Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 128413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
“No,” Remi had said. “A single extra person shouldn’t cause us any problems.”
Rina had further confirmed that the lighting through the hallways was on muted night settings, and any lights set to activate to motion—such as in the kitchen—had also switched over to the night settings.
Now Auden fixed a black knit cap over her head, having already pulled her hair back in a tight bun to create a sleeker fit. Remi had scowled at her action, and she’d blushed, thinking of how he’d fisted his hand in her curls, and how later, when she’d put it up for the shower, he’d purred to her about how much he loved her hair.
She’d learn to do the same, she decided then and there, to give him frank words of appreciation and affection. She’d tell him she loved the breadth of his shoulders, was fascinated by how he had a hundred colors in his hair, that his thigh muscles made her mouth water, and his smile caused the butterflies in her stomach to take flight.
She adored everything about Remi.
Cap on, she smoothed her hands down her black sweater. It was the same shade as the cap and the tights on her legs. She’d even pulled on the gloves she used to dull her psychometric sensitivity in day-to-day life.
“You look like a cat burglar.” The stroke of a big hand down the curve of her spine.
Her skin shimmered beneath her clothing, attuned to his touch as she’d never before been attuned to anyone. She hadn’t even thought this was possible for her.
Then had come a leopard alpha who’d taught her to shoot, fed her delicious pastries, and made her laugh…and in the doing, prowled right into her heart.
Unable to not touch him when he was near, she ran her hand down his black T-shirt, his lower body clad in cargo pants the same color. His boots were dark and heavy and she had no idea how he managed to move with graceful silence in them. She’d gone for simple trainers because Remi had told her socked feet were too much of a risk, given that they had no idea what surfaces they’d face under the trapdoor if it proved to not be a hidden security suite.
“I’ll try to be as quiet as possible.” She knew she had nowhere near his stealth, but she wasn’t about to let him fight her battles, take all the risks.
A quick kiss that made her warm inside before they set off.
Auden had already seen Rina in leopard form when the other woman entered the bedroom to give her report earlier. Despite their previous encounter, however, she sucked in a soundless breath at seeing the leopard who sat against the wall opposite the bedroom door, its tail curled on the polished wood of the floor.
Never, she thought, would she become used to the wonder of it.
The jungle cat rose to walk over to Remi, allow him to run his fingers over the top of her head. “Two hours max,” Remi murmured. “Any longer without contact and you send in the troops.”
Rina rumbled low in her chest in acknowledgment, the sound more vibration than actual audible noise. Her tail brushed against Auden’s leg at the same instant that she turned to situate herself against their bedroom door, and Remi indicated for Auden to follow him.
It was time to unearth the secrets of Shoshanna’s house.
Chapter 41
I need the strike team ready and waiting to move on my mark.
—Charisma Wai to the head of Scott household security (five hours ago)
REMI HATED THE feel of this house. It ruffled his leopard’s fur the wrong way and made him want to tear it down, start again. Place was elegant on the outside, but so damaged by decades of loneliness and ice and secrets that it couldn’t be renovated to a better state.
The cold was in the walls itself.
He’d wondered how Auden could bear to touch it, had asked her earlier without pressing on the wound. “What about all the contact points in this house?” he’d said, after he’d stroked her to bone-melting softness before they fell asleep. “I’ve seen you touch things without any impact.”
A yawn before she’d answered. “Seems to happen with psychometrics and their long-term residences. Might be a survival instinct. We stop sensing the space and things attached to it unless we make a conscious effort. I only had trouble during my pregnancy but I had trouble with everything then so was hyper-conscious of any direct contact.”
Another yawn, her eyes closing. “I do pick up imprints from any new object placed in the house, which is why I usually avoid new things until they’re at least a year old—there’s a scientist in the psychometric group I belong to online, and his theory is that our brains connect a new object to our residence after a period of time, at which point they become safe.”