Page 87 of Primal Mirror

“Your telepathic shields.” No humor now, nothing but protective intensity. “You want some expert training to make them stronger?”

“Yes. Charisma’s an 8.3 telepath and she trained under my mother. I’ll take any help I can get to keep her out.”

“Good. I’ll tell Zaira you’re ready to see her.”

Auden almost choked on the bite she’d just taken, had to gulp nutrient liquid to wash it down. “Are you talking about Zaira, the Arrow who almost took out a would-be-assassin’s eye with a knife on a public street?” she squeaked out afterward, her hot blood tempered by sheer amazement.

“That’s her. Don’t worry. She only murders people who try to hurt her own—and she likes cubs.” A slow smile that made her understand why humans spoke about butterflies in the abdomen. “So you’re safe.”

* * *

• • •

AUDEN thought she was prepared for Zaira Neve, but the petite Arrow was not someone for whom you could prepare. Power contained in a small and deadly body, her eyes an impenetrable darkness and her expression conveying nothing.

Utter remote nothingness, that was Zaira’s expression as she looked at Auden, and Auden had the sense of being sized up by the most dangerous person she’d ever met. Perhaps she should’ve thought that about Remi, with his claws and his power…but Auden knew Remi would never hurt her.

Zaira on the other hand…

Heart racing hard and fast, Auden shifted so that she was in front of the incubator.

The Arrow took off her uniform jacket and threw it on the end of the bed. “I like you, Auden Scott.”

Auden didn’t move. “Why?” she asked warily.

“Because you just got in between a trained killer and your child.” A shift in her expression. “I wasn’t sure who I’d meet today. It wasn’t a woman with Shoshanna Scott’s eyes melded with the protectiveness of an Arrow mother.”

Auden’s emotions were all over the place, but she realized that if Zaira had wanted to do her harm, she could’ve done it the instant she came through the door. Arrows were Arrows for a reason; she had no idea of Zaira’s specialty, but that didn’t matter—all Arrows were lethal.

Taking a deep breath, she shifted aside. “Would you like to meet Liberty?”

Zaira came over to look into the incubator, her shoulder-length black hair sliding against her neck as she glanced down. Her expression gentled. “I like that name,” she said afterward.

“It’s a promise to her,” Auden found herself saying. “Of a life lived in freedom.”

Zaira Neve’s dark eyes locked with hers again, words unspoken within. “Telepathic shields,” she said at last. “I need to examine yours to make them better. I’ll get a couple of chairs from outside so we can sit facing each other.”

Auden knew she had no real choice with the required trust. And even if she didn’t know or have any reason to trust Zaira, her faith in Remi was a thing unbreakable. And it was Remi who’d brought Zaira to her. “I’ll use Finn’s chair,” she said. “Healer imprints seem to be like empathic imprints; my senses don’t react.”

“Of course.”

After they were in position on the chairs, she gave the Arrow the necessary access. Zaira’s eyes went black as she expended psychic power, but her mental touch was so subtle that Auden didn’t even feel it. That told her the deadly truth: Zaira was a combat telepath.

Her father’s voice filled her mind.

Most combat telepaths are experts at shield destruction and war on the psychic front, but the really good ones can slip past defenses without a whisper. You’ll never know one has infiltrated you until they’ve melted your brain from the inside out.

She sucked in a breath.

Zaira spoke at the same instant. “Apologies. I wasn’t intending on picking up that thought, but it was too strong to avoid. I’m not planning on melting your brain. If I did, Remi would try to kill me, we’d fight and both be badly hurt, and then everyone would be mad at me, including Jojo.”

“Who’s Jojo?” Auden choked out.

“A young friend,” Zaira murmured, the black retreating from her eyes. “Hmm, that was interesting. I’ve never been inside the mind of a psychometric before.”

Auden closed her fingers into her palm. “Is it different from other Psy minds?”

“Yes,” Zaira said, to her surprise. “Your shields have a layer of complication I’ve never previously encountered, but it makes sense if you’re getting data through tactile contact.” She glanced at Auden’s hands. “No gloves?”

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