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)
* * *
• • •
FINE streamers of blue in Auden’s dreams, so thin they were spidersilk against a night sky brilliant with starlight. Breath a soft gasp, she reached out a hand to tangle her fingers around the silk and felt her baby giggle in delight. It saw the web, too, was as intrigued by it as Auden.
Her eyes opened.
The first thing of which she was aware was warmth and softness. She was cocooned snugly in bed, surrounded by an imprint that felt like a purr to her senses. Shivering, she began to snuggle back down.
Only for her bladder to protest.
Groaning, she threw off the blanket and made her way to the facilities. Afterward, she glanced at the window and it seemed to her that the world held the barest edge of light, a sheen of dark gray to it.
One glance at the clock showed her it was about an hour till true dawn.
She’d gotten lucky her body hadn’t woken her up earlier.
Feeling as if she’d slept the sleep of the dead, heavy and deep, she decided to stretch a little by walking off the stiffness from having been in much the same position most of the night. It had been the best sleep she’d had for months…because of him. The man who’d built her the bed while being annoyed with her because he thought she wasn’t taking care of herself.
Strange how that annoyance translated into a warm embrace in his imprint. As if he was cuddling her close even though he was irritated by her. Never would she have thought that would feel so good.
Part of her hoped he’d be outside when she opened the door, but it was a tiger that prowled out of the forest to look at her with unblinking eyes of shining gold. Her hand clenched on the doorjamb. “Changeling?” It came out tense, wary.
A slow nod, the tiger keeping its distance—no doubt because it could sense her fear.
When it tilted its head slightly upward, she understood the question. “Just needing to walk a bit.”
Not responding, the tiger melted back into the trees with such stealth that she didn’t even see it go. Had to be one of Remi’s people, even if he was the wrong species of cat.
It made her wonder what other species made up RainFire.
So many questions she had about the man who had…looked after her. No one had done that for her since the day of her father’s betrayal. And that betrayal had tainted anything Henry had done prior to it.
Cheeks chilled, and heart achy from missing a man to whom she was an obligation of kindness, she stepped back inside the cabin. Hunger was nipping at her, and the one thing Auden would never do was starve her precious baby.
“Let Mama put something together,” she said to the child in her womb whose mind was already a delicate brightness. “Then I’ll sit down and read more of the parenting and infant care books I downloaded onto my organizer.”
She knew what Charisma and Dr. Verhoeven had planned, that they intended to take the baby and have professional nannies assume her care, but Auden wasn’t about to permit that to happen. She’d chosen who she intended to trust with her child, a man wild and protective, and that man wouldn’t ever try to keep her from Auden.
A scratching sound on the door some time later startled her out of her concentration on the text. Cocking her head, she listened…and heard it again. A deliberate sound.
Heart thumping, she shifted to get out of bed.
Nothing scratched again the entire time it took her to get to the door, and she suddenly felt foolish. Remi no doubt had a thousand calls on his time. He wasn’t out there at her door. It might even be a dangerous wild animal.
Opening the window to the right hand side of the door, she looked out.
A leopard sat by her door, its tail waving lazily. Rising when it spotted her, it let out a rumbling growl that didn’t seem like a threat but a greeting.
“Remi?” she whispered. “Is that you?”
The air shimmered around the huge jungle cat in incandescent golden sparks, and where it had stood now crouched a muscled man with tousled hair of endless shades of brown and eyes that were still cat. His skin gleamed in the dawn light, his body devoid of clothing.
Beautiful. He was beautiful.
“Hi,” he said. “Angel said you were awake.”
Angel must be the tiger, she thought. “Hold on, I’ll open the door.”
“I’ll shift back,” he said, those eyes gleaming at her primal and potent. “Save your eyes from my birthday suit.”
Flushing as she realized he’d be fully visible to her if he rose from his crouch, she couldn’t help but watch the transition again. His body breaking apart into a million pieces of light before forming once again into the powerful shape of the leopard that was his other half. Her fingers curled into her palm, the urge to touch almost overwhelming.