“Thank you for that.” Keelie Schaeffer put down the datapad on which she’d been taking notes, though she’d also asked Alexei’s permission to record the interview. Rubbing the back of her neck, she stretched out her spine, then asked Alexei if he’d like to walk outside while they talked about the results.

Alexei’s response was immediate. “I just need to know.” He gripped the back of the sofa behind Memory.

“You don’t have the markers.”

The air hung in silence, but inside Memory, the mating bond surged. Throat thick, she jumped up and ran to throw her arms around her golden wolf. His own clamped around her, his scent in her every breath and his claws so careful against her body.

“I told you so,” she whispered, rising on tiptoe to kiss him.

“No one likes a know-it-all,” he grumbled, but he was kissing her back.

Dr. Schaeffer’s smile was wide when the two of them looked back at her at last. “I’m glad to be able to give you good news.”

“My brother?” Alexei asked, a roughness to his voice that was crushed gravel.

The other woman’s smile faded. “I’m sorry, Alexei. Brodie did have the markers.” She rose then, and the three of them, plus Midnight, walked outside into the moonlit forest while Dr. Schaeffer talked them through her conclusions.

She explained that the signs of possible rogue status were many and subtle, but a major one was a lack of impulse control, or other thrill-seeking behavior. “It’s a blunt hammer indicator.” The researcher put her hands into the pockets of her long cardigan. “On its own it means nothing—especially in a pack of predators. It must be accompanied by myriad other factors, and even that isn’t a guarantee a person will go rogue.”

Stopping beside a stream, she watched the ribbon of water for a long moment before saying, “That’s partly why I haven’t published my paper. It could do a lot of damage, mark people as being in danger of going rogue—and maybe turn it into a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” Alexei shoved a hand through his hair. “Brodie would’ve probably killed himself if he knew ahead of time.” Stark words. “My big brother, the brother I grew up with, would’ve never taken the risk. Not after seeing what happened to our father.”

Memory could see him struggling with his love for Brodie against all that had happened, because Brodie hadn’t known. Hugging him from the side, she drenched him in love. He crushed her close as he said, “What will you do?” to Dr. Schaeffer.

“I plan to make my research known to a small, tight circle, people I trust to follow the rules—the main one being that we only profile adults who come to us. I’ll keep on trying to work on the question of why a minority of people with the markers go rogue, while others live a full life. I’m missing something, and until I know it, it would be negligent of me to spread the information.”

Dr. Schaeffer shifted on her heel to face them. “Creating a usable profile has only ever been my initial goal. My true objective is to find a way to stop the process before a changeling goes rogue—or to at least be able to reverse it.” Echoes of old pain in her gaze. “Our pack’s lost people, too, and the scars of such a loss, they linger.”

“What you’ve been able to do for me, it’s a gift.” Rough words from Alexei. “Thank you.”

“Live your life with your mate, Alexei. Fear has no claim on you.”

Epilogue

Thank you for making a special trip to introduce us to your mate. You don’t know how much that meant to us. When we lost Brodie and Etta, we lost a son and daughter. Then it felt as if we’d lost you, too. We’re so joyful that’s no longer true.

—Note from Etta’s parents to Alexei

THREE DAYS AFTER returning from Matthias’s den to visit with Etta’s warmhearted and loving parents, and two weeks after the meeting with Dr. Schaeffer, Memory sat with Lucy. She and the nurse were sharing a small plate of pecan sugar cookies while they watched over pups playing in the safe area in front of the den.

The two of them were present to make sure the pups didn’t hurt each other or get into accidental trouble. Memory had already petted and comforted one who’d tried to climb a tree only to suffer a fall on his furry butt. As she did so, she’d noticed that her skin had darkened after so much time out of the cage and in the light of the sun. It had a glowing depth to it now, a rich health.

“Other than nursing, this is one of my favorite jobs.” Lucy finished off a cookie. “Watching these hellions is a blast.” She growled back at a pup who’d bounded over to growl at her.

Elodie threw back her head in a wobbly howl before racing back to join her playmates—some in human form, some in wolf.

“Mine, too,” Memory said. “Being with them, feeling their happy emotions, it just whisks any stress away.” She was on a constant rotation of PsyNet cleaning sessions, followed by recovery time, then E studies. Rinse and repeat. The bonus was that she could stuff her face with as many cookies as she wanted; her psychic burn was huge.

“Memory, look.” Laughing, Lucy pointed to a pup who had the tail of another pup in his teeth and was mischievously dancing around behind the second pup as the pup tried to see what his tail was caught on. It was obvious the first pup wasn’t hurting his friend, just playing a game, so they let it be.

“Thank you for being my friend, Lucy,” Memory said, the words just bubbling up inside her. “It means a lot to me.”

Lucy’s gaze was soft when she glanced over. “You say things like that and you wonder why I—and so many of the pack—like hanging out with you.” She tugged on one of Memory’s curls, as the wolf pup had pulled on his friend’s tail. “You’re kind and funny and you take no shit from Alexei and I like being around you.”

Memory hugged the words close to her heart. And when she felt a kiss of wildness inside that heart, she smiled. “Alexei’s coming.”

“Ugh.” Lucy pushed at Memory’s upper arm. “You have that goofy just-mated look on your face. I’m going to throw up any second now.”

Grinning, Memory got up off the rock on which she and Lucy had perched. “Can you hold the fort while I go say hello?” Alexei was on a security shift, likely only in the vicinity for a short period.

“Shoo. Go make kissy faces.” Lucy waved her hand. “I’ll manage the rampaging horde.”

Memory navigated her way through said horde—surviving with only a couple of “attacks” and playfully threatened bites—and made her way into the trees. She knew her mate was nearby. However, when he walked out of the trees, she was surprised to see him wearing his jacket on such a bright sunny day. Not only that, he had it closed over his chest, his arm kind of cradling one side of it.

“Did you hurt your arm?” She hurried closer.

Unzipping his jacket, Alexei brought out a tiny ball of orange-and-white fur he’d had tucked inside.

Memory froze.

* * *

• • •

ALEXEI hoped like hell he’d done the right thing.

Stepping toward his mate, he held out his palm—on which sat the tiniest kitten in the fucking universe. “Runt of the litter,” he said, running his fingers over the damn thing’s body because it cried if he didn’t. “Got sharp claws though. Tiny beast did this.” He pushed aside his jacket to show her the drops of blood on his white T-shirt from where the kitten had clawed at him.

When Memory didn’t make any attempt to touch the kitten, Alexei said, “You’re right. He’s probably too much trouble for a pet. I’ll drop him off in the forest. If he survives, he survi—”

Memory rescued the kitten from his palm and held it close to her body, her fingers already stroking the creature. The azure of her nail varnish was bright against the kitten’s fur. The ungrateful brat began to purr. Alexei scowled. “That rat with orange fur didn’t purr for me.”

Memory glared at him. “He knows you don’t like cats.”

The kitten rose up to put its paws on Memory’s chest. She looked down . . . and her body, it went motionless again.

Alexei held his breath.

And the kitten meowed and rubbed its head against her chest. She laughed that unique, lovely laugh full of emotion that tangled around him, and began to scratch the spot the kitten had demanded.

Her curls bounced around her head.

Wolf and man both relaxed. It had been a calculated gamble, bringing her the kitten. He hadn’t considered it until he’d seen her petting Keelie Schaeffer’s pet. Her grief over Jitterbug wasn’t gone, but it had been tempered. These days, when she spoke about her pet, it was to tell him sweet stories of the fun she and Jitterbug’d had together.

He’d also become aware of the growing pet population in the empathic compound. Jaya was back with Phantom—and both had fallen in love with the blanket Memory had knitted for her friend’s pet. The cat had been known to drag it out of his basket and onto the sunny porch so he could lounge in comfort.

While Phantom was, at present, the only resident cat, Ivy Jane dropped by often with her energetic mutt, three other trainees had dogs, one had a bird that followed the E around of its own free will, and another one had a hamster. He’d also heard that a family of wildcats regularly visited Sascha, each member waiting patiently for their turn to be showered with attention.

Es and pets seemed to go together.

“You keeping the little monster, then?”

Another glare that made the wolf inside him grin. “He’s too small to be out in the forest.”

“I don’t know. He’s a feral thing.” He growled for good measure.

The kitten hissed back at him before cuddling up to Memory. The tiny creature seemed not to realize it was all bone and a bit of fur. Alexei had picked him out of the litter exactly because of that. That litter had been in DarkRiver territory, but he’d been given first pick when he’d told the leopards why he wanted a kitten.