Kiss of Snow (Psy-Changelings 10) by Nalini Singh

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Now comes the story of an alpha wolf named Hawke used to getting exactly what he wants--and of the only woman who dares tangle with him.

Since the moment of her defection from the PsyNet and into the SnowDancer wolf pack, Sienna Lauren has had one weakness. Hawke. Alpha and dangerous, he... read more

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Kiss of Snow begins with Hawke, the alpha of the SnowDancer wolf changeling pack chastising two of his young soldiers for getting into a fight while on duty. Maria is contrite but Sienna challenges Hawke’s authority. Hawke disciplines both girls but simmering under the surface is the unwanted... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Longtime readers of Singh’s Psy/Changeling series know that Sienna is a member of the Psy, a race of psychics linked through a neural network called the PsyNet. Through a protocol called Silence, the Psy repress all emotions, but Sienna’s family, the Laurens, defected from the PsyNet when Sienna was deemed by the one of the leaders on the Psy Council to be too powerful.

Rather than watch Sienna and her younger brother Toby and cousin Marlee die, Sienna’s two uncles, Walker and Judd, risked their lives and disengaged from the net, and the family survived by forming its own psychic network and finding asylum with Hawke’s wolf pack.

All that happened when Sienna was sixteen. Now she is nineteen, nearly twenty, and in love with Hawke, a man who once mistrusted all Psy because of the damage they inflicted on his loved ones years before. But Sienna’s fascination with Hawke only hurts her, because Hawke, although powerfully attracted to her, resists his feelings with all his strength.

Between Hawke and Sienna stands more than one conflict. Most prominent is the difference in their ages — Hawke’s age isn’t given in this book, but I believe he is in his thirties, while Sienna is nineteen.

In addition, there is the fact that when Hawke was just ten years old, he suffered an almost unbearable loss — Rissa, the girl who would have become his mate had she lived to adulthood, died. The wolf changelings only mate once in a lifetime, and Hawke knows he cannot mate again.

Finally, Sienna is a cardinal X-Psy, which means she possesses lethal and limitless power. But that very power threatens to consume her and perhaps even those in whose vicinity she lives, including her family and Hawke’s wolf pack. No X-Psy is known to have lived as long as Sienna, and although she herself remains in denial, Judd fears she does not have much time left.

For all those reasons, especially the age difference, Hawke is wary of Sienna’s appeal to him. He tries to tell himself that she is off-limits, but her friendship with the leopard changeling Kit gets under his skin. When Hawke’s sexual hunger begins to affect the teens in his pack, he knows he must sleep with someone, but he does not intend that it be Sienna.

Sienna, angry and hurt after realizing this, decides to move on and goes clubbing with friends. After her dancing nearly incites a fight at the club, Hawke collects her and dances with her in the moonlight. Because he can’t stand to free her to be with someone else, but knows that he cannot give her all she deserves — the profound connection of the mating bond â€“ Hawke sends Sienna mixed signals.

Sienna is torn and confused, but eventually she understands that she needs to fight for Hawke, as she’s seen her packmates do for their mates.

Meanwhile, things are heating up in the war between the members of Pure Psy and the changelings, and the coming battle threatens not just Hawke and Sienna, but all they hold dear.

Interspersed between Sienna and Hawke’s romance is a quieter romantic relationship that unfolds between Sienna’s uncle, Walker Lauren, and Lara, the wolf changelings’ healer. Lara and Walker were close friends until one night a kiss changed that. Walker drew away from Lara and his rejection hurt her, but six months later, the two still miss each other.

Also woven in is a thread about Alice Eldridge, a scientist who wrote a dissertation on the X-Psy over a century earlier, before the implementation of Silence. Alice’s emails to her father appear at the end of some of the chapters, as Alice gets closer and closer to uncovering what may or may not be the solution that could save Sienna’s life.

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CHAPTER 1

Hawke folded his arms and leaned back against the solid bulk of his desk, eyes on the two young females in front of him. Hands clasped behind themselves and legs slightly spread in the “resting” stance, Sienna and Maria looked like the SnowDancer soldiers they were—except for the fact that their hair straggled in a wild mess around their faces, matted with mud, crushed leaves and other forest debris. Then there was the torn clothing and the sharp, acrid scent of blood.

His wolf bared its teeth.

“Let me get this straight,” he said in a calm tone that had Maria turning pale under skin that was a warm, smooth brown where it wasn’t bruised and bloody. “Instead of staying on watch and protecting the pack’s defensive border, you two decided to have your own personal dominance battle.”

Sienna, of course, met his gaze—something no wolf would’ve done in the circumstances. “It w—”

“Be quiet,” he snapped. “If you open your mouth again without permission, I’m putting both of you in the pen with the two-year-olds.”

Those amazing cardinal eyes—white stars on a background of vivid black—went a pure ebony that he knew full well indicated fury, but she clenched her jaw. Maria, on the other hand, had gone even paler. Good.

“Maria,” he said, focusing on the petite changeling whose size belied her skill and strength in both human and wolf form. “How old are you?”

Maria swallowed. “Twenty.”

“Not a juvenile.”

Maria’s thick black curls, heavy with mud, bounced dully as she shook her head.

“Then explain this to me.”

“I can’t, sir.”

“Right answer.” No reason they could offer up would be a good enough excuse for the bullshit fight. “Who threw the first punch?”

Silence.

His wolf approved. It mattered little who’d incited the exchange when neither had walked away from it, and the fact of the matter was, they’d been meant to be working as a team, so they’d take their punishment as a team—with one caveat.

“Seven days,” he said to Maria. “Confined to quarters except for an hour each day. No contact with anyone while you’re inside.” It was a harsh punishment—wolves were creatures of pack, of family and Maria was one of the most bubbly, social wolves in the den. To force her to spend all that time alone was an indication of just how badly she’d blundered. “The next time you decide to step off watch, I won’t be so lenient.”

Maria chanced meeting his gaze for a fleeting second before those rich brown eyes skated away, her dominance no match for his. “May I attend Lake’s twenty-first?”

“If that’s the use you want to make of your hour on the day.” Yeah, it made him a bastard to force her to miss most of her boyfriend’s big party, especially when the two were taking the first, careful steps into a relationship, but she’d known exactly what she was doing when she decided to engage in a pissing contest with a fellow soldier.

SnowDancer was strong as a pack because they watched each other’s backs. Hawke would not allow stupidity or arrogance to eat away at a foundation he’d rebuilt from the ground up after the bloody events that had stolen both his parents, and savaged the pack so badly it had taken over a decade of tight isolation for them to recover.

He turned his attention to Sienna—holding onto his temper by a very thin thread. “You were,” he said, with the wolf very much in his voice, “specifically ordered not to get into any physical altercations.”

Sienna said nothing in response. It didn’t matter—her rage was a hot pulse against his skin, as raw and stormy as Sienna herself. When she was like this, the wildness of her barely contained, it was hard to believe she’d come into his pack Silent, her emotions blockaded behind so much ice, it had infuriated his wolf.

Maria shifted on her feet when he didn’t immediately continue.

“You have something to say?” he asked the woman who was one of the best novice soldiers in the pack when she didn’t let her temper get in the way.

“I started it.” Color high on her cheekbones, shoulders tight. “She was just defending—”

“No.” Sienna’s tone was steady, resolute, the anger buried under a wall of frigid control. “I’ll take my share of the blame. I could’ve walked away.”

Hawke narrowed his eyes. “Maria, go.”

The novice soldier hesitated for a second, but she was a subordinate wolf, her natural instinct to obey her alpha too powerful to resist—even though it was clear she wanted to remain behind to support Sienna. Hawke noted and approved of the display of loyalty enough that he didn’t rebuke her for that hesitation.

The door closed behind her with a quiet snick that seemed shotgun-loud in the heavy silence inside the office. Hawke waited to see what Sienna would do now that they were alone. To his surprise, she maintained her position.

Reaching forward, he gripped her chin, turning her face to the side so that the light fell on the smooth lines of it. “You’re lucky you don’t have a broken cheekbone.” The flesh around her eye was going to turn all shades of purple as it was. “Where else are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

His fingers tightened on her jaw. “Where else are you hurt?”

“You didn’t ask Maria.” Stubborn will in every word.

“Maria is a wolf, able to take five times the damage of a Psy female, and keep going.”

Which was the reason Sienna had been ordered not to get into physical confrontations with the wolves. That and the fact that she didn’t have her lethal abilities under total control. “Either you answer the question, or I swear to God I really will put you in the pen.” It would be the most humiliating of experiences and she knew it, every muscle in her body taut with viciously withheld anger.

“Bruised ribs,” she gritted out at last, “bruised abdomen, wrenched shoulder. Nothing’s broken. It should all heal within the next week.”

Dropping his grip on her chin, he said, “Hold out your arms.”

A hesitation.

The wolf growled, loud enough that she flinched. “Sienna, I’ve given you a long leash since you came into the pack, but that ends today.” Insubordination from a juvenile could be punished and forgiven. In an adult, in a soldier, it was a far more serious matter. Sienna was nineteen-going-on-twenty, a ranked novice—letting her actions slide wasn’t even an option. “Hold out your fucking arms.”

Something in his tone must’ve gotten through to her because she did as ordered. A few small cuts on that creamy skin kissed gold by the sun, but no gouges that would’ve spoken of claws. “So Maria managed to rein in the wolf.” If she hadn’t, he’d have kicked her right back into training. Losing control of your temper was one thing, losing control of your wolf far more dangerous.

Sienna’s hands fisted as she dropped them to her sides.

Looking up, he met those eyes of absolute, unbroken black. It was clear she was fighting the elemental impulse to go at him, but she continued to hold her position. “How far did you go?” Her control was impressive—and it irritated him in a way it shouldn’t have. But then, nothing about Sienna Lauren had ever been easy.

“I didn’t use my abilities.” The tendons in her neck stood out against the dirt-encrusted hue of her skin. “If I had, she’d be dead.”

“Which is why you’re in far more trouble than Maria.” When he’d given the Lauren family sanctuary after their defection from the cold sterility of the PsyNet, it had been under a number of strict conditions. One of those conditions had been a prohibition against using Psy abilities on packmates.

A significant number of things had changed since that time, and the Laurens were now an integral and accepted part of the pack. Sienna’s uncle, Judd, was one of Hawke’s lieutenants, and often used his telepathic and telekinetic abilities in defense of SnowDancer. Hawke had also never tied the hands of the two youngest Laurens, knowing Marlee and Toby would need their mental claws to defend themselves against their rambunctious wolf playmates.

But that freedom didn’t extend to Sienna, because Hawke knew exactly what she could do. The instant Judd accepted the lieutenant blood bond, keeping secrets from his alpha had become a question of loyalty and trust.

“Why?” Sienna lifted her chin. “I didn’t disobey the rule about using my abilities.”

Naturally, she’d challenge him. “But,” he said, reining in the wolf’s snarling response to her defiance, “you did disobey a direct order in engaging in the fight—you said it yourself, you could’ve walked away.”

White lines bracketed her mouth. “Would you have?”

“This isn’t about me.” He’d been a young hothead once upon a time, and he’d had his ass kicked for it…until everything had changed, his childhood wiped out in a surge of blood and pain and piercing sorrow. “We both know your lack of control could’ve led to a far more serious outcome.” The hell of it was, she knew that, too—and still she’d let herself cross the line. That angered Hawke more than anything else.

“I could be confined to DarkRiver land,” Sienna said while he was considering how to deal with her, “if you don’t want me in the den.”

Hawke snorted at her reference to the leopard pack that was SnowDancer’s most trusted ally. “So you can hang out with your boyfriend? Nice try.”

Sienna’s skin flushed a dull red. “Kit isn’t my boyfriend.”

Hawke wasn’t going to get into that conversation. Not now. Not ever. “You don’t get to have a say in your punishment.” He’d spoiled her. It was his own damn fault it was coming back to bite him in the ass. “One week confined to quarters in the soldiers area, one hour out per day.” Psy were much better at handling isolation than changelings, but he knew Sienna had changed since defecting from the PsyNet, become far more intertwined in the bonds of family, of pack. “Second week spent working with the babies in the nursery since that’s the age you’ve been acting recently. No duty rotations until you can be trusted to stick to your task.”

“I—” She snapped her mouth shut when he raised an eyebrow.

“Three weeks,” he said softly. “Third week you’ll spend in the kitchens as a dish hand.”

Her cheeks burned a hotter shade but she didn’t interrupt again.

“Dismissed.”

It was only after she’d gone—the autumn and spice of her scent lingering in the air in a silent rebellion she would’ve undoubtedly enjoyed had she known about it—that he loosened his hold on the wolf who was his more feral half.

It lunged for her scent.

Sucking in a harsh breath, Hawke fought the primal urge to go after her. He’d been battling the instinct for months, ever since the wolf decided that she was now an adult and therefore, fair prey. The human half of him wasn’t having much success in changing its mind, not when he had to fight the hunger to claim the most intimate of skin privileges every time she was in his presence.

“Christ.” Picking up the sleek new sat phone the techs had issued him four weeks ago, he put through a call to DarkRiver’s alpha.

Lucas answered on the second ring. “What is it?”

“Sienna won’t be heading down to spend time with you cats for a while.” Aside from the distance Sienna apparently needed from the den, from him, she’d been working with Lucas’s Psy mate, Sascha, to understand and gain control of her abilities. But—“I can’t let it go. Not this time.”

“Understood.” The answer of a fellow alpha.

Hawke sat on the edge of his desk, shoving a hand through his hair. “Can she handle it?” He knew she wouldn’t break—Sienna was too strong for that, a strength that acted like a drug on his wolf—but the power that lived within her was so vast, it had to be treated as the wildest of beasts.

“Last time she was down,” Lucas responded, “Sascha said she displayed an exceptional level of stability, nothing like when they first began to work together. They’re not having regular meetings anymore, so that’s not an issue.”

Mind at rest on that score at least, Hawke said, “I’ll make sure Judd keeps a psychic eye on her just in case.” Sienna wouldn’t appreciate the oversight, but fact was fact—she was dangerous, and he had to consider the safety of the pack as a whole. As for the ferocity of his protective instincts when it came to her, he wasn’t about to lie and pretend they didn’t exist.

“Can I ask what happened?” Lucas’s tone was curious.

Hawke gave the cat a quick rundown. “She’s been worse this past month.” Prior to that, her newfound stability had been noticed—and approved of—by all the senior members of the pack. “I’ve got to start coming down hard on her or it’ll cause discontent in the den.” Hierarchy was the glue that held a wolf pack together. As alpha, Hawke was at the top of that hierarchy. He could not, would not, accept rebellion from a subordinate.

“Yeah, I get it,” Lucas replied. “Surprises me though. She’s the perfect soldier down here, doesn’t ever give me lip. Got a mind as sharp as a razor.”

Hawke flexed and unflexed his claws. “Yeah, well, she’s not yours.”

A long, quiet pause. “I heard you were seeing someone.”

“You want to gossip?” He made no attempt to hide his irritation.

“Kit and the other novices saw you with some drop dead gorgeous blonde a few weeks ago. At a restaurant down by Pier 39.”

He thought back. “She’s a media consultant with CTX.” SnowDancer and DarkRiver held majority shares in the communications company, an investment that was paying off big-time as even Psy began to search for news reports free of the crushing influence of their dictatorial ruling Council. “Wanted to talk to me about doing an interview.”

“When’s it going to be on?”

“Next time you see a pig flying past the window.” Hawke didn’t play for the cameras, and he’d made damn sure Ms. Consultant understood that SnowDancer wasn’t planning to change its mean and carnivorous image to pretty and fluffy anytime soon. She could work with that or find another posi— A sudden thought sliced clean through his remembered annoyance, had his hand tightening on the phone. “Was Sienna with the juveniles?”

“Yep.”

It was Hawke who paused this time, his wolf taking a watchful stance, caught between two competing needs. “There’s nothing I can do about that, Luc,” he said at last, every muscle in his body taut to the point of pain.

“That was what Nate said.”

The leopard sentinel was now happily mated with two cubs.

“Not the same.” It wasn’t simply a question of age—the brutal fact was that Hawke’s mate was dead. Had died as a child. Sienna didn’t understand what that meant, how little he had to give her, give any woman. If he was selfish enough to succumb to the unnamed but powerful pull between them, he knew full well he’d destroy her.

“Doesn’t mean you can’t be happy. Think about it.” Luc hung up.

She hasn’t slept with him, you know… Don’t leave it too late, Hawke, or you might just lose her.

Indigo’s words two months ago, speaking about Sienna and that cub who was stuck to her like glue whenever Hawke turned around. Aside from the fact the boy was a leopard, there was nothing wrong with Kit. He’d make the perfect ma—

A crunching sound.

His new sat phone bore a jagged crack through the screen.

Characters edit see section history

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Hawke Snow: SnowDancer alpha; Son of Tristan & Aren; Has pale, light blue eyes and silver-gold hair that brushes his nape; Became alpha when he was fifteen; Lost his destined mate when he was 10 and she was 5; As a wolf his eyes are the same color as when human and his pelt is the same color of his hair.
Sienna Lauren: "Sinna" - "Sin" - Cardinal X-Psy; SnowDancer novice soldier; Has Cardinal eyes and waist-length hair, deep red as the heart of a ruby (Usually dyes her hair and wears brown contacts so that she does not stand out); 19 going on 20 years old; Has a curvy and lightly muscled body; Was Ming LeBon's protégée since the age of 5
Judd Lauren: Psy; Sienna, Toby & Marlee's uncle; SnowDancer lieutenant; Telepathic & telekinetic; Mated to Brenna; Walker's younger brother; Former Arrow; Has gold-flecked brown eyes that can turn arctic blue
Brenna Kincaid: "Bren" - SnowDancer tech; Mated to Judd; Andrew and Riley's sister; Has brown eyes shot with blue
Kristine Lauren: Sienna & Toby's mother; Judd & Walker's sister; A cardinal telepath with a secondary telekinetic ability; Was a communications specialist; Committed suicide by jumping off of the Golden Gate Bridge while screaming "Free"
Toby Lauren: Cardinal Psy member of SnowDancer; Mainly a Telepathic Psy with a 3 gradient as an E-Psy; Sienna's brother; Judd and Walker's nephew; Has Cardinal eyes and longish red hair; Has a a slight empathic gift; A gangly preteen
Marlee Lauren: Powerful Psy member of SnowDancer; Sienna & Toby's cousin; Walker's daughter; Judd's niece; Has pale green eyes just like her fathers
Walker Lauren: Telepathic Psy member of SnowDancer, 7.8 gradient; Sienna & Toby's uncle; Marlee's father; Judd's older brother; Has pale green eyes and dark blond hair; "Head Wrangler" of the ten-to-thirteen-year-olds; Was a teacher while still in the PsyNet
Lara: SnowDancer healer and doctor; Daughter of Mack & Aisha; Is small but curvy; Has black corkscrew curls and eyes that are a tawny shade of brown; 30 years old
Yelene: Psy; Marlee's mother; Walker's Psy partner; Abandoned the Laurens to avoid rehabilitation
Kit Monaghan: DarkRiver novice soldier; Future alpha; Has a flirtatious relationship with Sienna
Theresa: "Rissa" - Believed to Hawke's mate; Died in an avalanche when she was 5 and Hawke was 10 years old; Had thick black curls and brown eyes
Tristan Snow: Former SnowDancer Lieutenant; Hawke's father; Aren's mate; His eyes were two shades darker than Hawke's pale, light blue eyes
Aren Snow: SnowDancer; Hawke's gifted, fey mother; Tristan's mate; Had sea green eyes and a wild tumble of white-blonde hair; Was an artist and did murals inside the Den
Lucas Hunter: "Luc" - DarkRiver alpha; Black panther; Mated to Sascha; Has cat-green eyes and shoulder-length hair
Sascha Duncan: Psy member of DarkRriver; Cardinal E-Psy; Mated to Lucas; Daughter of Nikita; Pregnant with Lucas' baby; Her skin is colored a warm brown with a curling tumble of soft black hair and cardinal eyes
Nadiya Hunter: "Nadiya Shayla Hunter" - "Naya" - Lucas and Sascha's newborn daughter; Her middle name had been that of Lucas' healer mother; Has her father's cat-green eyes and skin of a smooth golden-brown a shade paler than her mother's
Nathan Ryder: "Nate" - Highest ranking DarkRiver sentinel; Tamysn's mate; Father of twins Roman & Julian
Tamsyn Ryder: "Tammy" - DarkRiver healer and doctor; Nate's mate; Mother of twins Roman & Julian
Indigo Riviere: "Indy" - SnowDancer lieutenant; Hawke's third in command; Mated to Andrew (four years older than him); Daughter of Abel & Tarah; Sister of Evangeline; One of Hawke's most trusted friends; Is 5'10" with long, jet-black hair and vivid blue eyes shot with purple streaks; Deep gray wolf with burnished gold eyes; Sienna's friend and mentor; Has an incredible heart
Andrew Kincaid: "Drew" - SnowDancer tracker & Hunter; Mated to Indigo (four years younger than her); Brenna & Riley's brother; Liaison between SnowDancer & WindHaven
Riley Kincaid: "The Wall" - SnowDancer Lieutenant; Hawke's second in command; Mated to Mercy of the DarkRiver pack; Brenna & Andrew's older brother; Hawke's best friend; Has dark brown eyes; Only person in the den who can really take on Hawke while sparring; Is solidly loyal
Mercy Smith: DarkRiver Sentinel; Mated to Riley
Riaz: SnowDancer Lieutenant; Business Rep; Found his mate married to another man; 6'2"; Has jet-black hair with auburn highlights and pale brown, almost gold colored eyes; Is a deep black wolf; Is very intense
Cooper: SnowDancer Lieutenant; Does the day-to-day caretaking of SnowDancer's investments; Mated to Grace; Is stubbornly tenacious; Has a jagged scar on his left cheek and bronze skin with nearly black eyes
Grace: Cooper's mate
Jem: "Garnet" (real name) - SnowDancer Lieutenant based in Los Angeles; Does the day-to-day caretaking of SnowDancer's investments; In a relationship with Kenji; Is a wildfire with blonde hair
Kenji: SnowDancer Lieutenant based near the San Gabriel Mountains; One of the best tactical minds in the pack; In a relationship with Jem; Has high cheekbones, startling green eyes and violent magenta hair; Has a very calm will
Tomás: SnowDancer Lieutenant; Has an energetic wildness; Has dark eyes
Matthias: SnowDancer Lieutenant based in the Cascade Range; Very quiet and intense; Has dark, dark eyes and rich brown skin shaped over a face that holds hints of so many cultures, it is impossible to define him as anything but stunning.
Alexei: "Russian Bridegroom" - SnowDancer Lieutenant; Has the face of a young golden god; His dominance is a quiet, powerful pulse beneath the skin; One of the best tactical minds in the pack; Has barely tempered power
Vaughn D'Angelo: DarkRiver sentinel closest to his animal side; Jaguar shifter; Mated to Faith; Has amber hair
Faith NightStar: Psy member of DarkRiver; Cardinal foreseer (F-Psy); Mated to Vaughn; Daughter of Anthony
Dorian Christensen: DarkRiver sentinel; Mated to Ashaya; Architect; Has experience with complex computronics systems; Looks like a surfer with white-blond hair and electric blue eyes
Ashaya Aleine: M-Psy scientist member of DarkRiver, 9.9 gradient; Former Council scientist; Mated to Dorian; Amara's twin
Amara Aleine: Psy scientist member of DarkRiver; Ashaya's twin; Is insane but brilliant; Not trusted by anyone
Clay Bennett: DarkRiver sentinel; Mated to Talin
Max Shannon: Human; Nikita's security chief; Married to Sophia; Ex-cop; Has jet-black hair
Sophia Russo: Former Justice Psy ( J); Married to Max; Works for Nikita; Is still uplinked to the PsyNet in spite of her broken Silence
Devraj Santos: "Dev" - Director of the Shine Foundation; One of the Forgotten; Married to Katya
Ekaterina Haas: "Katya" - Married to Dev; Was Ashaya's assistant researcher while both were in the PsyNet; Has had some military instruction
Teijan: Rat alpha
Zane: Rat second in command
Evangeline Riviere: "Evie" - SnowDancer; Indigo's sister; Sienna's best friend; Tai's girlfriend; Has a too-kind heart and a well-hidden streak of mischief
Tai: SnowDancer novice soldier; Evie's boyfriend; Has slightly uptilted, wild green eyes; A large tan-colored wolf
Ben: "Benny" - SnowDancer pup; 5-and-half years old; Ava's son; Has dark hair and big brown eyes like his mother; His eyes can turn wolf-amber
Ava: SnowDancer; Ben's mother; Lara's best friend
Yuki: SnowDancer pack lawyer; Mated to Elias; Sakura's mother; Has chin length, glossy black hair and liquid dark eyes
Elias: "Eli" - SnowDancer Senior soldier; Mated to Yuki; Sakura's father; Has dark brown hair
Sakura: Yuki & Elias' daughter
Maria: SnowDancer novice soldier; Petite changeling; 20 years old; Has warm, smooth brown skin, thick black curly hair and rich brown eyes; Very bubbly and social
Lake: SnowDancer soldier; Maria's boyfriend; 20 turning 21 years old; Is very serious
Nicki: DarkRiver youth; Sienna's friend; A petite honey blonde; Apprentice to the DarkRiver Historian
Jason: "Jase" - DarkRiver youth; Nicki's boyfriend
Riordan: SnowDancer novice soldier; Sienna's friend; 20-21 years old; Has a nice muscular frame, deep brown eyes and chocolate-dark curls
Cadence: "Cadie" - SnowDancer; Sienna's friend
Brace: SnowDancer juvenile; Is tall and lanky
Joshua: SnowDancer juvenile; Has put on a bit of muscle over the past couple of months
Aisha: SnowDancer's chief cook; Lara's mother; Mack's mate; A vibrant, chatterbox
Mack: SnowDancer senior tech in charge of the hydro plant; Lara's father; Aisha's mate
Rosalie: "Rosa" - SnowDancer packmate and sometimes paramore of Hawke; Is luscious, sexy and experienced; Has a tall, voluptuous body; Has thick, mahogany waves and deep green eyes
Cory: DarkRiver juvenile; Sienna's friend
Ebony: SnowDancer soldier
Amos: SnowDancer soldier
Kieran: Human member of SnowDancer; Soldier; Playboy of the pack; Has a dimple in one cheek; His skin is a light shade of brown; Has hypnotic gray-green eyes; In his early 20's
Dalton: "The Librarian" - Elder in the SnowDancer pack; Lara's grandfather; Rumored to be over 100 years old; Has white eyebrows bushy over dark, dark brown skin marked with a thousand laugh lines; Has the same warm tawny brown eyes as his granddaughter; The repository of Pack knowledge
Abel Riviere: SnowDancer; Indigo & Evangeline's father; Tarah's mate
Tarah Riviere: SnowDancer nursery supervisor; Indigo & Evangeline's mother; Abel's mate
Lucy: SnowDancer nurse; Lara's assistant
Simran: SnowDancer soldier; Elias's partner; Has long, sleek black hair
Inés: SnowDancer soldier; Often acts as a messenger for Hawke; Tall and lanky
Barker: DarkRiver soldier; Has rich brown hair and bright hazel eyes
Rina Monaghan: "Reen" - DarkRiver soldier; Barker's partner; Kit's older sister; A voluptuous blonde
Jamie: DarkRiver soldier near London
Sing-Liu: SnowDancer human soldier; D'Arn's mate; A small woman
D'Arn: SnowDancer soldier; Sing-Liu's mate
Mariska: SnowDancer senior tech; 28 years old; Is so shy she appears standoffish, but has a mind like a scalpel.
Ameline: SnowDancer; Just suffered a miscarriage
Sam: SnowDancer soldier
José: Manager of Wild; A dominant bull, deer changeling
Xavier Perez: Human priest in the Second Reformation Church; Friend of Judd & the Ghost
Zia: Psy member of SnowDancer before Hawke became Alpha; Near to 130 years old; A low-Gradient E; One of the first to notice that something was wrong in the pack
Garrick: Former SnowDancer Alpha; Was a slender black man who'd appeared about as strong as a willow branch—and who had fought like a gladiator for his pack; Killed by Tristan, Hawke's father, while under Psy mind control
Alice Eldridge: Human who researched the rare designations of Psy's; Daughter of Professors Ellison & Mae Eldridge; Was said to have died during a climbing accident in January of 1975 but no body was ever recovered
Ellison Eldridge: Alice's father; Mae's husband; A professor of archaeology
Mae Eldridge: Alice's mother; Ellison's wife; A professor of anthropology
George Kim: Alice's Psy colleague
Aden: Arrow; Psy Telepath (Tp); Has high cheekbones, olive skin and uptilted eyes
Vasic: Arrow; Tk-V-Psy, the only true teleporter in the Net; Is one of the extremely rare Tks who can go to people as well as places; Is conflicted and works with rebels
Ghost: mystery man
Nikita Duncan: Sascha's mother; Powerful telepathic Psy, thought to be able to "infect" the minds of others; Member of the Psy Council; No longer supports Silence; Has cool white skin, eyes from Japan and cutting cheekbones that complement the razor-straight jet of her hair
Anthony Kyriakus: Member of the Psy-Council; Father to Faith NightStar, Marine NightStar & Tanique Gray; Senior member of the Psy NightStar clan; Leader of a quiet revolution against the Psy Council; Is tall and patrician with black hair silvered at the temples
Henry Scott: Telepath Psy, 9.5 on gradient; Member of the Psy council; Married to Shoshanna; Thought to be submissive, but rises to power with aggressive tendancies and ties to the pure psy movement; His symbol is a black spiderweb
Shoshanna Scott: Psy; Member of the Psy-Council; Married to Henry Scott; Lives in London; Has targeted most of the strongest SnowDancer and DarkRiver changelings for elimination, along with their Psy mates.
Vasquez: Works for Henry; Is now in charge of all Pure Psy operations; Is five feet four inches tall with the build of a gymnast
Ming LeBon: Cardinal Psy; Member of the Psy-Council; The Council's military mastermind; Leader of the Arrows until recently; Trained Sienna to be a weapon since she was 5 years old; Has a red birthmark on the right side of his face
Kaleb Krychek: Psy; Member of the Psy-Council; New leader of the Arrows; A very powerful telekinetic; Can cause an earthquake and collapse an entire city if he chooses; A master game player; Has cardinal eyes; His symbol is a single silver star
Tatiana Rika-Smythe: Psy; Member of the Psy-Counci; Can destroy psychic shields and use mind control
Gutierrez: Arrow; Joined Pure Psy to spy on them
Suhana: Arrow; Joined Pure Psy to spy on them
Abbot: Arrow; Telekinetic, 9.1 gradient; 26 years old; Joined Pure Psy to spy on them; Has ink black hair
Sione: Arrow; Joined Pure Psy to spy on them
Zaid Adelaja: More than a century ago, Zaid formed the Arrow Squad to watch over Silence, to ensure it would never fall and shatter the PsyNet.
Santano Enrique: Was a Cardinal Psy and a Council member; A true psychopath; Kaleb's mentor

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Quotes edit see section history

“Jesus H. Christ. I have new respect for the female of the species suddenly.”
Lucas
“I had sex,” Drew said with a grin. “Lots and lots and lots of sex.”
Drew
“Except I never had a prayer when it came to you. You’re in my every breath and every thought, intertwined so deep inside me that love’s not a strong enough word—you have my devotion, your name branded on my soul, my wolf yours to command. A hundred years? It’ll never be enough. I want eternity.”
Hawke

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You’re in my every breath and every thought, intertwined so deep inside me that love’s not a strong enough word—you have my devotion, your name branded on my soul, my wolf yours to command. A hundred years? It’ll never be enough. I want eternity.”
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“You have the power to tear me to pieces, to wound me so deep and true that I’ll never recover.
Highlighted by 14 Kindle customers
“No more flirtations with boys your own age,” he said, gripping that stubborn jaw with his fingers. “No more dancing with any male but me. No more time to learn who you are before you have to hold that personality against mine. No more freedom to explore your sensuality before I own it.”
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“I almost let the best thing that ever happened to me slip away because I was hung up on ideas of what I ‘should’ want. Sometimes there is no ‘should,’ there’s only a single chance to grab on to happiness.”
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“We are who we make ourselves.” Judd’s voice, compelling in its very quietness. “Don’t ever give up your will to some idea of genetic predestination.”
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“Walker doesn’t glare,” Sienna said, shifting so that she faced him on her knees. “He just looks at you until you obey.”
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The bar owner blew out a breath. “I’m thinking you don’t want another man handling your girl.” Hawke’s claws sliced out. “Anyone touches her, they’re dead.”
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“Sane.” A short answer. “Though sanity is a question of interpretation.”
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But last night, as he indulged himself by claiming the first level of intimate skin privileges, he’d discovered something—when it came to Sienna, he was beyond selfish, beyond possessive. She was his. And he wanted all of her.
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Understanding that that failsafe might well be a lethal one, he said, “Do you really think I’d let you go that easily?” An implacable glance from eyes that were suddenly decades older than him. “I’m not yours to let go.”
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Setting & Locations edit see section history

Sierra Nevada, California
San Francisco, California
London, England
Sacramento, California
Wild: A changeling-owned bar and dance club that sits in a small but popular nightlife area just beyond the edge of den territory.
San Gabriel Mountains
Dubai
Cambridge, England
South America
Cascade Range
Balkans

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Organizations edit see section history

SnowDancer: Wolf pack, based in California's Sierra Nevada
DarkRiver: Leopard pack, based in the Yosemite forest; SnowDancer's most trusted ally
CTX: Communications company; SnowDancer & DarkRiver hold the majority shares
Psy Council: The ruling Council of the Psy race
Arrow Squad: The Psy Council's most deadly assassins; Formed more than a century ago by Zaid Adelaja to watch over Silence, to ensure it would never fall and shatter the PsyNet.
Pure Psy: A vigilante Psy group intent on maintaining the purity of Silence by eliminating the "flawed" and all those who threaten Silence.
The Rats: A small changeling group that run a very effective spy network out of San Francisco; They live under the city in a network of tunnels (they call their home "Below")
WindHaven: Falcon changeling, based in the Grand Canyon, Arizona
Shine Foundation: Designed to help The Forgotten, descendants of the psy who did not enter Silence. Especially those who may be unaware of their talent.
BlackSea Coalition: A changeling pack - in a sense. A coalition of all the water-based changelings. Has members worldwide.
NightStar Group: Psy corporation. Holds most contracts for the F-Psy Faith NightStar. Leader is Anthony Kyriakus - member of the Psy Council, but also a quiet member of the revolution against silence.
Aquarius: A small human start-up company
BlackEdge: A powerful changeling pack
StoneWater: A powerful changeling pack

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First Sentence edit see section history

Hawke folded his arms and leaned back against the solid bulk of his desk, eyes on the two young females in front of him.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Chapter 1 - 54

Glossary edit see section history

Psy: People with varied psychic talents
Changeling: People able to change into an animal form
X-Psy: Living weapons
Silence: A rigorous program developed to condition young Psy to feel no emotion
PsyNet: The psychic network created by the minds of millions of Psy across the world, each mind an icy white star on an endless spread of black. A Psy can not live without a connection since it provides the biofeedback needed by the Psy mind.
Cardinal Eyes: White stars on a background of vivid black; Can turn a pure ebony with intense emotions; The white stars can shimmer with color in Cardinal E-Psy eyes.
E-Psy: Empath; Able to sense and heal emotional hurts
Hunter: Pack member charged with executing those they could not save
LaurenNet: The psychic network that tied all the members of the family to each other.
NetMind: The neosentience that is the guardian and librarian of the PsyNet.
Obsidian Archive: A backup in case the PsyNet ever suffers a catastrophic failure. The complexity of data within it makes it all but a wall of black. Only a rare few individuals have ever realized the Obsidian archive exists. Even fewer know how to access it.
Jax: The drug that turns Arrows into killers.

Show all 12 glossary entries

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 10 of 16 in Psy-Changelings. (standard series)

Preceded by Play of Passion, and followed by Tangle of Need.

This is book 55 of 146 in Whitcoulls Top 100 (2011). (authoritative list)

Preceded by The Alchemist, and followed by Untitled Pellegrino 2 of 2.

This is book 15 of 16 in Psy-Changelings: Chronological Order. (standard series)

Preceded by Play of Passion, and followed by Tangle of Need.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

Nalini Singh (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Berkley Hardcover
Country: USA
Publication Date: May 31, 2011
ISBN: 978-0425242094
Page Count: 400

Awards edit see section history

RT Reviewers' Choice Award (Finalist, 2011: Paranormal Romance)

Classification edit see section history

Library of Congress: PR9639.4.S566 K57 2011
Dewey: 823.92

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Adults

Explicit sexual situations

Subjects edit see section history

Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary
Books › Romance › Fantasy, Futuristic & Ghost
Books › Romance › Authors, A-Z › ( S )

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Kiss of Snow (2011) (edit title/settings)

by Nalini Singh (Author) (edit contributors)