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)
Jojo’s brother made a sign with three of his fingers that was the newest rage among his age group. “Cub awake?” His leopard in his eyes, eager and bright.
This one, Remi thought, was going to grow up to be a soldier, one of the protectors of the pack. “Cubs that small just sleep and sleep and sleep some more.”
“Wow, and Mom says I’m bad.” He raised a hand. “I gotta buzz. School. When can I go into full soldier training?”
“When you’ve graduated and decided on your other specialty.” That was another thing he’d picked up from DarkRiver: to increase the pack’s intellectual capacity by ensuring that each and every packmate studied a skill, trade, or profession.
Lucas, for example, had an architect, multiple engineers, builders, an accountant, and more in his pack—all of which fed directly into the pack’s success when it came to their construction arm. Then there were the teachers, chefs, and even a budding chemist. And that wasn’t anywhere near the full extent of the pack’s basket of trades and professions.
Tamsyn was a qualified doctor as well as a healer, a path Finn had also taken. Remi hadn’t made an exception for himself, either—in his final year as a driver, when the ache to set up his own pack had become overwhelming, he’d put his nose to the grindstone to do an intensive course in business management. Because being a good alpha meant learning to deal with every weapon—even the political and business ones—so that no one could take advantage of his pack.
“I’m gonna be soooooo old,” Jayden groaned before limping off in an exaggerated fashion, his back bowed, and one hand pressed to his spine. “See, this is how ancient I’ll be. Oh my bones! Where’s my cane? Get off my lawn, you feral cubs!”
Leopard huffing at the juvenile’s dramatics, he carried the tray over to Auden. She’d drunk half a glass of nutrients and had a croissant in her hand in under a minute. She ate one-handed, her other hand inside the incubator, stroking her baby.
Remi glanced at the mobile comm that Auden had told him his mother had bought specifically for him. The knowledge made him warm inside, the memory of his mother’s love a bigger force than his grief. “I’ve got to go handle a bit of pack business. Back in twenty so we can talk.” He met Finn’s eyes.
The healer gave a subtle nod, while Auden continued to alternately coo at her baby and make sounds of orgasmic delight at the food that went straight to parts of his body that he needed to put the brakes on.
He almost ran out of the infirmary.
Just as well that the business he had to deal with was a comm call with a hard-ass human who thought he could underbid for RainFire’s services as security specialists just because they were newer on the block. “Your loss,” Remi said laconically, leaning back against the wall opposite the comm screen. “I’m sure the cut-rate guards will put their bodies in the line of fire for you just fine.”
The man blustered for another few minutes before agreeing to their rates, and Remi told him the contract would be coming through. Angel, who’d been standing out of visual range of the potential client, groaned. “He’s going to be a nightmare of a client.”
“I know—but man is connected.” It was the only reason Remi hadn’t already booted him. “Just think of all the work that’ll flow our way when people start to notice that his guards are top-tier and discreet.”
While their mech arm was part of their long-term business strategy, RainFire had had to come up with something with which to quickly generate income the first couple of years of their existence as a pack. Because a pack that couldn’t look after its people was doing those people a disservice. Better for it to dissolve and for everyone to go their own way.
They’d had a packwide meeting that included every single adult in the group, figured out the skills at their disposal—and realized they had a significant number of people with experience in security.
Angel had run security for a major racetrack.
“He also has close associates in the indi-mech industry,” Remi added when Angel continued to look dubious. “Try not to strangle him.”
“No promises,” Angel muttered as the two of them left Remi’s aerie.
Angel then took the tree road to go meet with his security team, while Remi jumped down to the forest floor, his goal the infirmary.
He heard Auden’s voice before he entered the part of the structure that held her and her baby. She was touching and talking to her child, but shot him a smile. He hated that she’d smoothed her hair back into a tight knot that took all the energy out of it, but if that was what made her feel safe, that was what made her feel safe.