Page 18 of Snag
Rought steps to my side, brushing his hand against mine. I want to lean against his shoulder, to sink into him, to use him to anchor me.
I don’t.
I focus instead on the puzzle— and on the threat rightbefore me. Working through that will hopefully give my system, my mind, the time I need to adjust to mynow.
I’m not just the Conduit at least a hundred years before my time. I’m not just the holder and protector of one of only seven intersection points. I’ve been stripped of bonds I never knew existed for me. Soul-bound mates, who were supposed to —
I shove that unhelpful thought away. ‘Supposed to’ is as useless to me as ‘should’ and ‘should have.’
“Kris said she got a reading yesterday at the nail salon from a purple-eyed seer,” I say, clearing my throat and forcing my focus. “That reading prompted Kris to get Presh to the rave. Away from the protections I assume surround the main pack house.”
“You assume correctly,” Rought mutters under his breath.
Coda snorts derisively. “An awry seer? Hanging out at a nail salon on the edge of the wilds of Cascadia?”
“It’s pack territory,” Rought says, just a little irritated.
“Exactly.” Coda sniffs snobbishly.
“I also did the security on the salon …” Rought steps closer to Coda. “I can —”
Coda holds up their hand. “I’ve got it. You just gave me access to everything you’ve ever constructed, shifter.” The tech snickers derisively. “Should have thought twice before touching my tech.”
Rought shrugs. “Whatever Zaya needs.”
I expect another pissy rebuttal from Coda, but none is forthcoming.
Multiple feeds appear across the top center screens. An exterior shot of the Nail Bar, which appears to be closed. Plus two interior angles showing the salon and a small office. Both are also empty.
Thewindows and glass door of the salon have been boarded up.
“Break-in?” Coda asks. “This is the live feed.”
“Rath,” Rought says, sliding his gaze to me questioningly.
Rath? He means the celestial dragon. And he’s not certain how much I want Coda to know. “That was him? All the glass blowing out?”
All that glass shattered all over the streets as we fled the clubhouse with Chains and two berserkers on our heels. From all the windows facing those couple of blocks of Newport. Shattered by a single roar from a pissed-off celestial dragon. Likely essence-enhanced, though I don’t remember feeling a specific push or tenor of essence at the time.
Not a single shard of that glass hit us as we ran. That might have been a universe-directed intervention — aka my own inadvertent essence-wielding, uncontrollable and capricious as that is. But …
“The rain as well?” I ask quietly, my mind momentarily stuttering over the sheer power contained within a single shifter. Celestial dragons, gryphons, and cu-sith are all supposed to be mythological. “The fog?”
Rought nods stiffly, gaze flicking to Coda. The tech appears to be ignoring us, though I know they’re memorizing, quite possibly even documenting, everything we say.
Rath— or more specifically, his dragon— can control the elements. Water and air, at least. Which explains how he can fly without wings.
Powerful mages, usually wielding in concert, can use spells to harness the elements. And I’ve heard of awry who can wield one or two elements — earth, fire,air, or water. But —
“Grinder and Pinky are in charge of the crew going around town today,” Rought says, not-so-subtly redirecting the conversation. “Temporarily boarding up the windows and cleaning the streets. The replacement glass is already on order.”
“I don’t keep secrets from Coda,” I say, answering Rought’s previously unvoiced question.
Coda snorts belligerently. “Yeah, right.”
“I don’t keep relevant information from Coda,” I say stiffly.
“Sure you don’t.” Coda makes a production of pointing at a currently blank monitor to their upper right. Then, with two more clicks on the keyboard, a different interior shot of the salon appears on-screen. It includes the entrance, the cash register, and Kris seated near the perfectly intact front windows. Coda’s already sifted through hours of vid.
