Silver had never turned it on.

“I’ve had the briefing.” Valentin flexed, then fisted his hands after retracting his claws. “Those bastards don’t show each other their faces.”

“Akshay Patel is extremely paranoid and distrustful. He’s done everything in his power to discover the identity of the individual behind the creation of the Consortium. Already he’s told me that the one who sits at the center—the spider in control of the web—is a woman.”

“Interesting.” Kaleb leaned back. “You believe him?”

“A man will do many things to protect his children.” Her words were arctic. “Whatever his faults, Akshay loves his son and daughter.”

Kaleb didn’t move. “How will you control him once he’s with his children and able to spirit them into hiding?”

“Our family’s greatest strength is our intelligence network.” Ena’s words were directed at all of them. “Akshay is well aware that wherever he goes, it will never be far enough—and I have given my word that his children will be safe so long as he cooperates with us.”

Silver could feel Valentin’s body vibrating next to her, his shoulders knotted and thighs rigid against the denim of his jeans. “Patel’s a murdering bastard,” he said in a voice so deep it echoed inside her. “But it’s not right to make a man’s children pay the price for his crimes.”

“If he does what we want, that will never be an issue.” Ena’s eyes were ice when they met Valentin’s. “He has willingly bargained his freedom for their lives. He’s the one who will pay.” A pause. “You would’ve taken his life, and the children would’ve lost their father. Our moral compasses are not so different, Valentin Nikolaev.”

Hands fisted, Valentin nodded at last. “You’re right. But I wouldn’t have won his compliance by threatening his children.” He held Ena’s gaze with the wild amber of his own. “That line should never be crossed.”

Silver had never seen her grandmother back down against anyone. She didn’t today, either, but Ena also did not stare Valentin down in the way she did those who didn’t have her respect. “We have different lines, Valentin, but we both protect those who are our own.”

Valentin nodded slowly. “I don’t like leaving him alive—a man who uses poison, he’s not the straight-up kind.”

“He’s broken,” Ena said flatly. “I made sure of it. He is my puppet.”

Kaleb tapped a finger on his knee, his voice flawless midnight when he spoke. If Silver hadn’t seen him with Sahara, and if she didn’t know the other woman well enough to understand the passionate way Sahara embraced life, she, too, would’ve believed him wholly without heart. “Can he actually be useful to us?” Kaleb’s cardinal eyes were unreadable. “If he starts betraying Consortium plans, they’ll know they have a mole.”

“How we use him will require careful thought, but this is the closest we’ve come to the Consortium since they shied away after making initial contact with me,” Ena said. “Silver, you’ll undertake tracking their communication methods.”

“I’ve already sent word to our people.” Three of her family had trained in covert online operations. “They’re working on it now, but the setup is clever, and the Consortium could switch to a different chat room without warning—should the individual behind the group once again utilize physical letters to achieve that aim, we’ll be right back where we started.”

“Understood.”

“We should ask for Arrow assistance,” Kaleb said. “Unearthing the Consortium is a shared goal.”

“I’ll contact them,” Silver said without asking her grandmother; Ena had long ago given Silver carte blanche over network operations. But that wasn’t the topic at the forefront of her mind. “Grandmother, you must make a promise.” Even as she spoke, she ran her hand down Valentin’s back, over the rigid knots of his muscles.

Her grandmother’s gaze took in the placement of Silver’s hand. “Ask.”

“Whatever happens, Akshay Patel’s children are not to be harmed.” She made her tone as implacable as Ena’s had been. “He can keep on believing the same, but you are not to follow through on your threat.”

“Ena Mercant is not known for making toothless threats.”

“It was my life he tried to end,” Silver said. “I make the call.”

Valentin’s head turned toward her, his muscles unbunching under her touch.

Ena looked at her for a long time. Silver didn’t flinch. Finally, her grandmother inclined her head. “So be it. I won’t harm the man’s children. But should he step out of line, his life is forfeit. Does anyone disagree with that decision?”

Silver held her silence. Valentin didn’t. “Silver Fucking Mercant,” he said. “Granddaughter of Ena Fucking Mercant.” A grin at Silver. “Do I want to meet your mama, Starlight?”

“Those particular genes skipped a generation,” Ena said coolly. “I have no argument with the Arrows knowing of the chat room, but the information about how we came by that data needs to be kept within a very small circle. The fewer the number of people who know Akshay Patel is ours, the lower the chances someone will let it slip.”

“I haven’t shared it with our own tech team,” Silver said. “They don’t need to know to chase the communication channels.”

“Lucas Hunter and Aden Kai need to know,” Valentin said. “None of us would be aware of the Consortium without them.”

The resulting discussion was over quickly, the highly selective short list arrived at after mutual agreement. It was at the end of the meeting that Ena said, “Walk with me, Silver. Show me this complex.”

Silver had no trouble standing up to her grandmother when required, but she also understood that certain orders were to be followed. “Of course, Grandmother. You’re welcome to stay the night here, if you wish,” she added.

“I may do that.” Ena looked at Kaleb as they all rose. “Thank you for the assistance.”

Kaleb nodded, then glanced at Valentin and Silver. “Sahara,” he said, “has invited you both to dinner next Friday.”

“You look like you’d rather chew nails,” Valentin remarked with a very bearish gleam in his eye.

“My mate, as changelings term her, is insistent I learn to socialize.”

“How’s that going for you?”

Kaleb slid his hands into the pockets of his suit pants. “It makes Sahara happy.”

The simple answer had Valentin holding out a hand. “No further explanation needed.”

Kaleb, who rarely made physical contact with anyone aside from Sahara, shook it. He was gone the next second, a cardinal telekinetic of such power that teleportation took less than a heartbeat. But despite Kaleb’s power, it was Valentin’s wild charisma that made Silver’s body hum with a primal awareness.

He tugged on a strand of her hair. “I’m going to see the clanmates who live here.” His irises were onyx again, but rimmed by amber.

And he looked at her as if he wanted to eat her alive. The hurt she’d seen in his eyes, it was gone, erased by an emotion so huge, it demanded that she feel in return. His bear’s fur rubbed inside her skin.