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)
So he’d learned to deal.
Didn’t mean the urge had gone away.
“Yo.” Finn raised his hand in a casual hello from where he sat at his desk in the main cube of the three that made up the infirmary. All three were connected in a chain but had biohazard doors and other protocols that meant each could be cut off to create an isolation zone if needed. Painted camouflage green on the outside so they didn’t stick out against the trees, the cubes were pristine white on the inside.
The setup had eaten a significant chunk of the pack’s budget, but this far out from a major hospital, they needed their own medical care—Remi hoped no one in his pack would ever face the same choice as his mother, but if the worst happened, he wanted them to be able to stay home, near the pack.
“I see you brought along a future sentinel.” Finn, the fine strands of his light brown hair pushed back from his face, bumped a fist with Jojo’s tiny one.
“Any broken bones or other injuries overnight?” Remi asked.
“Nope. To my great shock.” Finn helped Jojo clamber into his lap. Pressing a kiss to her temple, he rubbed her back as she propped her elbows on his desk, her chin in her hands as she looked at the medical charts on the screen with a squint of concentration.
“I hear we have a new neighbor.” Leaf green eyes met Remi’s.
Remi wasn’t surprised at his knowledge—Finn had been on night shift, too, and was their third-in-command. “I’m going to scope out the situation now that I’ve done my morning walk-through. Just have to walk Jojo back, and have a quick meeting with the junior soldiers.”
Part of building a strong young pack was ensuring his packmates knew they had the right to their alpha’s attention and time. No adult or cub in RainFire would ever feel as if they had to beg for crumbs of attention.
Because Remi was his mother’s son.
His father’s DNA could rot in hell for all he cared.
“I can walk back with Miss Jojo.” Finn nuzzled at her cheek. “How about it? You and me and breakfast?”
Jojo’s stomach rumbled on cue. “We gotta get JD, too,” she said loyally.
Remi rubbed the back of his hand over her cheek. “You did a great job as my assistant today.”
Her beaming face stayed with him when he left the pack twenty minutes later, after meeting with the group of shiny-faced new soldiers who were training under pretty much the entire senior team—RainFire didn’t have enough people yet to have specialists, so each of them led classes whenever possible.
Today, he left the youths in the care of Jojo’s thirty-one-year-old aunt, Serenity. Look at her in her grim-faced senior soldier avatar and you’d never peg her as the same Aunt Sisi who sewed Jojo’s clothes and who’d been known to play princess tea parties with her behind closed doors.
Remi left to the sound of her ordering the trainees to fall in line for a “wake up your lazy butts run.” He’d decided to make his journey on foot, too—and had made the call to stay in human form on the off chance that he needed to speak to the new resident.
Several familiar scents brushed over his skin as he passed, the lingering echo of his people coming and going. Those scents thinned out the farther he ran, until by the time he reached the border with the Scotts, he couldn’t scent anything but the myriad tones of a forest clothed in the colors of fall. That didn’t mean a soldier hadn’t come by during a regular security run, just that enough time had come that the scent had dissipated.
Chest heaving after the pace he’d set himself, he stood in the trees and took in the cabin. Prefabricated, the contractors had put it up in a day, but it was a good imitation of a real log cabin. Mist curled around the edges of it, the morning light muted. Clouds had grayed out the sunrise, the mountain in a moody frame of mind.
Light against the nearest window, a yellow rectangle in the gray.
The front door opened before he could decide on his next move.
Auden Scott stepped out, her hands cupped around a mug of something that sent tendrils of steam into the air, curls of white against the cloud-shadowed fall foliage in the background. She was dressed in black tights and an oversize sweatshirt in the same dark hue. Clothing flexible enough to accommodate a belly that could mean only one thing.
Auden Scott was very, very pregnant.
Chapter 8
We’ve authorized the severance experiment by a unanimous vote. I hate keeping secrets from our people, but I had to agree with Payal’s suggestion that we keep this information on a need-to-know basis for now. No general public notice.