Page 21 of Primal Mirror

He never had done the latter. Because Auden hadn’t been Auden by then.

She still couldn’t bring herself to touch the weapon. Her stomach lurched at the very idea, disturbing the child growing inside her.

Slamming the lid shut, she used her telepathy to soothe the mind that was yet amorphous.

She’d get to the gun, just not today.

Today, she’d sit in this cabin far from the dangers of the Scott household, and she’d work on how to protect the baby her mother had wanted so much that she’d consented to it in her role as the person with authority over an impaired Auden.

Now Charisma and Dr. Verhoeven would carry out her ruthless and brilliant mother’s orders. Their loyalty to Shoshanna was a truth unshakable—and no matter the lip service paid to Auden’s role as CEO, or her uncle’s role as head of the family, Charisma was the one in charge, the one to whom Shoshanna had entrusted the codes needed to run the entire Scott operation.

And two days ago, Charisma had ordered an intensive brain scan of Auden’s baby—even though her unborn child didn’t even have a fully formed brain. Auden had permitted it only because it had been noninvasive and caused her baby no distress. She’d had to grit her teeth throughout, however; remind herself that she was playing the long game.

Her silent rage had been a heat scalding enough to start a forest fire.

She turned to the box that held the gun, picked it up again. It didn’t matter what it did to her to handle a weapon, didn’t matter if doing violence would destroy a piece of her. This wasn’t about her. She was already damaged in ways nothing would heal, but her baby? Her baby had a chance to live a life free of pain and fear.

Auden opened the box.

Chapter 11

LvrBoo: Life would be mega simples if the other races understood skin privileges as a concept.

Dnx09: I mean, they do when we explain it. My last lover was a human and he was adorable about skin privileges.

Novemba: I dunno. I like that it’s our thing.

KixKix: That’s because you’re a smug-mated, Novemba. Shed a tear for those of us in the dating trenches.

Ferla78: There’s just something delicious about exchanging skin privileges with a lover who understands the trust in touch, isn’t there? Funnily enough, the last two Psy I picked up got it at once. I guess because they were taught never to touch, they see it as a decadent gift. I’ve never been touched with so much intent.

LvrBoo: Wait, wait, girl. Back up. You can’t just drop that you’re picking up multiple Psy and not elaborate! Where are you finding these Psy? And are they virgins? Because I’m hearing reports of seriously hot virgin soldier types. Spill!

—Wild Woman Forum

REMI USUALLY NEVER hesitated to share data with the Arrows; RainFire and the squad were friends as well as allies. But he had no intention of doing so when it came to Auden’s pregnancy. His leopard growled at the idea of it, the human half in full agreement. It went against every ounce of honor in his body to pass on a truth so private.

“It’s not like her pregnancy is a security threat,” he said to Finn the next morning—because he had told their healer; Finn needed to be prepared in case shit went wrong.

“No,” Finn agreed as he danced out of the way of a kick from Remi.

Like most healers, Finn hated violence. But also like most healers, he had a protective streak so wide it was a six-lane highway. Add in the fact that he was conscious of RainFire being a small and isolated pack, and here they were.

“I want to be trained,” he’d declared. “I’m an adult in good condition. I need to be able to protect our vulnerable.”

He was right.

Despite knowing that, Remi had to force himself to carry through on any strikes that might land—alphas just did not hurt their healers unless they were unhinged assholes.

It helped that Finn hadn’t started out green as grass. He’d picked up bits and pieces during his sojourn as a relief healer in other packs, but had never done the full course intended to arm noncombatants in a pack.

Remi and his sentinels had fixed that.

The weekly sessions were to ensure he didn’t forget.

“And,” Finn said, his chest heaving as they circled each other in the small clearing they used as a practice ground, “I’d say it’s her personal business unless she makes it ours. Woman’s just minding her own right now.

“Plus, we’ve got no hard evidence that she was involved in what happened to Aden and Zaira in that bunker—didn’t Aden say she doesn’t appear to have had much power until after Shoshanna’s death?”

---