Across the Vanishing Sky (Starlight Grove, #1)(84)

Cora held up her arms in an X. “No, thank you. Stay out of my head, please.”

I chuckled. “I’m pretty sure she’s a shrink, not a mind reader.”

“Thank God,” Cora mumbled. “Because you do not want to know about the dream I had about Chris Hemsworth the other night.”

Aster choked on a laugh. “Don’t tell Travis.”

Cora looked thoughtful for a moment. “I wonder if I could order him a Thor costume on the internet.”

“Who’s wearing a Thor costume?” Maverick’s voice cut in. “You know, I have impeccable biceps.”

Aster instantly stiffened, her face transforming into a hard mask. “I think you’re confusing biceps for your inflated ego.”

“Ouch, Ice Queen. You’re feeling extra spicy today, aren’t you?” Mav shot back.

“You’re acting extra moronic today, so what do you expect, Satan?”

Maverick moved, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me in front of him. “Protect me from the mean lady, Little Badass.”

I swore I saw a flicker of pain as Aster zeroed in on Maverick’s arm around me. But she quickly covered it, squaring her shoulders. “Running scared, just like always.”

I ducked out of Maverick’s hold, giving him a little shove. “Do you need something, or are you just trying to start trouble?”

“Hey, I’m the innocent party here. Just stopping by to see my brother on the way to the base.”

I pointed toward the bar. “Wylder’s in that direction, if you haven’t noticed.”

Mav let out a huff. “I can see when I’m not wanted.” He dipped his head. “Cora. Holly. Ice Queen.”

Cora stifled a giggle, but Aster just flipped him off as Holly shook her head.

That only made Maverick grin as he headed for the bar.

The moment he was out of earshot, I turned to Aster. “What the hell is the deal with you two?”

Cora let out a low whistle.

But Aster just shook her head. “It’s a long story.”

I bet. “I’ve got time.”

Her lips thinned. “Let’s just say there are some things you can’t forgive.”

But there wasn’t just anger in Aster’s pale-blue eyes. There was soul-deep pain. And that left me with one question.

What the hell had happened between those two?





34





DEX





I pulled my 4Runner into the trailhead parking lot next to Kol’s truck. He had something laid out over the hood and barely looked up as I pulled in. I swore he had otherworldly senses sometimes. It was like he knew the specific hum of my engine or the way my tires crunched on the gravel.

Turning off the engine, I slid out and crossed to my brother. I could see now that he had one of Orion’s maps on the hood and was marking things off in pencil.

“Orion’s working on an incident-specific map for us, but this is what we’ve got in the meantime,” Kol muttered.

I knew what incident-specific meant: Any and all information that pertained to Nova’s disappearance. Orion built one for every missing persons case we dealt with. It wasn’t just things pertaining to the missing either. Similar cases were also noted. Crimes with any chance of a link to ours. Suspects’ residences and places of employment.

Orion created intricate, layered maps that he scanned on a massive scanner, and I put them into our team app. We could layer each of Orion’s findings as we needed. And he said it helped him with the geographic profiling of the case.

“You want to hike out and get a feel for the scene?” I asked.

Kol finally looked up. “Yeah.”

As he rolled up the map and put it back in his truck, I grabbed my lightweight pack from my SUV. It wasn’t as if we’d be going far, but you never knew what you’d come across. And the Archer brothers were always prepared. Well, all of us but Mav.

My pack held a satellite phone, a first-aid kit, water, energy bars, bear spray, and a SIG P226. I hated carrying it. Hated the weight it added to my pack. Despised having any sort of gun in my presence at all.

But sometimes you had to face the fear. It was why I’d mastered shooting every type of gun I could get my hands on. Why I knew how to disarm them all in a matter of seconds. Why I’d made sure I understood everything about them.

Because with that knowledge, the gun lost its power. Or at least that was what I’d hoped would happen. But every time I fired one, a flash of memory hit.

Orion squeezing the trigger. The shock on Dad’s face as he stumbled back. The knife clattering from his hand. So much blood.

“You good?” Kol’s voice cut into the memories.

I tightened the straps on my pack. “Yup.”

It was a lie, and we both knew it. But Kol didn’t push. He never did. He simply adjusted his own pack and started for the trail.

Normally, I’d take a second to appreciate the fresh air, the way the trees made an almost tunnel over the path, and the smattering of wildflowers in full bloom. But not today. Today, my head was focused on a missing woman…and on Brae—even if I tried to point it anywhere else.

“How were Brae and Owen this morning?” Kol asked, bringing me right back to the place I was trying to avoid.