Page 90 of Snag
Even the idea is overwhelming. I’m sure Rath will scour the library looking for supporting documentation. But … maybe … the dragon and the cu-sith hold the other two bonds?
My aunt had three soul-bound mates as well. I don’t understand the intricacies involved in her choosing to sever those bonds, but she never told me about any of it.
She never told me that maybe I didn’t have to carry everything on my own.
I ignore the condemnation I feel rising underneath my own thoughts — the childish anger threatening to overtake the purely rational conclusion.
Disa thought she had more time. Another century at least before the vessel would wear thin, before the Conduit power would pass to me.
I start making my way back to the house. Despite my tumultuous thoughts, the tiny knot anchoring me to Rought is a warm glow in my chest.
Maybe Disa was right about the past not mattering.
We all have to live in the present, after all.
I tug my phone free from my pocket, honestly surprised that I’ve got the device on me. I’m also carrying my sunglasses, which is just short of a miracle. Maybe I’m not as easily distracted as I thought.
I’m swiping Coda’s passcode sequence on the phone screen before I consciously make the decision to do so.
The pack house comes into view through the thinning trees.
A large SUV — clearly Authority issue, though its hulking exterior isn’t marked with their insignia — speeds up the drive, abruptly skidding to a stop as if the driver has spotted me through the tinted windows.
“We’re on it,” Gigi growls over the speakers of my phone.
“On what?” A chill slithers down my spine as I keep my eye on the SUV.
The phone suddenly feels weighted in my hand, as if anchored by a strand of fate. The fate that placed it in my pocket, that saw me reach for it to dial Coda without conscious intent.
I pause, waiting. No other essence stirs around me, but I’m suddenly certain I’m hesitating in the moment before aknowing. As if the universe is also waiting, waiting to see which way the threads are about to shift.
Or what they’re about to snag.
A long, weighty pause settles between me and the combat mage on the phone. There are very few things that would concern Gigi enough to take that testy tone with me. With anyone, really.
The passenger-side window of the SUV rolls down as the vehicle backs up, letting me see within it.
Reck.
The last time the universe paused around me was right before the cu-sith strolled through the shifter and berserker battle on the streets of Newport. Right before I made a choice — a personal choice — to send Precious off without me and to save those dozens of shifters from the death emanating from Reck’s beast.
I’m not at the edge of a minor twist of fate.
I’m on the precipice of a full-blownknowing.
“Get in,” Reck calls to me, blunt and biting.
“You’re ‘on what,’ Gigi?” I raise the phone closer to my mouth to repeat the question.
“Precious slipped away while I was showering,” Gigi says over the speakers. “With the boy.”
“You’re tracking her phone?” Freed from the momentary pause in the universe, I cross steadily toward Reck. Not rushing, but not avoiding what’s coming. I’ll move quickly if Presh needs me, but jumping to conclusions while the universe realigns around me — if that is what’s going on right now — is never a good idea.
“I’ve got it,” Coda says from somewhere in the background. “Give me my fucking phone, Gigi.”
“You. Focus!” Gigi snaps at the awry tech. Her voice sounds closer to the phone speakers as she addresses me. “Sorry, Zaya. It took me a moment to wake the asshole supreme once I realized the kids weren’t on the property.”
“Zaya!” Reck glances from me to the front entrance of the house. “Move your fucking ass.”
