Page 38 of Awry
Presh looks up at him, steady and true.Daring him to really look at her, to look her in the eyes.
My chest aches, but I don’t interfere.Even our baby sister knows the choices Reck has made, and how those choices keep him on the outside of the club, and the pack.Not that Presh has been officially inducted, but the blood tie is an automatic admission.
Reck, still rubbing his hand, frowns at me, then at Grinder, then back at Presh.Still missing the fake Zaya in the doorway behind me.
Then he lurches forward suddenly, both hands reaching for Presh, and I have to stop myself from yanking her away from him.Reck cups her face gently, then gazes down at her.His eyes lock to hers.He leans closer and inhales deeply, trying to scent her newly awoken power under all the vanilla.
Vanilla and cocoa butter and wild, spiced mint.
Though it’s my sense memory that it clings to, not my sister, I can’t forget the seaside mint.
No matter how hard I try.
“Fuck,” Reck murmurs.Then he tugs Presh into his arms and holds her, allowing himself to just be a big brother for a moment.He looks more shaken than I’ve seen him in a long time — given that he keeps most complex emotions locked down under a thick veneer of seething rancor.
He meets my gaze, grimacing.
And yeah, I know.Protecting Presh has now shifted to top priority.
We hoped she’d manifest as a bear.Then, being vaguely beneath his notice, that she’d get the fuck away from our sperm donor once she was legally an adult.
But none of the Cataclysm’s bastards manifest as anything so mundane as one of the four main clans of shifters: bear, wolf, boar, or cat.And even within our mixed clan, our beasts — Reck, Rought, and me — are so rare we’d be classified as mythic if we didn’t avoid official contact with any bureaucratic entity.Including the Authority.Though I assumed long ago that Reck would have had to disclose his own beast to them.
There is one place that our father’s long reach shouldn’t be able to touch Presh, though.No matter what happened there thirteen years ago.A coastal mansion and hectares of land allowed to grow wild.And an elder awry who might welcome —
I shove the thought away before I fully form it.
That isn’t an option.
And our Zaya wasn’t actually safe there herself.
Reck’s shoulders suddenly stiffen.A flash of fury flickers over his face, instantly replaced by his typical arrogant facade.
He’s seen the impostor behind me.
Zaya shifts in the doorway as Doc steps through and crosses to stand beside Grinder, med kit in hand.I don’t have to look back at her to know the impostor is checking on Presh.
What would she do if Reck was a danger to Precious?
My head is aching every time I try to put any of this — all the impostor’s actions — into a tidy order.If this is a long con, to what end?
“Grinder.”Reck, keeping a hand on Presh’s shoulder as he steps back, reaches through the open door of the SUV to lay his hand on the steering wheel.The vehicle is still running.“Get Presh to the Outcast.Come back for your bike.”
Grinder looks to me for confirmation, even though he outranks Reck and me both.I nod.
“Pinky can stop by to grab the bike,” Grinder says.“She’ll be coming to clean the room, right?”
Pinky isn’t a Coalition type, or even a member of the West Coast Coterie.Not answering to any of the organizations that oversee mages and teach or cooperatively cast magecraft.Even just hanging with other mages in general never was her thing — but she does enjoy riding Grinder.Mages and shifters don’t usually mix, mostly because they’re not really genetically compatible.Offspring from mixed bloodlines are rare.Grinder and Pinky don’t seem to give a shit.
Neither of us answers him, but he just touches Presh on the shoulder to steer her around the other side of the SUV.“I assume you’ve disabled the protections?”
Reck nods.All Authority vehicles are keyed to a main user and designed to dissuade people from borrowing them.Those protections feature rather nasty side effects, such as dismemberment and death.Just another flashy application of the Authority’s overkill policy.And a reminder of why they’re called the Purge.
My half-brother’s eyes are narrowed on the fake Zaya, though I haven’t stepped to the side, and he hasn’t moved closer.Doc leans against the exterior wall, all casual with one foot up on it.But she’s set her bag down, keeping her hands free.
Presh is glancing between Reck and me, frowning again.
Zaya steps forward.She’s got one arm folded across her ribs while dragging her suitcase beside her.Her gaze is on Presh.Seeing her off?She’s pulled a long charcoal sweater over the tank top and skirt, and wears laced ankle boots on her previously bare feet.
