His throat was dry now. “Who? Do you know?”

“The subjects had no names, but I remember seeing Bear Subject M in Moscow.”

The thunder in his heart turned to a raw hope. “What was the purpose to breaking the changelings?”

“To use them as sleeper agents to harm the pack or clan. The experiment was shut down after all of the subjects failed to act as programmed.”

Harsh laughter escaped his throat. “Oh, no, they didn’t fail. My father’s chosen victims were Psy, but he nearly succeeded in murdering StoneWater, too. My clan is split in two. The ones who’ve left Denhome believe I’ll go the same way as my father, my blood tainted.”

“They’re fools.” The words were icy.

“You sure about that, Starlight?”

“Don’t make me hurt you, Valyusha.”

Bringing her hand to his mouth, he pressed a kiss to her palm.

“Clearly,” Silver said in a tone that made it plain he wasn’t yet forgiven, “they don’t feel the same way toward your sisters, or you’d have torn off their heads by now.”

He was glad she understood that; no one hurt the people Valentin loved. “It’s because I’m male. Changelings hardly ever spawn serial killers, but the rare times it happens, it’s always a male. Stasya likes to torment herself by doing research on the topic, and she’s found no mention of a female serial killer. Murderers, yes, but not serials.”

“And you’re alpha, hold the same power as he did.”

“Yes, they’re afraid I’ll finish what my father began and poison StoneWater from the top.” He kissed her palm again. “You really think that was my papa? Bear Subject M?”

“It’s possible. The timing is right. I can dig further.”

“Will it put you in danger?”

“No, it wasn’t an official Council project. Even if they did secretly support the experiments, the Council is gone, and the Arrows are no longer bound to protect their secrets.”

“Ming LeBon is still alive,” he said, referring to the brutal Councilor who’d made more than one changeling enemy. “So are Nikita Duncan, Shoshanna Scott, and Anthony Kyriakus.” No one knew what had happened to Tatiana Rika-Smythe—the Councilor had disappeared off the face of the earth.

“I’ll be sure I don’t make any waves that could attract dangerous attention.”

“No risks, Starlight.”

“Mercants are used to getting information. Trust me.”

“Do you think you ever have to say that?” he grumbled at her, his bear scowling inside him.

“Are you sure you’re not a grizzly?”

“Grr.”

They were quiet for a long time after that, Silver’s fierce, unconditional love healing broken things inside him.

“Even if the Psy broke my father,” he said at last, “there must’ve been a seed in him to turn him into a murderer.”

“No,” Silver said. “That’s partly why the program was shelved—because the results were so unpredictable. Messing with a changeling brain takes too much effort, and the results are nonlinear. If they did this, they broke a fundamental part of him.”

Valentin had been so angry with his father for so long. Today, for the first time, he hurt for the man who may have been murdered, too. “If I accept that possibility, Starlichka,” he said, his tone raw, “I also have to accept that maybe he was born that way.”

Accepting only the good and ignoring the bad achieved nothing. “I have to consider whether he was just really, really good at fighting his psychopathic instincts, good enough that he convinced himself he didn’t have them, burying them to the point where he was able to mate, have children, take up the position as alpha.”

Silver didn’t try to argue that he was wrong. “We Psy are our minds to a large extent, so we understand the mind better than any other race—it is an extraordinary organ and it has an ability to compartmentalize that can stun. Your father may have so totally compartmentalized away his psychopathic tendencies that even he may not have been aware of them.”

“Until the dam broke.”

“Yes.” A kiss on his neck. “It’s also possible his bear balanced out his psychopathic propensities in some way for most of his life. Psy have often studied changeling mental health patterns, and most haven’t been for nefarious reasons—it’s because changelings have so few serial killers. My race wanted to see if they could duplicate that result.”

“‘Few’ isn’t ‘none,’ Silver.”

“Let me do my research before you condemn him. Let me give you this closure.”

He released a harsh exhale. “No unnecessary risks. Promise me.”

“I promise.”

The next time she spoke, her words had nothing to do with psychopaths or serial killers. “Consider this, Valyusha: if the mating bond is so powerful, it might survive the excision of my emotions.”

“If it did, it would eliminate the whole aim of the operation,” Valentin pointed out, instead of bellowing his claim then and there as his bear rampaged to do. “The mating bond is a thing of primal emotion, no logic, no control.”

“We’re talking a physical operation to block my emotions, not a psychic shield. The mating bond would either break—and the pain would be violent for you—”

“I’d take any pain for you,” Valentin snarled.

“I know.” A hard bite on his shoulder that told him to stop growling at her. “But if it doesn’t break, it could provide a nucleus from which my emotions can regrow.”

“No.” It was a rumbling refusal. “I won’t risk the operation not working.” That operation was theoretical right now, but for Silver’s audio telepathy to be blocked and stay that way, she had to stop feeling. How could she do that if he were inside her, loving her with bearish ferocity? “You can’t leave the PsyNet, either, and you said it yourself—mating with a dominant changeling seems to pull Psy permanently from the Net.”

“It’ll be harder to do what I need to do from outside the PsyNet,” Silver said, “but I’ll adapt. There must be a way for non-PsyNet-linked mates to have access to the data in the Net.”

“No.” Valentin had to fight every one of his instincts to say that, but this was about Silver’s life. “It’s not worth the risk.”

“It’s not your choice, Valyusha.” The soft words were his only warning.

Silver dropped all her shields.

Man and bear both knew, felt the roaring openness of the connection deep inside him. Before he could fight the draw, before he could control his heart’s joy to protect her, the mating bond smashed into them, a slender hand reaching out and clasping his heart, as his hand cradled her own heart.

It was the most wonderful moment of his life.

It was the most horrific moment of his life.

He might just have killed her.

“Damn you.” It came out a harsh whisper.

Silver’s response was to hug him tight from the back, her breath hot against his ear. “I feel you deep inside me.” Her voice was as unrepentant as a bear’s. “So big and dangerous and mine. Always mine.”

Her ice and fire burned inside him like a steel candle, a flame his bear curled its big body protectively around. His mate was everything he’d ever dared dream. He scowled nonetheless, refusing to cuddle her back for at least a minute.