Chapter 28 Dex #2
“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 the interwebs 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.