2 8
D E X
THE ENTIRE KITCHEN WENT QUIET, but I had to fight a laugh.
Barely an hour with my family, and Brae already had a sixth sense for when things were about to tip into the danger zone.
“What?” she pressed. “Is that not true?”
Wylder set down his root beer. “We do, but it’s not something I would recommend you partake in unless you’ve got an iron gut.”
Brae shoved her chair back, crossing to where she’d dropped her tote bag with the little Bigfoot on the corner.
Jesus. She and Waylon were a match made in heaven.
She crossed back to the table and began depositing hot sauce bottles across the center. “I did some research and found a few things. My gift to the group. Did you know there’s a little gourmet shop two towns over that has a whole wall of hot sauce?”
Orion had barely taken his eyes off her since his arrival.
And it wasn’t in an interested way. It was in a looking-for- evidence way. He wanted to prove that she was the enemy
combatant he hoped she was.
It annoyed the hell out of me.
As if he could feel my glower, his gaze flicked to me for the barest moment. I fought the urge to bare my teeth at him
or flip him off. But his focus was already back on the woman next to me.
“What do you say?” Brae asked. “Hot sauce challenge?”
Maverick let out a hoot. “Will you marry me, Little Badass? You had me at boobie cookies and hot sauce.”
Brae laughed. “I already know I can’t keep up with you.”
“Damn,” Mav muttered. “A heartbreaker on top of it. Mad respect.”
I turned my glare from Orion to Maverick.
He lifted both hands in surrender. “Yeah, yeah. No looky, no touchy.”
“How about you try shutty uppy?” I suggested.
“That’s an almost swear,” Skylar informed. “It’s not nice to tell people to shut up.”
My lips twitched. “Noted, Little Princess.”
Skylar turned to Brae, lowering her voice to a comically conspiratorial tone. “Kick their booties. They’re always bragging about how many peppers they can handle.”
Brae slid back into her chair and leaned across Owen to deliver a whisper of her own. “I’m representing girl power tonight.”
She held out a fist, and Sky grinned as she bumped it.
I leaned back, taking in Brae as she straightened. “You really think you can take everyone at this table?”
A sly smile spread across her face. “Oh, I’m gonna smoke you.”
Mav let out a hoot. “Let’s get this party started, ladies and gents. What did you bring as the offering, Little Badass?”
Brae made a Vanna White move across the hot sauces. “I bring you the burn-your-mouths-off collection from Five Fire Farms outside the Bay Area. One of my personal favorites. I was very pleased to see it here.”
A trickle of awareness slid through me. “You like hot sauce.”
Her damn perfect lips twitched. “I might have a taste for it.”
“Goddamn. She’s a badass. She’s hot. And she likes to eat fire.” Mav laid his head on the table. “I’m done for. No one will ever compete.”
Brae laughed, and the sound wrapped around me like ghosted fingertips. I wanted to lean into it. Bury my face in the sound.
“Why do I have a feeling you’re never hurting for company?” Brae challenged.
Maverick straightened, waggling his eyebrows. “Who, me? I’m one hundred percent a lonely boy.”
Wylder scoffed. “Tell that to the women always bugging me to know when you’re coming into the bar.”
“Hey,” he shot back. “I can’t help it if the ladies want what they can’t have.”
“Enough,” Waylon muttered. “I wanna try these Five Fire Farms.” He reached for the bottle with only one chili pepper.
“We start out easy.”
The bottle went around the table, skipping over the kids.
Each of us put a little on some brisket or potatoes and chowed down.
“Hoo,” Wylder breathed. “Even the mild’s got a kick.”
“Come on, boss. You can’t hang?” Brae challenged.
“Oh, I can hang,” Wylder shot back as he reached for the two–chili pepper sauce.
That one had me paying attention, the heat building in my gut and mouth. But as I looked over at Brae, she looked like she was just eating fucking ice cream. She flipped a strand of blond hair over her shoulder, and I wanted to slide my fingers through it. Grip the wavy locks as I tipped her head back and took her mouth. As I undid every damn button down the center of her pale-pink sundress.
“I can barely taste it,” Brae said easily. “What about you, Kol?”
My brother grimaced at her. “You taste it.”
She shrugged. “Let’s see about number three.”
She poured a few shakes onto a bite of mashed potatoes and swallowed it down. “Okay. Now, we’re talking.”
Kol grabbed the bottle from her hand, doubling the amount on his own potatoes as if trying to make a point. As he swallowed, sweat broke out on his brow and his eyes went wide.
Maverick burst out laughing. “Someone’s talking a big game but can’t follow through.”
“Remember, Daddy,” Skylar began. “It’s okay to lose to a girl. We’re all equal.”
Wylder snickered. “Yeah, it’s okay to lose to someone about a third of your size.”
Orion snatched the bottle, trying it himself. He was more stoic about his reaction, but his cheeks turned bright red and he started to pant like Lucy did on a hot summer day. He reached for his water.
“I wouldn’t,” Brae warned. “I hear water makes it worse.”
Orion glared at her and then reached across the table for Skylar’s milk, taking a swig and making his niece giggle.
“If Rion had to do milk, I’m out.” Wylder gave the table two knocks.
Sky let out a cheer. “One down, Miss Brae!”
Wylder shook his head. “That hurts, Little Princess.”
She just grinned at him. “Sometimes, girls gotta stick together.”
Waylon and I survived that round, but when Mav tried the three–chili pepper sauce, he shot out of his chair, running for the sink. He stuck his head under the faucet, trying to wash out his mouth. “What was that?” he spluttered. “Three chilis grown in hell?”
Brae laughed as she held out a hand for Skylar, who slapped it.
“Bruh, that’s a little embarrassing,” Owen told Mav.
Orion’s lips twitched at the comment—the first tiny fissure in his shields.
“God, these kids are freaking harsh,” Mav muttered.
“Try living with one,” Kol shot back.
“On to four,” Waylon said, grabbing the bottle and trying the sauce. He let out a garbled sound before knocking twice on the table. “That’s my hard limit,” he croaked.
I grinned as I took the bottle. I thought about trying to best Brae, but my mouth was still on fire from the last round, and I was having too much fun watching her trounce everyone. I knocked twice on the table and handed her the bottle. “Too much for me.”
Brae’s brow arched. “You sure about that, Buttercup?”
“I preferred Bird Poop Boy,” Wylder cut in.
Brae chuckled. “He can be both.”
I leaned back in my chair. “My stomach is going to thank me for this choice tomorrow.”
Brae sprinkled a few drops on her potatoes and took a nice-sized bite. Pink hit her cheeks this time, but no sweat broke out, and she didn’t even reach for a drink after. She simply offered the bottle to Orion across the table.
He studied her for a long moment before taking the bottle and shaking out several drops over his meat. He took a bite.
The moment the brisket hit his tongue, his eyes went wide as saucers. Orion was out of his chair in a flash, running for the trash and spitting out the bite.
“Flag on the play!” Mav hollered. “Disqualified.”
Brae grinned as Skylar cheered. “What do you think, Kol?
Got what it takes?” Brae asked.
He glowered at her, which only made Brae smile wider.
Kol snagged the bottle from where Orion was sitting and shook out two drops onto his potatoes. Lifting the bite to his mouth, he paused, his hand trembling.
Finally, he dropped the fork to the plate. “Sh—” He halted what he was about to say. “I can’t do it.”
Skylar leapt from her chair, dancing around the room.
“Girls rule, boys drool! Girls rule, boys drool!”
Owen grinned up at Brae. “Pretty bussin’, bruh.”
Brae flicked her hair over her shoulder in an exaggerated motion, sending a faint red-currant scent my way. “That’s my trophy right there.”
I reached over, unable to stop myself from touching her, even though I knew it was the last thing I should do. But everything about her drew me in. That scent. The way her eyes lit in victory. How her mouth curved in that taunting bow. My hand slid under that fall of hair, and I squeezed the back of her neck, relishing the feel of her silky skin as the pads of my fingers ghosted over her pulse point. “You did good, Hellion.”
Golden eyes found mine, flashing with something I couldn’t identify. “Thanks, Buttercup. I like your family.”
“You gotta tell me how Buttercup came about,” Wylder said as he struggled not to laugh.
I tried to glare at Brae, but it was more of a twitching smile. “Thanks for that.”
Brae beamed up at me as she answered Wylder. “He was soooooo very sunshiney when I first met him, Buttercup was the only name that fit.”
Kol let out a sound that was a cross between a scoff and a snort.
“Hey,” I shot back at him. “You’re the grumpiest a-hole around, so I don’t think you have room to judge.”
“A-hole still counts as a swear, Uncle Dex,” Sky cut in.
I shook my head. “Noted, Little Princess.”
Mav leaned back in his chair. “Buttercup works for me.”
“Don’t even think about it,” I warned, then turned to Brae. “Do you see what you’ve done?”
She just shrugged. “Sorry, not sorry. You kind of deserve it.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. And as I glanced around the table, I knew she’d made more progress than I’d thought
possible. Kol looked at her with grudging respect. Orion with something less than hatred. And Waylon? He was sunk.
It was enough to get started.
“ALL RIGHT,” Waylon said, rolling out a map over the kitchen table where dinner had once been. Skylar had offered to show Owen the animals, giving the adults time to talk about what we needed to.
I helped Waylon flatten the edges, using the hot sauce bottles from the earlier battle as weights.
“This map is gorgeous,” Brae said almost reverently, her fingers ghosting over the paper. “It’s like art.”
There was a shift in the air, and I knew where it was
coming from.
“Orion made it,” I told her.
He worked in an infinite number of styles and mediums, but he always made something that took your breath away.
This map in particular was a blend of watercolor and ink.
The watercolors captured mountains, rivers, and forests, while the ink was there for roads, trails, and markers.
Brae looked up and toward my middle brother. “It’s amazing. I can’t believe you did all this.”
She was good with him. Never pushed him to respond but still made him a part of the conversation. The few people Orion was forced to come into contact with outside the family could be weird. Some asked question after question as if they could force him to speak. Others looked at him with pity. Some thought he was stupid. And still more would practically scream at him as if he were hard of hearing.
Brae treated him like everyone else. She didn’t take it easy on him by giving him a hot sauce win he would’ve hated.
But she wasn’t pushy either. She just let him be who he needed to be.
Orion’s throat worked as he swallowed, and his hands
lifted to sign.
“He says thank you,” I translated.
Brae beamed like she’d won the lotto and gotten a visit from royalty all at the same time. “You’re welcome.” Her gaze dipped to the map, instantly going serious. “This was the trailhead we hiked out of.” Her slender finger dragged along the route. “And this is where I went off the trail. Where Nova disappeared.”
There was a heaviness to her last statement. Guilt.
I couldn’t keep myself from touching her, even though I knew I shouldn’t. I slid a hand over her shoulder and squeezed, feeling the heat of her skin bloom against my palm. Scalding, just like the hellion she was. “It’s not your fault.”
“Maybe, maybe not. The outcome’s the same either way.”
I hated that she carried that weight. Because it was the kind of heaviness that could drown a person.
Kol cleared his throat. “They bring in search and rescue when it happened?”
Brae nodded. “Yes, but not until almost two days later.
And it had rained.”
Kol muttered a curse.
“Idiots,” Wylder grumbled.
And I knew why. The older the scene, the less likely a trail someone left is undisturbed—harder for anyone to track.
Brae’s mouth thinned. “I learned through training Yeti for search just how detrimental that time was. But then, I didn’t know just how much we’d lost.”
“It’s not our only resource,” I assured her. “Let me walk you through what we’ll do, how we’ll tackle it.”
Orion’s eyes flashed, that hazel that was darker than the rest of ours lightening for a moment. I knew he didn’t want me sharing a damn thing about how we worked. I kept talking anyway.
“Waylon and Kol have tracking covered. At least in the physical realm,” I explained. “They know their stuff.”
“I used to know my stuff,” Waylon muttered. “This whippersnapper has surpassed me.”
I didn’t miss the look of pride on Kol’s face at Waylon’s words. Each of us shared a unique bond with Waylon, and for Kol, it was all about being out in nature and learning how to read it.
Maverick slapped me on the shoulder. “This nerd keeps his tracking to the interwebs.”
“You keep calling me a nerd, and you’re gonna feel just how far theinterwebs stretch,” I warned.
Mav just grinned. “I provide a medic’s eye and help Orion with the geographic profiling.”
Brae’s expression brightened. “I’ve been reading up about that. You can look at areas of similar crimes to analyze where a perpetrator is likely to live or work. The only problem is we only have one crime. I haven’t found anything
else that I can be sure is linked.”
The room went silent.
She stiffened. Her fingers locked around the table, and her knuckles bleached white. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Kol stepped forward. “I asked my boss to add Nova’s case to my workload. It’s close enough to national forest land that we’ve got due cause.”
Brae’s eyes went glassy, but she still forced herself to meet Kol’s eyes. “Thank you.”
“If something happened that’s not accidental, we need to
know what.”
“And you found something?” Brae pushed.
Kol gripped the back of his neck. “When looking into her case and searching similar circumstances, I discovered a few cases that could be considered like crimes.”
Brae’s breaths came quicker now. “You think someone’s taking people.”
Kol lifted a shoulder and then dropped it. “I don’t know.”
“I come in and profile the victims,” Wylder said softly.
“See what they might have in common.”
Brae’s gaze came to me. “I showed you the similar cases I found. You’ll fill them in?”
I nodded. “I’ll make sure they have everything they need.”
She scanned the room. “You all have pretty established roles. Like you’ve done this before.”
No one said a word. Because that wasn’t something any
of us could give her. Not yet, anyway.
Her gaze dropped. “No-go zone. Got it.”
“You need to come to terms with one thing.” Kol’s voice was quiet, but it held an edge, grit. “You may not get the outcome to this you want.”
My hand fisted at my side, trying to keep myself from decking my brother right then and there. She didn’t need to be reminded of that fact.
Brae twisted her fingers in the threads of a friendship bracelet on her wrist. “I’d know if she was gone. I’d feel it.”
Kol shook his head. “Sometimes, our mind plays tricks, and hope can be a dirty liar. Before we go down this road, you need to make sure you want the answers. No matter what.”
Brae’s chin jutted out, defiance sliding over her features.
“I’m already walking that road. You just need to decide if
you’re gonna help me.”
Hellion through and through.
He jerked his head in a nod. “We’ll help. Right, boys?”
Waylon patted his stomach. “She had me at Bigfoot cookies.”
“She had me at giving Miller a verbal smackdown,”
Wylder said with a smile.
“It was really the badass hotness for me,” Mav added, darting out of my path as I tried to punch him in the gut.
I straightened, looking down at Brae. She’d had me since she’d called me Bird Poop Boy in a bar full of people. “You know I’ve got your back.”
We all turned to Orion. His jaw was hard as granite, the muscle along it fluttering. Finally, his hands lifted.“I hope this isn’t a huge fucking mistake.”
I hoped so, too. Because there was an infinite number of ways it could all go sideways. And if it did? That weight would be on me. One more failure to add to the load.
