Page 85 of Son of a Witch

The most surprising reaction came from Selena. Instead of going up and introducing herself, she hung back, hand on her stomach, eyes wide. “Cole. Honey?”

Honey? I glanced between the two, the similarities between them slamming into me. Same eyes. Same colored hair. Same mouth. Fuck. That was his mother. I wanted to know the story there. Later, though.

“Mom, you’re okay.” Cole put Supergal down. “I heard about the raid.”

He gave Selena an awkward hug that suggested an underlying tension. Resentment or distance or something. Same deal as Loco and Astra maybe. Incarceration with the Guardians breaking up families.

I didn’t blame Cole. Didn’t really care, either. That was their business. I just wanted to know why he was here, and what was the bulging item in his bag. He could have brought a weapon to harm one of us and the sentries let him through the place.

“I survived to see another day.” Selena patted her son’s back.

“Selena’s your mom? Oh, cool. Supergirl tapped the tip of her sword into the mat, her gaze flicking to Loco as if the situation dawned on her. “Didn’t know that.”

“Word travels fast.” The warden straightened his tie. “I see you had multiple reasons to visit that you didn’t declare, Mr. Mathieson.”

Cole glanced at him and away too fast suggesting he wasn’t supposed to give that one away. “Would you have let me in if I did?”

The warden’s scowl sharpened.

Astra twisted her hands. Someone was responsible for the leaked gossip when she talked to Luna and gave her an update.

Cole threw his bag down on the sweaty mats and unzipped it as if he didn’t want to address that question.

“Mr. Helms, come here.” The warden’s request brooked no argument, making my stomach clench with what I was in trouble for this time. Why else would the warden visit than to punish my ass?

“Yes, sir?” I rolled forward to stop beside him.

Vancor impatiently tapped the handles of my chair. “Mr. Mathieson has created something that he thinks might help you.”

CHAPTER29

Tor

Shock clampeddown on my body. A gift for me? I was the gift giver on this team. The provider in my family. Seriously, no one gave me squat besides a punch in the face or stab in the abdomen.

Intrigued, I rolled closer. “What is it?”

Cole grinned and whipped out something metallic that looked like a skeleton. “It’s a flexible titanium exoskeleton I’ve been tinkering with.”

The rest of the group huddled around him too, all staring down at the gift.

Metallic arms clanked together as Cole dangled it over his palms. He proudly ran his blackened fingertips over the device, stained from working with the metal, solder, oil, and grease. Was it meant to protect me out on missions? Doubted it with all the space in between the connections and junctures.

I laughed, surprised by all of it. “Exoskeleton? We’re getting into some sci-fi tech shit here.”

I felt the scowling eyes of the warden burn into the back of my head.

Supergal beamed as she came to stand beside me and set her hand on the back of my neck. My skin tingled from her warm touch, chasing away my doubts and insecurities.

“Cole’s the Bathurst Guild’s tech wizard,” she advised, stroking the hair at my nape. “He created this wicked boomerang weapon that takes out five gantii at once. His prototype stun gun was the basis for Guardian tech.”

Impressive. No wonder his hands were so dirty.

Cole pulled together screws, levers, chambers, and fashioned pieces of metal. “You give me way too much credit.” He smiled, eyes crinkling at the edges as he lifted the exoskeleton and let it unfurl to the ground with clinks.

Selena inched forward to brush his hair. “You always were a clever kid.”

Cole kept moving, ignoring the compliment, thumb rubbing hard on the metal’s surface. “Put this on.” He shoved the contraption at me.

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