Page 39 of Second Shooter

Win could see she knew what was happening. “Quiet you.”

Wellyn paused. “What’s going on?”

Lyric cocked her head. “I am guessing it will take bonding with you to get her senses back online. They were blocked with antivenin, so you need to overwhelm the block.”

Win stared at her. “If you are my cousin, I am so going to make fun of you at family gatherings.”

“Knock yourself out, cuz.” Lyric chuckled. “My particular skill is seeing truth. Very annoying when you are trying to date in your teenage years. Oh, and when your brother and his mate were just having sex on the kitchen table.” She shivered and made a face.

Win looked around and saw the dozen people in the space, but it wasn’t weird. Everyone that didn’t live there was there for the same purpose. Them.

Iris asked, “Win, you seem to have a practical-clothing style. What formal designs do you like?”

“Leather. Lots of it. Hard to find it in a sundress, but it cleans up well for me and lets me move the way I like.”

Ymer’s eyes lit up. “There happens to be a leather worker one manor over.”

Iris grinned. “I will call Lya and see if she wants to get back into the swing of things.”

A phone appeared in her hand, and she walked into the next room.

Win smiled and tiptoed after her, taking a soul image of Iris. She caught Lyric’s gaze and took a picture of her. Then, the dark Elite all succumbed to her lens.

She took a picture of Erik and Cori and sighed as she saw their energies reaching for each other.

Keres and her mates were direct power. Iris and hers were more subtle but complex at the same time. Lyric’s expression was calm wisdom.

Megan and May were glowing but hadn’t formed their energy yet.

She smiled, looked around, and then walked outside to do something she hadn’t done before. She lifted the camera, aimed it at herself, and took a selfie.

Swallowing, she turned the camera around and nearly dropped it.

Blood-red designs moved along her skin, her eyes were black and silver, and her fingertips were crimson.

Atil said, “You hadn’t done that before?”

“No. Seeing everyone around here made me curious.”

“May I look?”

She grimaced and showed him the image. To her shock, he smiled.

“When I was a teen, they asked me what I thought my mate would be like. I said she was a fighter that could beat up any of my siblings.”

Wellyn walked out and said, “I said she would defend her family.”

Draven came up to her and smiled. “I said she would shake foundations.”

She lowered the camera and blinked. “They really ask you that?”

“They try to give us focus to work toward. They keep our minds on a fixed point so that all we do is for that eventual moment. We know it is a tremendous distance away, but we move toward it. Toward you.” Atil touched her shoulder.

She sighed and leaned into him. “I hide in trees.”

Wellyn smiled. “Cori told us. You also hate shoes if you don’t have to wear them.”

“That’s true.”

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