Page 74 of Property of Crypt Keeper

“Not so great.”

The rest of the afternoon should have felt normal. It didn’t.

Not after Dorian. Not after the warehouse. Not after those claw marks.

Every answer we found seemed to generate a million more questions. Why did Zara’s DNA connect to mine? Why did those claw marks look like mine? Why did Katalina fit so naturally into my life?

And the question I hated most? What if none of this was random?

Later that evening, I sat in church listening to Hack run through findings while my thoughts spiraled. Not dramatically. Quietly. Dangerously.

What if Zara was created from my bloodline somehow? What if Katalina being sent after me wasn’t random? What if Rafael had planned all of it?

My wolf didn’t like that theory. Neither did I.

“We’ve got something,” Hack’s voice snapped my attention back to the room.

Every head turned.

Hack pulled up satellite images on the monitor. An isolated stretch of land outside New Orleans. Old flood-control infrastructure. Mostly abandoned. Mostly.

“Massive underground power draw,” Hack explained. “Minimal traffic.”

Images changed. Thermal readings. Power fluctuations. Ward interference.

“Heavy magical disruption,” Hack continued.

Boomslang sat forward. “You think it’s a facility?”

Hack shrugged. “I think it’s worth checking.”

That was enough.

“I’m coming.” Katalina spoke immediately after we had concluded and gone back out to the main room to update our families.

Boomslang didn’t even hesitate. “No.”

Her eyes narrowed. “No?”

“Do you have no comprehension of the word? No,” Boomslang replied without batting an eye.

Silence ensued. Dangerous silence. The kind right before raging violence.

“We still don’t fully trust you,” Boomslang murmured.

Katalina looked ready to launch herself across the room.

I almost stepped in. Almost.

Then something small wrapped around Katalina’s leg.

Everyone froze.

Zara looked up with her bottom lip protruding. “Don’t go,” she begged.

The room went utterly silent. Because Zara hadn’t asked for anything since she’d been with us. Ever.

Katalina stared down at her. Completely frozen. For the first time since I’d met her, she genuinely looked unsure what to do next.