“Much? I don’t think Valentin would trust his cubs out of his sight.”

“He will when they are with me.”

Silver had no argument to that—her grandmother’s ethics might not be Valentin’s or Silver’s but she knew how to protect children of the family. “I’ll come with you,” she said, without having thought about what she was about to propose. “My deputy has things well under control, and I need to reconnect with my clanmates.”

Her grandmother made no comment on Silver’s choice. “I will walk until your mate is ready to leave.”

The bears who’d been pressing into Silver stepped away, as if aware she needed to walk with her grandmother. She and Ena didn’t speak much as they walked, but they reached an understanding nonetheless. When Valentin drove them to Denhome, the ride was quiet, the words Silver had to say to Valentin a heaviness that pulsed.

It was time to end this.

Chapter 50

The choice we make at the fork in the road can define our very existence.

—Lord Deryn Mercant (circa 1506)

“TELL ME OF your family, Valentin,” Ena said from the backseat of Valentin’s large vehicle. “It is surprisingly difficult to research changeling clans. You keep your records off any major network.”

Silver saw Valentin’s shoulders bunch, went to head off her grandmother, but he caught her eye, shook his head. And then, he told Ena the dark secret of his clan. He contained his pain behind a gritty control until he spoke of his mother. “She wanders the wild, a bear who will never be at peace.”

A hard swallow, his hurt so apparent to Silver it was as if he were inside her. “When Nova had Dima, I spotted her lingering close by, brought him out for her to see, but she disappeared into the trees before I could reach her. I’ve seen her near the den recently, but for all intents and purposes, she is lost to us.”

Ena asked penetrating questions. Valentin answered all of them. “What will you do with our secrets, Grandmother?” he said softly at the end.

“What do you think, Valentin?”

He smiled through the echo of a terrible series of events that had scarred his huge heart but not changed its warmth or its ability to love. “I think you’ll bury them in the same deep, dark hole where you bury Mercant secrets. We’re family now and family protects. It never harms.”

“I have always appreciated your intelligence,” Ena said regally. “Now, tell me about this Pavel individual who is distracting Arwen from his duties.”

Chuckling, Valentin shook his head. “I’m not touching that with a ten-foot pole.”

“Neither am I,” Silver said before Ena could ask. “If you wish to poke into Arwen’s private life, Grandmother, you are on your own.”

Valentin’s hand lifted as if to play with her hair, his fingers curling into his palm halfway as he pulled back. It didn’t matter. The raw power of his presence, his dare an invisible visitor between them, it wrapped her up in possessive arms. She felt as if she were vibrating within by the time they arrived at Denhome.

She walked into the Cavern to find it relatively quiet. It was soon apparent why. An exhausted ball of cubs—some in bear form, some in human—lay in the center, snoring in short bursts. Clanmates walked around them, throwing them the odd smile, but otherwise not worried about their choice of sleeping position. Someone had managed to get a thick rug under them, so they were well cushioned at least. She saw Nova bend down to pet one, causing the cub to smile in her sleep.

That was when the healer saw Silver. Welcome lit up her whole face. “Silver!” She ran over, her feet clad in deep blue heels, her dress a vibrant cerise, and her hair precisely curled. “It’s so good to see you.” A hug before Nova jerked back. “Oh, I forgot—”

Silver touched her hands to Nova’s. “It’s all right, Nova.” The warmth of the other woman’s skin against hers, it didn’t feel wrong. And her heart, it felt so strange inside her chest. “I’d like you to meet my grandmother. Grandmother, this is Nova, the clan’s chief healer.”

“Grandmother,” Nova said respectfully. “You are most welcome.”

Ena received the same response no matter which part of Denhome she visited, until they reached Sergey; the older bear was helping build a bed in the area of Denhome set aside for carpentry and other such projects. He held Ena’s stare without welcome. “Come to see how the lesser races live?”

“Your low opinion of your own race is not my concern,” Ena said, cold as ice.

Sergey narrowed his eyes . . . then threw back his head and laughed a big bear laugh of which Silver wouldn’t have believed him capable. “That’ll teach me to poke a bear straight out of hibernation.” He swept out his arm in a wave. “Would you like a tour of our workshop?”

Ena took her time answering. “I suppose,” she said at last, “a bear of your years is apt to have at least some useful knowledge. You may proceed.”

Silver felt a living warmth at her back as Ena and Sergey walked off deeper into the cavernous space. “He seems in a far better mood.” Even though he had baited Ena, the man had given Silver a welcoming glance.

Curving his hand over her hip, his chest brushing her shoulders, Valentin said, “I’m his alpha—he needed to understand that and accept it. We had a discussion. It’s done.”

“By discussion, do you mean a fight?”

His chuckle vibrated against her, the heat of him sinking into her to warm parts she hadn’t known were cold. “Since your grandmother has a guide, do you want to catch up with your clanmates? Nova and the others are making drinks so you can sit and chat.”

Shifting on her heel, Silver looked at the hard edges of his face, touched her hand to that thick black hair he never bothered to comb, felt her heart squeeze. “Valentin.”

He lowered his head, his hair rough and tumbled. “Starlight.” A ragged word.

She touched her fingers to his lips, saw her hand was trembling. “Who are you to me?”

“Yours,” he said. “I’m yours.”

• • •

AN hour later, Nova showed Silver into her old room. Ena had made the unexpected decision to stay at Denhome overnight, so Silver didn’t have to return to Moscow—especially since she could hook into EmNet systems using her devices or the StoneWater network. The latter she knew she could trust; to these bears, she was half of their alpha pair.

No one would treat her as an enemy.

No one would spy on her.

No one would do anything but defend her to their last breath.

And Valentin . . . he’d die to keep her safe. She felt that knowledge in the very core of her being, as if she were inside his mind, inside his soul.

“I made sure all the clothes you left in Denhome stayed in good condition,” Nova told her. “I figured you could change here, and then if you and Mishka . . .” A sudden pause, her smile fading. “I don’t know what to do or say. Mates are usually for life unless one dies.”

“He’s still mine,” Silver said at once. “He told me so himself.”

A dangerous edge to her that Silver had never before seen, Nova said, “Don’t break my brother’s heart, Silver. He’s a big lug, but where you’re concerned, that heart of his, it’s like glass. You could shatter it with a few careless words.”