The elevator lurches into motion. With Rath’s new bulk, it’s possible that the two of us combined are almost too much weight for it.
My brother chuckles under his breath.
I grin, shaking my head at him, then sober as the elevator slows. “It’s better this time.”
“How so?”
“We know Zaya’s coming back.”
The elevator slides open — revealing Presh and DeVille attempting to break into the lower-level holding cells via the thick, security-riddled steel door barring their way.
Presh meeps, whirling around to look at us. Her freshly dyed, pastel-rainbow-colored hair falls over her wide, deep-violet eyes. She attempts to stuff the phone in her hand into a pocket of the pink-and-brown plaid skirt she’s wearing. A T-shirt with a cartoon character bear printed on it and buckled biker boots that likely only fit her because she’s stuffed multiple pairs of socks in them round out the outfit. Unfortunately for my little sister, there are no pockets in the skirt, and she was clearly holding the phone near the security pad next to the door when we arrived.
DeVille, in torn jeans, a faded glam-band T-shirt for the Blitz, and what looks like a newer pair of biker boots, folds his arms, leaning back against the concrete wall and sulking. At Presh. Because there’s no way he hasn’t been trying to stop her from breaking into the Outcast’s holding cells.
A voice emanates over the speaker of Presh’s phone. “You’re welcome, AD.”
Coda.
“For what?” I ask. “Helping Presh get into shit with the one person we’re going to have trouble going up against without Zaya?”
It’s seriously possible that Rath and I can’t take the Outcast in an outright fight on his territory. He can pull power from practically hundreds of shifters. Plus, there’d be serious consequences if we did win, because neither of us wants the responsibility of leading the MC or the pack.
“I didn’t help her last time, so maybe be happy that baby girl actually reached out to someone this time,” Coda snaps. “To me. You all are spinning your fucking training wheels —”
“You’re spinning your own fucking wheels,” Rath snarls, a fuck-load of his dragon in his voice.
Presh practically jumps out of her skin. The phone in her hand goes flying. DeVille catches it smoothly, reflexively. Rather catlike, actually. Then he has the fucking balls to tuck Presh slightly behind him, placing himself between her and Rath.
For once, Coda doesn’t immediately snap back. It’s possible that the connection got cut, but doubtful. More likely, the tech awry has eyes on us from my apartments over my off-site garage, the space they effectively kicked me out of after commandeering it. They can see us through the security system, as well as the camera on Presh’s phone.
“I’m fine, Andy!” Presh snaps, shoving at DeVille’s back. “You don’t have to crowd me!”
Though slim and long limbed, DeVille towers over my little sister, but he instantly gives her the space she’s demanding. She couldn’t move him otherwise — especially with the last instructions Zaya embedded into his brain, even inadvertently. It had taken us days to figure out why DeVille kept transforming into the sabertooth tiger and assaulting anyone between him and Presh after the Outcast tried to completely segregate her.
Of course, I’m looking at a shining example of the ‘why’ behind the Outcast’s overprotectiveness — Presh leading an attempted break-and-enter into the holding cells where our evil-as-fuck, newly discovered, completely manipulative elder sister is being held. And in that context, it’s hard not to recall that it was Presh’s sneaking off the Gage estate to meet with Bellamy that triggered Zaya going after her, then getting taken.
But it’s also hard to place blame for that on anyone but Reck. For me, at least.
“How did you get past your guards?” Rath asks.
“What? Like it’s supposed to be difficult?” Presh counters belligerently.
DeVille unsuccessfully tries to quash a smile. Presh glares at him, completely misinterpreting his reaction to her sass.
“The access code should work, AD,” Coda says to me over the speaker of Presh’s phone. Addressing me as ‘Adonis Dick’ again because he knows how annoying I find it. “I fixed it for you in the elevator. Also delayed the kids until you showed up.”
“What?!” Presh sulks in the direction of her phone. “You said the code had changed and that you had to run it through your algo-thingy.”
Coda snorts belligerently. “Please, baby girl. As if that would hold me up for even a second.”
I huff, shaking my head. So the elevator being stuck in place hadn’t been user error. The Outcast must have had me locked out of the system. Smart, but annoying. “Who’s handling the Outcast tech now?”
“Some complete amateur,” Coda snarks. “Don’t worry, I’m shoring him up. He probably thinks he’s a fucking genius.”
I laugh, because why the fuck not, and step past Presh. Holding my phone to the security screen on the wall, I unlock the steel door barring us from the holding cells.
“We were coming for you,” Rath says to Presh quietly.
