began.
âThat was an invitation, darling.â He added the endearment as a tease. Sheâd reacted last time and he wanted to see if sheâd slip again. âOr do you have a date?â
âWe donât date. And I accept your invitation.â No obvious reaction but he felt the spike of temper.
He stood, satisfaction thrumming in his veinsâthe trap had sprung. âLetâs go feed the hunger.â
Those slightly uptilted eyes seemed to widen but then she blinked and it was gone. Was he fooling himself, imagining emotion on one of the merciless Psy because he found himself drawn to her? Sleeping with the enemy was not part of the plan. Unfortunately, his panther half had a way of destroying the best-laid plans once it began craving a taste of something . . . or someone.
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Almost forty minutes later, Sascha got out of Lucasâs car in front of what heâd told her was a packmateâs home. Located in the wide zone where urban dwellings gradually started giving way to the trailing edges of the forests, the house was isolated at the end of a long drive and appeared to back on to a wooded reserve.
She felt uncertain and out of place. No one had ever taught her how to deal with the situation she was in . . . because Psy werenât usually invited into changeling homes. âAre you sure your packmate wonât mind?â
âTammyâll love the company,â Lucas assured her. His quick knock was answered by a call from inside the house and he walked in without hesitation.
Following him down the hallway, she found herself at the entrance to a large room that appeared to be a kitchen and dining area combined. A rectangular wooden table with six chairs sat to her right. It bore a number of scratches that she thought mightâve come from careless claws. The thick legs were similarly scarred.
The table and chairs sat on a shiny wooden floor covered by a colorful rug that couldnât disguise the number of scratches in the wood. For the most part, the scratches were thin and closely spaced, far too narrow to have come from leopard paws. They puzzled her analytical Psy mind.
âLucas!â A beautiful woman with rich brown hair walked out from behind a counter.
Lucas met her in the middle of the room. âTamsyn.â Leaning down, he brushed her lips with his. The woman held him for a second before stepping back.
Sascha was shocked at the sick feeling that invaded the pit of her stomach at witnessing the casual intimacy. Trained to recognize emotion so she could destroy it, she identified this one as jealousy. It was characterized by anger and possessiveness and made people extremely vulnerable. The aim of the training had been to teach her how to exploit changeling and human weaknesses, but sheâd used the information to mask her own flaw.
âWho have you brought to visit?â The brunette walked over. âHello. Iâm Tamsyn.â She went to stretch out a hand and then dropped it as if remembering the Psy aversion to touch.
âIâm Sascha Duncan.â Glancing over Tamsynâs shoulder, she met Lucasâs gaze. He was looking at her in a way that unsettled her with its directness. She had to force her attention back to Tamsyn.
âCome on,â the woman said. âIâve just made the most divine chocolate chip cookies. You two can have first pick before the rest of the pack sniffs them out. I swear Kit and the juveniles always know when Iâm baking cookies.â She headed back to the other side of the counter. As she passed Lucas, he ran the knuckles of one hand down her cheek and she rubbed back gently against him.
Skin privileges.
Mates, lovers, and Pack.
âIs she your mate?â Sascha walked to stand beside Lucas, trying not to grit her teeth against the jealousy churning in her gut.
Tamsyn laughed, startling Sascha. Sheâd forgotten that changelings had far better hearing than the Psy.