Page 58 of Primal Mirror

What if her mother had done something else to her? She would’ve seen Auden as already damaged, so it would’ve been easy for her to justify. Whatever it was, Dr. Verhoeven had to know, as did Charisma.

That was when it hit her: the codes to the system, the thing that allowed Charisma to hold the reins.

Face hot, she pulled up the deceptively simple login page and stared.

Nothing. Her mind a blank.

She swiped out her arm, crashing her empty glass to the soft carpet. Her vision wavered, her brain hitching, a murmur inside her skull that rebuked her for the loss of control in a voice that wasn’t her own.

* * *

• • •

AN impatient and quietly angry Remi turned into the road that led to the Scott compound after nightfall. The past three days, as he waited for the contract to be finalized, had ground his patience down to the bone. All he could think of was Auden, so fierce and protective, trapped in a house that wasn’t a home while her brain misfired on her.

“You look like you want to murder someone,” Mliss murmured from the passenger seat. “Rein it in, Remi, or you’ll give away the game.”

He’d picked his COO up from her apartment along the way because RainFire couldn’t afford to sacrifice a vehicle, and there was no way he’d leave it in enemy territory for the duration.

“I have it,” he muttered, clenching his teeth even as his leopard settled in a quiet that was deadly. “Now?”

“It’ll do.”

“Remi Denier,” he told the guard on duty at the gate. “Here for Ms. Scott.”

The man—who’d also accompanied Auden to the mech facility—said, “You’re the only one cleared. I can call up about Ms. Phan.”

Good man, Remi thought. He’d made note of Mliss’s name and face despite having never interacted with her. “No, that’s fine. Mliss’s my ride.” Getting out, he waited until she was in the driver’s seat before he said, “Drive safe.”

Mliss’s gaze gleamed leopard gold at him. He could almost hear her voice in his head: I’m not the one walking through the gates of the Scott compound.

He waited until she’d turned the all-terrain vehicle around and was on her way before allowing the guard to lead him inside. The compound was spacious but not huge. One main dual-level building painted a crisp white with dark gray trim, multiple other single-level houses, all with decorative touches like scrollwork on the eaves that clearly came from another era; overall, it gave the impression of being a refined old estate.

Underneath that first impression, however, was intense modern security. The guards with their visible earpieces were just the start—and given that more subtle earpieces were standard for security work, these had been picked on purpose, to warn off anyone thinking to infiltrate the estate.

Then there were the wrought iron fences Remi had clocked were wired with motion sensors, the generator somewhere on the property that was a mild but distinctive hum to his acute hearing, the internal alarm systems he couldn’t see but had no doubt existed, and external motion sensor lights designed to appear a natural part of the house.

Those lights weren’t needed tonight as the pathway through the compound was well illuminated with tall standing lamps that matched the iron fences in their design. As he’d expected, he had no chance to look inside the house itself, because the guard took him around the building and to the very back—where Auden stood with Charisma beside a chopper on a launching pad.

Charisma Wai’s face was stiff with disapproval, but she was polite enough to Remi. “Thank you for acceding to Auden’s request. You have an unusual work and skill history for a changeling alpha.”

No surprise that Wai had looked him up. “Misspent youth,” he said casually, then turned to Auden. “Are you ready to go, Ms. Scott?”

“Yes.” She got into the chopper’s passenger seat with help from a step that had already been placed beside it. The seat, he saw when he went around, had been pushed all the way back.

It was still a tight fit for her belly.

Frowning, he took his own seat, wanting her out of this machine and more comfortable as fast as possible. Small as the chopper was, his shoulder brushed hers as he took the controls after putting on his headset.

A shiver from his passenger before she settled, and maybe it was his imagination, but it felt as if she was leaning into the contact rather than away from it.

Happy to have her in his care, he began takeoff procedures, and when the bird lifted, saw Charisma Wai staring after them with a grim look in her eye.

Chapter 25

Remi Denier: Alpha of the RainFire leopards.

Never say we don’t keep you in the loop, our dear wild women. Because it appears our friends in RainFire have been hoarding this gorgeous feline specimen all to themselves. But our intrepid journalists go where even bears fear to tread in order to keep you informed.

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