Page 125 of Primal Mirror

P.S. I have been charged by the women of the pack to confirm that Remi is indeed scary but sexy, especially when he lets out that wicked smile of his. But he is also now very taken, wild women, so you’ll have to aim for the other sexy unmated singles in the pack. I will be featuring them one by one in the column, never you worry. I know my responsibilities as a Wild Woman columnist!

—“The RainFire Diaries: Part 1” by Vesta Narin, in the December 2083 issue of Wild Woman magazine: “Skin Privileges, Style & Primal Sophistication”

“LIBBY IS STILL sleeping?” A disgusted Jojo threw up her tiny hands. “Babies!”

Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing, Auden crouched down on the grass outside the aeries so Jojo could look down at Liberty’s sleeping face. “Baby cubs sleep a lot,” she acknowledged. “But look how cute she is. Sometimes she even snores.” She imitated Liberty’s adorable snuffle-snores.

Jojo giggled and touched her finger to Liberty’s with the care taught to every cub in RainFire when it came to babies. “Hi, Libby,” she whispered. “It’s your friend Jojo.” She pressed a soft kiss to Liberty’s bare head.

It was an unseasonably warm day, the baby’s glossy brown hair shining in the sunshine. No snow had fallen yet, but they all knew it was on the horizon.

She opened her eyes at her packmate’s touch, those eyes a soft brown full of happiness. Liberty had been checked over by Finn, Dr. Bashir, and every empath known to either RainFire or the Arrow Squad.

The consensus was that she felt like she was just…being a baby. No strain, no tension, no special tiredness. Auden and Remi’s cub simply had a brain that could act as the central processing plant for psychic energy.

Now that Auden knew Liberty was safe, she found grim pleasure in the fact that Shoshanna had inadvertently engineered a gift of hope for the very race she’d been trying to swallow up and control. Auden saw that hope each time she stepped into the PsyNet—to which she and Liberty were still connected, because Liberty was necessary to its survival.

Both of them were, however, also bonded to Remi—and that bond was unbreakable.

One was a bond of need by the PsyNet, the other a bond of love between a family.

As for Shoshanna’s plans, Auden was still going through her mother’s files, but it was clear that she’d been flat out insane by the end. Her whole plan of “transference” and “neural integration” had been the product of a disturbed mind from the start, but mercifully she’d had the sense to hire skilled M-Psy to engineer Liberty’s DNA.

Auden had sent those particular files, as well as a sample of Liberty’s DNA, to Ashaya Aleine. Mated to a DarkRiver sentinel, the scientist was the most top-tier and trustworthy specialist on the subject that Auden could’ve ever hoped to find. The other woman had examined the data with a fine-tooth comb.

“The M-Psy who worked on this took no dangerous risks,” Ashaya had reported back. “I’d go so far as to say Shoshanna got lucky with the depth of Liberty’s power—Psy have never been able to predict psychic strength beyond basic genetic matches. Most of the heavy lifting in this case was done by the Gradient levels involved.”

A mother herself, the other woman had smiled. “Enjoy your cub, Auden. She’s healthy and strong and from what I saw when we met, she’s cherished by the entire pack and will grow up into a joyful and well-adjusted adult.”

Auden intended to follow that advice.

“It’s time for Liberty to go hang out with Finn now,” Auden said to Jojo when Liberty yawned and closed her eyes again. “And hey”—she tapped Jojo on the nose—“isn’t it a special dinner tonight?”

The cub lit up. “Pancakes!” Thus reminded of the promised breakfast-for-dinner night at the dining aerie, she ran off at speed.

Auden’s heart filled to overflowing, as it so often did these days. Seven weeks after Liberty’s birth and three weeks after her release from the pack’s infirmary—to which she’d been shifted after Bashir agreed she was out of the critical danger zone—she felt more at home in RainFire than she ever had in the Scott home.

Her stay in the infirmary had been nothing she could’ve imagined; she’d had a packmate or three drop by every single day. Each had brought stories or food or a funny show to watch with her. And her Remi had been with her through it all; he’d even snuck in cake and fed it to her bite after bite.

Smiling, she turned…and nearly ran into Kit.

“Can I hold her?” He made big, adorable eyes at her.

Rina’s brother was ridiculously charming; they’d all miss him when he headed home next week. “I’m taking her to Finn.” The healer had the night off because no one had managed to harm or otherwise injure themselves this past week, but instead of telling the pack to leave him alone, he’d volunteered to babysit while partaking of the communal meal.

“That’s just how healers are,” Lark had reassured her when Auden worried about Finn’s lack of downtime. “This is his idea of downtime—chilling with the pack, cubs hanging off him. Also, trust me, he’ll be less babysitting Libby and more keeping an eye on her while the pack cuddles her.”

Liberty, Auden already knew, would thrive in the midst of the noise and conversation. Her and Remi’s child might as well have been born half-changeling, she’d settled with such joy into the pack’s communal way of life.

Kit held out his hands. “I’ll take her. Promise I won’t kidnap her and run away. Too scared of Remi’s wrath.”

Lips twitching, Auden gave the baby another cuddle before handing her over into those careful arms. Trust here, with these people, came easy. Not only because she was Remi’s mate, but because each and every person here had watched over Liberty while she couldn’t. Never would any of them harm her.

Kit’s smile was that of a heartbreaker as he cuddled her close, his auburn hair falling over his forehead as he bent to nuzzle at the baby. “Hey, kitten.”

Good thing Phoebe wasn’t in range or the poor juvenile would surely have fainted. Her crush on Kit was sweet and young and made Auden smile—because to her, it showed the love in which Phoebe had been raised, that she felt safe crushing on a dangerous dominant. Auden wanted the same carefree sense of possibility for her baby.

“Does she need a bottle?” Kit looked up, the evening sunshine soft gold on his skin. “I could feed her.”

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