Last Guard (Psy-Changeling Trinity #5) by Nalini Singh

Her sister, Kari, was too young for them to have that kind of a relationship. And though Payal knew there were people in the Rao empire who were loyal to her, those people were all also beholden to that empire for jobs and security. The power imbalance was an ever-present part of their interactions.

Canto, however, needed her for nothing on a personal level.

Even the anchor work—had she said no, he would’ve been able to find another suitable individual, she was sure. She’d been his first choice, but not his only one. Still, to be anyone’s first choice …

All her life she’d had to fight and fight. Every role, every position, she’d won it through white-knuckled combat of a kind that left no physical bruises. Canto had just offered her the position of head of the anchor union. He’d also done so before he knew she was 3K, so it had nothing to do with the bonds of the past.

Payal allowed herself a quiet exhale, then unwrapped the bar with extreme care before taking a bite. Only after she’d finished the whole thing did she get a sealed bottle of water from her tamperproof cooler and drink. Then she did a foolish thing. She smoothed out the wrapper and placed it within the pages of one of the hard-copy books she had on the shelves in her bedroom.

The book held artwork created by Karishma. Payal only dared display one piece—a large painting of Vara on canvas that her sister had done for her final grade the previous year. Unsigned and with an aged look to it, it could pass as décor that had been in the mansion prior to Payal’s usage. Everyone in Vara was used to the amount of art—hidden and out in the open—that lay in its history.

So Karishma’s painting could hang openly in Payal’s office without anyone noticing it as anything but an appropriate type of decoration for the office of a CEO. Psy might have given up creating art under Silence, but her race had always understood that even the Silent reacted subconsciously to certain elements of their environment.

The book, on the other hand, held pen-and-ink sketches that were nothing if not modern. Payal’d had them bound in a decoy cover that made it appear to be a dusty tome on tax law. Should Lalit ever manage to invade her inner sanctum, he wouldn’t bother to look inside those books, would simply dismiss them as another sign that his sister had no life beyond the Rao business.

Good.

Payal didn’t want him to look deeper. Didn’t want him to remember Karishma, or the others Payal had secreted away to safety. And she never wanted him to find a way to taint the haunting and honest relationship she had with a man who held galaxies in his eyes.

CANTO couldn’t settle after returning home, so he went out onto his deck and brooded while staring out at a landscape of lush, thriving green. Though it might seem like he was in the middle of nowhere, he was actually on the public edge of StoneWater land, near the road that led into their wild territory.

His move to Moscow had been unexpected. He’d been based in a small town in Germany for the past decade. But then, while doing his unofficial census, he’d seen that the aging anchor in the Moscow region had started to show signs of a troubling kind of exhaustion. Worried, Canto had reached out to see if he could assist.

Balance of it was that Canto’s anchor region had proved “smaller” in terms of energy output. He’d offered to swap regions and the other anchor had gratefully accepted. All of this had happened soon after Silver ended up mated to an alpha bear.

Which explained why Canto had been permitted to set up his base in StoneWater territory. He hadn’t asked for it—that would’ve been an asshole move with Silver so newly mated. Instead, he’d moved into a place on the outskirts of Moscow, taking it over from one of his other cousins—Ivan. A security operative who worked under Canto, Ivan had shifted his home base to San Francisco just prior to Canto’s arrival.

Officially, he was there to get up to date on his computronic security certifications by undertaking a highly specialized course. Unofficially, he was there to gather intelligence on the various power players in the area. A lot happened in that comparatively small region, and Ena wanted the family to have a larger presence there.

So it wasn’t as if Canto hadn’t had a perfectly adequate residence.

Then had come that infamous party to celebrate the mating, when Valentin and his bears decided they liked Canto. The bears had liked Ivan, too, but—according to a gossipy older member of the pack—had considered Canto’s suave cousin a bit too “slinky” for total comfort. But since the bears adored Arwen, Canto had a feeling the disconnect had less to do with Ivan’s sharp dressing, and more with the core of distance Ivan carried within.

The bears could sense it but didn’t realize it wasn’t personal: of all the Mercant cousins, Ivan was the most remote. Canto knew the reason Ivan was how he was, but no one unaware of Ivan’s history could be expected to divine it. The only one who could get him to open up was Arwen—and that was enough. Their empathic cousin would never allow Ivan to lose himself to his demons.

Arwen had even convinced Ivan to attend the celebration of Silver and Valentin’s mating.

A month after the event, and Valentin had come to Canto with a proposal. “I think my Starlight should have some more of her family close to Denhome,” the bear alpha had said. “My clan is madly in love with her, but if she needs to yell about us to someone not entangled with a bear, who better than a cousin as loyal as a brother?”