Page 7 of Blades of Ice

Cailín stared at her for a few seconds. “Do you want to hang out here and wait for Mr. Hottie?”

“No. We have a job to do.” Lydia gestured toward the walkway, and they headed to the rental car.

You need to find Beck.

We are here to find those looking for shifters, not hunt after males, no matter how hot they are.

But he’s—

Stop. We can come back here after we take care of business in Sterling.

Her Goyle slunk to the background but only after it roared inside her head. Lydia stumbled in shock. Cailín stopped and grabbed her arm.

“You sure you’re okay?”

Lydia lowered her voice. “Just my Goyle acting like a toddler.” She took a deep breath, but she didn’t apologize to her other half. She did keep her eyes peeled for Beck as she and Cailín strolled away from the harbor. Lydia hated being out of sorts with her beast, but like she said, they had a job to do, and that didn’t include a fine specimen of the male variety.

She and Cailín spent the two-hour trip as they always did when they were together, singing to their favorite songs. Havingrock icon Desmond Rothchild as a Clanmate, she along with most of their friends listened to Cyanide Sweetness, even though their songs were now considered classics. Desi’s son, Jacoby, had his own band, so Jupiter Madness was also on rotation. Lydia wondered what type of music Beck listened to. Then she wondered why she was wondering about that.

Because he’s—

Lydia’s phone rang, cutting off whatever her Goyle was going to say. Seeing it was Carleigh, she tapped the answer icon, putting it on speaker. “Hey, C. What’s up?”

“That’s what I want to know. Your locator shows you and Cailín are in Seward. Did you find something?”

“Oh, sorry. I should have let you know we were leaving the area. We were bored and decided to check out a seafood restaurant by the harbor. We’re headed back to Sterling now.”

“Son of a goat fucker!” Cailín swerved onto the shoulder, gravel flying, and Lydia grabbed the “oh shit” bar as an SUV passed them over the double yellow line with a car coming the other direction. It barely got back over before hitting them and the oncoming vehicle. Carleigh snorted, not knowing why Cailín was cursing. The female was infamous in their family for her colorful expletives.

Cailín pointed at the speeding car. “That looked like the bastard who knocked you down.” She pulled back onto the road and pressed the accelerator.

“Wait. What? Who knocked you down?” Carleigh demanded.

“Some asshole being chased along the waterfront.” Lydia let go of the handle and propped her elbow on the door, not worried about Cailín’s speeding. Like the rest of their younger Clan members, the redhead was a pro at driving, defensive and otherwise.

“But then she was rescued like a damsel in distress by the hottest bear you’ve ever seen. Picked her up like she weighed nothing and deposited her on a bench beside a trash can in case she puked.” Cailín fanned herself with one hand even though Carleigh couldn’t see her.

“Puked? We don’t get sick. Are you okay? And a bear?”

“My gut might have rumbled for a second, but I’m fine. And the guy doing the chasing was six and a half feet tall with the bluest eyes you’ve ever seen. He smelled like snow on pine trees.” Lydia sighed. “But no, he didn’t look like a bear.”

Cailín snorted. “The hell he didn’t. Have you never seen a polar bear? Pfft. That man is a beast. Carleigh, his name is Beck, and he works for Sagan Adventures, so if you have time to do some digging, that’d be great.”

Lydia glared at her friend. “How do you know where he works, and why should Carleigh look into him?”

“While you were sniffing the snowy trees, I was checking out his chest, and the name of the company was embroidered on his jacket. Carleigh needs to do a little digging into the bear in case you decide to go back and check out his other attributes that caused you to feel nauseated.”

Carleigh was already typing away in the background, and Lydia sat up straighter when she realized Cailín had almost caught up to the SUV.

“C, run this license plate.” Cailín rattled off the letter and number sequence.

“On it, but maybe don’t get put in jail for murder before you accomplish the task you’re there for.”

“Do you have any more information on the cryptic messages?” Lydia asked, trusting her cousin to multitask.

“I pinpointed the area in Sterling where one of the messages originated. I’ve sent it to your phones. Also, there is a new player in the game. It took a while to determine their location becausethey’re good at covering their tracks, but this keyboard warrior is in Kodiak, which is about two hundred miles southwest from where you are. Oh, look at that. If you end up needing to visit Kodiak, Sagan Adventures has seaplanes that fly there almost daily.” See? Multitasking at its finest.

“Just because the company offers flights doesn’t mean Beck is the pilot,” Lydia argued.

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