She’d glared at them and told them as much. In return, they’d decided to claim her. For Kaia, to be in the thick of this human ohana that now held the same place in her heart as BlackSea, it suited her changeling nature right down to the ground.

She missed everyone on Ryūjin, but she’d spent too long hiding. It was her time to spread her wings and live a life with her mate. Tansy and Sera were already planning a long visit and others would come, too, nosy and affectionate and welcome, and she’d cook for them as she had on Ryūjin.

Bebe was too old to travel so far, and for her, Kaia would return as often as Bebe wanted to see her. In between, she’d chat with her grandmother while Bowen and Bebe mused over chess moves and argued the merits of a sneak attack versus a full frontal assault.

Her new human family was building her a kitchen deep inside the HQ, in the underwater biosphere section that looked out at Venice’s sparkling water.

“You’re making us a family.”

“What?” She turned her eyes toward her gorgeous, obstinate mate who had bartered his psychic freedom for her. Even if Kaleb Krychek decided not to exercise that option, Bowen had bargained away a lifetime of favors to one of the most ruthless men on the planet.

Gods, she loved him. And gods, she wanted to push him into the water and yell at him for giving up so much of himself. He’d put himself in chains for her. He’d also put himself in a position where he might have to walk away from the Alliance if Krychek attempted to manipulate the organization through him.

“I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

That was what he’d said to her when she’d pounded her fists on his chest in anger.

How could she do anything but adore the man? Even if she was so very angry with him.

“Us, everyone at HQ,” he said, his voice gruff with emotion. “We were close before, but there was something missing. The heart.” He poled them past a trattoria festooned with fairy lights where a woman in a velvet dress was playing an upbeat tune on the fiddle. “It’s there now, in the kitchen we’re building and how everyone’s always dropping by even though you currently only have a single working stove. The HQ isn’t just about work now, it’s about ohana.”

The cool night wind kissed her cheeks. “It feels like that, too,” she said with a smile that hurt with all that she felt for him. “A new family that’s becoming entwined with my old family.”

“You’re happy” had been Miane’s determination when she dropped by two days earlier. “Good. If you ever need anything, you remain one of mine.”

That wasn’t quite true. Kaia’s first loyalty was to Bowen. But she knew her First’s meaning, understood the love that drove it. Miane appeared hard to the outside world, but to her own people, she was a fierce force of love—and of vengeance. KJ had disappeared into the blue, but Miane wasn’t about to allow him to hide. She would find him and she would make him pay for his heinous crimes.

The one good thing to come out of this was the idea of every member of BlackSea getting a unique miniature tattoo in a hard-to-find location. On the inside shell of the ear, in the bottom crease of a toe, under the heaviness of curls, hidden along the hairline, or in the complexity of an already existing tattoo. A nonsense collection of characters from the world’s different alphabets, mixed with numbers. Random strings of short code that were each unique enough for a teleport lock.

Vasic Zen had tested the idea after speaking to Kaleb Krychek about how he’d found Kaia, and it worked. It apparently required a slightly different kind of telekinetic focus, but the Arrows were willing to learn that focus in the name of Trinity.

It’d take time to roll out the tattoos across Kaia’s vast clan, but Armand was in charge and he could be meticulously organized when he wanted to be; he’d already split the entire globe into tiny grids and assigned people to find their most far-flung and vulnerable members first. Whether to get inked was a choice, of course, but so far, everyone had agreed to the practically invisible marking that would allow a teleporter trusted by the clan to find them if they were taken.

The information about which string belonged to which clanmate—and the images of those tattoos—was kept in a database unconnected to anything and accessible only by Miane and Malachai, with an intentionally anonymous third person holding the access codes as a failsafe. The Consortium would not be getting their hands on the database and using their own teleporters to snatch BlackSea’s people.

“Adrian Kenner said humans are the bridge,” Bowen murmured after long moments in the silken dark. “But this time, it’s you.”

Kaia tilted her head slightly to the side. “No, it’s us.” Despite all the efforts of those who’d destroy their friendship, the Alliance and BlackSea were now linked together for all time. Mating was forever. “Do you like children?” It was a question he’d asked her, but she’d never had the chance to ask him. “You’d make a wonderful father.” Protective, honorable, loving.

He sucked in a breath. “Yes,” he said roughly. “But Kaia—”

“I know.” So long as Bowen was beholden to Kaleb Krychek, they couldn’t bring a child into their world, not when they had no idea what the cardinal would demand from Bo—whether that meant smashing open his mind or forcing him to effectively work for Krychek. “I just thought you should know that.”

Face setting in pitiless lines, he said, “I’ll never regret my choice.”

Kaia wanted to throw something at his head. “You’re impossible.” But he was hers.

“We’re home.” Poling the borrowed gondola to a stop exactly where the gondolier had requested, he hopped out, then helped her out.

They were walking down the cobblestoned lane toward their home when Kaia’s gaze caught on a couple who stood looking out at the water. The woman wore a white beret and a matching ankle-length coat with bright red boots. The profile of the man’s face, it was oddly familiar. He turned at that instant and in the white stars of his eyes glittered the reflection of the colored lights of a nearby tavern.

“Krychek.” Bowen’s voice, nothing in it of harshness or anger; he’d made his bargain and he’d honor it. “Are you calling in your marker?”

As Kaia fought the urge to scream, one of the deadliest men in the world glanced down at the woman with eyes of midnight blue who stood next to him. “Sahara has made it clear to me that our bargain cannot stand.”

“It was made in good faith.” Bowen set his jaw. “You don’t have to worry I’ll back away from it. You held up your end. I’ll hold up mine.”

“I’m afraid I’m the one backing away from it.” The cardinal raised an eyebrow, his face so handsome it was intimidating. Kaia shifted an inch closer to Bowen’s warm humanity.

“We’ll make a new bargain,” Krychek was saying. “You owe me nothing but a single personal favor. Not political. A thing between two men, as was my favor for you.”

“Kaleb.” Kaleb Krychek’s mate scowled up at him, as if he weren’t lethal and merciless and a shark in a well-cut suit.

He didn’t smile but there was an unexpected softness to him when he said, “Knight won’t accept a favor for nothing.”

“I pay my debts.” Bowen’s body was rigid. “We hold to the original bargain.”

Rolling her eyes, the woman named Sahara spoke to Kaia. “Make him understand.”

Kaia squeezed Bowen’s bicep with the hand she’d curled around it. “It’s a gesture of good faith.” Not friendship, that didn’t exist yet, but a step in the right direction. “Kaleb won’t take advantage of your need to push you into a corner.”

“Actually,” Kaleb said in a voice that reminded her of the darkest hour of night, “I would. But Sahara prefers I act as if I have a conscience.” He held Bowen’s gaze. “We must both answer to our mates.” The faintest hint of a smile. “You are a braver man than I if you attempt to take them both on.”

Kaia’s eyes widened; what would Malachai say if she told him she was ninety percent certain that Kaleb Krychek, deadly cardinal and all-around dangerous predator, had a sense of humor? That particular fascination, however, could wait.

Tugging Bowen out of earshot of the other couple, she said, “Bridges are built over thin air. Someone must lay the first plank, the first brick, take the risk.”

A grimace. “Friendship with Kaleb Krychek?” He sounded like she was asking him to swallow knives.

“You don’t have to go quite that far yet,” she reassured him with her hands on his chest, his heartbeat so strong and sure under her palms. “I don’t think he’s good at friendship, either.” A man like Kaleb Krychek probably only trusted a rare few—exactly like her own mate. “A personal favor for a personal favor. It’s fair and exactly the bargain you’d make with Malachai in the same situation.”

Bowen’s jaw worked. “My ego is dented,” he muttered.

“He came to you because his mate made him.” Kaia poked him in the chest. “You can have matching dented egos.”

Narrowed eyes from Bowen, but when she drew him back to the others, he said, “You’re certain about this?” to Krychek.

The cardinal nodded once.

“Then I accept.” Bowen held out a hand.

Krychek slid his own out of his pocket to shake it . . . and the psychic ripple of that act was an invisible quake that jolted the air.

Across from her, Sahara’s face glowed with an open and intense pride. All of it directed at the lethal telekinetic who engendered fear in the vast majority of the world.

“Come up for coffee,” Kaia said impulsively, suddenly certain she would like this woman who loved as openly as Kaia. “I made a batch of tea cakes this afternoon and there are plenty left.”

“I love cake.”

Kaia stepped forward, Sahara joined her, and the two of them began to walk side by side shadowed by two dangerous, beautiful men. When she snuck a glance back at them, she saw they continued to walk a foot apart, as silent as the women were not.