Page 31 of Primal Mirror

He’d held Remi’s gaze with the panther green of his own. “What your pack did to you was unacceptable. You were a cub, younger than Kit by years—any threat your alpha felt from you was due to his own inadequacies. You need to not only understand that but internalize it, so you’re never at risk of repeating the mistake.”

Remi had appreciated the blunt talking-to, even though he was well aware his flaw was a protectiveness that could turn into a cage. He wasn’t one to push any child out of the nest. But Luc’s job had been to ensure Remi ended up a good alpha. That meant making sure he was aware of his own shit.

It wasn’t until now that Remi realized a part of him had worried that he would react negatively to a young alpha in his pack, that he’d been fundamentally damaged by his own alpha’s decision to kick him out at a bare seventeen years of age. Instead, his leopard prowled against the surface of his skin, intrigued by Kit’s strength—and painfully aware of his youth.

For the first time, he really got it, understood how fucked up the WhiteMountain alpha’s actions had been. Because Kit was a gift to DarkRiver, a strong male loyal and true, who might one day extend their circle of allies to an entirely new pack. But right this moment? He was still young, needed guidance and support as he grew into his skin and his power.

Remi slapped the younger man on the shoulder after Kit confirmed that he’d alerted Lucas he was back in the country. “I’ll introduce you to the others here. We’re not heading up to pack territory until late tomorrow. You okay to wait? You can stay with us—we have some simple sleeping quarters on the second floor for the short term.” Mliss and her official staff of three had proper apartments next door.

“No problem. But can you not tell Rina?” Kit’s leopard gleamed in his eyes. “I want to see the look on her face when I walk out of the trees.”

“I’m a cat. Of course I’m good with startling her.”

Kit’s laughter made poor Phoebe all but combust on the spot before Remi took their visitor through to the back to introduce him to the others. Yet as he watched Kit win them over with the generous warmth of a leopard who’d been raised in the heart of a healthy and loving pack, he found himself thinking of Auden again.

His claws pricked his skin, his leopard’s lip curling in a snarl.

He had to let that little obsession go. Because the chances of Auden returning to the cabin anytime soon were close to nil. That she’d come even once while so heavily pregnant, though…it made Remi wonder. Why would a woman leave her home at such a critical time if that home was a safe place for her?

* * *

• • •

AUDEN sat in her office staring at her computer. She hadn’t done much on it…ever. She hadn’t even had an office until she was moved into her mother’s care.

Why she’d been given one, she didn’t know.

Perhaps as a backdrop to a meeting, should it be necessary. Because at that point, she hadn’t had enough mental capacity to utilize any of the systems. Oh, she could pretend for brief fragments of time, but nothing sustained.

That history did, however, mean that this computer was unlikely to be monitored by anything aside from the generic Scott security system that kept out hackers and the like. She hadn’t had a chance to test it yet, having done any prior computronic work on an organizer given to her as a young teen that was clear of any bugs because, quite frankly, it was too old and clunky to run the software.

Unfortunately, its age also meant she could no longer really use it except perhaps to visit the forum. As for the other organizer she’d managed to source, the one with specs high enough for everything, she had no plans to link it to the Scott system—at least not until she was ready to sacrifice the device. For now, it was clean, and she intended to keep it that way.

So it would have to be this computer. Inhaling a long breath, she started up a security check using what she’d learned as a teenager prior to the neural damage. Computronic security had been a necessary part of her studies.

“We might exist on the PsyNet,” her father had said, “but we can’t do business on the Net alone. For one, not all data can be stored there. You must know how to secure your devices.”

That advice had ended up prescient, given the continued fragmentation of the PsyNet. With the foundation in the midst of a mass collapse, nothing stored in its psychic fabric was safe, not even the most well-constructed vault.

Her computer proved clear of babysitters or spies.

She remained circumspect in her research into RainFire. Nothing that couldn’t be explained away as her attempting to educate herself about her neighbors. There were no pictures of the pack members online, but she did find a small article in a business journal about their indi-mech arm.

Per the journalist, RainFire Mech was “an increasingly strong player in the lucrative and underserved niche.” It also looked like their current clientele—the ones the journalist had been able to interview anyway—were very happy with their work.

She checked her mother’s holdings, the information available on their unrestricted internal network. She’d remembered correctly: Shoshanna had bought a majority stake in a company that needed individualized pieces of mech on a regular basis. And from the look of things, their current supplier was charging above market rates, likely because they were entrenched and believed they had no competition.

Her heartbeat kicked up a notch.

“Auden?” Charisma stood in the doorway, a strange expression on her face. “I thought I imagined you there.”

“I haven’t been here often, have I?” Auden said lightly, because she needed to keep Charisma on her side while she set up her plan. “I barely fit behind the desk as it is.” She indicated her belly, careful not to cradle it, careful to be the perfect Scott.

“Why are you putting yourself to such discomfort?” Charisma walked over. “I could have provided you with a new organizer.”

“I was curious about the RainFire leopards.”

Charisma went motionless. “Did they approach you?”

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