"I wanted to feel what your hair was like." Sensation was as necessary to him as breathing.

"Why?"

No other Psy he'd ever met had asked that question. "It feels good. I like touching soft, silky things."

"I see."

Was that a tremor he heard in her response? "Try it."

"What?"

He bent a little in invitation. "Go on. Changelings don't mind touch like the Psy."

"It's well known that you're territorial," she said. "You don't let just anyone touch you."

"No. Only Pack, mates, and lovers have skin privileges. But we don't go crazy like the Psy if someone unknown touches us." For some inexplicable reason, he wanted her to touch him. And it had nothing to do with learning about a killer. That should've given him pause but it was the panther who was in charge at this moment and he wanted to be stroked.

She lifted her hand and then paused. "There's no reason to do this."

He wondered which one of them she was trying to convince. "Think of it as research. Ever touched a changeling before?"

Shaking her head, she bridged the remaining distance and ran her fingers through his hair in a wave that made him want to purr. He'd expected her to back off after a single stroke but she surprised him by doing it again. And again.

"It's an unusual sensation." Her hand seemed to linger before dropping. "Your hair is cool and heavy and the texture is similar to a satin-silk I once touched."

Trust a Psy to analyze something as simple as touch. "May I?"

"What?"

He touched her plait. This time she didn't react. "Can I undo it?"

"No."

The panther in him froze, sniffing a hint of panic in her tone. "Why?"

Chapter 3

"You don't have those privileges."

Chuckling, he let the plait ran through his hand. She stepped away the second it hit her back. Playtime was over. "I chose this land," he said, answering her earlier question, "because of its closeness to nature. Though most changelings live a civilized life, we're as animal as we are human - the need to roam the wild is in our blood."

"What do you think of yourself as?" she asked. "Human or animal?"

"We're both."

"One must dominate." A frown of concentration marred the perfection of her face.

A frown? On a Psy? It was gone a second later but he'd seen. "No. We're one. I'm as panther as I am human."

"I thought you were a leopard."

"Black panthers exist in several feline families. It's the color of our fur that makes us panthers, not our species." He wasn't surprised she didn't know that. To the Psy the changelings were all animals, all the same. That was their mistake. A wolf was not the same as a leopard, an eagle nothing like a swan.

And a stalking panther was danger and fury combined.

Sascha watched Lucas return to the car to pick up his phone in order to call the SnowDancers. Protected by his turned back, she allowed herself to appreciate his sheer male beauty. He was quite simply... luscious. She'd never used that word before, had never found anyone or anything worth using it for. But Lucas Hunter definitely fit the definition.

Unlike the cold formality of Psy men, he was playful and approachable. That only made him all the more dangerous. She'd glimpsed the predator lurking beneath the surface - Lucas might play nice but when it was time to bite, he'd go for the throat. No one made alpha of a predatory pack at such a young age by being anything less than the top of the food chain.

That didn't scare her. Maybe because she'd seen true terror in the labyrinth of the PsyNet, things so vicious and vile that Lucas's openly predatorial nature was as welcome as a breath of fresh air. He might've tried to charm her, but he'd never pretended to be anything other than what he was - a hunter to the core, a predator inside and out, a sensual male well aware of the effect of his sexuality.

He made her hunger, made her feel raw and wild things that threatened to crack the ever more fragile mask of Psy coldness she wore to survive. She should be running as far from him as possible. Instead, she found herself walking toward him as he headed back, a sleek silver device held to his ear that was light-years advanced from Bell 's original invention.

"They'll sell for twelve million." He stood a couple of feet from her and indicated that the connection was live.

"That's double what this land is worth on the open market." She wasn't going to be bullied. "I'm offering six and a half."

Lucas held the phone to his ear and when he didn't repeat her offer, she realized the SnowDancer on the other end had to have heard her. It was a reminder that despite her race's egotistical view of themselves as the supreme leaders of the Earth, changelings had some remarkable powers.

"They said they're not interested in enriching the Psy. It's no skin off their back if you don't buy it. They'll happily sell it to your competitor."

Sascha had done her homework. "They can't. The Rika-Smythe family group has already sunk all available funds into a venture in San Diego."

"Then they'll leave it empty. Twelve million or they walk." Lucas watched her with an intent look in those incredible green eyes and she wondered if he was trying to see into her soul. She could've told him it was a futile effort. She was Psy - she had no soul.

"We can't afford to put that much into the development. We'll never recoup the cost. Find me another site," she said, attempting to sound cool and in control despite the unsettling effect of Lucas's presence.

This time he did repeat her words into the phone. After listening for a moment, he said, "They're not backing down. But they have a counter-offer for you."

"I'm listening."

"They'll give you the land in exchange for fifty percent of the profits and a signed agreement that none of the houses be sold to the Psy. They also want covenants placed on all the deeds ensuring future owners can't sell to the Psy either." He shrugged. "The land has to remain in changeling or human hands."

It was the last thing she'd expected but Lucas's eyes said he'd known. And he hadn't warned her. It made her wary. Was he trying to provoke a reaction from her? "Give me a moment. This isn't a decision I'm authorized to make."

Walking a distance away, though it wasn't strictly necessary, she connected to her mother through the PsyNet. Usually they used a simple telepathic link, but Sascha wasn't strong enough to send over such a long distance. The blunt illustration of her weakness served to remind her to stay on guard. Unlike other cardinals, she was disposable.

Nikita answered at once. "What is it?" Part of her consciousness faced part of Sascha's in a closed mental room in the vastness of the PsyNet.

Sascha repeated the offer and added, "It's definitely a prime location in terms of changeling needs. With the SnowDancers putting up the land, our investment is halved so sharing profits isn't going to cut into our bottom line. We might even do better in the end."

Nikita paused before answering and Sascha knew she was doing a data search. "Those wolves have a bad habit of trying to take over anything they have a hand in."

Sascha had a feeling that most predatory changelings had a habit of doing that. Look at Lucas - he'd been trying to take her over since the moment he'd laid eyes on her. "They're not known for property investments. I think this may be an emotional reaction against letting control of their land fall into Psy hands."

"You could be right." Another pause. "Draft an agreement stating we have control over everything from design to construction and marketing. They have to be a silent partner. We'll share profits but nothing else."

"What about their demand that no plots be sold to us?" Us. The Psy. The people to whom she'd never really belonged. But they were all she had. "It's legal under the Private Development laws."

"You're the head on this project. What do you think?"

"No Psy is going to want to live out here." This much space scared most of her race. They preferred to live in nice square boxes with defined limits. "It's not worth fighting over and we don't have to pay Lucas his million if he doesn't sell all the units."

"Make sure he understands that."

"I will." Her gut said that the panther was way ahead of them. Lucas didn't strike her as anybody's fool.

"Call me if you have any problems."

Nikita's presence winked out. When Sascha returned to Lucas, she found him rubbing the back of his neck as if something had irritated it. Her eyes followed the motion of his arm, fascinated by the sleek lines of muscle obvious even under the leather-synth jacket. Every move he made was fluid, graceful, like a big cat on the prowl.

It was only when he raised a brow that she realized she'd been staring. Fighting a blush, she said, "We'll agree to their demands if they agree to be a silent party. And that means not a sound out of them."

He dropped his hand from the back of his neck and put the phone to his ear. "They agree - I'll draft the contract." He closed the small flat communicator.

"We're not going to forget that you have to sell all the residences to receive that final million."

There was something distinctly smug about his slow smile. "Not a problem, darling."

It was as they were getting back into the car that she realized this was the first Psy-changeling fifty-fifty business deal she'd ever heard of. That didn't bother her - her instincts said they'd do very well out of this. Too bad that mentioning the word "instincts" would get her chemically lobotomized.
* * *

Lucas was utterly frustrated. Not only was Sascha refusing to reveal anything useful, she kept picking up on small changeling traits no Psy should've been able to sense. Even worse, he was having to fight the urge to educate her rather than subtly interrogating her for answers.