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)
“The hard-nosed negotiator we just met didn’t strike me as vulnerable.” It wasn’t a criticism—Mliss was as hard-nosed.
But he heard the question she was asking.
“I’ve thought hard on this, Liss, and I keep coming back to one fact: no heavily pregnant woman would leave her home for an isolated cabin in the Smokies if she felt safe in that home.” An instinctive truth he’d fought against because of the visceral draw he felt toward Auden.
“She’s the one at risk in that scenario. We could knock her out, take her captive, keep her under so she couldn’t call out for help on the psychic plane—there is no point at which a lone civilian Psy in her last trimester is the threat against a pack of predatory changelings.”
“Well, shit.” A stir of sound that indicated Mliss’s claws were out, too.
Remi growled. “Yes. Exactly.” Whatever was going on with Auden, it had nothing to do with business.
Chapter 23
Those in favor of it say that this protocol of “Silence” will fix our problems, but it seeks to do that by erasing part of our very nature. More than that, don’t people understand that empaths and psychometrics, even those of designation M won’t fit under the proposed regime?
Where will they go? Will they be erased, too? What will be the end result of all this erasure? For surely a closed system like the PsyNet cannot maintain if it suffers amputation after amputation?
—Letter to the editor by JJ Balakrishnan, PsyNet Beacon (17 March 1974)
THE NIGHT BEFORE the tour of the RainFire facility, Auden dreamed of webs of translucent blue, floating streamers delicate and light that spread out into an infinite darkness.
Such a strange, lovely sight that had her waking with a soft sigh.
But the sense of wonder didn’t last under the weight of the decision she was planning to carry out, and her mouth was dry and her back in knots as she got out of the car inside the closed RainFire loading bay. Remi, who’d opened her door, watched as she began to lever herself out. His jaw worked, tension stiff across his shoulders.
“Is it a breach of Psy protocols if I offer you a hand?” A gritty question.
Auden wanted nothing more than to accept, but she was conscious of Charisma’s watchful gaze on the other side of the vehicle. “No, an offer is fine, but I’d rather do it on my own.”
Hand gripping the top of the door, she maneuvered her body out with effort, her belly leading.
Charisma seemed about to come over, but Mliss Phan engaged her in conversation then began to lead her into the building.
Sir?
Go ahead. Our guards have secured the area. She’d had no problem authorizing those guards, since she knew Remi would ensure the facility passed any and all security inspections. I may as well talk to the alpha one to one, ensure he understands that I am the one with the final say.
Charisma’s hesitation was slight, but Auden noted it. Her aide still didn’t quite trust in her ability to lead.
Yes, sir.
“Thank you,” she said to Remi after he shut the car door behind her.
He gave a small nod, then made eye contact with the driver, who was also a guard. “I have two people watching the front of the premises and two on the inside.” He lifted a hand and two changelings in leopard form materialized out of literally nowhere.
Even as her own pulse jumped, Auden saw the driver’s eyes flicker at the realization that maybe he wasn’t the most dangerous creature in the area. His partner on the other side of the car was no doubt coming to the same realization.
“I also have two people at the back,” Remi said, his voice polite and unthreatening. “Please don’t engage with my pack unless necessary to sound an alert. They’re working and need to be left alone.”
It would, Auden realized, also stop any aggression from either side.
The driver looked at her and, at her nod, said, “Understood. We’ll watch the bay gate from here. It’s secured?”
“Yes.”
The two of them began to walk toward the huge roller door that led into the facility proper, Charisma and Mliss already some distance ahead. “I need help,” she said the instant she was out of hearing range of the guards, even as she fought the urge to get closer to Remi, draw in the scent of the wild that he carried in his skin. “There is something disturbing going on in my family home.”
The brutal truth behind her decision to trust Remi was that she couldn’t protect her baby on her own. She needed help. And of one thing she was certain: whatever this big, deadly leopard alpha thought of her, he wouldn’t hurt her “cub.” Trusting him was still the biggest gamble she’d ever taken.
Remi’s chest rumbled. “Danger level?”
“High, but I can’t figure out why or even what’s going on.” She exhaled, fighting the urge to rub at her belly as she would’ve done if alone. “They’re monitoring the baby. Too much. I’m also under constant surveillance.”