Chasing Dare by Mikayla Lane Page B

information. Father is seriously off his chain over it, so you may want to keep a low profile for a while.” Traze threw himself haphazardly into one of the comfortable chairs in from of Grai’s desk as he spoke, causing Grai to groan in frustration. He wasn’t in the mood for a long chat with his carefree baby brother.
    “No, I didn’t hear about it. So Father was furious?” Grai blatantly lied to his brother; he not only knew that she was taken, he had known for months that they were close to rescuing her.
    “Bro, he was so pissed he was spitting fire at everyone around him! He even killed Dreka in his rage. Whatever is killing him is eating away at his mind, because he’s really losing it now.” Traze looked a lot more concerned than happy at the news and rightfully so. Although he may be sick and weak, their father’s viciousness would more than make up for his lack of strength.
    “What did you did with Dreka’s wife?” Grai asked, with concern. He hadn’t heard that his father killed Dreka. Dreka and his wife Sabienne were fiercely loyal to their mother and therefore, to the brothers as well.
    “I packed her stuff and put her on the ship back here with me then sent her to LaSali. I figured she’d be safe from father there.” Traze said with a sigh, his pain over the loss of Dreka obvious now that Grai was paying more attention to his brother. Dreka had been more of a father to Traze, to all of them, than their own had been.
    “You did very well, Traze. He will have forgotten she even existed by tomorrow, and LaSali will take good care of her. What else have you heard?” Grai was grateful that his little brother was able to easily get information out of some of their father’s confidantes. It made avoiding his father and his orders much easier for him and his other brothers.
    “Not too much really. Father’s circle of suck-ups are still trying to make it look like the old man has his mind intact, but they’re failing pretty miserably. Uncle Tai and our dear cousins are still plotting their coup for when the old man dies. And since everyone knows he has lost his mind; nothing is getting done anymore.”
    “They’ve even sealed off part of the ship because they aren’t maintaining it like they should. I can’t begin to figure out how many have escaped to the planet because no one is tracking the personnel and the ships coming and going.” Traze looked a lot happier relaying that information, causing even Grai to smile back at him.
    “So, there’s nothing else going on? Really?” Grai asked with a quirk of his brow, making Traze sigh in frustration.
    “Man, you know to don’t you? How the hell, do you know? Who told you?” Traze demanded, throwing his hands up theatrically. Grai almost laughed out loud at his brother's human-like dramatics.
    “Why don’t you tell me your side of the story, and we’ll talk from there?” Truth was Grai had no idea what his brother had done this time. However, knowing his brother was a magnet for trouble made it much easier to assume that he’d done something he shouldn’t… again. Lucky for him, his brother was generally honest and would admit to what he’d done pretty easily if prompted.
    “All I did was take Koda’s new ship out for a test drive before he was done fully checking its life support capabilities.” Traze was deliberately leaving out the part where the life-support systems had stopped working shortly into the flight and if Koda hadn’t chased after him when he took the ship, he’d be dead right now.
    Traze knew the moment Grai read between the lines; his face turned varying shades of red before white, and he braced himself for the inevitable outburst he knew was coming.
    “Have you lost your damn mind as well? You could have been killed; you fool! What the hell, were you thinking?” Grai demanded angrily.
    “I was bored up there, and I just wanted to try it out and see how it worked. You know Coda is always one step away from going