Page 101 of Snag
The collar writhes under Precious’s touch, then visibly tightens. Presumably that’s Bellamy’s control, though I can’t feel whatever power the dire awry is playing with because it’s literally nothing to me.
Precious soundlessly gasps for air, eyes widening in fear.
Reck jolts forward.
I raise my hand to him. “No.”
He actually listens to me.
“Precious,” I say mildly, “this is nothing to you, it’s completely beneath you. You are better, more pure, than your sister could ever hope to be.”
Bellamy narrows her eyes on me, clearly insulted.
Cheeks pinking, Precious takes a shuddering breath. Ather side, still holding her as much as she’ll allow, DeVille looks like he isn’t breathing either.
Then, still soundlessly, Precious laughs.
I can practically feel the amusement, the honest joy, roiling off her.
The collar dissipates under her hand.
Bellamy huffs.
“Be glad it wasn’t me you tried that with,” I say, my tone still perfectly level. “I would have snapped it right back at you, just as Precious could have done, and you would have been on your knees, begging for your last breath.”
Reck’s gaze snaps to me. I can feel the heat of his regard. I ignore him.
“You knew that Precious is under my protection,” I say. “No court, no law, no authority can take her from me now. Nor will anyone even attempt to prosecute me for how I choose to enforce my guardianship.”
“She came to me,” Bellamy says, sounding just a little shaken. “She chose to sneak away to see me. You can’t kill me because she’s a stupid kid.”
“Hey!” Precious cries from the back seat of the sedan.
“I’m not speaking to you, Bellamy,” I say. “Or at least not solely to you. Am I?”
I allow my gaze to slide past the dire awry, looking behind the sedan and slightly to the right. In a seemingly empty area of the paved lot surrounding the outpost, a simmer of essence catches in the sunlight, hovering about an inch off the dusty pavement. A concealment ward. “Your mage is powerful.”
“The Authority attracts powerful people,” Reck says mildly. Not remotely shocked by the hidden presence of his agents. The two of them, at a minimum. “Get out of the car, Presh.”
Precious glances between us all. Bellamy is all but ignoring her supposedly kidnapped victims now. The younger awry reaches for the handle of the door.
“Other side,” Reck says. He wants to keep the car between Presh and DeVille and the Authority agents behind their ward, currently listening to our conversation.
DeVille opens the door on his side, climbing out first, then reaching into the back seat for Presh. His eyes are bright with essence. Too bright.
“Reck,” I murmur.
“I see it.”
DeVille is on the edge of transforming into his beast. First-time transformations are chaotic under the best of circumstances— and with Presh at the center of everything going on here, that’s disconcerting. As an awry, Presh might be naturally essence proof. But if he’s lost to his beast, DeVille could accidentally maul her before I could take a single step to intervene.
“Reck,” I say again quietly, trying to sound calm.
“Can you just trust me for once in your fucking life?” he snarls, just as quietly.
Bellamy snorts derisively. “Trust you? Why should she? I don’t even know you, and I already know the levels you would —”
“I’m already fucking sick of your fucking voice,” Reck snarls viciously.
