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)
Remi stroked the baby’s fisted hand.
Liberty’s fingers opened and she gripped at his finger. When he chuckled, the sound was a reverberation through Auden’s bones.
“Can I hold her?”
After Auden surrendered Liberty to his careful hold, they just adored her together until Finn said it was time to put “the kitten” back in the incubator. After that, Remi chatted to Finn while Auden got herself refreshed and into proper day clothes.
The healer was gone when she returned.
“I have a proposition for you,” Remi said, brushing his knuckles over her cheek in a gesture that melted the coldness inside. “But first, food.”
Only then did she notice the tray sitting on Finn’s desk, loaded with pastries and a hot nutrient drink. She sat down in Finn’s chair, knowing he wouldn’t mind, and took a sip of the drink before gorging herself on the pastries. “I think I’m going to get fat,” she said around a mouthful. “I never had to worry about weight before—Psy nutrition regimes are calibrated for exact nutritional needs. But I can’t stop eating these.”
Grinning, Remi leaned against the wall to one side. “Cupcake, you’ll be even more gorgeous in your cuddlier form.”
Her cheeks heated, her toes curling inside the fluffy hand-knitted socks that a member of the pack had made for her. It delighted her that they were a sunshine yellow. “Finn’s really good at getting people to talk. He doesn’t even do anything and it comes out.”
A scowl on Remi’s face. “Healers are like the fucking truth serum on steroids.” Gruff words, but the love, the affection beneath them, it was potent. “What did he make you spill?”
Auden stared at the pastry in her hand. “Fear,” she admitted. “It gnaws at me, the idea that one part of me might betray the other part—betray Liberty.” Swallowing hard, she met Remi’s gaze. “I couldn’t ask this of him, because he’s a healer. He couldn’t do it.”
Remi’s face went motionless, his eyes switching to those of his leopard.
“Liberty comes first,” Auden said. “If I become any kind of threat to her, you take me out of the equation.” Dropping the unfinished pastry to the plate, she gripped his hand. “Please, Remi. I’m asking this as her mother, as the woman who loves her beyond breath, beyond life. If another part of me does anything to hurt her, it won’t matter if I come back. I’ll have died already.”
Remi’s fingers tightened on hers almost to the point of pain. “I promise.” A harsh statement.
All the air rushed out of her. “Thank you for not arguing with me.” Because she’d never change her mind on this.
“No point.” He cupped her cheek. “And no reason to—because you know what? I’m betting on this Auden. The one who has so far outsmarted the entire fucking Scott family to keep her child safe. This Auden, my Auden, is going to win. I’ll never have to act on my promise.”
His faith was a lightning bolt in her blood, electrifying her senses and making her believe, too. Because she had outsmarted her family, outsmarted Charisma. She’d won this round—the most important round. Liberty was safe.
“I’ll win,” she vowed, and picked up her pastry. “Not only will I win, I will crush them under my fluffy yellow foot.”
His grin was a primal thing. “That’s my girl.”
“What did you want to talk to me about?” she demanded after swallowing a bite, her blood yet hot.
“Your telepathic shields.” No humor now, nothing but protective intensity. “You want some expert training to make them stronger?”
“Yes. Charisma’s an 8.3 telepath and she trained under my mother. I’ll take any help I can get to keep her out.”
“Good. I’ll tell Zaira you’re ready to see her.”
Auden almost choked on the bite she’d just taken, had to gulp nutrient liquid to wash it down. “Are you talking about Zaira, the Arrow who almost took out a would-be-assassin’s eye with a knife on a public street?” she squeaked out afterward, her hot blood tempered by sheer amazement.
“That’s her. Don’t worry. She only murders people who try to hurt her own—and she likes cubs.” A slow smile that made her understand why humans spoke about butterflies in the abdomen. “So you’re safe.”
* * *
• • •
AUDEN thought she was prepared for Zaira Neve, but the petite Arrow was not someone for whom you could prepare. Power contained in a small and deadly body, her eyes an impenetrable darkness and her expression conveying nothing.
Utter remote nothingness, that was Zaira’s expression as she looked at Auden, and Auden had the sense of being sized up by the most dangerous person she’d ever met. Perhaps she should’ve thought that about Remi, with his claws and his power…but Auden knew Remi would never hurt her.
Zaira on the other hand…
Heart racing hard and fast, Auden shifted so that she was in front of the incubator.