Across the Vanishing Sky (Starlight Grove, #1)(110)

My eyes went wide. “You think we have an army?”

Mav sent me a wink. “Gotta feed this muscle mass, Little Badass.”

Aster let out a scoff as she took a sip of her coffee.

“Don’t be jealous now, Ice Queen. I brought you your favorite breakfast burrito with mild salsa.” He rolled his eyes at the word mild.

Aster stiffened, her body going ramrod straight. “Can’t say I’m really a fan of those anymore.”

“Oh, really?” Mav challenged, sliding a to-go box in front of her. “Is that why Sally said you get it at least two mornings a week?”

Aster’s cheeks flushed, and her pale-blue eyes flashed. “Maybe I just don’t like it from you, Satan.”

“Guess I could let you starve to death.” He started to take the box away, but Aster jerked it from his hands.

“Go sit on a cactus,” she muttered.

Mav’s lips twitched. “Never knew you were into ass play. Kinky, I like it.”

The look Aster leveled him with should’ve fried him on the spot, but Maverick just grinned.

Kol let out a whistle. “Enough of Mav’s bullshit. Let’s get spread this out and get to work. We don’t have long.”

Maverick gave his brother a mock salute as he set down his box and began pulling things out. Waylon and Blaze followed suit.

Blaze beamed at me as he unloaded donuts and pastries of every kind. “The Little Dude treating you well?”

My cheeks heated. “I’m very lucky to have him as a neighbor.”

“Your very friendly neighbor,” Dex said, voice pitched low.

Blaze let out a hoot. “Love to see it. You want a donut or a bear claw?”

Dex held out a hand. “You didn’t make those, right?”

Blaze rolled his eyes. “I’m not wasting any of Lolli’s recipes on you.”

“Lolli?” I asked, confused.

Dex just shook his head and scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “The grandmother of some friends of mine. She has an affinity for special brownies and other creations. I never should’ve introduced her to Blaze.”

My landlord just snickered. “She’s my sister from another mister. The universe would’ve brought us together no matter what. We’re here to open minds and chakras.”

“Oh, Jesus,” Dex muttered. “More like you’re here to have us all seeing pink elephants in tutus for a week.”

“Okay, let’s sit and begin,” Kol called.

“Who put you in charge?” Mav asked, scowling.

“I did,” I said, cutting off a potential battle for dominance.

Maverick turned to me. “I’m hurt, Little Badass.”

I grinned at him. “If you were in charge, this meeting would take twenty years and end in shots.”

Waylon guffawed as he slid into a chair. “She knows you well already.”

“Okay, let’s run through updates first. I’ve shared the list of similar cases in the area,” Kol continued. “If this is a single unsub, they’re smart. Moving across county, town, and jurisdictional lines just enough that it didn’t flag law enforcement right off.”

“Same with the victim profile,” Wylder added. “There’s a wide variety. Men and women. Different ages, races, risk levels.”

“Crimes of opportunity?” Aster inquired, tapping away on her phone screen.

“Possibly,” Wylder said.

Dex leaned forward. “It could be multiple unsubs. Or maybe there was something the victims did, someplace they all went that tripped something in a single unsub and made them targets.”

A shiver tracked down my spine. Kol had pulled four cases in the area over the last two years. Had one person taken them all? Hurt them? Killed them?

The further we got into things, the more my hope dwindled. And God, that hurt like hell.

Fingers wove through mine, squeezing. My gaze found Dex’s as different members of our group added to the case, each bringing what they had to offer.

“I’m right here.” Dex mouthed the reassurance.

But I couldn’t help wondering…for how long? I squeezed his hand as if that could keep him here.

“Brae?”

Aster’s voice had me snapping out of my different sort of fear. “Sorry,” I said quickly. “What did you say?”

She sent me a soft smile. “Just that you wanted to work on some memory recall?”

I nodded. “That day. It’s gotten a little fuzzy. I wondered if there’s something I can do to sharpen the memories.”

“That’s totally normal,” Aster assured me. “You went through a serious trauma. There are a few things that might help. Guided meditation. Journaling. But the thing that might help most is going back to the scene. The problem is, it can also be a huge trigger. You need to take care around that and only do it if you’re ready.”

My whole body stiffened, and my fingers constricted around Dex’s. “I…I keep planning on going but then never see it through.”

Empathy washed over Aster’s face. “You don’t have to if you’re not there yet.”

“I’ll go with you whenever you’re ready,” Cora offered kindly.

“Me, too,” Holly chimed in.