Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 128413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Only…he didn’t know if he’d been fast enough, strong enough.
Because Bashir was still yelling out commands, asking for more blood, more drugs, and Auden remained motionless on the hospital bed, the sheet stained with streaks of red. Remi couldn’t reach her anymore, could no longer feel the tempest of love and rage that drove her.
Liberty was only an infant. She’d fallen asleep once the storm broke.
Knowing what Auden would ask of him in this instant, he rose to his feet while indicating that Rina should stay, keep watch on the dying, bleeding woman who was Remi’s mate.
Once outside the chaos of the hospital room, he made a call. “Finn, how is Libby?”
“Vital signs spiked just before I suddenly had Zaira and an Arrow I’ve never before seen in the room. I think he’s the teleporter she talks about—Alejandro. A minute later and the cub’s snoozing away, all stats stable. No fear in her scent. Wait, I’ll put you on speaker so you can talk to Zaira.”
“I was the one holding Auden’s shields today,” Zaira told him. “Whatever took place destroyed the secondary shield over her mind, alerting me to a psychic blast that might impact Liberty. I was ready to shield her, but wasn’t needed in the end.” A question in her voice.
Finn came on the line again before Remi could respond. “Remi, Liberty’s in distress again.” His tone changed. “Hey, now, little one. I have you. Shh.” A fine, thin cry reached Remi through the line. “Something’s wrong.”
Remi growled loud enough that the cub would hear, then purred low in his chest until the cries trickled off into sobs. He kept it up until Finn whispered that she was asleep.
“She’s scared because she can’t reach her mother,” Remi said, his voice rough. “Auden’s hurt bad. She must’ve done something to block the baby. She would never want Libby to—” Remi’s entire chest threatened to collapse in on itself. He couldn’t say it, couldn’t refer to the possible backlash from Auden’s death.
“Understood.” Zaira’s tone was softer than the harsh word implied. “I’ll maintain a close watch so I can cocoon the child against psychic shock.”
“You’re protecting Auden’s heart, Zaira. I’ll never forget this.”
“You protected mine once, Remi,” was the curt Zaira-like reminder. “No ledger between us. Ever.”
“I’ve taken you off speaker.” Finn’s voice. “What happened? Did someone assault Auden?”
Remi told the healer about Shoshanna’s psychotic attempt to transfer her consciousness by an unknown process. “She and Auden fought—inside their minds. I don’t know the details, just that Auden won.”
Because if Auden had lost, then Liberty wouldn’t be blocked from her mother—and Finn wouldn’t be concerned only about fear in Liberty’s scent; the infant’s scent would’ve been drenched in unmistakable cold metal as Shoshanna attempted to use her in her horrific quest to live forever.
“I was able to pass on pack energy to her through Liberty, but the damage done prior to that…” Hand fisting against the wall, he pushed off. “She gave everything she had.”
“Can you—”
“No,” Remi interrupted, well aware what his friend was suggesting. “She’s blocked me, too.” One last act of honor and courage from the only woman who’d made her way into Remi’s heart. “I’ve tried to get through.”
He’d never have pushed for the mating bond if she hadn’t been bleeding out in front of him. It was meant to be a choice. Her choice. But with the mating bond would come a direct link to him and his pack—and the energy of a changeling pack was a thing primitive and potent.
But Auden wouldn’t even let him try.
Protecting him from the unending grief of losing his mate. As if it wasn’t already too late, Remi’s heart forever tattooed with the name Auden Scott.
Chapter 44
My section of the PsyNet will most likely survive intact. I don’t know why but it’s the most stable piece in the entire state—and we have a disproportionate number of high-Gradient Psy inside it, thanks to its proximity to my HQ.
According to the experiments run on creating PsyNet islands, the Gradient load is skewed enough that we should be able to hold it, even if it’ll take everything we have.
There is room for refugees, and I suggest we prioritize empaths. This all began when Psy decided to erase emotion from our lives—and murder designation E along with it. It seems fitting that we should begin the war of survival by making the opposite choice.
—Nikita Duncan to the Ruling Coalition (18 November 2083)
KALEB DIDN’T ATTEMPT to get in touch with the NetMind.
The neosentience had been faded and weak when it sent its desperate request. The image of a leopard. A keening impression of help needed.
He’d locked onto that image without hesitation, though he hadn’t understood why the NetMind was sending it to him.
That leopard had stared at him in shock, too.
Mere heartbeats later and he’d seen Auden Scott in the arms of a man with clawed hands and shaggy hair myriad shades of brown, his eyes green and gold. It had made sense then. Of course it would be Shoshanna Scott’s daughter who had the rare ability to create a PsyNet island. A small gift, not enough to save the Net, but enough to save hundreds or—if she was strong enough—perhaps even thousands.