BooksBarbecue
Back Unleashed Save as PDF
Chapters (56)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Part One
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. Part Two
  19. 13
  20. 14
  21. 15
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. Part Three
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. Part Four
  35. 27
  36. 28
  37. 29
  38. 30
  39. 31
  40. 32
  41. 33
  42. 34
  43. 35
  44. Part Five
  45. 36
  46. 37
  47. 38
  48. 39
  49. 40
  50. 41
  51. 42
  52. 43
  53. Epilogue
  54. Acknowledgments
  55. About the Author
  56. Back Cover

“Oh yeah, I’m really scared. What are you going to do, tell on me? No one likes a snitch.”

“Come on,” Tobias says to me, in a low voice. “Let’s go back to the team.”

“Not really your team though anymore, is it Lacey? Now that you’re back at St. Agnes?”

“Leave it, Carter,” growls Tobias.

Carter holds his hands up in surrender, then laughs and walks back to his team.

“Don’t let him bug you,” Tobias says.

“I’ll try,” I say, although my fingers have tightened into fists at my side. I take a breath to relax. “At least it’s even more motivation to get back to Profectus as quickly as possible. Just to show him.”

“That’s the spirit.” Tobias grins.

“Hey, team!” Ashley calls over to us from the booth. “You should come back here—they’re about to show off one of the upcoming baku models.”

Tobias and I exchange a grin, make a random selection of the cakes in front of us, and head back to the booth. There, in the open play space, the café employees are bringing out the new baku models.

I reach out and grab Tobias’s hand tight.

He looks down at me in alarm. “What is it?”

“That baku…” I can’t speak anymore. I can only point at one of the new models a Top’s server is showing off.

“The baby sloth? What about it?”

I watch as the server leads the sloth around the room, its ambling gait drawing many sighs of admiration from the crowd. The baku halts in the middle of the room and shows off some of its unique functions—such as a built-in sleep tracker and the ability to emit a soft lavender mist at bedtime to help its owner relax.

My eyes widen, and my words come out in a jumbled stream. “Oh my god. I think I know where Monica Chan is.”

10

Tobias drags me back into the booth, and the others stare at me with a mixture of concern and fear. “Aero, shield us.” His baku responds by spreading his wings in front of our booth so we’re hidden from view and our conversation is muffled. “What do you remember?” he asks, as I struggle to order my thoughts into understandable sentences.

“It’s all coming back to me. We were fighting with Carter and the security panthers in the Team Happiness wing of Moncha HQ, weren’t we?”

Tobias nods.