Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Miane, it's a go on our idea to blood-bond the half-human children to you.

The theory is that given the strong ties of family and friendship between BlackSea and the Alliance, the children should be pulled into the BlackSea changeling network the instant after their minds separate from the PsyNet, but EmNet has assigned a team to psychically force the transfer if necessary.

The infants could also end up pulling their Psy parent into the network, due to the parent-child bond.

The scientists are certain that, with no PsyNet to return to, the children will cling to the new network out of instinct, even with no adult Psy to hold them in place.

—Bowen Knight, security chief of the Human Alliance, to Miane Levèque, alpha of BlackSea (2 November 2083)

IT WAS FULL dark and dinner was over by the time Zaira left Auden.

"I'll be back tomorrow," the Arrow told Remi when he met her outside, the tree canopy above them a sprawling darkness against the starlit sky. "This isn't a task that can be completed in a day—especially not when she's weak from childbirth."

"Can you get her to a point where she'll be safe inside the Scott household?"

Zaira nodded. "From everyone but a telepath of Shoshanna's strength and skill—and Auden says they have no one like that in the family."

"Thanks, Zaira." He reached into a pocket. "Before I forget—I don't know how Jojo figured out you were here, but she made you this."

Zaira smiled at the painstakingly drawn image of a leopard, its coat purple with sparkly silver dots. At the top it said, "For Zai," the wobbly words nonetheless legible. "Give her a hug from me, and tell her I love it and that I'll be back for a proper visit with her soon."

With that, the Arrow faded off into the darkness, from which Remi had picked up a familiar—yet unknown—scent. Zaira's teleport assist was most often the same Arrow: Alejandro. Yet Remi had never laid eyes on the man—Alejandro preferred to stay in the shadows, for reasons neither Aden nor Zaira had ever vocalized, but Remi figured plenty of Arrows had scars.

Aden thought Alejandro was safe to permit knowledge of RainFire.

That was good enough for Remi.

Turning on his heel after Zaira vanished into the night, he went toward the infirmary and caught sight of Finn heading toward him. "Both asleep," the healer said. "Auden barely managed to stay awake long enough to cuddle Liberty even after all the nutrient drinks Zaira pumped into her through the day—the shield stuff must be heavy-duty mental lifting."

Remi grumbled. "I wanted to say good night."

Rolling his eyes, Finn yawned. "Go. You won't wake Auden, and Liberty falls asleep as fast as she wakes at the moment, so you're safe to pet her a little."

"You need sleep, too," Remi said with a scowl, and shook his head when Finn went to argue. "Go to sleep. That's an order from your alpha. Who else is on medical watch?"

"Sass." Another jaw-cracking yawn.

"Then we'll be fine—I'll help her keep an eye on the patients, and we'll wake you the instant anything goes wrong." He squeezed the other man's shoulder. "Shut-eye before you fall asleep mid-operation."

"As if I'd ever," was the grumpy response before Finn walked over to his home—the aerie closest to the infirmary.

Once inside the cubes, Remi told Saskia what was up—to the shake of her head, the rich scarlet of her hair in a neat French braid. "Hugo told him that before he went off shift, and I told him that two hours ago, but would the stubborn man listen to us?"

"Healers," they said in unison, and laughed.

Remi cupped her face afterward, her skin the hue of cream, and said, "And you, Sass? You doing okay?" She and Hugo were both so efficient that it would've been easy to forget that they, too, needed their alpha's attention—except not forgetting was Remi's job.

"I'm wishing Rina's little brother was a few years older so I could lure him to my aerie without guilt," Saskia said with a wicked glint in her eye. "Then again, he might be into older women."

Chuckling, Remi touched his lips to hers in a kiss that had nothing to do with romance and everything to do with affection, his protective instincts toward the healers in the pack a thing unbound. "I have no comment on that," he said after cuddling her close. "Just remember that Rina knows where you sleep."

Saskia's shoulders shook in his embrace. "Excellent point."

After a couple more minutes speaking to the nurse, he went to check in on Auden and Liberty. Their cube was quiet and dark, the only lights coming from Liberty's incubator, and the soft night lights built into the skirting of the walls.

Auden was frowning and tossing in her sleep, her curls tied up in what appeared to be a silk scarf that looked like something Saskia would choose for herself. Since he'd briefed all the medical staff on Auden's needs as a psychometric, it had to be brand-new and machine-made—Sass wouldn't have risked giving Auden a used one. He had good people in his pack—and they appreciated a mother who fought for the happiness of her cub.

"Shh," he murmured with a brush of his palm over her cheek, rumbling deep in his chest in the way he'd noticed she liked. "I'm here. I'll watch over her."

A sigh, her body turning into his.

He stroked her back until she was in a deep sleep, then turned to Liberty. He'd kept an ear out for the cub from the start, but she hadn't woken. Now he touched her through the little circle in the incubator, and felt her in his heart. Strange, but it was almost as if she was blood-bonded to him, same as Finn and his sentinels.

A memory of the rich scent of blood, of a child born while her mother clutched at Remi's hand and begged him to protect her baby. Of Remi's claiming of the baby as one of his. Of a tiny life Remi could feel as he could feel every member of his pack.

"You're mine, aren't you, little one?" he said, certain beyond any doubt that Liberty was linked into the PsyNet through her mother and into RainFire through him. No one had to tell him if it was possible—he knew.

It was a long time later that the baby whimpered.

Aware by now how long she needed to spend in the incubator, Remi knew it was safe to take her out for a cuddle. "Hey, now," he rumbled as he picked her up after tugging off his T-shirt so she'd have skin-to-skin contact. "What's this, hmm?"

She settled the instant she was against his chest, her little hiccups adorable. Smiling, he nuzzled at her, felt her smile in his heart. And for a fragment of a heartbeat, he saw a glittering blue spiderweb in his mind, a creation lovely and eerie…and so real that he knew he hadn't imagined it.

···

AUDEN lifted her eyelashes and smiled. A half-naked Remi was purring deep in his chest while he rocked Liberty, and her heart, it couldn't bear it. Then she noticed the light, so blue and clear, and looked up to see the web floating above their heads.

Wonder filled her veins, spilled over her hands…and spread in a web across the infirmary floor in a slow sweep that made Auden frown. She was forgetting something important.

But the thought slipped out of her grasp as quickly as sleep swept her back under. And when she woke to the morning dew, she wondered at the surreal clarity of her dream. She might've been concerned about why she was dreaming of webs, but what was there to fear from a thing so lovely?

"Is it you?" she whispered to Liberty with a smile when she rose. "My little telepath dreaming big dreams?"

The baby slept on, her rest that of the innocent.

···

THE four-day window over, Auden stood beside the incubator dressed in a black shift dress with sharp lines that nonetheless allowed room for her body to recover at its own pace. To her joy, her milk had come in and she'd been able to feed Liberty four precious times. Today, she'd pumped what she could, then Finn had injected her with a medication that would stop her milk supply for the next eighteen hours.

She could do this five times in a row before the effect became permanent. Which meant she had to play this game to the end before then. She'd had too much taken from her—she wouldn't allow her family to take this joy from her, too.

Auden touched her baby one last time.

Her eyes swam wet when she turned to a suit-clad Remi. He was big and handsome and when he closed his arms around her, she felt more safe than she had in her entire lifetime before him.

Hand on his chest, she pulled back only enough to look into his eyes. "I've heard Psy can survive in changeling networks," she said. "From what I've picked up since waking, the PsyNet situation is getting more dire by the day. If the worst happens—"

Remi squeezed her nape. "You don't have to ask, Auden. I'll make sure Libby is safe." He touched a fisted hand to his heart. "She's bonded by blood to me, is one of mine, part of RainFire. No matter what, she'll fall into the arms of her pack." He gripped her chin. "And I expect you to follow. It won't be difficult, not for you. Not when you're mine, too."

Auden's heart hitched but she didn't—couldn't—give a direct answer until she knew who or what she had inside her. "Let's go, or I won't be able to leave."

Rina, who'd been chatting to Finn, walked over at Remi's signal. Her suit was identical to Remi's in color—a crisp black paired with a white shirt—and cut to her body. Unlike Remi, she wasn't wearing a tie, but both had tiny dot microphones on their collars that were all but invisible, paired with equally subtle earpieces, and Rina carried a sleek briefcase over her shoulder that held their security gear.

Mliss would be dropping off spare clothing for them at the gate.

The Arrow named Vasic appeared next to Auden a heartbeat later. He wasn't, however, wearing the squad's uniform. Instead, he wore jeans and a sweatshirt, the hood of which he now flipped over his head. The deep cowl of it effectively hid his features, but he'd further helped that along by wearing sunglasses.

Unlike when they'd been introduced, he wore a prosthetic arm that filled out the left sleeve of his sweatshirt. The hand was so realistic that she did a double take. From a distance and in the split second that he might be caught on camera if Auden was wrong about that particular part of the house not being under surveillance, no one would ever pick him as the only known true teleporter in the world. Especially after he eased his body into a relaxed slouch no Arrow would ever consider proper posture.

Remi whistled at the transformation. "Who taught you that? Juvenile?"

"Yes. It appears that contented young men have no actual bones."

Laughing, Remi touched the top of Liberty's incubator. "Finn and the pack will look after you while we're gone, kitten. Be good."

The last thing Auden felt before the world tilted and blurred for a slight second prior to coming back into clear focus was her baby's happiness at hearing Remi's voice. Then Vasic was gone and the three of them stood in the shadows of an alcove at the far end of a corridor.

Auden's mind shifted, her maternal instincts transforming into a weapon razored and without mercy. To these people, her child was nothing but a pawn to use as they wished. Over her fucking dead body. "Let's do this," she said, and strode out, with Remi and Rina a step back and on either side of her.

On a real protective detail, they'd have been in front of and behind her, on alert for threats from any side, but she'd wanted to make an entrance—and Remi understood the importance of taking power by demanding it.

Auden knew that didn't mean he and Rina weren't both on high alert, their senses attuned to every scent, every sound, every possible threat. No doubt they'd spotted the three cameras they'd passed, as well as picking up any scents in the vicinity.

"Charisma." Remi's voice giving her quiet warning at least ten seconds before her mother's aide appeared from around the corner.

The other woman froze, her eyes going immediately to Auden's no longer distended belly.

Remi came to a halt the instant Auden did, then he and Rina stepped out to put their backs to the wall on either side. Neither made any attempt to hide their constant scans of the area.

Charisma found her voice at last. "Was there a medical emergency?"

"It was dealt with," Auden said, without elaborating.

"The child?"

"Is receiving excellent care." Not allowing the aide time to respond, Auden said, "I'd like to advise you that I've hired two members of RainFire as my personal security. You'll recognize Alpha Denier."

Charisma's face twisted into the cold facsimile of a smile that she'd learned from Shoshanna. "You have no need of personal security here. You are the head of this household."

"Don't be foolish, Charisma." Auden's voice was so frigid and cutting that Remi wouldn't have believed it was her if he hadn't been able to see her. "We both know Auden has been nothing but a puppet for a long time."

His hackles rose. Why was she talking about herself in the third person? And what the hell had just happened with her scent? It wasn't as bad as before, but the metallic edge was back. He caught the flare of Rina's nostrils, knew the sentinel had picked up the impossibility of it, too.

People's true scents did not change between one breath and the next.

"It's time I ended that state of affairs once and for all," Auden added. "I'm ready to reclaim my position."

Charisma's thin shoulders squared underneath her black turtleneck, a flat hardness to her expression. "You realize you'll have to go through a test to confirm your competency."

"No, I won't," Auden replied, the smile on her face as cold as a cobra's. "Because this family made sure Auden was never legally declared incompetent in the first place."

Charisma's face went white. "Sir, you said…" She shook her head. "This isn't what was agreed."

"I make the agreements." Ice-cold words. "I am now your boss, and my first order is that you go and make sure my suite is clear of any and all surveillance devices. Both my guards are experts at detecting them through scent alone, so if you value your job, you'd better ensure you don't accidentally ‘forget' one as you did before."

The temperature dropped another ten degrees. "Did you think I didn't notice, Ris?" A silkiness to her voice that made Remi's leopard snarl. "As if that pathetic weasel of a man wasn't leaving his sweaty imprints everywhere, even through the gloves. At least the hypersensitivity in pregnancy had a benefit there. I also want you to assign the suite next door to my guards. Make sure it's clear."

Charisma's face had frozen into that horrible smile at first, but her expression was almost hopeful when she next spoke. "Sir, you can't blame me for my caution."

"Honestly, Ris." Auden held out her hand. "Give me your organizer." Once she had it, she input something, then handed it back. "Will you stop hovering now and act as my aide?"

Charisma's breathing turned unsteady as she stared at the screen. "Of course, sir." Eyes so bright and shiny that Remi would've called it adoration had this not been a Psy who continued to cling to Silence. "Your guards will have to be assigned house armbands so they're not stopped."

"No, Ris. It's your job to tell everyone that they are mine. Anyone who so much as touches either one will answer to me."

"Yes, sir. I'll take care of the suite now," the aide said, almost bowing before she walked away on rapidly clicking high heels.

None of them spoke in the aftermath, conscious the public areas were monitored. The silence gave Remi's thoughts too much space to grow: the Auden he'd just seen…she was a vicious creature wholly different from the one who'd cuddled Liberty and eaten pastries with gusto.

He wanted to shake her, make her return to the Auden he knew…and not this other who had taken her over like a cold storm with no empathy or mercy in her.

"This is my office," Auden said, leading them into a meticulously neat room with no papers on the desk of black glass and no art on the black walls. Not even a fake wall of books for decorative purposes.

"Clinical" was the word that came to mind.

"Security sweep." Auden's voice was an order that ruffled his leopard's fur the wrong way—but not because it was an order. Because it had been given by this alternate version of Auden.

Rina closed and locked the door behind them before they both took out scanners they'd purchased through a contact of the squad. They were the highest spec on the market, and so far had never failed to detect any covert surveillance devices. Because while Auden hadn't been lying about their senses being able to pick up things that didn't belong, such small devices rarely had a scent strong enough to make a difference.

Still, he wasn't against helping strengthen the legend of changeling abilities.

Auden stood motionless and watchful by the door as they worked, but her eyes had gone obsidian in a sweeping tide and he realized she'd taken off her thin black glove and was touching the door handle, checking for imprints.

He and Rina found ten devices between them, depositing the components in a neat pile on the glass desk. "Clear," Rina said after a secondary scan.

Remi then did a third. "Clear," he confirmed.

Eyes of haunting obsidian stared off into nothing for another long second before Auden said, "Clear." Staggering forward in the aftermath, she placed her hand smack on the glass of the desk.

A hiss of sound.