Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"You are going to be the most dominant person in the room a lot of your life, Rem-Rem. That doesn't mean you will be the most important. The coward we once called alpha has forgotten that; he thinks he's the only one who matters. An alpha who thinks that way? He'll crush his pack's heart under his boot."

—Gina Denier to Remi Denier (circa 2070)

MLISS RAN INTO the meeting room just as a T-shirt-and-jeans-clad Remi finished writing up his final set of notes before he could head home. "You will never believe this!" His calm and cool COO was literally dancing in her high heels.

Fascinated, Remi tried to come up with the most outlandish answer possible. "Nikita Duncan wants to hire us."

Mliss's grin was feline all right—of the Cheshire cat variety. "Not Duncan. Scott ."

He all but ripped away the piece of paper in her hand. It took him two read-throughs to confirm it said what he thought. "They want us to send in a bid for all their indi-mech needs?"

"Yes! Within the next two weeks, though they're willing to extend the time period a fraction, since they understand this is an enormous ask."

Remi's heart thundered, his leopard prowling to the surface of his skin. The human part of his mind, however, was calculating the odds of this being a coincidence and coming up with no fucking way.

He couldn't, however, see the time he'd spent with Auden as any reason to be suspicious—likely she'd started to research RainFire, stumbled across their mech arm, and decided the pack might be useful to the Scott group of companies.

"No ethical considerations, either," Mliss said. "At least not on the associated projects—I know the Scotts have a rep so I dug hard, but every one of these operations seems above board and routine."

"Send me all the details." It didn't matter that business wasn't second nature to Remi. He had to stay on top of everything with which the pack was associated. RainFire was too young to take any risk that could affect their reputation.

All final calls in the pack were his, good or bad.

As Mliss had said, the Scotts had more than one skeleton in their closet—but from what he'd picked up through the Arrows, most of those skeletons had to do with politics and power. Their business enterprises were prosaic enough, and included significant holdings in computronic and mech fields.

On top of that, Shoshanna was no longer in charge.

I bet I could do it. Not step on it. Catch it.

She was happy the last time she wore that watch.

Can I shoot now?

Remi growled silently at himself. Because despite that strange hour he'd spent with Auden, he didn't know her. Not as anything but a woman who couldn't shoot and who cradled her pregnant belly with a near-feral protectiveness. He'd stake his life on that being real, even if every other thing about her was false.

Auden Scott would battle to the death to protect her child.

"Can we fulfill their needs?" he asked Mliss through the chaos of his thoughts. "Do we have the capacity?" A huge deal like this could pay off their business loans within the year, but only if they could produce the goods.

"I don't know. We'll have to do a breakdown."

"Get everyone in this room. We'll figure it out before I head home."

Two hours and a ton of calculations later, the consensus was that it was doable if they trained five to seven more of their people on the low-level work. Remi knew they'd get volunteers for that gig from younger packmates keen to get experience on the floor.

"Do it," he told Mliss. "Work with Theo to put together a draft proposal, then send it to me. I'll put out the word that we have openings and ask for applications to be sent to you, Ru."

Having joined in from the factory floor, Rulinda Bay, their head of engineering, gave a quick nod. Her silver hair shimmered in the overhead light, the lines on the pale skin of her face speaking of a lifetime of experience. RainFire had gained her expertise because she'd decided to move packs to stay close to Asher and her two other grandcubs; she'd brought her mate—a robotics expert—along with her.

"It's going to be tight." Mliss was already typing on her organizer. "The deadline. But I don't want to ask them to push it—first impressions and all that."

"I'll send you a couple of senior people to cover your usual duties for the duration." Remi was already reaching for his phone. "I know you like to keep an eye across the board, but nothing else on your slate is as important as this."

Mliss blew out a breath that made her bangs dance. "Agreed. Send me Byron. I'm trying to lure him away from managing the pack's various needs anyway."

Remi grinned. "I'll call him in, but there's not a chance I'm letting you steal him." Byron Castille was a sweet, shy submissive; he was also the quiet engine behind the scheduling and ordering and operations that kept RainFire functioning smoothly day to day.

"I have faith in my persuasive skills," Mliss said, but it was an absent comment, her attention focused on the draft quote in front of her.

Leaving Mliss and her team to it, Remi met Kit at reception.

The auburn-haired young male, his duffel over his shoulder, lifted a hand toward Phoebe. "Bye, Bee."

The girl went bright red but waved back with enthusiasm before Remi and Kit walked out to the rugged all-terrain vehicle that would take them a considerable way into home territory, after which they'd stretch out their legs and run.

Remi usually shifted for the latter, but with Kit having his gear with him, they'd keep to human form. "So," he said after they were on their way, "do anything interesting during your roaming?"

"Worked with BlackSea." He stretched out his legs. "Played with them, too."

Remi's leopard huffed at that smug tone in Kit's voice. "I hope you made allies and not enemies with your play friends."

"Definite allies. Invited back anytime." Kit rolled down the window so he could draw in the air. "I also got drunk with bears one time. Just one time. And nearly ended up arrested."

Remi grinned. "I've been there, my young friend. I woke up naked in a cave in the forest with not a bear in sight and a note in lipstick on my chest that said 10/10. All I remember about that night is that I had a damn good time—and it's possible I wore a bear suit to blend in at some point."

Kit's laughter was young and bright. "I wonder if Lucas has a bear story?" he mused. "I've always been too chicken to ask him." A considering look Remi could almost feel. "You're a fellow alpha. You could ask him."

Remi decided he really liked Kit Monaghan.

Conversation flowed between them with ease, and when it came time for the run, Kit proved fast enough to keep up with Remi even through the falling darkness that muted the spectacular dance of color that was the fall foliage in daytime. No light remained in the world by the time they reached the heart of pack territory.

"We're on the periphery," Remi said, bringing them down to a jog. "You want to lurk while I go lure Rina out?"

Kit's grin was huge. "Absolutely." Waiting until they'd reached the very edge of the aerie trees, the twinkling lights of the homes perched in the branches showing from between the leaves, he dropped his duffel to the side. "You'll bring her so I'm upwind?"

Remi nodded. "Won't be long. I checked with Finn before we started our run—he's our healer, by the way—and she's in the dining aerie shooting the shit with the other sentinels and senior soldiers over dinner."

"Wait." Kit frowned. "Sandy hair, green eyes, that Finn? I think I met him at Tammy's."

"Same one," Remi said. "He's friends with your healer. Back soon."

After Remi stepped out of the trees, however, he first had to react with lightning speed to catch a tiny cub who'd jumped into his arms from a branch. Growling, he nipped the culprit's ear. "You should be in bed, Jasper."

The cub nuzzled his chin, patting at his chest with tiny paws.

Remi scratched the baby's head, but dropped him off with his parents. Play was encouraged among the pack, but so was safety. Before handing him back to his parents, he held the cub up by the scruff of his neck and said, "No sneaking out after dark." He used his alpha voice.

The cub made a mournful growling sound.

"Yes, you are in trouble." He nipped the cub's nose. "The rules exist for a reason." Leopard cubs were curious to the nth degree—without those rules, they'd never make it to adulthood.

The cub hung his head.

Bringing him against his chest, Remi petted him. "You're one of mine, and I want you safe," he said, gentling his tone now that the message had gotten through.

Being alpha meant walking a fine line when it came to the cubs. Discipline had to stand alongside affection and love. One without the other would damage their fierce and curious hearts. "It's too dangerous for you to be out alone after dark. Do you understand?"

The cub lifted its head, its ears pricked, and nodded.

Remi nipped his nose again, this time more playfully. The cub batted at him with unclawed paws. Laughing, he handed the boy over to his frazzled parents. Zion's hair was sticking up in spikes and he had suitcases under his eyes.

He and his mate not only had Jasper, but a newborn cub.

"We turned our backs for one second," the man grumbled, throwing the cub over his shoulder. "It's like they're made of pure grease—just slide out under doors."

Leopard in full agreement, Remi left the two to wrangle their cubs, then made his way along the pack's treetop highway to the dining aerie. "Rina!" he called out from the door.

When she glanced over, spoon paused above her dessert, he motioned her across. "Can I grab you for a sec?"

"You need me, too?" Lark asked, looking up from a truly enormous bowl of ice cream.

"No, just Rina."

He'd jumped down to the forest floor by the time Rina made it outside. Seeing that he wasn't on the balcony, she made the jump, too, her ponytail a blond banner behind her. It wasn't a jump any human would ever make, the trees goliaths—and even Remi's cats wouldn't chance the jump from the very top, but the dining aerie was in the lower branches.

"What's up?" the sentinel asked once she was beside him.

"Walk with me. I have some—good—personal news for you."

Reaching up, she fixed her ponytail as she fell into a walk by his side. "Yeah?" A smile. "Don't tell me. My baby brother sent another postcard from a random location."

"Something like that," Remi said, just as Rina's head snapped up, her eyes nightglow as she stared at the trees to their right.

She was running full tilt in that direction a heartbeat later, having obviously picked up her brother's scent despite Remi's upwind approach.

Kit emerged from the trees to catch her and lift her off her feet as she slammed into him like a small tornado. The young male was laughing as Rina hugged his neck and yelled at him for not letting her know he was in the country. At this point, Kit far outweighed Rina both physically and in dominance, but you wouldn't know it from the joyous familiarity of their big sister–little brother interaction.

Delighted for the sibling pair, Remi bowed out and returned to the dining aerie.

Lark was still working her way through the ice cream bowl as big as her head. "What happened to Rina?"

"You'll see." After grabbing a plate of food, he slid in beside the sentinel, two of his senior soldiers across from them. "Where's Angel?"

"Security shift," senior soldier Ihaka said, then scrunched up his nose. "You smell of a cat I don't know…though there's something about it that's niggling at me."

"I've had a torturous number of meetings with all kinds of people." He buttered a warm bread roll from the fresh basket one of Fabien's juvenile helpers had just placed on the table. "Thanks, Jack."

"I hate kitchen duty," the juvenile muttered before slouching off—but he made sure to brush his body against Remi's as he did so. Because even big cubs just needed contact with their alpha sometimes—even if they were too moody to admit it.

"Ah, teenagers," Felipe, the older of the senior soldiers, said. "Beaming balls of sunshine and light."

"Kitchen duty is a pack rite of passage," Ihaka added. "He can't just be going out on runs all day like he wants to do."

"I get him." Lark poured more chocolate syrup over her ice cream. "I hated kitchen duty, too, but mostly because our cook was a grizzled old leopard who thought children should be lightly sautéed and served up on a platter."

Remi allowed the conversation to flow around him, his cat happy to be in the heart of his pack. But even so, part of his mind couldn't stop thinking about eyes of moonstone blue and a woman who was an enigma.

Which Auden would he meet the next time around? The quicksilver delight of a woman who fascinated him, the eerie psychometric who'd been there without being there…or the ice sculpture whose face gave nothing away.

"Holy drunk bears!" Lark's low whistle emerged into a sudden silence.

Having already caught their scents, Remi wasn't surprised to see Rina standing in the doorway with her arm proudly around her taller sibling. "Everyone! My brother, Kit!"

Kit, his skin flushed with happiness, held up a hand in a wave.

Lark, meanwhile, was waving a hand in front of her face and whispering, "Can you suffer an attack of heat wave at night, because, wow, I'm burning up."

Her reaction was restrained in comparison to another one of their packmates, who yelled, "Is he single? Because if he is, I call dibs!"

From there, it dissolved into friendly chaos, with the young leopard welcomed with slaps on the back and a few kisses on the lips. Remi kept an eye on the situation, but it was clear that Kit could handle himself.

Ignoring the flirts with a natural and warm charm, he slid in at a table that held several soldiers around his own age, and was soon chatting away with the group. That he'd integrated so quickly with his own age group despite his overwhelming dominance was the mark of a damn good leopard.

Rina went off to catch up with a few people she was training.

"Hmm." Lark narrowed her eyes. "He's a dominant. A really fucking strong dominant." Glancing at Remi, she raised an eyebrow. "Are we planning to try to keep him?"

"Let's make an effort not to pick a fight with the most powerful leopard pack in the country, hmm, Lark? Especially since they like us right now." But he'd have been lying if he'd said the thought hadn't crossed his own mind.

He even had the perfect argument for it: he had not a single doubt in his mind that Kit would one day be an alpha. How better to train for that than to help Remi and his people build their own pack? Then, even if he walked into a position as the alpha of an already existing pack, he'd understand what it was to grow a pack from the foundations, know all the basics.

The young leopard looked over at him just then, raising a mug of beer in his direction in a silent thank-you for the welcome into RainFire. Remi, who'd been passed a beer of his own at some point, raised one back. Whatever happened, RainFire would always be tied to Kit through Rina, which was another small bond in the network the pack was building around itself.

Now, it looked like they might even build a business connection with the Psy.

Translucent blue eyes in his mind. A woman of quicksilver and ice and mystery.

His skin tightened, his pulse rapid—and his leopard ready to play a game for which the rules might be murky, but which Remi's instincts said was dangerously real.