Page 60 of Primal Mirror

REMI brought the chopper to land with an inward grunt of satisfaction. Soon as it was down and locked in position, blades slowing to a stop, he jumped out and ran around to the other side to help Auden out.

Neither one of them spoke, but she didn’t wave off his help this time and he all but lifted her out. Even so pregnant, she weighed nothing to his changeling strength. After shutting the door to the chopper behind her, he took her lead as she ignored the cabin’s back door to walk around the side.

When she rubbed at her back, he realized she had to be stiff. “Let me,” he said, his voice rough, but didn’t touch her.

Not until she met his gaze…and dropped her own hand, the air a shiver between them.

Auden is off-limits, he reminded himself. You protect, you don’t take. Not her. Not until she’s in a space where her consent means something.

But not about to allow her to hurt when he could help, he rubbed with firm downward strokes as they continued to walk in the glow of the heavy silver moon. “It was time for me to build a pack,” he said, finishing the conversation he’d cut short in the cockpit because these words weren’t for any ears but hers. “That’s why I stopped racing. I only ever did it in the first place because I figured I’d be a shit alpha.”

Auden halted. “But why?” Her features scrunched up into an expression so confused it was adorable. “I knew from a single touch of that chair you gave me that you’re beloved as an alpha.”

He shrugged even as his leopard rubbed against his skin, wanting her petting words to turn into a petting touch. “My father abandoned me when I was five, and that kind of desertion is all but unheard of among changelings.”

Most changeling species didn’t become fertile except when mated or in a long-term relationship. With leopards, that rule was an absolute. As a result, every cub was seen as a gift, a treasure.

Or that was how it was supposed to be.

But Remi’s father had decided he didn’t want to live up to the commitment he’d made to Remi’s mother and their son. “Then my alpha kicked me out when I was only seventeen.” No one had stood up for him because Rhett Farley had surrounded himself with the weak. “I was a messed-up kid who had no idea what to do with all the dominance inside me. If I hadn’t had my mother, I’d have been fucked up to all hell.”

“She sounds like an amazing woman.”

“She was.” Remi’s chest squeezed hard enough to hurt. “Biggest heart of us all—and the irony of it is that it was her heart that killed her. A rare genetic mutation that stole the light from her eyes in the prime of her life.”

Auden touched his arm with a tentative hand. “I’m sorry. I…” She hesitated, lines forming between her eyebrows. “I want to say she loved you to the end with a fierce maternal devotion. I know that.”

Remi spoke past the thickness in his throat. “First time we met, you read her imprint on a gift she gave me.” He tucked back a fine flyaway curl behind her ear. “I’ll let you read it again one day. So you’ll get to know her, see her.” His mother might never be able to meet her, but Auden could meet the strong, powerful leopard named Gina Delphine Denier who’d raised him.

Auden’s eyes burned. “I would love that. And Remi?” She shook her head. “I hope you don’t worry now—about yourself as an alpha. Your pack is so happy.” Her eyes shimmered. “RainFire might be small and young, but it’s joyous in a way I’ve never been my entire life.”

He cupped her cheek because he couldn’t not touch her when she’d just torn her heart bare to make him feel good. “You will be happy,” he promised roughly. “No matter what we have to do, we’ll figure out a way.”

Auden’s lower lip trembled before she pressed her lips together and took a deep, shuddering breath. “I want my baby—my little girl—to feel like the cub who sat in your lap in that chair. No fear. No concern. Trust absolute.”

“She will. She has you for a mama.” And of one thing Remi was certain: Auden Scott loved her baby as much as any leopardess.

A hard swallow. “Thank you.”

Forcing himself to let go of her, he walked again with her under the moonlight, and he thought of a future where he might walk with a miniature version of Auden, curious and wild. Holding her little hands from above as she found her feet, as she giggled and looked up at him.

Neither man nor leopard was ready for the emotion that punched through him.

“What is that?” Auden was staring at what sat at her front door, a food carrier…and a single extra-large package.

“Bed frame.” Remi was damn glad to be distracted by the practical. “I dropped it off this morning before I headed into town, and our healer delivered the food about the time we lifted off. I figured he’d be the best person as far as imprints go?”

Auden nodded, the movement a touch jagged. “Empaths don’t affect us badly, so I’m guessing a healer won’t, either.” She reached into her pocket to pull out a slimline black device that looked like a remote. “Before anything, sweep the cabin with this.”

Recognizing it as a detector, Remi took it from her and went to the cabin to run the scan immediately. Only once he was certain the cabin was clean of any bugs did he come back outside and return the device. “I didn’t pick up any other scent except for yours inside, either,” he said. “No one’s been here since you left.”

Her shoulders eased.

Shoving up the sleeves of his gray sweatshirt, Remi went to the carrier. “You hungry?”

“I feel like I’m constantly starving,” Auden admitted with a little groan.

Remi’s gaze took her in with an intensity that felt like a touch. His eyes gleamed in the silver light of the moon and she knew she stood with a wild creature.

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