Wide grins split every face in the Cavern except for Silver’s—she was looking at the baby with intent care. When Moira passed the infant to Valentin, and he went down on one knee so all the curious small bears could come greet their new clanmate, he was aware of her staying close, as curious as the cubs.

When more little bodies wriggled closer, however, she moved out of the way to give them room. A few small plump fingers dared touch the baby’s cheek. The newborn’s happiness at meeting his tiny clanmates pounded inside Valentin, the knowledge of an alpha nothing he could explain.

He just knew the newborn was happy to be here, in amongst his clan. But he also knew when the littlest one of them all began to tire. “You can see him later,” he promised the cubs. “He needs to rest now.”

“Good night, baby,” whispered several voices in unison.

Valentin rose and returned the newest member of StoneWater to his parents before escorting the couple back to the infirmary. Afterward, he found Nova. “Come play with us,” he said, because healers had a way of giving and giving without pause. “I think those three will be happy alone for an hour or two.”

Nova’s eyes searched his face. “How are they?”

Valentin knew she wasn’t talking about the young family. Smile fading, he said, “Not tonight, Nova.”

Tonight was a celebration.

Tonight, Silver had patted his ass.

The memory cut through his renewed anguish to put a grin on his face.

Nova immediately narrowed her eyes. “What have I missed?”

“You’ll have to ask Chaos.” Blowing her a kiss when she glared, he backed out of her office. “See you later, Evanator.”

She threatened to throw medical supplies at his head. It only made his grin deepen as he returned to the Cavern and to Silver—who was currently seated in the middle of a semicircle of astonished cubs, ages three to seven. The noise level in the rest of the Cavern—the party in full swing—kept him from picking up their conversation until he was less than two feet away.

“. . . really not allowed to smile?” Nurlan asked in an awed whisper.

“No,” Silver said. “Under Silence, no one is allowed to smile or laugh or cry.”

“But what if you hurted yourself?” another small voice asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Silver said. “You are expected to control your reaction and to not cry or otherwise betray your emotions.”

A small hand patted Silver’s knee. “Did you cry inside?”

Silver’s eyes locked on the speaker’s face. “You’re very clever. What’s your name?”

“Svetlana Valeria Kuznetsov,” was the carefully spoken answer. “Mostly, I’m Sveta. My mama and papa and Mishka call me Svetulia a lot.”

“Yes, Sveta, when I was small, I cried inside because it hurt to hide my emotions,” Silver said with a razor-sharp honesty that made her more like a bear than she knew. “But after a while, I learned not to cry inside, either.”

“That sounds sad.” Dima’s expression was mournful.

“It was all I knew,” Silver said. “As being a changeling bear is all you know.”

Thoughtful frowns on a number of faces. “Do you like being noisy now?” Sveta asked after a long pause.

“Noisy?”

“’Cause you were Silent before?”

“Oh, I see.” Silver took time to consider the question. “Emotion—being noisy—is new to me. But . . . yes, I think I like being noisy. The world is a much more eclectically beautiful place with emotion in it, despite the clear disadvantage of losing the power of pure rationality.”

“You talk funny,” Arkasha volunteered. “I like you though.”

“Thank you. I like you, too.”

“And me?” asked more than one voice.

“All of you,” Silver said. “You’ve been very welcoming to me.”

A rainbow of smiles, pure innocent joy.

“Now,” Silver said, rising to her feet, “I think you should go join the party.”

Valentin came forward before the cubs could swarm her with hugs. Gathering them up in his arms with a growling rumble that made them squeal, he squeezed and kissed and played until they ran off to go raid the dessert table. No one would be too strict today, though it was likely they’d be given actual food at some point to make sure they didn’t turn into sugar monsters.

“You’re good with the little beasts,” he said to Silver, putting his hand on her hip just because he could.

“Children are children. But Sveta is perceptive—this isn’t the first time I’ve heard her ask an incisive question for a child of her age. Have you had her tested for empathy?”

Valentin scratched his jaw. “A psychic power?”

“Psy did intermarry and intermate with other races pre-Silence. The genes are swimming around in the wider gene pool.”

“I’ve always known she was sensitive, that I had to take extra care with her”—even with her tiny gangster buddies, Sveta was always the caretaker—“but I figured that meant she’s a baby healer. Nova thinks so, too.”

“Interesting.” Silver fixed the collar of his shirt. “Empathy might be present in all changeling healers. There are so many things the races don’t know about one another because Silence split us in three.”

Valentin turned so she could more easily fuss over him. So everyone could see her fussing over him. No, he wasn’t subtle. He was a bear. “I don’t know if it was all Silence,” he said as she smoothed out a wrinkle. “Changelings do a good job of staying in our caves.” Their close-knit pack and clan structures gave them their strength, but also made it difficult for outsiders to break through.

Music boomed into life, a heavy bass beat.

Unable to wait to hold Silver in his arms, Valentin hauled her into a dance. He made sure to keep her back to a wall, so that people wouldn’t bump into her, the bulk of his body her living shield. His reward was to have her snuggled deliciously close, until his bear rolled in her scent like a cub.

“You move like you were born to move against me, Starlight,” he murmured against her ear. “We’re going to be so fucking good together naked.”

• • •

SILVER ran her hand up Valentin’s shirt, flicked open one button, two. Her fingers curled into the crisp mat of hair below. She wondered what it would be like to rub her naked breasts against the crispness.

“Silver.” Dark eyebrows gathering over eyes of onyx, his expression stern. “Stop that or I’ll forget to be a gentleman bear and start devouring you.”

The rumbling sound vibrated against her fingertips, made her breasts ache. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Eyes going amber, he glared at her. “You have terrible timing.” He pulled back, grabbed her head with both hands, looked into her eyes. “I’m alpha, Starlichka. I can’t leave the party yet.”

“We can come back.” A sense of urgency pounded at her. A nameless panic that said she had to take this opportunity before it slipped forever out of her grasp. Because a knowing had begun to buzz at the back of her brain, a buzz she didn’t want to hear.

Expression altering to a perceptiveness that reminded Silver that this wild, affectionate bear was also a highly intelligent opponent on the business field, Valentin searched her gaze. “What’s wrong?”