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)
That was why Finn was such a damn good healer: when it came to his patients, he had zero fucks to give as to the opinions and desires of others—even when that other was his alpha. “How is she?” Remi asked, his leopard clawing at his skin.
“Good. Told you she was strong.” Finn’s expression was grim. “I haven’t spoken to her about the other thing yet.”
Remi clenched his beard-shadowed jaw. Finn had been caught between a rock and a hard place when he’d discovered something about Auden and her child during the scans after he stabilized her. Not all the scans and panels he’d run had been standard, but given the complex birth and Auden’s history, Finn had decided it was better to go for overkill than not do enough.
He’d been stunned at what he’d discovered—and worried about the possible implications. In a changeling pack, the alpha was always told of any such situations, but Auden wasn’t changeling, wasn’t part of their pack. In a normal situation, Finn would’ve held her confidence and spoken to the person who had the authority to make medical decisions on her behalf.
But Auden didn’t trust anyone in her family, her doctor, or Charisma Wai.
Which had left Finn only one choice: to default to Remi, as Auden fell under his protection while in RainFire territory.
“We wait,” Remi said. “Let her have some time with her cub before we tell her.”
Finn gave a nod, then stood aside so Remi could walk into the room.
Auden was sitting with her legs over the side of the bed, her hair a tumble of glossy curls down her shoulders. Saskia had asked a packmate who had similar curls what to do for her patient’s hair to make sure she felt good when she emerged from her unconscious state, but Remi didn’t think Auden had even noticed.
Her eyes were huge with happiness as she watched her baby, her hand inside the incubator through the little circle built for that, her finger gentle as she stroked her baby’s fist. The cub flexed a tiny hand and closed it over Auden’s finger—to her gasp.
“Did you see that?” she whispered, looking at him with a tearstained face that was painfully young and sweet.
It kicked him again, just how young Auden was in comparison to the women in the pack who’d given birth. Aden and Zaira had both mentioned that, per Psy cultural norms, she was nowhere near the age where fertilization and conception agreements were even considered much less authorized—especially in a family like the Scotts.
What did my mother want with me that she kept me alive?
Remi’s hand threatened to go clawed.
“Yeah,” he managed to say past his fury, “the kitten’s got a strong grip.”
That tiny hand had wrapped around his own finger when he’d held her, her fingers so fragile that it incited every protective instinct in his alpha heart. It seemed impossible that anything could be so small and fragile.
He’d reminded himself that he’d held a premature Jojo at birth, too—the first cub born into the pack had decided to arrive over a month before her due date, a wrinkled little bean who’d cried the thinnest cry Remi had ever heard, her little fists shaking in fury at being deprived of the warm haven of her mother’s body.
He’d fallen in love at first sight, his leopard purring in welcome. It had purred for Auden’s baby, too. Claiming it with the same possessiveness he’d claimed Jojo.
“Also, no patience,” he muttered, growling in his chest over the incubator. “Had to rush to be born, didn’t you, kitten?”
The indicator lights on the panel flickered.
“What does that mean?” Auden’s voice was quick, her inhale rapid.
“That’s what she does when Remi’s around,” a passing Finn said with a grin. “It’s all good stuff, don’t worry. She likes our growly leader for some reason.”
Auden looked at Remi, then at her baby. “You’re the reason she’s alive.” Her voice was choked up. “Thank you for getting me, getting us help.”
Remi waved that off; he didn’t want gratitude from Auden.
But she wasn’t done. “I feel so stupid. I really didn’t think I was putting her in danger…I wanted her out of it, was buying time to ask you to give her sanctuary.”
Withdrawing her hand from the incubator as if she didn’t dare risk her child feeling her anguish, she hugged her arms around herself. “All scans prior to my trip said the pregnancy was stable.”
“It was,” Remi answered, since Finn had just stepped outside. “Finn can give you the technical breakdown, but he and Tammy did a bit of research on Psy births after Dr. Bashir managed to get them into a Psy medical database, and it looks like you had a rare complication. Unpredictable. No way for you to have known.”
She bit down on her lower lip, her arms still around her body.