Page 86 of Voyage of Death and Desire

“Why are we counting?” Francis asks, coming into the room.

“Shh…” the room answers in unison.

“Is that a bomb?”

Micah pulls two of the wires at the same time and squints his eyes. Several minutes pass in silence. “Nope,” he answers Francis’s question. “Just supposed to look like one.”

“I spent several days in this room. That wasn’t in here earlier.” I look around the group as I speak. “Why would he do that?”

“Maybe he left it behind?” Connor asks.

“Kragen doesn’t do anything on accident,” I respond. “That was a message.”

A deep roar sounds outside the ship. “Sam’s here,” Micah says, throwing the fake bomb at Luna.

“Shit,” she exclaims, trying to catch it.

We make our way outside, finding an exact replica of the boat we took to meet the ship docked alongside us. Instead of the bright neon yellow color of the first one, this one is neon orange and has the words “Wolf Pack” paintedon the side.

“You don’t even try to hide, do you?” Luna asks as the lycan begin working their way down to the boat.

Connor laughs, following the rest of them overboard.

“Why would Kragen have a fake bomb?” Francis asks as Thorne lifts her into his arms.

“Because he’s an asshole,” he answers, jumping from the deck of the ship to the boat below. I follow behind, landing beside them. Elias and Abram do the same.

“Howdy, folks,” a younger version of Micah says from behind the wheel of the boat. “Looks like you guys could use some help.”

“Thanks, bro,” Micah answers, still holding the makeshift bomb. “We appreciate this.”

“No problem.” He nods to the bomb. “Is that thing real?”

“No, dummy bomb,” Micah answers as Connor steps to the helm, taking us to shore.

Thirty minutes later, we enter the house that Thorne built. Micah continues to play with the dummy bomb, pulling different pieces off and putting them back in place, while I help Francis gather food for a meal. Anything I can do to keep from being near Thorne right now is great.

“What’s going on between the two of you?” Francis asks, mixing the egg salad she just whipped together.

“Nothing,” I lie.

She huffs a laugh. “You’d have to be blind to missthe looks you’ve been giving him. Does it have something to do with Samirah?”

I sigh, not sure I should have this conversation with her. Thorne is her ancestor. “It does,” I finally answer. “They knew each other previously.”

“Knew each other, orkneweach other?”

I smile at the look on her face. “Knew”.

“You can’t expect him to be celibate for two hundred years.”

“I know, and I didn’t. It’s just the fact that it was her, and he didn’t tell me. God, I sound like a teenager, don’t I?”

“Do you want the truth or a lie?” She smiles. “Why don’t you take these into the living room, and I’ll make a few more.” I follow directions, taking the tray of sandwiches with me.

Micah is sitting on the couch, still enthralled with the dummy bomb, when it cracks into two pieces. Glitter explodes from inside, covering him in sparkles along with a note.

“Guys?” Micah pulls the paper out.

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