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)
“Amorous feline intentions?” Angel shook his head.
“Who’re you taking as your partner?” Lark asked after scrunching up her nose at Angel. “I won’t work. Psy don’t take me seriously because I’m small.” Matter-of-fact words. “I could claw off a few snooty faces to make my point, but I figure you don’t want a bloody scene.”
“No.” Remi turned to Angel. “I need you to stay here. We can’t both be gone.”
Angel nodded in silent agreement.
“That leaves me and Theo or a senior soldier,” Rina said. “Theo’s big and can be scary looking, but you’re going into Shoshanna Scott’s domain. I say take a woman.”
Yes, RainFire had lucked out in getting Rina.
“And,” the sentinel continued after a sip of her coffee, “I say take me and not one of the senior soldiers because, quite frankly, nobody in this pack knows as much about how Psy work as I do. I might be able to figure out vulnerabilities that wouldn’t occur to the rest of you.”
“Hey,” Theo protested, twisting his head to meet Rina’s gaze. “We’re not total country bumpkins.”
Rina smiled at him—it was obvious she had a huge soft spot for the big sentinel. “No, you’re just in the middle of nowhere with not a single Psy packmate. While I was, until recently, part of a pack with not only Psy packmates, but in a city that thousands of Psy call home.”
“Rina’s right.” Angel’s voice. “It should be her.”
Remi nodded in agreement. “We won’t have much prep time—four days. After that, RainFire takes official custody and protection of little Liberty—”
“Liberty?” Lark’s face lit up. “Is that the kitten’s name?”
When Remi nodded, she sighed. “I love it. It’s so meaningful and pretty.”
“What about the cub’s psychic needs?” Angel asked.
It was Rina who answered. “I think Auden can take care of that from a distance.” She frowned. “When Sascha had her and Lucas’s cub, she mentioned that the cub was inside her own shields. It’s like how we keep our cubs close before they get smart enough to avoid dangers and obstacles.”
“That sounds right,” Remi said. “But I’ll ask Auden for clarification. I’ll also do everything I can to make sure she can come back and see her cub as much as possible.”
“Good.” Angel’s quiet but firm agreement, a slight growl in his words. “Cubs need that contact.”
Remi understood as the others wouldn’t, Angel a closed book to most people when it came to his emotions. But he and Remi had taken on the world together as youths, a lone tiger, remote and quiet, and a leopard with too much anger and confusion inside him to stay put.
Angel had vanished for weeks at a time during that initial period. But he’d always come back; and in the end, he’d stayed. He’d even picked up his first security gigs so he could travel with Remi to his races. And he’d trusted Remi with his story, a story of a cub lost and in pain whose psyche had been forever damaged one dark winter’s night.
“We’ll talk to Auden together, get a full briefing on the compound,” Remi told Rina, to her nod. “Any other pack business before we break?”
“We need a school of our own for the littlest cubs,” Lark said, her acute intelligence a clear light in her eyes. “We’ve gotten away with computronic teaching so far, but with the new families who’ve joined us, we’ve got enough to start up our own small school.
“We could still have the computronic aids to deal with the needs of the different ages, but we need a teacher to ensure they stay on track—and all the other stuff kids do together at school. Projects and art and music.”
Remi considered that. “Given the numbers, we’ll need two teachers—one for kindergarten, the other for elementary school.”
Lark made a face. “How are we going to lure two teachers out here? I love our pack, but we’re small and can’t pay anything like what they’re worth, and it would mean a move for anyone outside the region.”
“There’s something to be said for being at the ground floor of setting up a pack,” Angel offered. “Not many people ever get to experience that.”
“Angel’s right.” Rina leaned forward, her long ponytail sliding over her shoulder. “DarkRiver will always own a piece of my heart, but everything was set up by the time I came of age.
“Here, everything’s raw, unfinished in a way that means I can help shape the foundations of the pack. A certain kind of person will find that enticing.” She smiled. “Kit’s loving seeing the pack literally build and grow before his eyes.”
Lark was already on her phone, taking notes. “That’s it. I’m going to pitch it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help start a pack. I mean, it’s not like that happens every day.”
She frowned, looked up. “Wild Woman is one of the best places for an ad—we all know everyone reads that, even those people who pretend not to.” A speaking glance at Theo, who feigned a searching glance around the room.