Page 55 of Primal Mirror

However, he’d always had his mother, always had one person who was home, who was trust, who was comfort and loyalty and strength when he might’ve been faltering.

Quite unlike Auden…but this same woman who didn’t feel safe in her own mother’s house was fighting like a leopardess for her cub. His pride at her courage and ferocity both was a growl within.

“I’ve barred myself from flying until I can be certain I won’t have a seizure,” she said now. “I can’t get to the cabin on my own.”

“Does teleporting affect pregnant women?” Remi knew the Arrows would do him this favor—not for Auden, but for the child growing in her womb. All the adult Arrows had been abused children once upon a time, and if they had a trigger point for rage, it was harm to a child.

“I don’t know.” Auden bit down on her lower lip. “I don’t want to risk it, regardless, not now I have a choice. I’ve already almost lost my baby twice.” Her hand threatened to creep to her belly. “Even a tiny fluctuation during teleportation could cause a stillbirth.”

It took everything Remi had not to haul her close, just cuddle the worry and tension out of her. “I can fly a chopper.” He’d learned to do so during his days as a race car driver—just another beautiful machine to control, as he couldn’t control so many fucking things in his life.

Auden sucked in a breath. “After we sign the deal,” she said. “Then I can swing your offer to fly me as a way to stay in our good graces. Stress,” she murmured under her breath, “that’s not good for the baby—and I can make sure something stresses me out enough that I need calm surroundings.”

“Auden. Stop pandering to these people. You’re the CEO.” Remi hated the idea of her being controlled and made smaller. “You’re also tougher than they’ll ever be.”

“You don’t see,” she said, low and quiet and potent. “I’m not playing their game. I’m playing mine.” A glint in her eye that was almost feral. “I’ll do anything to protect my baby, and if that means lulling them into a false sense of security by appearing weak, then so be it.”

His leopard’s fur brushed the insides of his skin; the more he learned about Auden Scott, the more he wanted to have her to himself, know all of her…even if the idea of watching her lose pieces of herself until all that remained was a hollow shell was a howling terror in the back of his brain.

Never again, he’d promised himself after he buried his mother.

But how could the nineteen-year-old he’d been have predicted Auden? A woman he’d never even touched but whose existence had become a visceral part of his.

“Faking being lame to ease their suspicions while you prepare to rip out their fucking jugular?” he said, wishing he could brush his thumb over her lower lip, rub his jaw against her skin. “I approve.” It came out a rumble heavy with the leopard’s approbation.

Auden’s pupils dilated, her breath catching. But the scent that made his nostrils flare wasn’t fear. It was richer, tarter, more delicious.

“And you, Auden Scott, approve of the animal inside me,” he said, using the word animal on purpose because that was part of him and he was proud of it.

She stilled, their eyes locked in contact intimate and naked.

“Sir!” Charisma’s voice cut through the air. “Have you been told about this advanced new method?”

The spell broken, their time alone at an end, Remi let Auden take the lead in this dangerous game. All the while, the clock in his mind ticked down to when he could issue the invitation to fly her up to the cabin. Where they could be alone. Where they could talk without boundaries. Where they could plot to break Auden out of her fucking jail cell.

But when she sent him an assessing look not long after, he felt the hairs rise on the back of his nape. That look…it was of the woman who’d stood on the doorstep and looked at him as if he was a stranger. His Auden wasn’t in there.

A blink and the impression was gone, Auden’s the mind behind the gaze once more.

The chill inside him lingered.

Chapter 24

I’ve reviewed the schematics you sent. As designed, this biograft would remove a major neural safeguard when it comes to psychic overloads. It cannot ever be placed in a Psy brain—not without risking a psychic burn severe enough to cause brain damage.

—Message from Dr. Ilma Wang to Councilor Shoshanna Scott (1 January 2075)

AUDEN MADE IT through the next two days with gritted teeth—and little sleep. She was afraid if she closed her eyes, she wouldn’t wake to herself again, her mind a total blank. She survived with catnaps that were never long or deep enough to put her brain into a state where things happened. Where she lost herself.

That kind of sleep wasn’t enough for a woman in her eighth month of pregnancy.

“You’re displaying signs of significant sleep deprivation,” Dr. Verhoeven said at her next check-up. “We may need to bring in a sleep specialist empath.”

That he was even considering bringing in an outsider indicated the depth of his worry.

Auden rubbed at her forehead, and suddenly, she was speaking without conscious premeditation. “I find it difficult to sleep in this house knowing how long my uncle and cousin had access to it. Uncle Hayward spoke a good game, but he’d become used to the taste of being so close to power—and he’s not as meek and mild as everyone believes.”

That much, at least, was true.

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