Page 52 of Mongrels United
“But not just people I know,” Grady admitted. It seemed safe to say it aloud here, with Nash.
His gaze was steady. “You haven’t let me down. Not in the slightest.” He pulled her to him and for a long while, the discussion was tabled.
After she had caught her breath once more, with her body throbbing, Nash propped himself up beside her, his head on his hand, his fingers tracing patterns on her flesh.
Grady reached up to touch the medallion that hung from the chain around his neck. It was an ugly thing, with a badly formed “N” on it. “I’ve finally figured out what this is.”
Nash looked down at her fingers, then at her. He lifted a brow.
“It’s your father’s Me-Made medallion, isn’t it? The one he made when he was testing to be a Skinwalker. I’ve heard about them, but I’ve never seen one before. It’s…well, forgive me, but it’s so ugly and misshapen, I can’t figure out why you would wear it at all, even under your shirt the way you do, unless it had sentimental value.”
“It doesn’t have sentimental value,” Nash said, his voice a note or two lower than normal, which made it very deep. “Not even to my father, who tried to throw it away when I found it in a storage cube when I was a kid.”
Her surprise brought her to stillness. “But…you wear it. You were wearing it the night I met you, at Dere Street.”
He nodded. “It’s a reminder.” His gaze shifted away from her. “It reminds me to never be like my father.”
Horror swept through her. “It was really that bad, growing up with Nason?” she whispered.
“I’ve heard of kids who had worse. He never hit me, at least.” But Nash still wouldn’t meet her eyes.
She rested her hand fully on his chest. “More reason to get rid of the Bellish.”
He drew in a sharp breath. “TheSkinwalkers,” he said, his gaze swinging back to her. “That’swhere we should start. With any of them still alive. If there’s any at all. My father was the youngest.”
“We’ll have that in records,” Grady said, sitting up. She glanced at the polarized window. “Whatisthe time, anyway? My time sense always gets messed up, in the Palatine, because the lights never match the rest of the ship.”
“It’s early. About five. I was going to suggest breakfast, a while ago, but you distracted me.” His small, heated smile said how much he had enjoyed the distraction.
“And I should head for work, after that,” Grady said. “Siran is in the office today, and we have a lot to catch up on.”
“Does he know about the Bellish?” Nash sat up, too.
“Not yet,” Grady said, looking around the room. She hadn’t examined it closely, last night. She spotted a printer. “Do you mind if I use your printer to print fresh clothes?”
“Of course I don’t mind. Grady?”
She looked at him. “I won’t tell Siran until I have something to actually tell him. He doesn’t need to be bothered with ongoing matters.”
“Just results, huh?” Nash said. “Be careful about not telling people. That’s how conspiracies and secrets flourish.”
Grady shook her head. “Telling people about Bellish might put them in danger.” She grasped for the thing that had been bothering her since speaking to Vasanta, yesterday afternoon. “All these events—Vasanta and her let’s-stop people, the Must-Haves, your father, even my father’s beating…I can’t help thinking that they’re all related in some way. I can’t see the connection yet, but I will find it.”
Nash nodded. “I think you’re right.”
“You do?” She was genuinely surprised. “I’m running purely on instinct here. There’s nothing to prove they’re connected. Not even a hint.”
Nash rubbed his jaw, which rasped heavily. “Do you know about the old Cavers?”
Grady raised her brow. “I do, but I’m surprised you do. They’re almost ancient history.”
“I know about them because they were around in the year my father was a Skinwalker. Hyram told me about them.”
“No, the Cavers fell apart the first year the Skinwalkers formed. They lost all credibilitybecausethe Skinwalkers formed—by going outside the ship, and demonstrating theEndurancewasn’t sitting in a big cave. The leader of the Cavers in that year actually died outside the ship—they took him out there to demonstrate there was no cave, and he detached his tether and pushed off into space.”
Nash nodded. “But they didn’t really go away. The people that considered themselves Cavers were still there. Disillusioned about their pet conspiracy being proved bunk, andstilldiscontented. Still angry about life on theEndurance. That’s why I know all this grief that you’re dealing with—the Bellish, the beatings, the crimes, and the malcontents—it’s all stemming from the same place.”
“Unhappy people,” Grady murmured.
