Page 116 of Primal Mirror

“He advised further me of the older injuries to Ms. Scott’s brain. They weren’t clear on the latest scans, because, unfortunately, there’s been more damage. We’ll have no idea of the repercussions of that damage until—if—she wakes.”

Remi clenched his hand around Auden’s, furious at fate for hurting this extraordinary woman over and over. And yet…“I know you’d do it all again if you had to.”

A knock on the door.

Having already scented his best friend, Remi rose and allowed the other man to draw him into a crushing hug. Angel might not like to get close to people, but when he did, he went all in.

“Did you bring everything?” Remi asked when he could speak past the lump in his throat.

“Yeah.” Angel handed him a small daypack. “The cub’s stuff is in a bag inside.” The tiger glanced at Auden. “Any change?”

Remi shook his head. “Nurse Evans—gray curls, short, brown eyes—can you grab her from the nurses station? Don’t let anyone else inside.”

Angel vanished with feline silence, and the senior nurse to whom Remi had spoken in advance was soon in the room. While Angel stood guard outside, Evans disconnected the medical lines, and Remi quickly changed Auden out of the hospital gown and into one of Remi’s large T-shirts. Evans then connected the lines back up. “I hope this works, Remi,” said the woman with the rational face of Silence…and the kind heart of a healer.

Remi’s nod was jagged, his attention on Auden. He wouldn’t have done this if she hadn’t already allowed him skin privileges. Worn for so many years that his scent was embedded into the fibers, the T-shirt was beyond soft—and surely awash in his imprint.

The door clicked as the nurse left.

Having settled Auden back under the blanket, he now lifted her head to gently place the scarf Sass had given her under her hair. He’d asked Auden why she wrapped up her curls to sleep that one beautiful night they’d had together, and she’d told him certain fibers helped safeguard the strands from tangling and breakage.

Remi would do anything to protect his mate.

Her hair safe against the silk, he put one of Liberty’s knit caps on Auden’s palm.

He’d tell the medical staff to cut his T-shirt down the middle if they needed to for access, but he was hoping his imprint and Liberty’s would call Auden back from wherever she’d gone in her mind.

Another knock some minutes later. “Safe to come in?” Angel asked.

“Yeah.”

The tiger held up a disposable cup of coffee that he’d fetched from somewhere. “Drink. I brought in food, too, since I wasn’t sure this place wouldn’t just have nutrient bars.” He ducked outside to grab another daypack.

Remi wanted nothing less than food, but he didn’t argue when Angel handed him a heavily stuffed sandwich. An alpha couldn’t fall into grief and shut out the world. “You can update me on the pack at the same time,” he said instead.

As Angel spoke, Remi took bites of the sandwich with grim deliberation, tasting nothing.

Auden, he thought, would be so disappointed in him for not appreciating the food.

“The indi-mech deal’s been canceled from the Scott end,” Angel said after he’d updated Remi on more personal pack matters. “Not put on hold. Just flat out canceled, with no cancellation fee paid. Termination notice said they don’t wish to be associated with, and I quote, the ‘violent mercenaries hired by Auden Scott in her attempt to stage a familial coup d’état.’ ”

Remi’s rage was a black wave. He didn’t give a fuck about the money, but he did very much give a fuck that they were trying to erase Auden while Auden lived and breathed and still had the fucking majority controlling interest in Scott companies.

She’d told him that the night they’d shared intimate skin privileges.

“A lot of families work with the ownership vesting in the family as a group and there’s a board that makes major decisions,” she’d said, “but that was too egalitarian for my mother’s taste even though, in practice, no one would have ever gone against her decisions. She built her own private empire to the extent that the Scott Group companies are a minor part of the family’s overall operations.”

She’d shrugged then. “I have no idea why, but she gave it all to me in her will.”

Because Shoshanna had intended to take control of her own assets through Auden’s child.

The insanity of Shoshanna’s plans aside, the blunt fact was that one couldn’t simply erase that inheritance—not when it had been put together by a team of legal sharks working under former Councilor Shoshanna Scott. And while it might’ve been intended to be a masterstroke in manipulation, it had failed. Because Auden had fought and won.

The fucking Scotts didn’t get to just steal her legacy for her child.

Remi crumpled the empty coffee cup in his hand. “No one gets to make those calls until we know about Auden.”

“Cancellation letter was signed by Hayward Scott, with the notation that he has power of attorney over Auden since she is medically indisposed. I looked him up—he’s Shoshanna’s younger brother. Auden’s uncle.”

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