Page 84 of Primal Mirror

She’d almost brought a senior soldier with her—a man named Barker. Remi had had the feeling the two were linked romantically, but in the end, Barker had chosen to remain behind in DarkRiver, and as far as anyone was aware, Rina was single.

Remi didn’t know the whys of it, but there didn’t seem to be any bad blood.

After all four sentinels had settled in with coffee and a snack, Remi leaned his shoulder against the wall and said, “Auden is going to hire us when she goes back in.”

Surprise from everyone but Rina. “Makes sense,” she said from her position on the sofa. “I learned how the big Psy families operate from Sascha—and I wouldn’t be taking my newborn cub into that situation unguarded, either.”

“Oh, her cub’s staying with us.”

That set them alight, questions flying every which way. He told them what they needed to know to protect Auden—but he didn’t tell them that her pregnancy had been done without her consent, or that the baby was technically her half-sibling. That was for Auden to share if and when she wished.

“I’ll be going with her,” he said—and raised an eyebrow when no one argued.

Theo shrugged. “You’re growly protective of her. We got the memo.” A grin that was a masculine echo of Lark’s. “Sooo, anything to share on that front?”

“She just gave birth, you big dumbo.” Lark pretend-slapped him on the back of the head. “Give her space before thinking of amorous feline intentions.”

“Amorous feline intentions?” Angel shook his head.

“Who’re you taking as your partner?” Lark asked after scrunching up her nose at Angel. “I won’t work. Psy don’t take me seriously because I’m small.” Matter-of-fact words. “I could claw off a few snooty faces to make my point, but I figure you don’t want a bloody scene.”

“No.” Remi turned to Angel. “I need you to stay here. We can’t both be gone.”

Angel nodded in silent agreement.

“That leaves me and Theo or a senior soldier,” Rina said. “Theo’s big and can be scary looking, but you’re going into Shoshanna Scott’s domain. I say take a woman.”

Yes, RainFire had lucked out in getting Rina.

“And,” the sentinel continued after a sip of her coffee, “I say take me and not one of the senior soldiers because, quite frankly, nobody in this pack knows as much about how Psy work as I do. I might be able to figure out vulnerabilities that wouldn’t occur to the rest of you.”

“Hey,” Theo protested, twisting his head to meet Rina’s gaze. “We’re not total country bumpkins.”

Rina smiled at him—it was obvious she had a huge soft spot for the big sentinel. “No, you’re just in the middle of nowhere with not a single Psy packmate. While I was, until recently, part of a pack with not only Psy packmates, but in a city that thousands of Psy call home.”

“Rina’s right.” Angel’s voice. “It should be her.”

Remi nodded in agreement. “We won’t have much prep time—four days. After that, RainFire takes official custody and protection of little Liberty—”

“Liberty?” Lark’s face lit up. “Is that the kitten’s name?”

When Remi nodded, she sighed. “I love it. It’s so meaningful and pretty.”

“What about the cub’s psychic needs?” Angel asked.

It was Rina who answered. “I think Auden can take care of that from a distance.” She frowned. “When Sascha had her and Lucas’s cub, she mentioned that the cub was inside her own shields. It’s like how we keep our cubs close before they get smart enough to avoid dangers and obstacles.”

“That sounds right,” Remi said. “But I’ll ask Auden for clarification. I’ll also do everything I can to make sure she can come back and see her cub as much as possible.”

“Good.” Angel’s quiet but firm agreement, a slight growl in his words. “Cubs need that contact.”

Remi understood as the others wouldn’t, Angel a closed book to most people when it came to his emotions. But he and Remi had taken on the world together as youths, a lone tiger, remote and quiet, and a leopard with too much anger and confusion inside him to stay put.

Angel had vanished for weeks at a time during that initial period. But he’d always come back; and in the end, he’d stayed. He’d even picked up his first security gigs so he could travel with Remi to his races. And he’d trusted Remi with his story, a story of a cub lost and in pain whose psyche had been forever damaged one dark winter’s night.

“We’ll talk to Auden together, get a full briefing on the compound,” Remi told Rina, to her nod. “Any other pack business before we break?”

“We need a school of our own for the littlest cubs,” Lark said, her acute intelligence a clear light in her eyes. “We’ve gotten away with computronic teaching so far, but with the new families who’ve joined us, we’ve got enough to start up our own small school.

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