Page 6 of The Wayward Sons & the Seattle Sirens

“Air.”

Of course. Two elements that’d make for great tools in fighting fires.

“He doesn’t hunt much, does he?” I guessed. “This was Mal’s hunt, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Tessa said. “Jake hasn’t hunted in years. He doesn’t like hunting. His job is stressful enough, you know?”

“I do. And Mal? How long has he been in town?”

“Maybe a year? A little longer,” she replied. “He failed out of a few colleges. He’s struggling, Ryder. He was okay for a while, but… I think he just doesn’t know where he fits in. He’s been hunting a lot in the general area. But he’s not always smart about it.”

“Mal never was.” I sighed and handed the phone back to her. Mal had always been reckless. A real hot head. The world was fun and games to him. That plus demons was a dangerous combination. As I got comfortable in my seat, she kept talking.

“He’s made a lot of mistakes, almost gotten hurt a few times, and just… I don’t know. I don’t think he knows what he’s doing.”

“That sounds like Mal,” I murmured. And I planned to hand him his ass after I rescued said ass.

“He’s just a little lost, Ryder,” she explained. “It’s not that we’ve been out of touch with Dad. Dad can’t prove it but knows that we helped you. He cut us both off completely, hired someone to take over the house from him, and some… really ugly things were said. I think Mal feels like he has to prove himself.”

“But you two are safe?” I asked. Dad’s warped sense of what-the-fuck after Zeke’s death had only grown worse over the years. I wasn’t sure what he had to prove to who, but as someone who’d been on the receiving end of his twisted thoughts, I didn’t want to think about what would happen to my siblings if he turned it on them. “Present circumstances aside, of course.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tessa assured me with a nod. “I mean, honestly… we have our inheritance. There’s nothing he can do about that. Neither of us wanted to take over the house, so it’s a relief anyway. I hate not knowing what’s going on with you—”

“You don’t need to worry about me, Tess,” I cut in gently. “Gray and I are just fine.”

“I know.” She smiled. “I’m glad you two stuck together.”

“Don’t you start that shit.”

“What? I didn’t say anything!”

“Go back to the situation with Dad,” I ordered, knowing full well my sister would grill me about my relationship with Gray until the sun set if I let her.

“We’re fine,” she promised. “I mean that. Jake may have suggested we both get spelled to know if we’re being stalked, but it’s never been an issue.”

“You don’t actually think Dad’s watching you to get to me?”

“Dad’s not in his right mind, Ryder. I have no idea what he’ll do. Truly,” Tessa said. Pressing my lips together tightly, I nodded and glanced out the motel window. That didn’t bode well for anything. Admittedly, there was a small part of me that had hoped for good news in that department. This wasn’t good news. It’d also make this job more difficult. I couldn’t afford to be caught. Paranoid? Maybe. But it was smart. It meant I had to rely on Gray to handle the brunt of this case. I was about to get real damn comfortable with this fucking motel room. “I locked the car. He can’t get into it to get the stuff I brought.”

“I’m sure he knows that by now. But if I know Gray—and I do—he’s giving us a few minutes before he comes barging in with some smart-ass remark.” I chuckled. “Or he breaks into your car…”

“He wouldn’t.”

“He still holds a grudge over the ew comment.”

“That was nine years ago!” she exclaimed while I smiled. Oh, she had no idea the limits of Gray’s ability to hold a grudge. “God, I’m going to pay for this forever, aren’t I?”

The door opened, and Gray hurried inside. His clothes were wet, his hair stuck to his forehead, and he had a Twizzler jammed between his teeth. And shoved under his t-shirt was a tablet and some kind of folder.

“Fuckin’ Seattle and all its rain,” he commented. “But I saved the file. And the tablet.”

“How?” Tessa exclaimed. “It was locked!”

“I broke into your car.” He shrugged.

“Grayson Charles Harper!” she snapped. “You did not!”

“You ain’t got a clue how easy it is to break into a minivan,” he told her. The waves of anger rolling off her had me scooting back the chair. There was no stopping Tessa when she was riled up. And there was no way in hell I was stepping in to save him from her either.

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