Page 34 of Primal Mirror

“Yes! Within the next two weeks, though they’re willing to extend the time period a fraction, since they understand this is an enormous ask.”

Remi’s heart thundered, his leopard prowling to the surface of his skin. The human part of his mind, however, was calculating the odds of this being a coincidence and coming up with no fucking way.

He couldn’t, however, see the time he’d spent with Auden as any reason to be suspicious—likely she’d started to research RainFire, stumbled across their mech arm, and decided the pack might be useful to the Scott group of companies.

“No ethical considerations, either,” Mliss said. “At least not on the associated projects—I know the Scotts have a rep so I dug hard, but every one of these operations seems above board and routine.”

“Send me all the details.” It didn’t matter that business wasn’t second nature to Remi. He had to stay on top of everything with which the pack was associated. RainFire was too young to take any risk that could affect their reputation.

All final calls in the pack were his, good or bad.

As Mliss had said, the Scotts had more than one skeleton in their closet—but from what he’d picked up through the Arrows, most of those skeletons had to do with politics and power. Their business enterprises were prosaic enough, and included significant holdings in computronic and mech fields.

On top of that, Shoshanna was no longer in charge.

I bet I could do it. Not step on it. Catch it.

She was happy the last time she wore that watch.

Can I shoot now?

Remi growled silently at himself. Because despite that strange hour he’d spent with Auden, he didn’t know her. Not as anything but a woman who couldn’t shoot and who cradled her pregnant belly with a near-feral protectiveness. He’d stake his life on that being real, even if every other thing about her was false.

Auden Scott would battle to the death to protect her child.

“Can we fulfill their needs?” he asked Mliss through the chaos of his thoughts. “Do we have the capacity?” A huge deal like this could pay off their business loans within the year, but only if they could produce the goods.

“I don’t know. We’ll have to do a breakdown.”

“Get everyone in this room. We’ll figure it out before I head home.”

Two hours and a ton of calculations later, the consensus was that it was doable if they trained five to seven more of their people on the low-level work. Remi knew they’d get volunteers for that gig from younger packmates keen to get experience on the floor.

“Do it,” he told Mliss. “Work with Theo to put together a draft proposal, then send it to me. I’ll put out the word that we have openings and ask for applications to be sent to you, Ru.”

Having joined in from the factory floor, Rulinda Bay, their head of engineering, gave a quick nod. Her silver hair shimmered in the overhead light, the lines on the pale skin of her face speaking of a lifetime of experience. RainFire had gained her expertise because she’d decided to move packs to stay close to Asher and her two other grandcubs; she’d brought her mate—a robotics expert—along with her.

“It’s going to be tight.” Mliss was already typing on her organizer. “The deadline. But I don’t want to ask them to push it—first impressions and all that.”

“I’ll send you a couple of senior people to cover your usual duties for the duration.” Remi was already reaching for his phone. “I know you like to keep an eye across the board, but nothing else on your slate is as important as this.”

Mliss blew out a breath that made her bangs dance. “Agreed. Send me Byron. I’m trying to lure him away from managing the pack’s various needs anyway.”

Remi grinned. “I’ll call him in, but there’s not a chance I’m letting you steal him.” Byron Castille was a sweet, shy submissive; he was also the quiet engine behind the scheduling and ordering and operations that kept RainFire functioning smoothly day to day.

“I have faith in my persuasive skills,” Mliss said, but it was an absent comment, her attention focused on the draft quote in front of her.

Leaving Mliss and her team to it, Remi met Kit at reception.

The auburn-haired young male, his duffel over his shoulder, lifted a hand toward Phoebe. “Bye, Bee.”

The girl went bright red but waved back with enthusiasm before Remi and Kit walked out to the rugged all-terrain vehicle that would take them a considerable way into home territory, after which they’d stretch out their legs and run.

Remi usually shifted for the latter, but with Kit having his gear with him, they’d keep to human form. “So,” he said after they were on their way, “do anything interesting during your roaming?”

“Worked with BlackSea.” He stretched out his legs. “Played with them, too.”

Remi’s leopard huffed at that smug tone in Kit’s voice. “I hope you made allies and not enemies with your play friends.”

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