Chapter 50

Chapter 50

I am calling a meeting of the board at 11 a.m. Tuesday. Attendance is mandatory.

—Message from Auden Denier to the Scott Board of Directors (17 January 2084)

AUDEN RAN HER hand down the lines of her sleek but comfortable dark pink shift one last time before she strode out of her office at the new Scott HQ in Sunset Falls and down the hall to the conference room where the board awaited—that included her uncle, who'd emerged from his kidnapping with a healthy fear of both changelings and Auden, and no actual memories of anything.

Auden might've felt sorry for him if she hadn't learned that, while she lay fighting for her life, he'd set a pack of lawyers to figuring out how to screw Liberty out of her birthright. After everything Shoshanna had done to Liberty before she was even born, Hayward didn't get to claim the one useful thing Shoshanna might have done for Auden's baby.

As Remi would say, fuck that noise .

She gave the entire board a cool look as she entered.

Then she took control with an ease and a depth of knowledge that had never been hers before her mother decided to invade her mind.

Bleedover.

She'd had two choices once it became clear that some of the bleedover from Shoshanna's attempts at transference was permanent and embedded into her neurons: either rage against it in bitterness that would slowly turn toxic inside her…or own it.

Auden had chosen the latter option. Because even if Shoshanna had left information and skills behind in Auden's head, she hadn't left any traces of her personality or sense of self. Auden knew that beyond any doubt—because her mother had simply never had the capacity to love that bled through Auden's veins.

Remi had confirmed that her scent no longer showed any signs of cold metal, but her mate had also supported her desire to consult an empath, as well.

"The only person inside you is you," Vasic's mate, Ivy Jane Zen, had said. "I've worked with fragmented personalities before, and you're not one of them." She'd taken Auden's hands in her own. "Your mind is cohesive and your loyal, loving heart is a delight for an E—you're a good person, Auden, and you're very much your own person."

Ivy's little white dog had stood on Auden's feet just then, his tail wagging as he waited to be petted. "See," Ivy had said with a laugh, "Rabbit agrees with me, and he's the best judge of character around."

Shoshanna had played a high-stakes game—and lost.

Now, Auden owned this knowledge, and she'd decided to use it to seize control of her family.

"I have two options," she'd said to Remi once she was healed enough to head out into the world. "Surrender the family to its current path, or assume the CEO position and try to make them something better. I'm going for option two." Scott might not be a name Auden would ever again claim, for her or her child, but neither was she about to allow evil to win.

"I also feel bad for the young ones like my cousin Devlin," she'd added. "He's never had the chance to become anything but what Shoshanna, then Charisma shaped him to be. I think I can make a difference, give the next generation a shot at a life like our baby is going to have."

"You know I have your back," Remi had said. "I also know you'll kick ass."

Jaya, the empath who'd felt like a friend from the moment Auden first met her while conscious, had grimaced—but only because she knew what awaited Auden. "They'll try to manipulate you, poison your mind. Be wary."

"I will be," Auden had said, having no plans to be felled by arrogance. "But I have an advantage: all of my mother's strategic skills and memories." Shoshanna had been a grand master.

Jaya had held her gaze. "Power can be a kind of poison, too. Never forget that."

It was a warning Auden had heeded, and would continue to heed. What helped keep her centered and herself was that every night after she finished with her duties as the Scott CEO, she went home to RainFire and to her mate and child. She'd also begun to hire staff unconnected to the family, shedding those she could never trust at the same time.

Her first hire had been an empath who could tell her which people were noxious.

Her second had been a teleport-capable telekinetic raised to be an Arrow but who'd gone freelance after the fall of Silence.

Zaira had vouched for him. Plus, while the nineteen-year-old was a grim-faced soldier when in front of her family, he turned into a big kid with the leopards. Turned out he was dating a RainFire juvenile around his own age.

She trusted him even with Liberty.

Who never ever left RainFire territory, and wouldn't without a guard until Auden had absolute control over this family.

"No," she said today in response to a proposal, her voice a blade of ice. "That will lead to a ten percent loss. The Suma projection came out three hours ago, altering the scope of the matter."

A rustle around the table as the others checked the projection. She permitted it, knowing that if she earned their respect, she'd hold it a lot longer than if she taught them to fear her. That was one good thing she'd learned at Shoshanna's knee; her mother had been an awful mother, and she'd taken the family in terrible directions—but once, long ago, she'd been a good CEO.

Her people had followed her because they trusted her.

Now the others agreed with Auden's decision, and when they began to discuss alternate options, she was ready with the best possible choice. She'd done her research, used every database at her disposal. This wasn't an easy job, would never be an easy job, but it was one she intended to conquer and hold.

Evil could only win if each person with a choice allowed it to win.

The meeting closed on a good note, with the board congratulating her on the outcome of another recent move, and one of the more senior members saying, "I hope you will excuse me for saying this, Auden, but you are proving to be your mother's daughter."

"I'm better." Auden rose to her feet. "My mother became interested in other things toward the end of her life, let the businesses and the family both get stagnant."

A ripple of nods around the table.

"I intend to take this family in fresh new directions," she said, now that she had their attention. "There is no room in my plan for dinosaurs who wish to do things as they've always been done."

Remi had laughed when she'd tried out this part of her intended speech on him. "That's my tough-as-nails little cat."

"Cupcake," she'd corrected. "A tough-as-nails iron cupcake."

Grinning, he'd crooked his finger at her from where he lounged on the floor cushions listening to her. "Come here, my gorgeous iron cupcake. I want to lick your frosting."

Needless to say, Auden had had an excellent night.

Today, as the board members looked at one another, she folded her arms. "Logic alone dictates that we can't make unethical decisions in a world full of empaths who are wide-awake and are working with many of our business associates. All the simulations I've run forecast a future where ethical businesses open to oversight by Es will outperform others by a considerable margin."

Oh, she had their attention now. And she would rub the dirt off the Scott name, even if it took her a lifetime. It was part of her baby's history, and she'd give her a history to be proud of.

···

WHEN she left the meeting to head downstairs, what she saw made little bubbles of happiness pop in her veins.

Remi stood behind the sliding glass doors of the entrance, his big body leaning up against a rugged vehicle that would take her up into the mountains and to RainFire. Camo green T-shirt, faded jeans, old boots, and sunglasses, he made her want to pounce on him and take a big bite.

"You could've at least washed the vehicle," she teased after she exited. "You probably gave the doorman an aneurysm."

"I washed myself," said the cat who was opening the passenger door for her. "Does that count?"

Since Auden was even then nuzzling his neck in open affection—because she would never again live a lie, not for anyone—she couldn't say anything but, "You are such a cat."

"Meow."

Laughing, she got into the passenger seat and was smiling as they drove away, heading home to their baby and their pack.

You will be happy.

Yes, her Remi kept his promises and always would.

No evil on earth could ever win against the power of his wild heart.