finds him soon.

Chapter 10[]

Talin's determined to bring Jon home and hopes he holds on until then.

Even though she's attracted to Clay, she doesn't want to destroy their friendship and besides, she disgusts him with her history of promiscuity, which had been to punish herself. She's glad he has friends and people who care about him now, but is also jealous because they used to be each other's only friends.

She tells Clay about her life with the Larkspurs. He's horrified at the though of no trees, nowhere to hide, although the crops would provide enough cover if they grew high enough.

Talin tells him how she works for the Shine Foundation's street program as a Guardian where she worked with kids in New York. She'd come to San Francisco to set him up with a new foster family away from his old gang. When Jon disappeared within the past week, she came to Clay because her intuition's telling her that whoever's behind the killings has him. She feels bad for having yelled at him the last time she saw him.

Chapter 11[]

Sascha and Lucas arrive at Clay's lair and Talin's nervous because she doesn't think that they like her and they're important to Clay. Sascha orders the men out so they can talk privately and she's pretty sure that Talin hadn't agreed to allow a strange Psy to poke and prod at her; in fact, Clay hadn't told Talin he'd asked Sascha to take a look at her at all. Although she's hesitant, she agrees to it because Clay trusts Sascha, but she discovers Talin has airtight shields that most likely developed in childhood.

This information brings up bad memories for Talin and Sascha instinctively does the empath thing and absorbs the pain, which amazes Talin. She asks if that means Sascha is incapable of evil; she says that she is, it's just that negative feelings don't fester in her. Talin takes that to mean that she, on the other hand, allows her feelings to fester.

Sascha tells her that Clay's her friend and worries because he's been alone more and more despite the pack's attempts to keep him on the right side of humanity. They'd hoped his friendship with Faith would help. Talin knows that she's not good for Clay because she awakens his demons, but warns Sascha against interfering, telling her she has no right to. Sascha tells her that Pack is family and interference is a fact of life for changelings, so she should get used to it.

Talin thinks she should have stayed away because Clay had made it out of the hell of their childhood, but she didn't. Gently, Sascha tells her that her mental shields are the type that often are the result of trauma and tells her that when she's ready to be forgiven, she'll be there for Talin. She tells Sascha there's no point because she's dying, but she says Talin's still deserving of healing. Thinking about it, she says maybe afterwards, after they find Jon.

Outside, Lucas notes that Clay's been hung up on Talin for a long time and has never been in a long-term relationship. Clay evades his oblique questioning and fills him in on the kids that have gone missing. Lucas warns him that a relationship with a woman who won't let him touch her won't be good for him and Clay warns him to back off.

Clay drives Talin around to check on the Shine kids she's looking out for while their usual Guardian is away due to a family emergency. Then they go to meet Max. He's in a pissy mood and when she asks why, he reminds her that the last time she saw the real him, she ran away. She reminds him that she was a traumatized eight year old with the brains of her abuser splattered across her face. He asks where she found her spine and she growls at him, digging her human nails into his thigh. He tells her to keep petting him like that. She points out that he doesn't want used goods.

Chapter 12[]

Clay's eyes to cat and a bit feral, reminding Talin of that night, and he tells her he doesn't want to sleep with a woman who sees him as a monster and accuses her of wanting him to act human. He's only helping her because they once knew each other, she asks who he thinks he is to judge her, which is right when Max shows up.

The detective tells them that he's being covertly monitored and only knows because he put advanced security on dummy files, keeping his important information elsewhere. He got the software from the Shine Foundation eight months ago, they were also the ones who got him assigned to the missing children case; the only thing Shine asked for in return was regular updates on his findings, which Max would've done anyways since the organization's the closest thing most of the kids have to family or guardians.

Max confirms that the blood belonged to Mickey, one of Talin's kids. Up until recently, the pattern was a body found every three weeks, but Talin's three were found in only two weeks, which probably means not all of the bodies have been found. Of the fifteen confirmed deaths, all of them have some tie to the Shine Foundation, which is devastating to Talin to think she's been working for an evil organization. Max and Clay think it's more likely Shine has a mole rather than rot at its core since a philanthropist foundation is a rather elaborate front to maintain.

All of the bodies are missing organs and the evidence indicates an experienced surgeon. The only physical evidence is a fiber that's typical used in high tech surgical labs. This indicates black market organ donation, but that could be a red herring since the brain is missing in every single one. Max promises to send Talin his files so she can look over them for anything he might have missed and he'll follow up on the possible Shine link.

Max admits that he'd researched San Francisco before arriving and learned that DarkRiver and SnowDancer have as much, if not more, power than the Psy.

Chapter 13[]

Talin realizes just how powerful and far-reaching Clay's contacts are and worries he thinks she only came to him because of those connections.

Clay says that Max always intended for DarkRiver to get involved. Max needs backup, which he isn't getting from Enforcement, and was uncertain if the leopards would care about human kids. He admired the Psy because they don't abuse or abandon their kids, but Clay tells him that the abuse starts at birth with the Silence Protocol and anyone who isn't perfect is rehabilitated. Max isn't sure if that isn't better than being beaten to death like the kids are.

Back at his lair, Clay shifts and goes for a run because he's pissed at Talin. Every time she flinches around him he can feel himself shifting closer and closer to going rogue, but reminds himself that she leaned into him for comfort earlier when discussing the deaths with Max. He's mad because he doesn't understand why she'd hurt herself by sleeping around.

Talin wakes up from a nightmare and goes to the kitchen to try and make herself some cocoa because that's what Ma Larkspur usually made her after the nightmares woke her, but can't find any chocolate. Clay hears her stirring and digs some chocolate Sascha gave him out of the back of a cupboard where he'd shoved it because he can't stand chocolate. Even though she's a little jealous, she explains that Sascha probably assumed everyone likes chocolate and wanted to give him a gift.

Talin admits that she doesn't sleep much and usually makes cocoa when she can't sleep and Clay says he'll need to pick up more chocolate then. She tells him she can't stay because of how they keep setting each other off, which isn't good for him and he should stop looking at her like he wants her. Why not since they're both adults and she likes to see him half-naked, like he currently is, having just woke up. She retorts that maybe she's just that easy and it's not him specifically. In that case she shouldn't have any problem hopping into bed with him.

Chapter 14[]

Without turning to face Clay, Talin calmly tells him to go away. The lack of her usual temper combined with the tone of voice she had as a child is disturbing to him and he gets her to sit down. He's terrified when she asks if they're in his "clubhouse" before breaking off and staring into the distance. He calls her name and touches her cheek which makes her blink and snap out of it.

She's frightened because she doesn't remember how she got from standing at the stove to sitting on a cushion. She's afraid they slept together and admits that she'd sometimes wake up from these dissociative states in the beds of strangers. Clay reassures her that she just sat down at his direction, but she sounded like she had when she was six years old. She says something bad happened that year.

Talin explains that her fugues have gotten worse in the past year and a half and she mostly acts on autopilot, not fully engaged with the world. One of the specialists had her wear a tracker and most of it was sexual, but sometimes she'd go shopping and sit in Central Park. Clay blames himself for this episode because he'd pushed her. She hates them, the longest one was 16 hours.

But Talin interprets that protectiveness as caretaking in the same way he'd cared for his mother, Isla. He laughs and says that she's too sassy to be a patient.

Talin tells him she's worried Sascha doesn't like her and Clay's honest, he hadn't smelled any dislike in her scent. She doesn't think DarkRiver will like her because they know she's not good for him and they were already worried about him. Clay and Talin know that they're each the person they are because of the other, their mutual past shaping who they became.

Talin's not sure they can get past her history and he asks her why she'd done it. It was in hope that she'd feel something, anything. She'd never made friends, couldn't love the Larkspurs, form any meaningful relationships. She'd just end up dissociating in bed, but kept on because Orrin had forced it on her that was all she was good for. She's been celibate for eight years, inspired by the kids she worked with that came from the same or even worse situations than they had and they kept going and fighting. If they could, then she should, too.

Since neither of them will get back to sleep, he shows her his territory.

Chapter 15[]

Ming LeBon shows Ashaya Aleine the security for the new lab, which she pushes for more details on because she has no confidence in being secure after the bomb and psychic strikes against the previous lab and its staff. He questions her interest and she tells him that it's out of self-preservation, besides, he'd already ensure her compliance by holding her son hostage.

Chapter 16[]

Talin says that when they'd played in the junkyard, they'd played atop the graves of the Hendersons' victims. Clay says that maybe she brought something good into that place and helped them rest in peace. They'd both visited a couple of the graves of the victims who'd since been properly buried. The Larkspurs had forbidden her from following the case when she became obsessed with it.

Clay asks her why she wanted him to think she was dead. She lists off several things like he's bossy and she needed space to become her own person. He pushes and pushes until she breaks and yells that it's because he left her, he'd promised to always be there for her. She knows he had no choice, just he was the only one she'd ever trusted and then she found herself alone amongst strangers. Clay had honestly believed her when she'd said she couldn't deal with him because of Orrin's death and the memories of it.

When things turn sexual, she says she's never sleeping with him because he's conceited, pushy, and scowly. And there will be no licking, he hates her, remember? Clay says that after she'd told him about the dissociative states he couldn't continue to be mad at her. He offers a deal, he'll try to deal with the fact she'd hurt herself and she tries to forgive him for not saving her from Orrin sooner. Talin's stunned, she hadn't ever consciously realized it until he said it. It's because he blamed himself and apologizes for not having killed Orrin sooner. That feeling had festered in her even though she'd kept the abuse a secret from him because he would have tried something and a skinny nine-year-old changeling was no match for an adult human murderer. Now that the air has been cleared, Talin's now determined not to die because of Clay.

Chapter 17[]

Clay drops Talin off at the Ryders' so Tamsyn can help her go through the autopsy files. Tamsyn tells her that she's never seen Clay look at anyone the way he looks at Talin, she also says that Sascha likes her, but being super-protective makes them nosy.

Talin decides to never have sex with Clay because she can't lose their friendship.

Chapter 18[]

Two Psy in white scrubs retrieve Jon from his cell and tries to put on a brave face even though he's terrified.

Chapter 19[]

Clay goes to Jon's last known location to try and track from there. Part of his course includes stopping by the Down Below, aka old train tunnels beneath the city, to speak with the Rats' alpha, Teijan. They'd avoided an alliance with either SnowDancer or DarkRiver because they tend to make themselves targets. DarkRiver's locking down the city because of increasing Psy aggression and if the Rats won't ally with them, then they have to leave the city. Teijan questions the ultimatum and Clay tells him that the Rats will have mutual protection and won't be used as cannon fodder. This surprises the Rat alpha.

Teijan warns him that there's word on the street of an assassination on someone high-up in the Psy power structure named Anthony Kyriakus.

Later, he learns that Jon had been caught shoplifting perfume, which was most likely for Talin, only that led to him running and getting caught.

Chapter 20[]

Devraj Santos calls Talin to set up a meeting and Clay insists on going even though she was told to come alone. She tells Clay that they're never sleeping together. While he doesn't agree, he can understand why.

Chapter 21[]

As a changeling, Clay needs physical contact and Talin agrees to as friends.

Chapter 22[]

Max gets ambushed and beaten by several people, he hears a gunshot before losing consciousness.

Chapter 23[]

At their meeting, which is at an upscale restaurant with a snooty maître d', Clay calls Devraj out for having him followed. The shadow's alive, but now has a very healthy fear of DarkRiver. The Shine director informs them of the attack on Max resulting in several broken bones and cranial swelling, but the detective is alive and safe at a private hospital, thanks to the intervention of some bystanders. Those behind the attack are most likely the same ones behind the bloody message and destruction in Talin's apartment.

Chapter 24[]

On behalf of Shine, Devraj takes responsibility for the murders because they're very good at identifying particular kids and he suspects there's a mole in the foundation, who he intends to hunt. For now, they've suspended recruitment and suspect that the Psy are behind the killings. Devraj asks if DarkRiver will help with finding and rescuing the kids that have been kidnapped but their bodies not yet found. Clay notes that he has nothing of any use and is really just there to give them permission to do what he and Talin were going to do anyway. He does, however, give Talin unredacted files because she has a knack for recognizing subtle patterns.

Back at Clay's lair, Talin yanks his chain and says she prefers a human man because at least human families aren't over-protective; DarkRiver has her feeling like she's running a gauntlet. Clay reassures her that once she's accepted, she'll be Pack with the strength of them at her back. She doesn't think she'll be accepted and admits she feels like a dirty street urchin looking in from the outside because she can't shift and doesn't have Psy powers. Clay tells her that some of them wanted to torture Sascha when they first met her and he'd told Faith that all Psy were psycho, but they were accepted once they proved their loyalty.

Talin dreams of a vibrant network, one she's had for years, and hungers for it. The dream wakes her, once again at 4 am, and goes downstairs.

Chapter 25[]

Clay convinces her to cuddle with him on one of the large cushions and pets her to sleep, but they both wake up when she stops breathing. It feels like her throat's closing up, but she has no known allergies nor a blockage. He calls Tamsyn, who has him give her a shot of epinephrine from the first aid kit she makes sure to keep well stocked.

The injection works and he freaks out, but continues to hold a part of himself back from her, not because of her mysterious illness, though

Chapter 26[]

Although Ashaya Aleine's not allowed outside the new lab, she goes outside, claiming she needs to think and she does it better outside. Since the guards aren't permitted to touch her unless she attempts an escape, one accompanies her and contacts Ming LeBon.

When the Councilor telepaths Ashaya, she reminds him of her "psychological flaw," which she can't be rehabilitated for because of the risk to her valuable mind. Even though the lab's spacious, it's still underground, not that it's debilitating, but it does make clear thinking difficult after extended periods. It's more a question of efficiency. Since there's no significant security risk, Ming allows her trips topside.

While on the PsyNet, the Ghost comes across a rumour of missing human kids and passes it along to the only human he trusts, Father Xavier Perez, before moving on to focus on the assassination of a Councilor.

Chapter 27[]

Tamsyn doesn't find anything that could have triggered the attack and thinks they were just lucky that the epinephrine worked, but Talin wants to wait until after Jon is found for more testing.

Although Talin and Clay are becoming closer, she still waits for him to leave her and she's scared that the adult version of him won't live up to her memories of him, thus dimming the happiest memories of her life. She never expected to love him more as an adult and also worries she's the reason why he'll lose his humanity.

Clay sets Talin up at DarkRiver HQ to go over the files in a safe location while he goes hunting. Yet another pack member, Ria Wembley, drops by to chat her up and Talin takes the opportunity to ask her about relationships between humans and leopards.

Chapter 28[]

The scientists have taken blood, skin, and hair samples from Jon and plan to take brain scans. One of them with blue-eyes tells him to keep silent that she was there because she hadn't hurt him. A new scientist - an inhumanly cold man - brings Jon to a room for more tests and Jon balks at the sight of the equipment. He shows him a little girl and threatens to use her instead, but if Jon cooperates, the girl will be safe. Jon caves to the ultimatum.

Chapter 29[]

Teijan tells Clay of the attack on Max and that some of his Rats ran off the attackers and called EMTs. According to them, the assailants looked like hired muscle and at least one was teleport capable. The boy from the picture Clay gave him isn't human, changeling, or Psy, but something else entirely.

In the files, Talin finds that Shine's been tracing families rather than individual kids and that Jon's descended from a Cardinal telepath. She suspects that someone's forcing Devraj to keep silent about the Psy connections she's finding in the family trees of the kids. Clay says she should consult with Sascha on that because Faith's busy, then they argue because neither one of them ate and scold the other for not eating. To get back at him, as they're walking through HQ, Talin "whispers" that she didn't realize he'd be cranky because of his little "issue" from last night, but there's nothing to be embarrassed about and if it happens again, there are pills. During this exchange, they feel something in their relationship click into place.

Chapter 30[]

Clay, Lucas, Sascha, and Talin meet to see if Sascha recognizes any of the family names as Psy. Now that Talin knows the adult Clay and Lucas somewhat, she feels safe with them rather than fearful as she had before. She no longer fears Clay will lose control and hurt her. By the length of the family trees, Clay figures Shine must have been tracking the families of the kids since the start of Silence.

Sascha finds the name of her great-great grandmother, Mika Kumamoto, in the records. Her ancestor had disappeared from the PsyNet and the genealogy indicates she had at least one other child. They theorize about who would've left and how.

Talin and Clay call Devraj, who confirms that Shine is reconnecting with the descendants of those who dropped out of the PsyNet before Silence became law. Three generations back, they scattered and hid because they were being hunted. The Shine board gave the go-ahead for Devraj to divulge their history after he showed them photos of the deceased and mutilated children. Now, they're too mixed to be a threat to Psy domination. Every Shine kid's been warned and protected or detained in protective custody if unwilling.

Talin realizes she didn't run from Clay because she was scared of him, she was scared of being loved that much, so she left him before he could see she was just trash, only good for what Orrin had made her do.

Chapter 31[]

Ashaya Aleine finds several kids have died due to her colleague's, Larsen Brandell, research. She intends to help Jon and Noor survive and is working on a way to make sure the Council can't continue to force her cooperation. Saving the two kids would work as a bargaining chip.

Chapter 32[]

At the mating ceremony for Zach and Annie, Sascha talks to Clay for being standoffish and staring at Talin dancing with others because he doesn't dance. She notes he's better, but he's still not happy and he won't help Talin with his attitude. He growls at her that Talin's his and Sascha says that she belongs to DarkRiver, too, because they like her and will look out for her, even against Clay. She's his way out of the walls he's built around himself, but only if he lets her. Clay says he's giving her all he can, but Sascha says it's not enough.

Lucas calls Sascha to come dance with him and Clay notices the way Talin watches the alpha pair interact, like she's deeply hungry for a relationship like that. Clay cuts in on Talin's dance partner and as they dance, he realizes she's his mate.

Talin's struggling with being helpless to do anything for Jon and for going to a mating ceremony, even though it did not in any way detract from the search, feeling like she shouldn't be happy while he's missing.

Back at the lair, Clay asks her if she's becoming intimate with him in order to hurt herself. The answer's an emphatic no and Talin gets possessive of him.

Chapter 33[]

Talin admits that she's not afraid of him, but sometimes she is afraid of how much she feels for him. Deciding she's all in on whatever is between them, they feel something "click" in their relationship.

In the morning, she feels inadequate to save Jon because she's only human.

Chapter 34[]

To ease her feelings of inadequacy, Clay tells Talin that a human named Adrian Kenner helped draft the laws that ended the Territorial Wars. He's considered a footnote to the other races, but changelings remember him and consider him critical to their history. A Psy or predatory changeling wouldn't have been trusted by the other side and a non-predatory changeling would have been ignored by both sides. Humans are the bridge between the Psy and changelings.

They're getting ready to meet with Judd Lauren and thinking about things she needs if she's going to be staying there, Talin asks Clay if they're living together and he tells her that if she tries to leave, he'll hunt her down and bring her back. Despite this, she still thinks he'll never forgive her.

Judd explains that the implant is to enforce Silence on a biological level and create a hive mind under the Council's total control. The previous lab was in California, but was moved due to sabotage. They theorize the lab is using the kids as test subjects, but aren't sure why they'd bother with non-Psy. Since the Council's fractured from personal agendas, Judd says, the monsters are slipping their leash because the Council wouldn't leave any bodies to be found. However, if they act on this knowledge now, his contact's cover will be blown, the lab moved, and the implant will ultimately succeed. He gives them the location and a data crystal with further details and Clay plans to fly out to do some recon. Judd will have his contact try to contact a scientist in the lab they suspect isn't in favour of the project and may help them.

Chapter 35[]

Jon wakes to find his eyelids are swollen shut. One of the two women, the one he's dubbed "Blue" for her eyes, applies a salve to help with the irritation. She's not certain what test her colleague performed on him, but she believes it's a compound to help the implant integrate. The method was flawed, otherwise the boy would be dead. He suspects that she "helped" that flaw. She says she needs him alive and reassures his fears about the little girl who was threatened, telling him that she's fine for now. The male scientist who gave Jon the creeps is likely out getting new subjects.

Ashaya's about to make her move and from a slip Jon made, looks up Talin McKade. Although she's unsure if Talin has enough power and connections, she plans to strike a bargain with the Shine Guardian.

Chapter 36[]

Dorian's growing on Talin, who sees through the charm he uses to cover his rage. She receives an email that says they have Jon, who's alive, but won't remain that way if Talin doesn't do something in the next 12 hours. In return, they want Talin to do something for the help they're offering. They can't go in guns blazing due to the risk and because Dorian points out that the layout would be easy to self-destruct with some pre-planted explosives. Talin emails back to ask what they want in exchange.

Talin thanks Clay for his help and he growls at her to stop thanking him for taking care of his mate. She assumes it's a slip of the tongue, but still secretly loves it.

The contact says they want help extracting someone else from a similar situation one day. Talin asks how can they know that won't mean more deaths? They say she's right and to forget it because she can't help anyway, but still gives instructions on how to get Jon and the little girl, Noor Hassan, out and warns them to not be late. Talin's now loyal to DarkRiver for their role in helping rescue the kids, if nothing else.

Chapter 37[]

The Ghost meets someone publicly so he has an alibi as a bomb detonates. The Council convenes soon after, pulling Ming away from the lab and half the security's pulled to do damage control on the PsyNet.

Chapter 38[]

The laser fence at the perimeter of the lab's been disabled when Clay, Dorian, and Talin arrive. Talin drives a truck in, Clay's in cat form, and Dorian sets up a sniper's nest in a tree to provide overwatch. Inside the decrepit farmhouse, Talin finds Jon and Noor alive, but unconscious. A note says that they're sedated and the drugs will wear off soon without any ill effect as the mole needed to ensure they wouldn't try to escape before they arrived. They need to vanish otherwise their contact will die.

Clay takes out a soldier who manages to get out a telepathic blast strong enough to set off a nosebleed. He dumps the body, wrapped in a tarp, in the back of the truck.

They get the kids out, leaving Dorian behind. Talin worries, but Clay tells her not to worry and Dorian catches up to them later at a predetermined rendezvous point. By that time, the kids are awake and Noor's clinging to Clay like a barnacle, who doesn't even bat an eye and easily holds her with one arm. Jon's upset because he screamed and Talin distracts him by asking he protected Noor, and he says he tried to, but it was a lie to get him to cooperate. Clay tells him he did a good job and screaming is a part of life, using the opportunity to razz Dorian, who dishes it right back, putting Jon more at ease.

They all go to Tamsyn's to get the kids checked out and end up crashing there. Talin continues to worry Clay won't forgive her and asks him not to leave her and he promises he never will.

Chapter 39[]

Then Talin worries that Clay's only with her out of loyalty and their mutual history because he feels obligated due to her illness. She doesn't want a caretaker.

Kit's helping Jon adjust and Clay reassures Talin that he'll be OK. DarkRiver's happy to adopt both the kids.

In a debrief, Judd reports that the PsyNet is in chaos. During the extraction, Dorian had followed their contact who'd waited to make sure Jon and Noor were rescued, using a hidden access point. She'd told him she didn't support the implant, but was forced to work on it because she's the best. The favour she'd been hoping for was rescuing her son, Keenan, from the Council, who's holding him hostage to force her cooperation. The request is odd because Dorian says she was cold as ice, so her motivation couldn't be a mother's love for her son.

Sascha thinks their contact might be close to breaching Silence, but Dorian doesn't think so although she was being truthful about the boy, Keenan. Talin says it doesn't matter what her motivations are, they have to help after she'd helped Jon and Noor escape. The problem is Keenan will need a neural net. The Laurens might be able to pull him into theirs, but would require one of them to get into his mind and cut the boy's connection to the PsyNet. Talin worries that, that'll hurt and Judd confirms her fear, telling her that it feels like dying, but if they don't get him out, then the Council will immediately retrieve him and possibly hurt him to control his mother.

Judd explains that their contact's the one in charge of Protocol I, Ashaya Aleine, and has suspected for awhile that she's not in favour of the project, but still isn't sure they can trust her. She's given them a time frame of two months and warns that Jon and Noor will have to disappear or her life is forfeit. Noor's looks will change soon enough because she's so young, but Jon will have to get his gang tattoo removed from his neck and cut his distinctive white-blond hair. Both kids might need nicknames. They're developing a serious case of hero worship for Clay.

Ashaya had told Dorian that the people ultimately behind the implant experiments won't stop, especially Dr. Larsen. They surmise that Talin will be his next target as his most visible opponent and potential source of info since the mole in the Shine Foundation's already been disposed of, but Clay intends to take care of any threats to Talin.

Chapter 40[]

Ming LeBon questions Ashaya about the disappearances of the two test subjects and she tells him that she terminated them in order to send a message to Larsen. She was unaware that a soldier's gone missing as she'd acted alone and doesn't want to make an enemy of the Councilor. He warns her that an unsanctioned email was sent from the lab and he's working on breaking the encryption.

He asks her why she sabotaged Larsen and she tells him that it's her lab as the head of the project and doesn't wish to share that power. He says that Larsen was taking a different, parallel approach, and she tells him that's incorrect, presenting him with evidence. The brain scans show that the Forgotten are too different from the Psy to be of any value as test subjects, which is news to Ming. Larsen's left for San Francisco with Ekaterina Haas.

Ming says that Larsen did the right thing by targeting potential threats to Psy dominance, but she says that's nonsense since their abilities pale in comparison to the Psy's, being too watered down with human and changeling genes. Furthermore, Larsen's been publicly disposing of the bodies.

He subtly threatens Keenan, which sets off a new, unknown reaction in her mind. He also reminds her that while Larsen's disposable, he'd tear into the innermost part of her and make her his puppet rather than kill her.

The Council holds an emergency session because Marshall Hyde's been assassinated. Disturbances in the PsyNet are beginning to affect conditioning through the Psy connection to it and their hidden killers are becoming bolder. They suspect that the Ghost - or at the very least his allies - is to blame, and must be eliminated.

Chapter 41[]

Talin assumes Jon and Noor will be moving in with her and Clay and then worries because she hadn't discussed it with him and Jon isn't "a good kid." Clay's not upset, having assumed the same, and says to leave Jon to him to handle. He wonders if the lair is too far out and if they should move closer to other families, but Talin tells him that they need to feel safe now and being hidden in the middle of DarkRiver territory will give them that sense of security. She's already planning on getting them a computer tutor. Since he's the boss of the construction arm of DarkRiver, he says he can have the new additions up in a few days.

They argue over his intention to strike back at the Psy to show they can't mess with her or DarkRiver because she's afraid of losing him again. He asks her not to ask him to do nothing while she's in danger. She tries to remind him that she's sick, but he says that's a problem for later when he gets back from the mission. If he gets so much as a scratch, she makes an empty threat to make him sleep in the living room for a month.

Talin waits at Tamsyn's along with Sascha and Faith since it's easier for the soldiers to guard one place rather than three while their mates are away. Faith apologizes to Tamsyn and admits she's still adjusting to emotion like concern and protectiveness since Clay was one of her first friends. Talin admits she was super jealous of Faith and reassures her that they're ok. Faith comments on the strong bond between Clay and Talin, which makes Talin panic at the thought of tying Clay to her even though she has less than a year to live.

Sascha, Tamsyn, and Faith bought her clothes since she'd had to leave her apartment quickly with just a single bag. The green sweater Tamsyn was knitting was for her because she's part of DarkRiver now.

Max has been moved to a small, private hospital and when he complains about being stuck in another hospital, Clay growls at him to shut up and get better so Talin doesn't worry about him.

Disguised as Talin, Rina goes to her apartment where they know there are at least ten listening devices planted and acts like Talin, opening cupboards, running the shower, and plays a recording of Talin talking to herself. Dorian's in a sniper position on overwatch and Judd, Lucas, and Clay are positioned near the exits. They're acting on instinct and Judd questions why Larsen would return to the apartment since it would be illogical, forgetting that psychopathic scientists aren't trained spies and assassins.

Judd warns them that with the growing dissent on the PsyNet, more murderers are going to be coming out of the woodwork, but Silence ends suddenly there will be chaos across the world.

Chapter 42[]

The Psy can't go back to what they were pre-Silence and measures are being put into place to mitigate the fallout, but there will still be upheaval.

Orrin had begged for his life, but Clay hadn't been thinking clearly after he first heard Talin's cry. He can feel her soothing him through the mating bond, he's still letting her think they aren't mates because she would resist, not wanting to tie him to her only for her to die. Without her, he'd go full rogue. He thinks that whatever comes of this will prove whether or not he deserves her.

Larsen and Katya arrive at the apartment where he wants her to search for clues as to where Talin has gone. He says Ashaya's been lying to Ming and he needs Jon as proof. He also claims that Talin's his way to get back into Shine.

Katya disputes his arguments by pointed out that he's only proven that Forgotten minds aren't suitable for their purposes so evidence doesn't matter. Larsen claims they need to eliminate possible threats to the Psy, but like she says, Jon wasn't a threat as he'd been weakened. Nor is Talin high up enough in Shine to get him the information he wants.

Dorian fires a shot between the two of them, forcing them to run in opposite directions, and the sentinels chase them down. At her request, Katya's blindfolded because she doesn't want to know their identities for the sake of plausible deniability and answers their questions, telling them details about Larsen. Meanwhile, Clay hunts Larsen down and tears out his throat.

Chapter 43[]

Kaleb soothes the DarkMind into sleep as he's plotting his takeover of the Council, then he calls Anthony Kyriakus.

Chapter 44[]

They set Katya free.

Clay admits he's happy that Larsen's dead because it had to be done. Only it wasn't like when he was a kid full of rage and helplessness, nor in midst of battle, it was a cold execution. He needs her to accept him since he's not sure he could let her go if she didn't. If he hadn't done it, Larsen would have kept on killing kids. Talin would happily stab Larsen through the chest herself for hurting her kids, just like any of the parents in DarkRiver would to anyone who touched their children.

Talin's having fun with Clay and is surprised to find it's an enjoyable experience. Afterwards, she asks if they're mated and he says that they are, but she's worried because she's sick. He points out that she wouldn't leave him if he was sick. They're stuck with each other and were always meant to be. She tries to get him to promise to take care of Jon and Noor, but he refuses to talk about it because she's not going to die. To get out of the argument, he shifts to his cat and gets her to pet him.

Chapter 45[]

At Tamsyn's, Sascha and Talin talk about how how the world's changing. Judd thinks Sascha's defection was a catalyst for others; she's skeptic because she'd been dismissed as "weak and defective" in the PsyNet, but Talin thinks that maybe that perception is giving hope to those who never thought they could get out.

Dorian's less outwardly angry when Talin's around, even casual flirting with Sascha, and may be returning to the person he'd been before his sister's death, which was before she'd met him.

Talin's worried about being mated to Clay, which she hadn't consciously accepted, but Sascha thinks that intimacy took a huge amount of trust from her, which the mating bond took as a yes. She's made appointments with experts and even is willing to let Sascha take a look, but she can't get through Talin's shields.

A tiny leopard, Roman Ryder, interrupts their conversation on learning how to be part of a family because he's tired and wants a cuddle.

Chapter 46[]

Noor's already made friends with the twins, Julian and Roman, and Jon's dyed his distinctive white-blond hair black and cut it military short. He and Talin talk about how it feels to learn they're part Psy and he curses, earning him a warning from Clay for his language. Jon asks him what the implied "or else" is, throwing him out? Clay says no, Pack is more like the mob, there's no getting out. Unsure if Clay's serious, he asks Talin and she says pretty much.

Jon asks Clay why he'd want him since he's basically street trash and Clay says he used to be just like him and only joined DarkRiver at the age of 18. Still wary, he asks how he made sentinel and he says DarkRiver's essentially a meritocracy. Jon assumes that means he won't have any notable rank because he's human and therefore can't shift. Clay tells him that Dorian can't shift either.

They have a video chat with Devraj, who fills them in on the history of the Forgotten. When Silence looked like an inevitably, dissidents started secretly looking for a way out because even then they were quietly being hunted. They dropped out en masse and linked together before psych death could set in, which happens in seconds, creating the ShadowNet. The first generation after the defection could take in rebels who left later, but they soon became too different and a unique group.

When Silence began, the Council was too busy to target them, but every so often two Forgotten will have a child with strong abilities and the Council doesn't like any challenges to their power. Once Silence was settled, they were hunted again. Those who didn't need the ShadowNet were told to scatter and stay scattered.

Shine was founded by the Forgotten in the ShadowNet, but only recently became powerful enough to start tracking the lost, focusing on the ones who need their help the most. One little girl they found was dying of psychic starvation without a link to a psychic net. Another, a mid-range telepath, was labelled as schizophrenic. The lost ones hid their pasts so well that their descendants don't even know. Changeling packs disappeared their Psy members.

The Forgotten don't want to be Psy, don't want their power, but the Council can only see ill-intent because they're projecting their own goals onto the Forgotten.

Chapter 47[]

Clay and Talin bring the kids home with them.

Talin has regrets about her past and Clay says that it's not easy, but her life brought her back to him and that's all that matters. She tries to get him to talk about her illness and he growls she doesn't smell sick, which stops them both in their tracks. The decay in her scent is gone.

Remembering the story of the little girl dying from psychic starvation, Clay calls Sascha and asks her to check on the Web of Stars. She confers with Faith telepathically and confirms that yes, Talin is absorbing biofeedback, but much, much less than what Sascha and Faith need.

Chapter 48[]

The Council meets to choose a replacement for Marshall Hyde, who was assassinated with a bomb. Kaleb Krychek suggests Anthony Kyriakus, who'd turned down a seat before, and he accepts the offer.

Ashaya Aleine desperately hopes DarkRiver will help free Keenan.

Epilogue[]

Shine doctors confirm Talin's ok now that she's in a neural net. She and Clay are happy together and want more children. Sascha notices that the Web of Stars is exponentially stronger, putting out much more biofeedback now that members of all three races are in it.

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