Page 42 of Awry
“The only reason Muta manifests without prompting is when —”
“This cunt isn’t Zaya!”he shouts.
Muta’s tail starts vibrating.He doesn’t have a rattle, but the thrumming quiver of the horny spine that tips his tail is the last warning Reck is going to get.My brother might survive one bite, depending on what kind of antitoxin Doc’s got on hand.But because Muta knows that— because heknowsus— it’s a safe bet that he’ll deliver large amounts of potent venom, maybe even essence imbued, over multiple bites.
Reck finally gets his head on straight and eases farther back.Then he gets to his feet.“Rath, figure your shit out.There’s more than one fucking bushmaster in the fucking world.”
I open my mouth to point out all sorts of things — all the connections I don’t want to have already made.But the sound of a motorcycle pushed way past its limits pulls my attention away.
Rought.The other mechs that round out his team of three are presumably back with Zaya’s abandoned car.
“Fuck me.”Reck groans.“You called him in?So he can what?Slobber all over her?”
Rought is off his bike and storming our way before I manage an answer.He hasn’t seen Zaya sprawled on the pavement yet.Or the big fucking snake.
Reck steps up to him, hand raised as if he’s going to clap Rought on the shoulder and actually attempt to defuse the situation.
Except our younger brother slams him up against the side of the motel.The cedar siding splinters under Reck’s back.
Rought isn’t as big as me, but it’s possible he could beat me — if I were ever stupid enough to come between him and the woman he believes to be his essence-gifted, soul-bonded mate.Not just the potential of a bond, or even the growing, slowly solidifying bond that I once shared with Zaya.But full-on bonded.
The two of them are — were — chosen mates.Rought still has a mating bite on his hand, which should have faded within a year of Zaya’s death.Not that he should ever have bitten one of the awry in the first place.
The impostor’s hand, and the rest of her skin in general, doesn’t bear a single scar.
Rought might be able to take me on, given the circumstances.But it’s Reck I don’t really trust.I should trust my elder brother, but I haven’t for some time.Reck might be slightly shorter and trimmer than Rought, but he’s deadlier, as if something twisted inside him then festered until only darkness fills every crevasse, every fissure in his soul.
All the places Zaya previously filled.
I mean, all three of us are fucked in the head, but Reck just might be a serial killer with a badge.
I get into it, managing to separate them.Then I’m forced to slam my open hand against Reck’s chest when he lunges forward even as I’m holding Rought back around the neck.I’ve called on my beast, just a bit, and something cracks in Reck’s chest under my blow.
He stumbles away, clearly in pain.
Rought has gone still.Then a low moan escapes him.I take my gaze off Reck, who looks like he’s considering murdering us both, because Rought has finally seen Zaya.
He breaks my hold easily.Then he crosses to Zaya, completely ignoring Muta.
I open my mouth to shout a warning at him.Doc even darts forward, reaching like she might try to grab the snake from behind.
But Muta just shifts slightly to the side, his black eyes still riveted to Reck.
Rought crouches down, his gaze glued to Zaya’s face.Then, as if she’s made of glass, of hand-blown fine crystal, he lifts her gently in his arms, cradling her head and neck against his shoulder, and with her knees across his other arm.
Muta slithers to coil on Zaya’s belly, so that he’s guarding her even as Rought turns, walks past us, and crosses through the open door into unit five.
Doc follows, glaring at me and Reck as she passes.She snatches up her med kit and disappears into the room.
I turn my attention to Reck.“What the fuck was that?!”
“Me?!”He gestures toward the room, though his other hand is still pressed across his upper chest.I’ve hurt him.Badly.“Why the fuck did you involve him?He can’t be rational about this!We had to watch him for two fucking years the last time she destroyed our lives —”
“The last time she destroyed our lives?”I ask quietly, interested in his revisionist take on our history.“She murdered herself?Then beat the shit out of us, putting me and Rought in the hospital?”
He snarls, his beast actually rising, edging his eyes in bright green and rattling in his chest.“You’re on fucking suicide watch, then.”
“It always was me,” I say coolly.I know it’s the situation that’s making me livid.But I can’t seem to separate the components, so I choose to be fucking irate at everything.Mostly Reck.“You were at the Authority Academy within six months.”
