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Bram rubbed both hands over his face as he sat with his knees raised, arms braced over them. “Yes—and on their way here, but in bad condition.”

Cold in her veins. “How? Adam told me that Sophie and Max were going to handle that.”

“They did, and brought in empathic help afterward. It wasn’t enough. You were gone from the PsyNet and my mind went into lockdown. They’re more fragile than even I realized. Saffy had a full-on psychotic break in the midst of working with an E, which triggered Yúzé.”

Panic studded Eleri’s chest; she’d known the two were the most vulnerable members of the Cartel but had hoped the safety net Adam had put in place would protect them. “Where were they taken?”

“Psych department of the same J unit you were in—Sophia made sure of that. But no one can get Saffron to calm down, while Yúzé’s fallen into near-catatonia.”

“We can get through to them,” Eleri said, because she had to believe the breaks in their minds weren’t final. “Soon as they arrive, we’re all over them.” Touch mattered. Hugs mattered. Smiles mattered.

Bram gave her an assessing look. “I didn’t think Adam would want two psychotic Psy so close to his clan.”

“You’re my family. All of you. Family is everything to changelings.

” She’d never understood the depth of that until she’d lived inside WindHaven for a single unforgettable day, seen how they were with each other.

“And Adam…Adam is mine.” In a way no one else had ever been hers, his place in her life solid and rooted and forever, mating bond or no mating bond.

She didn’t know if that would ever form, or if the damage done to her would forever block it, but that didn’t matter.

She’d known who Adam was to her from the first day they met—and he’d known the same.

“So,” she said in an effort to distract herself from her worry about Saffron and Yúzé, “you and Dahlia?”

Bram dropped his head, rubbed both hands over his skull. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Eleri.” The words were a rough confession. “When I thought I was dying, it was easy.” Ice-blue eyes met her own. “I fell into Dahlia, and I don’t want to climb back out.”

Eleri tilted her head to the side. “You’ve always been in control, Bram. Always trying to look after us, make things better.” She held out her hand. “It’s okay to surrender when the person to whom you’re surrendering is worthy of that trust.”

Bram wove his fingers through hers. “She stayed with me.” A deep breath in, a shaky exhale. “When I asked. She stayed. And before she left today, she promised she’d come back after she’d finished her duties.”

Eleri thought of the woman she’d met, the fierceness and joy of her. “Dahlia isn’t the kind of person who does things she doesn’t want. And, Bram?”

She clenched her hand tighter on his. “You’re a good man. You’ve been the best big brother I could ever have. You know how to take care of your people. You understand family . You’re the perfect mate for a changeling.”

Bram’s eyes were shining.

He looked away, but he didn’t break their handclasp, and there they sat, two dented and damaged Psy who’d somehow managed to find their people.

···

Adam glanced at Dorian when the DarkRiver sentinel landed the leopard pack’s jet-chopper at the hospital that had helped save Eleri’s life, and where Saffron Bianca and Yúzé Kanagawa were being held. “Thanks for this.”

Odd as it was, especially given WindHaven’s business interests, not many winged changelings were pilots—they liked flying on the wing, not inside machines. Flight tests for the business were done near universally by human or non-winged pilots.

His eyes hidden behind aviators, Dorian said, “We’re allies—we might even become friends, though I make no guarantees about my cat not swiping at your feathers every so often.”

Adam grinned, caught off guard by the quip.

While the two of them had met multiple times, this was the longest period they’d spent together at a stretch, and he was starting to realize that the cool-eyed sentinel happened to be a man he’d enjoy calling a friend.

“Long as your cat remembers that this bird has serious talons.”

Dorian’s cheeks creased before he pulled off the aviators, his tone turning serious on his next words.

“You thought about how we’re going to take these two back?

Bianca is violent, and we only have room for two in the back—I don’t like the idea of you back there with her while I have Kanagawa in the front. He could snap without warning.”

Adam had been considering that, too. “When I spoke to Sophia, she said they don’t want to drug Saffron because in her state it could have a catastrophic cascading effect.”

Dorian nodded. “I get that. Our little boy is Psy, so we have to protect him even from over-the-counter stuff changelings wouldn’t think twice about.” The affection of a father in his voice. “Sophie give you any other option?”

“One of the Es at the facility can nudge Saffron into unconsciousness—basically forcing what Psy do naturally when they go in for surgery.” Per Sophia, the Es didn’t like to do it because it fostered distrust in their already disturbed patients, but they were willing to make an exception this time because Saffron was locked in a fear-and-panic spiral that they couldn’t break.

Anything that might help was better than that.

“Her unconscious state should last long enough for us to get her to Bram and Eleri. I’ve also got restraints as backup.

” He didn’t like it, but the risk of Saffron causing a crash if she woke agitated was too high to chance leaving her free.

“From the sounds of it, Yúzé is nonresponsive and probably won’t even notice; hopefully he’ll sleep through it. ”

The doors from the hospital to the rooftop landing space opened up, a man in a wheelchair being brought out.

He was followed by staff shepherding a hover gurney.

Adam and Dorian both jumped out to get their passengers inside and restrained.

As advised, Yúzé was a doll who moved if given physical direction, while Saffron was unconscious.

The E who’d come with the team had a bruise blooming on the right side of her cheek. “It’s not her fault,” the middle-aged woman said. “She panicked when she realized what I was about to do, struck out.” The E stroked her fingers over Saffron’s red hair. “I hope you forgive me, sweet girl.”

There wasn’t time for further conversation, the clock on Saffron’s consciousness already on a fast countdown. They took off the minute the staff were clear, and Adam was tense throughout the flight—especially when he heard Saffron make a sound about twenty minutes out from the Canyon.

“She’s starting to come out of it.”

“Fuck. I’m already pushing this thing as fast as I can. Let’s hope we make it.”