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)
Auden nodded. “It’s most probably the actual security center for all the covert monitoring. The one I showed you in the house isn’t that big.”
Remi glanced around, making eye contact with the two guards on the fence line who were attempting to keep unobtrusive watch on them. Both gave small nods before continuing on their way.
His leopard smiled.
“Makes sense,” he said in response to Auden’s suggestion. “Easy to keep a subterranean area temperature controlled. Especially if the people working down there barely come in and out.”
“We find out tonight.” Auden’s voice was even, but a fine tremor ran through her body. “If it’s not important, we strike it off the list and carry on.”
Remi didn’t have to ask to know the reason for her rush. Her pain was a scent in the air, her love for her daughter altering the chemistry of her body. “Tonight,” he promised. “We’re not going to drag this out any longer than necessary.”
“It’s as if a part of me has been cut off, and I’m bleeding out in the open.” She looked at her family home. “How can they not see? How can they not know?”
“Because they have no idea what it is to love like you do. Their fucking loss.” He wished he could touch her, pet her, comfort her with skin privileges that had nothing to do with sex.
Then, and though she knew all this already, he told her again—because right now, Auden needed to hear it. “Finn will have set up a rotation of carers the instant we left. The cubs will also be allowed to come in and talk to her because Finn says cubs react happily to other cubs.”
He could already imagine Jojo regaling Liberty with stories of her day, convinced that the baby could understand her even if Liberty couldn’t talk yet. “The bigger ones will probably tell Liberty all about how Liberty got ‘borned’ early and that’s how come she can’t come outside to play yet.”
No softening in her expression, but her eyes, those stunning, expressive eyes that no longer reminded him of anyone but Auden, went fuzzy with love. And his heart, it kicked with brutal force.
Auden Scott was it for Remi Denier.
Even if the metal never left her scent, even if she absorbed that colder aspect into her nature.
What if it goes the other way? A chilling whisper from the most primal part of his psyche, the one from times primeval when monsters stalked the dark. What if this is a false dawn, and the other Auden is waiting in the wings to launch a final assault…an assault so deadly it forever erases your Auden?
Chapter 39
H: Judd thinks he and Sienna and the others can save a few people through sheer psychic brute force, but they’re hitting the same problem as always—changeling networks aren’t designed to host Psy with whom we have no emotional link.
I’ve still gone ahead and blood-bonded as many children as I can from the region, and damn if the pups aren’t in my heart now.
L: I’ve done the same and I’ve heard that pretty much all the other packs have signed on to attempt the same. But fuck, Hawke, even if it works, it’s not going to be enough. We’re going to lose tens of thousands of lives in San Francisco alone.
—Messages between Hawke Snow, alpha of the SnowDancer wolves, and Lucas Hunter, alpha of the DarkRiver leopards (today)
BACK UPSTAIRS, THE three of them checked Auden’s bedroom again to ensure it remained clear of computronic spies. Rina also once again cleared the neighboring room, though she planned to sleep in leopard form high up in a tree on the property when it was her turn to rest.
“No one can attack me if they can’t see me,” the sentinel said as Auden slipped into the bathroom. “And trust me, they won’t see me.”
“I’ll stay in Auden’s room overnight.” Remi touched the control to lower the blackout blinds before activating the lights. “I don’t want her alone even though I know you’ll be right outside the door.”
“Normally,” Rina muttered, her hands on her hips, “I’d tease you about just wanting to snuggle up to her, but after being in this house today…” She shuddered. “Something is not right. I didn’t see anything I can pinpoint, but the way that doctor and Ms. Wai look at Auden? Creepy as fuck.”
Never had Remi agreed more with a statement. “Did you bring the surveillance blocker with you?”
“It’s in the kit,” Rina confirmed, nodding at the corner of the room where she’d placed the case that could only be unlocked using a retinal scan alongside a complex code.
Remi shifted to unlock it—they never kept it locked when one of them was within reach and might need something from it.
“But you know it has a short radius,” Rina reminded him. “Plus the blocking causes a literal blackout, so if someone is watching the feed, it’ll be obvious.”