Fragile Brilliance (Shifters & Seers) Read Free

confused.”
    Reid’s eyes narrowed on the card. “Obviously.” Reid rubbed her finger over the embossed paw print. “Mind if I keep it?” she asked, cutting her eyes at Boyfriend as if asking his permission. “You know, since you don’t need it?”
    Maggie probably should have been offended by the obvious cut, but she wasn’t. She didn’t really care what Reid or Scout thought about her, and the last thing she needed was to get caught up in some rich kids’ club. Unlike her perpetually bored classmates, she had better things to do with her time than following esoteric rules just so someone would pretend they liked her. For example, she only had five minutes to make it to the other side of campus before her drawing lab started. With any luck, today’s nude model would be somewhat less wrinkly and smelly than Old Man March from yesterday.
    “Take it,” Maggie said, throwing the strap of her satchel over her shoulder. “It’s yours.”
    Reid bit her bottom lip and snuggled the card against her chest. “Thanks, Mags. You’re the best.”
    She wasn’t. Not yet. But that was why Maggie was at Sanders College. One day, she would be the best, and then people like Reid would be clamoring for her attention and acceptance. Until then, she was on her own. But it was okay. Alone was all she’d ever known.

     
     
     

Chapter 2
     
    Charlie Hagan scanned the nearly two hundred faces staring up at him, his fingers tapping out an impatient rhythm. After his third sweep of the room, he dug out his cell phone.
    “Where are you?”
    He waited thirty seconds for a reply. When none came, he typed out the same question again and hit send. He sent the message five times before Layne sent back a response.
    “Jesus. Can I not take a piss w/o u getting all up in my business?”
    “Not when you’re supposed to be attending a hustings,” Charlie typed back. “Get your ass in here now.”
    The last thing Charlie needed was to be dealing with his nephew when Shifters and Seers from all over the world were wandering around to see just how spectacularly the newly minted American Alpha Pack was failing, but he didn’t have much choice. Since his brother died last year, Charlie had become Layne’s legal guardian, which meant he had to deal with the thirteen year old’s crap no matter how inconvenient it was or how ill equipped Charlie might be.
    “Any sign of Scout’s unregistered Seer?” a voice asked from over Charlie’s shoulder at the same moment Layne slipped through the door and found a seat in the back row. Even if he hadn’t recognized the voice, Charlie would have known it was Joshua by the smell of chocolate clinging to the Stratego. Somehow Joshua managed to smell like chocolate even immediately after taking a shower. Charlie figured he’d eaten so much of it over the years it was somehow permanently embedded in his chemical make-up.
    “None,” Charlie said, not bothering to hide the irritation in his voice. “Did Michelle get any hits in the Archives?”
    “No, and I didn’t find anything when I poked around the innerwebs.” By which Joshua meant he hacked into every database he could find and traced her digital footprint back to birth. Joshua could do things with a computer Charlie didn’t know were possible and were most certainly illegal. The popular belief in the Alpha Pack was Joshua’s computer prowess came from actually building the internet with his own two hands. The guy might look eighteen, but he had been born back when Model T’s were still chugging up and down the streets. Eternal youth was just one of the many advantages of being an Immortal. “Want me to send Makya out to bring her in?”
    “The Alpha Female said to let her be for now,” Charlie said even though he really wanted to disobey the order. Most Shifters would have shrugged off an unregistered Seer, thinking they were harmless. They assumed since Shifters were the who could Change into a wolf - or in Charlie’s case, a