Page 100 of Snag
“Don’t fucking call me that.”
“Why?” she mocks. “Because all of our other siblings are good enough to rescue but me?”
Reck hesitates.
“He knows, you fucking moron,” Bellamy scoffs dismissively. “He knows that every time you get the chance, you abscond with another of his bastards, tucking them away in some hidden part of the world. Presumably for your own nefarious purposes.”
“Fuck you. You don’t —”
“You still haven’t figured out that he doesn’t give a fuck about the boys.”
That stymies Reck’s instinctual protest. For a moment, at least.
“Because the awry gene is dominant only in his female offspring?” I ask, focused and calm. I have no idea yet what the universe was tugging me away from, because I get no hint that I can’t handle whatever Bellamy is about to throw at me.
“He thinks so,” she says, feigning detachment.
It’s interesting to me that no matter how powerful these two are, no matter how arrogant, neither of them uses their father’s name when speaking about him. They actively avoid doing so. And I already have a hint of the why— just not the how.
Bellamy told me as much when she mentioned having seen my necklace before. It just took me a while to weave that together with all the other hints, including her connection to the Authority agents, and those agents meeting with Devlin…
And Presh fleeing when she saw a cage being brought into her father’s compound. When she saw Bellamy, from afar, for the first time. Before that, he had kept Bellamy apart from the rest of her siblings, including her twin.
A twin now standing at my side, yet not with me at all.
The Cataclysm was involved in my aunt’s death. Her rejected soul-bound mate. Someone so powerful and so vicious that his children — who likely also rank among the most powerful figures in the world — are utterly terrified of him.
Reck finally finds his voice. “None of this is fucking relevant right now. Let Presh go.”
“I’m not holding her per se.”
“I’m not interested in your sick mind fucks, Bellamy,” Reck snarls. “I don’t care what shit he put you through. You think he hasn’t tortured us all? Taken everything we love? Tainted anything we treasured? You never should have laid hands on Precious.”
Bellamy steps away from the car, squaring off with her pissy brother.
“The power play between you two can wait,” I say. Then I turn my attention to Precious and DeVille, who has his arm wrapped protectively around Presh’s shoulders. “Get out of the car. And Precious? That collar can’t hold you.”
Precious’s eyes snap to mine. The purple infused through the deep blue of her irises isn’t even remotely subtle now.
Bellamy chuckles darkly. “You haven’t trained her particularly well.”
“I’ve had three days. Two of which have now been spent being annoyed by you.”
Bellamy opens her mouth, already snarling.
I lean a little closer, cutting her off. “Also, there’s been no awry weak enough to test her strength against. Luckily, she now has you to fulfill that role. I’m sure she’ll soon learn your worth in her life.”
“I thought we were sidelining the power plays,” Reck drawls. His attention is firmly fixed on his younger sister in the car.
“Go ahead,” I say to Presh, nodding encouragement.
Bellamy pivots just enough to have eyes on Presh, keeping her body angled toward us.
Precious glances at her long-lost sister, then at me. I lift my free hand — Muta is still weighing down the other arm like the asshole he is — and wrap my fingers around my throat.
Presh nods, swallows, and then wraps one hand around her neck, covering the red-tinted, essence-fueled collar. Her dark-purple eyes flick to Bellamy, and she glowers at her sister.
Bellamy laughs, sharp and too bright.
