Chapter 32

Chapter 32

My mother is dead, Mr.Krychek. A result of a genetic flaw that was unfortunately never picked up. She died of sudden neurological failure and her body was cremated soon after the authorities signed off on her death. I am now in charge of Scott family operations.

—Auden Scott to Kaleb Krychek (20 August 2083)

AUDEN SHUDDERED, HER hand flexing open on the soft fabric of Remi's T-shirt—but she stayed cuddled to the wild heat of him, her body and mind craving his touch. "You both know I have mental issues," she said, her eyes on her precious girl. "But they're not genetic. I don't understand why the family wouldn't just use my own eggs. Is it possible they were having trouble fertilizing my egg?"

Finn's eyes met Remi's.

And she knew. Twisted and an unimaginable violation though it would be, it was the only thing that made sense in that house, in that family. "Whose egg?" Ice in her blood, in her veins. "Just tell me."

Though Finn was the healer, she looked at Remi.

He didn't make her wait. "You're half-siblings. You share maternal DNA."

The cold inside her continued to spread. "My mother's egg?" she said, to be certain.

"I triple-checked." Finn's voice. "There's no mistake. My system kept flagging her DNA as a sibling match to you, and I thought it was a glitch. It isn't." A rough exhale. "We managed to get hold of Shoshanna's DNA profile, compared it against both you and the cub to be certain beyond any doubt."

One day, Auden thought, she'd ask Remi how RainFire and the Arrows had become such friends—because no one else could've gained the pack access to a former Councilor's DNA profile—but today, her mind had no room for anything but the cold reality of the decisions made for her when she'd been unable to protest or even understand what was going on.

"Shoshanna must've frozen her eggs at some point," she said, her mind an ice sheet unbroken. "It could've even been a requirement of the family when she was younger." The Scotts, after all, were all about bloodlines.

She nodded, working it through; the cold inside her made it easier to think. "My mother must've hoped to produce a child with more active abilities than mine. Continuing the primary bloodline rather than defaulting to my cousin. I was a convenient incubator."

That didn't matter.

This child had grown in her womb. Auden had felt her mind wake, and even now the baby murmured baby ramblings that were a sweet whisper inside her. "I don't care about her DNA," she reiterated, stepping away from Remi to touch her child once more. "I won't ever hide the truth from her, but I won't treat her as anything but my precious baby, either."

Neither man challenged her, though she knew the psychological impact of what her family had done would hit her hard at some point. She just had to make sure it never hit her baby. She'd make it sound like she'd chosen to be the surrogate to ensure her sibling had the best in utero care, tell her baby that she wouldn't permit anyone else to carry her.

"Will it hurt her?" she asked Finn, this healer who understood emotion. "When she's older?"

"Not if you tell her the truth from the start," Finn said. "Make it a naturalized part of her life. Surrogates are common enough, and though carrying your own half-sibling is unusual, children are adaptable. If you tell her the truth in an age-appropriate way, she'll probably simply accept it and only ask questions at an older age, when you can discuss it with her with the help of a healer or an empath."

Rage simmered in Auden, washing away the ice and leaving embers dark and violent in its wake. "They hurt her before she was even born," she bit out. "Created her because they decided my mother's genes mattered more than her psychological well-being." At least now she understood why this baby was so important, why her family would do anything to keep her. "What about the paternal DNA?"

"No match on any system I could access," Finn said, "so whatever you were told might be the truth."

"A high-Gradient telepath with zero signs of any other minor abilities," Auden murmured. "Yes, that makes sense if they were determined to produce another high-Gradient Tp." It also made sense that they'd left Henry out of the equation. It might've been as simple as the fact that his genetic material hadn't been saved. But she had the feeling it was more because that match had produced a psychometric.

Better not to risk the same a second time around.

So Shoshanna had chosen a family of telepaths so pure that—per Auden's memory—they hadn't had a non-Tp in the line for at least two generations. Pair that with Shoshanna's genetic profile, and whoever had done the calculations had been right: Auden's baby was going to grow up to be one hell of a powerful telepath.

"Do you know why I started to improve, neurologically speaking?" she asked Finn, very conscious of Remi's prowling presence as he walked around to the other side of the incubator. "Any indication on the scans?" Because Auden needed to know if she would regress—and how much time she had to make sure no one would ever have a chance to harm her child…or the alpha who had enfolded that innocent life into his heart.

She'd hurt anyone who dared touch him.

"No, but it might be related to fetal stem cells released by your baby," Finn muttered, wheeling back to grab his organizer. "All the decades of research and there's still not a ton we know about them. If it was that, then the effect should be permanent—they would've physically healed the damaged parts of your brain."

Auden wanted to believe him. Dr.Verhoeven had theorized the same thing…but her baby was Psy. A Psy with a mind so piercing at such a young age that she had to be on the verge of being a cardinal. 9.8 or 9.9. It was as likely that the effect was a psychic one, and that it would fade now that her child was no longer somehow compensating for her mother's neural damage.

A small beep sounded on Finn's wrist unit, the screen flashing yellow. The healer rose to his feet. "Non-emergency injury, but I'll go take a look and see what's happened."

Finn's eyes met Remi's on the way out, and Remi saw the anger in them. Finn was fucking pissed at what had been done to Auden by medical staff who should've done no harm .

Removing her hand from the incubator after the healer had left, Auden turned to him. "Remi?"

"Yeah?" It came out rough, his need to pull her into his arms a storm.

"What I said, about the need for a successor?" The blue of her eyes was a turbulent storm against the lush dark of her skin. "It makes sense, but the doctor said something to me on my last checkup that I can't forget. He said that I couldn't know how long ‘this brain' would function."

"What?" Remi scowled. "Like you can replace it like a tire on a car?"

A nod from Auden. "That was my thought process. It's an entirely strange way to discuss my possible neurological decline now that my baby isn't assisting me in staying functional."

Remi said fuck it and hauled her against his chest. She needed to be held and he was going to do the holding.

Her arms came around him, gripping tight.

"You'll be fine," he said, and they both knew it was more hope than true knowledge. "Finn and Dr.Bashir found absolutely nothing, no signs of any new damage."

Auden's reply avoided answering him. "The brain discussion, there's something behind it. Because it's not just that. All the scans I remember having? They weren't only tech-based. I had psychic scans, too. I have only vague memories of those, but what reason would there be for a psychic scan of my brain when the damage was physical?"

Her fingers clenched at his back. "Charisma might be paying lip service to my supposed status as CEO, but I'm an ignorant pawn on the chessboard." Heat in her voice now, nothing even close to defeat. "I won't let them win."

Shifting back without letting go of him, she met his gaze. "I need to be certain my baby is safe before I fragment again into that other Auden…or Audens. I don't know how many pieces of me exist, how many different Audens there are. Right now, I'm holding on to me , and I need to utilize that limited window of time."

Remi growled. "Your family will get to your cub over my fucking dead body. RainFire might not be a power, but we're leopards. We can take her and disappear into the wild and no one will ever find her."

Auden's pupils flared. "But what kind of life would that be for her, for you, for your pack?"

"The Arrows have also offered to take her, protect her." It would tear out Remi's heart to let go of this child who'd been placed in his care, but he'd do it if it would protect both her and the children of the pack.

Fisting her hands, Auden shook her head. "So much kindness," she said, her voice rough. "So many strangers helping us." A tremor. "No one ever warned me that the outside world could be so good ."

A sheen in her eyes, she said, "But I don't want a life in hiding for my baby. I want freedom for her. I want her to be able to live life unfettered." Protective fury in every word. "To do that, I have to unlock the box of secrets my mother left behind."

"We," Remi corrected, cradling her face. "If you think I'm letting you walk into that snake pit alone, then you have no idea who I am, Cupcake."

"Cupcake?" Her lower lip quivered.

He rubbed the pad of his thumb over the fullness of it. "Cinnamon roll didn't have the same ring."

"Cupcakes are sweet and pretty."

"And delicious and bitable."

She flushed before her hands closed over his wrists, her fingers long and slender and her eyes stark and brilliant. "I have a vague memory of overhearing a conversation—I didn't have to lurk or eavesdrop. Most of the time, I was standing right there, spaced-out, but…the odd thing got through.

"Charisma and Dr.Verhoeven were arguing, with Charisma saying I was in no state to carry a pregnancy, while the doctor was saying it had to be me, that I was the only viable candidate and that…"

Remi's leopard prowled against his skin. "What?"

"How they said I was the only viable carrier." She frowned. "It's factually wrong. Members of our family have used professional surrogates. Strong telepaths, of course, but not blood related to the Scotts. It's not the preferred option, is in fact heavily discouraged— unless it's the only viable option. That exception should've applied if their other choice was a woman with brain damage who might do something to cause harm to the child."

Remi wondered how she didn't see it—probably because she was too close. "Has to be psychic stuff. A psychic mother must affect the child's development in a way they couldn't be certain they could replicate in a surrogate."

Auden made a face. "As far as psychic powers go, I'm the weakest of the weak according to my family's way of measuring such things. I could be a cardinal but as a psychometric, I'd still be at the bottom rung of the ladder." She worried the edge of her shirt sleeve with her other hand, but her eyes were unfocused, her thoughts inward.

"I also had neural deficits at the time, deficits that were believed to be permanent," she said. "They could've locked me up in a med ward, but even so, a scared and mentally distraught mother would've nullified any psychic gain."

Remi gave a slow nod. "Which leaves you with the same question with which you started. What's so special about your brain that makes you and your daughter so valuable to them?"

Auden swallowed. "I have strange dreams," she said, the words a near-whisper. "Even when I was unconscious, I feel like I dreamed. Of a web created of glittering blue spidersilk against a night sky. I'm not scared in the dream. I feel wonder."

"A link to your ability?"

"It's possible it's an echo of an imprint I don't remember, but…" Shivering, she rubbed her hands up and down her upper arms. "It's as eerie as it's lovely but at times, it feels like it's coming from the outside in." She stroked the top of the incubator. "As if it's from another Auden."

His leopard rumbled in rage at being unable to fight this for her—because this battle was inside her brain, far from his claws and his anger. "You're planning to go back into the Scott home."

"Yes. Only me. Never her." Her jaw tightened.

Arms folded, Remi worked through the possible options. "Chances they'll guess she's here?"

"Nil. It just wouldn't come up as a possibility in their thoughts—perhaps it would if you were that big leopard pack out in California with prior Psy contacts, but right now—"

"—right now we're a barely noticeable blip on their radar," Remi completed. "You also have access to funds that mean you could've hired a teleporter to send her someplace far away."

"Yes. A fact I'll make clear." Auden's face was grim. "I don't know if Charisma was ever aware of my trust fund—Henry signed it over to me at fifteen, an irrevocable transfer his family likely has no idea was done, it was so many years ago." A hitch in her breath. "He loved me once, I think. As much as my father could love anyone."

Remi knew all about asshole fathers, understood her ambivalence about Henry. "My father got in touch with me about seven months after my mother's death."

"What did you do?" Auden asked softly with the understanding of a woman who knew the dueling desires of a child abandoned or abused.

"I'd always thought I'd punch him in the face, but when it came to it, I felt nothing." Remi could still remember staring at the man who had eyes the same color as Remi's and seeing nothing but a waste of space. "Part of it was probably grief over my mother's death, but to this day, I don't regret telling him I had nothing to say to him. Some choices, once made, you don't get to walk back."

Auden spread her hand over the top of the incubator. "Have you ever felt the need to seek him out again?"

Remi didn't have to think of his answer. "No. I learned how to love, how to be loyal, how to be a good son, a good man, without him. He had nothing I wanted, just a hollowness of the soul that repelled me." He closed his hand over Auden's on the incubator. "You love your baby with the fierceness of a leopardess. You outpaced and outgrew Henry and Shoshanna one hell of a long time ago."

Tears in the blue, her voice husky as she said, "Do you think your mother would've liked me?" A question so quiet it was almost inaudible.

His throat grew thick. "She would've adored you." Gina would've seen the same courage and heart in Auden that had tangled Remi in ropes so strong that he knew he'd be indelibly scarred if she splintered into another Auden, his Auden forever lost. "You're planning to fight for your cub like she fought for hers. If she was alive, she'd be right by your side, claws out."

He wove their fingers together. "She might not be here, but that cub of hers is going to walk with you into that house, and find the truth."

Auden's pupil's expanded, obsidian in the blue. "I don't know how to get you in. I'm planning to use my baby as collateral for my safety—they touch me physically or psychically, and they never see her again." A twist of her lips. "They'll never see her anyway, but it might buy me time to unearth the truth."

Remi's claws sliced out of his skin, but he made sure he didn't cut her. When the cub made a complaining sound, he rumbled deep and low in his chest to calm her back down. Only once she was snuffling away did he ask his question. "Can they tear open your mind to get to her?"

"No. Infants are tied to their mothers. A mental assault on my mind would murder her, too—especially as she's premature." Auden looked down at the baby. "I'm just pretending, baby. I'd never give you to them, no matter what."

Remi narrowed his eyes. "Hire us."

"What?" Auden stared.

"Hire our security arm," he repeated grimly. "I don't actually expect you to pay us, but set it up like a business deal."

Auden's mouth opened, closed again. "Yes," she said after a long pause. "They'd see me hiring you as a convenient option since we already have another deal, and you've built trust by flying me in the chopper."

A look at her baby. "But not in a million years would they consider that I'd leave her with you—because whatever is wrong with me, they still believe I think like a Scott."

"And Scotts believe they're better than others, and infinitely better than any changeling," Remi guessed.

Auden's gaze turned unfocused, and he could almost see her thinking it through in every minute detail. "Does your pack have any kind of a security presence? It has to look real."

"RainFire Security has a strong reputation in our region. Even have Psy clients who won't trust anyone else—I'm sure they'll cooperate if your people reach out to ask for a reference."

He tapped the side of his head. "Changeling shields. Changeling speed. Changeling strength—and crucially, changeling senses. We make damn good bodyguards against physical threats, and can hold up much longer than humans against a psychic assault. Now that Silence has fallen, there's no taboo against Psy hiring changeling bodyguards."

She stared off into space for several seconds. "They could attempt to cut off access to my trust fund once they become aware of it. It'll be harder to sell a transactional relationship if I don't have the funds to pay you."

"I have a hacker in the pack." Why hide it when it was part of the toolkit of every smart alpha? Psy liked to put things in computers and Psy also liked to attack changeling systems—it was just good sense to have both defensive and offensive capabilities on that front. "If you trust me with the details of your account, we can secure it."

"Give me an organizer and I'll load the access details onto it," Auden said without hesitation. "The requirements include a live retinal scan, so your hacker will need to come here. Or you'll need to be the one to take that scan, since it's better if you keep your packmates from my memory."

Her face went bleak. "I'm going to fight my hardest, but I'm a Ps-Psy. I can't keep them from my mind if they decide to rape it in order to get to my baby. It might take them a few weeks to get to that point—or they might wait a couple of months until they're near certain the baby would survive."

Remi's chest rumbled. He found himself curving one hand around her nape, his claws scraping her pulse. "Make me a promise, Auden."

She waited, fierce will and unshakable courage.

"It would kill me to be unable to protect you against that kind of assault. So the first hint of something happening, you tell me—and then you tell me who it is."

"You won't be able to get to them on the psychic plane," Auden said, anguish in her tone. For him.

"No, but I can shoot them in the head."

Auden stared at Remi, the blunt violence of his answer a cold shock…but a good one. Because he could stop a psychic assault if she could get him to the right target. "People can attack on the PsyNet itself," she said, "and that can be done from a distance, but I think with the baby's life on the line, it'll be up close so they can stabilize me after they take control. I'll tell you. I promise."

The warmth of his hand squeezing her nape felt good. Too good.

She had no right to it, or to the warm, happy, sweet feeling of being called "Cupcake" in that deep voice, but she held on to it all the same.

Her phone began to beep, the sound distinctive. When Remi looked at her, she nodded, and he grabbed it for her from where it sat on Finn's workspace.

She glanced at the screen. "It's Charisma. I'll answer in the bathroom. There's a faux-wooden wall that looks similar to the walls of my cabin. A white background will make her suspicious."

And it was time Auden began to not only play this game—but lead it.