"Yeah. He's real protective of her and Lissa," Riordan muttered in the way of young males trying to court other men's baby sisters the world over.
"Lissa is Noelle's twin."
"That's right." Lara's mind filled with the image of two identical girls, both with long black hair, vivid aqua-colored eyes, and skin the shade of sun-kissed copper. "They're lovely." Had grown into their coltish bodies over the past two years. "How old are they now? Eighteen?"
Riordan nodded. "Only a year younger than me." A pause. "Lissa's this wild, chatty tornado" - an affectionate grin - "while Noelle's gentle, quiet. It's like she's a peaceful spot in the world, but she holds her own." His wolf prowled to the surface of his eyes. "First time you meet the two, you might think Lissa runs the show, but I've seen how Lissa always asks Noelle for advice anytime it's anything important." He was, Lara thought, falling very much in love with Noelle. "Does Zach know you two are dating?"
"No, but Lissa does - I don't think Noelle's ever kept a secret from her."
"Does that bother you?"
He took a moment to think about his answer, which made her believe him when he said, "No. I knew how close they were from the start." He held out his arm for the scanner, waited while Lara did a double-check to confirm all was as it should be.
"I hate sneaking around," he bit out after she put down the device, "and that's part of why we need clear guidance on the situation from Hawke and Lucas. As things stand, Noelle doesn't want to cause Zach any extra stress."
Lara frowned. "Why? Zach's as tough as any soldier."
"Yeah, but he's a bit crazy right now, with Annie being pregnant and everything."
"What? As of when?" While Lara didn't know Zach particularly well, she did know his mate. The other woman was a teacher at a school that drew from changeling territory, and ever since the DarkRiver-SnowDancer alliance, enough wolves had moved into the area that there were more than a few pups who attended the school.
Lara had met Annie at a parent-teacher conference she'd gone to on behalf of a couple who'd been out of town at the time, and stayed in touch with her ever since.
"They just found out a week ago," Riordan said with a grin.
"Well, I'm delighted for them both."
She was still smiling over the news an hour later when she met Walker for lunch, the two of them choosing a spot on the slope overlooking the lake.
The sun was out and so was the first-grade class of the internal SnowDancer elementary school, the pups having the time of their lives on the pebbled shore of the lake while their teachers stood indulgent watch. Deeply content, she opened the container that held the lunch Walker had brought for her and laughed. "You've been in cahoots with my mother again."
WALKER shook his head when Lara offered him a forkful of her mushroom and herb risotto, which he'd picked up for her from the kitchens - Aisha and he were in perfect agreement when it came to looking after Lara, though his mate didn't always appreciate their partnership. "I prefer my boring chicken and bacon sandwich."
She snuggled closer to him, her hip pressing against his, the warm feminine scent of her in his every breath. "Are you ever going to let me forget I said that?"
He finished half a sandwich, picked up the second half after taking a swig of the coffee Lara had taken responsibility for bringing. "No." It felt strange and yet perfect to tease her, to know that he had the ability to play in this way.
Wrinkling her nose at him, she ate another forkful before saying, "Can you look into the web for me?"
"Anything you ask."
Pausing in her meal, she pinned him with eyes gone wolf. "I adore you." Her love stunned him, as it always did...but he thought he might be becoming used to it deep within. Never would he take it for granted, but he might just come to expect it, and that was an agonizingly beautiful gift she'd given him, that expectation of love, of tenderness. "What do you want to know?"
"I did a fairly complex healing earlier," she said, sipping from the coffee when he lifted the cup to her lips,
"but I don't feel drained at all." Interest spiked. "You think the neosentience in the web is feeding you Sienna's excess power." Every psychic network had a "mind." The one in the SnowDancer Web, which now included his entire family, was but a speck, nothing like the vast NetMind that was the guardian and librarian of the PsyNet.
But it did exist, and as they'd seen in the aftermath of the battle, it could influence the web.
Lara chewed and swallowed before answering. "It crossed my mind." Opening his psychic eye, Walker looked at the energy currents that rippled along the familial and blood bonds, saw the rerouting that must've taken place this morning. "You have priority," he murmured, closing one of his hands over her raised knee. "When you need the energy, it goes directly and only to you."
"That's good to know. If I'm ever in a triage situation, I'll be better able to judge what I can or can't do." Having finished her risotto, Lara put the container neatly in the thermal carry case.
"Here," she said, handing him his second sandwich. "I hope you brought more food for yourself. You're way too tall and muscular to survive on two sandwiches, non-boring or not." Her frown as she dug into the carry case made parts of him he'd believed long buried stretch to enthusiastic life.
No one had ever worried over him, not the way Lara did. If he'd considered the idea of it before they'd become a couple, he would've probably predicted an annoyed reaction to any such care - but he wasn't the least annoyed by his mate's desire to look after him.
Not when he felt the same piercing need to care for her.
"Here we go." Having discovered a closed container, she opened it to reveal two more thick sandwiches.
"Seriously?" A laughing look. "Oh wait, this one's ham with cheese and tomato. You wild man, you."
Tugging her to him with his hand on the back of her nape, he kissed her laughter into his mouth. "Eat your fruit," he murmured afterward, nipping at her lower lip...and suckling at it when that wasn't enough.
He wasn't sure how the food got pushed aside, Lara stretched out on the grass beneath him, but they were tangled in a hot, wet kiss, his hand splayed on the silken skin of her abdomen when someone sprayed water all over his back and nape.
Jerking up, he found himself looking into the innocent eyes of a wolf pup who'd just shaken himself dry after jumping into the lake and racing up the slope to them. Recognizing the scamp, Walker gripped him by the scruff of his neck and brought that furry little face close to his own. "You are in big trouble."
Ben growled at him, batting at his chin with tiny claws that did no damage.
Husky laughter intertwined with the baby growls.
Turning, he found Lara sitting back up, having fixed the pretty spring green cardigan she wore as a top. "Give him to me." She shook her head at the teacher who'd started to clamber up the slope after the runaway.
Grinning his thanks, the older male went back down to the shore. "You," Lara continued, "finish your lunch before time runs out."
Realizing they only had about twenty more minutes, he obeyed the order as Lara gave Ben a smacking kiss before putting the pup down in the sunshine. "Dry off first, then I'll cuddle you."
Ben gave a huge sigh, but sat down on his haunches, muzzle turned toward Walker and ears pricked so hard they might as well have been frozen. Wanting to laugh, Walker broke off half his sandwich and held it out for the pup to grip in his teeth.
Lara leaned into him as Ben put the sandwich on the grass and sprawled down to nibble at it with surprising neatness. "They are so adorable at this age." Affection in every syllable.
"Want one of your own?"
Her fingers, having curved around his biceps, squeezed. "Walker...are you serious?" Huge eyes. "I wasn't sure -
After - I took care that I wouldn't accidentally fall pregnant."
Cupping her cheek, he shook his head, humbled once again by the depth and generosity of her love. "There is no comparison." His painful experience at Yelene's hand, when he'd lost his unborn child to her mercenary desire to protect her own "uncontaminated genetic line," didn't blind him to the truth that Lara would fight to the death to protect their children. "I want to have more children, and I want to have them with you."
Her eyes shone wet, her voice shaky when she spoke. "Changelings are less fertile than Psy or humans, so it might take time, but I hope not." Throwing her arms around his neck, she rained kisses on his face, her happiness a luminous warmth. "Marlee and Toby will be such good older siblings. I don't want too big an age gap."
Throat thick, he held her tight. No one would've blamed her for forgetting Toby and Marlee at this moment, but she hadn't, her heart huge.
A cold nose poked between them, followed by a wiggling body, Ben excited to join in their fun, though his curious eyes said he didn't understand what had just occurred. Chuckling, Walker brought the pup into their embrace.
"Yes," Lara said, laving more affection on the boy, "I want one just like him...with his daddy's green eyes." Chapter 7
LARA ENSURED SHE was fertile again the second she returned to the infirmary, every cell in her body humming with anticipation at the thought of nurturing a life in her womb, a life created out of the shattering beauty of the love she felt for her mate. Healers didn't have an advantage over the rest of the population when it came to conception, but she hoped with all her might that it wouldn't be too long.
Even if it did take time, the delay mattered less than the fact the terrible wound in Walker's heart was, if not healed, then at least no longer debilitating. Slowly but surely, her fascinating, complex, wonderful mate was throwing off the lingering shackles of Silence and showing her the parts of himself he'd had to bury to survive.
