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)
Then the NetMind had whispered to him once more, with a heavy sense of the negative.
Not her. But still important enough for the NetMind to spend its precious energy to save. Could she have a child? Surely, that was impossible. Auden was only twenty-four, and Kaleb had heard no rumors of a pregnancy.
Kaleb!
He responded to Vasic’s call at once. Another huge section of the PsyNet was collapsing.
All thoughts of Auden Scott left his mind, his attention only on saving as many lives as he could, even though he felt he was only plugging an unstoppable dam with a single finger.
Days. Only days.
That was all the PsyNet had before terminal failure.
Chapter 45
I bequeath all my worldly goods and assets, tangible and intangible, to my sole biological offspring, Auden Scott (previously Auden Jackson). See Appendix A for complete list of bequeathed items.
—The Last Will and Testament of Shoshanna Scott
FORTY-EIGHT HOURS AFTER the events in the basement, and Auden lay clean and dressed in a crisp blue hospital gown, her hair a soft halo around her head because Remi had released it from that punishing bun in which she’d put it before they walked into Shoshanna’s bunker. Her body was connected by wires and fine tubes to multiple machines that monitored her or provided nutrients and drugs.
Her face was soft, none of that Auden energy to it, and per Dr. Bashir’s latest scans, her brain activity was sluggish. “I spoke to your pack’s physician,” the exhausted doctor had told Remi an hour ago, before he left to catch a few hours’ sleep.
“He advised further me of the older injuries to Ms. Scott’s brain. They weren’t clear on the latest scans, because, unfortunately, there’s been more damage. We’ll have no idea of the repercussions of that damage until—if—she wakes.”
Remi clenched his hand around Auden’s, furious at fate for hurting this extraordinary woman over and over. And yet…“I know you’d do it all again if you had to.”
A knock on the door.
Having already scented his best friend, Remi rose and allowed the other man to draw him into a crushing hug. Angel might not like to get close to people, but when he did, he went all in.
“Did you bring everything?” Remi asked when he could speak past the lump in his throat.
“Yeah.” Angel handed him a small daypack. “The cub’s stuff is in a bag inside.” The tiger glanced at Auden. “Any change?”
Remi shook his head. “Nurse Evans—gray curls, short, brown eyes—can you grab her from the nurses station? Don’t let anyone else inside.”
Angel vanished with feline silence, and the senior nurse to whom Remi had spoken in advance was soon in the room. While Angel stood guard outside, Evans disconnected the medical lines, and Remi quickly changed Auden out of the hospital gown and into one of Remi’s large T-shirts. Evans then connected the lines back up. “I hope this works, Remi,” said the woman with the rational face of Silence…and the kind heart of a healer.
Remi’s nod was jagged, his attention on Auden. He wouldn’t have done this if she hadn’t already allowed him skin privileges. Worn for so many years that his scent was embedded into the fibers, the T-shirt was beyond soft—and surely awash in his imprint.
The door clicked as the nurse left.
Having settled Auden back under the blanket, he now lifted her head to gently place the scarf Sass had given her under her hair. He’d asked Auden why she wrapped up her curls to sleep that one beautiful night they’d had together, and she’d told him certain fibers helped safeguard the strands from tangling and breakage.
Remi would do anything to protect his mate.
Her hair safe against the silk, he put one of Liberty’s knit caps on Auden’s palm.
He’d tell the medical staff to cut his T-shirt down the middle if they needed to for access, but he was hoping his imprint and Liberty’s would call Auden back from wherever she’d gone in her mind.
Another knock some minutes later. “Safe to come in?” Angel asked.
“Yeah.”
The tiger held up a disposable cup of coffee that he’d fetched from somewhere. “Drink. I brought in food, too, since I wasn’t sure this place wouldn’t just have nutrient bars.” He ducked outside to grab another daypack.
Remi wanted nothing less than food, but he didn’t argue when Angel handed him a heavily stuffed sandwich. An alpha couldn’t fall into grief and shut out the world. “You can update me on the pack at the same time,” he said instead.
As Angel spoke, Remi took bites of the sandwich with grim deliberation, tasting nothing.
Auden, he thought, would be so disappointed in him for not appreciating the food.
“The indi-mech deal’s been canceled from the Scott end,” Angel said after he’d updated Remi on more personal pack matters. “Not put on hold. Just flat out canceled, with no cancellation fee paid. Termination notice said they don’t wish to be associated with, and I quote, the ‘violent mercenaries hired by Auden Scott in her attempt to stage a familial coup d’état.’ ”