Page 306 of Awakened

He stands, walks over, and snatches the decanter from the cart. “My instincts are telling me that what she is, at her core, is fucking ancient. And now that we have that book…”

“I really hope locking her in the fucking attic makes you feel dumb as shit now,” Caean grumbles.

“I’m pretty sure that if she ever discovers just how much more powerful she actually is, she’s going to burn this place to the ground. And honestly…” Vae scans the room and grimaces. “I wouldn’t stop her.”

It’s impossible to bite back my smirk.

These fucking idiots. They still don’t get it. They still don’t understand who she is. They’re so Fatesdamned worried about what she is that they’re ignoring what’s right in front of them.

Caelan catches my gaze and rolls his eyes, clearly thinking the same thing I am. Vae and Dax don’t know her. Not like Caelan and I do. Sure, we don’t know her favorite snacks or favorite books or everything she’s been through, but we know her.

We know her soul. We can feel how kind she is, how gentle and strong. We know her stubborn will and her intelligent mind. Her desire to love with her whole heart and to be loved in return. We haven’t even Marked her yet, and our Bond’s already so intense it’s almost intoxicating.

Daxen just spent twenty minutes trying to explain her DNA, but even with her biological blueprint right in front of him, he still doesn’t know her. And for all his fancy fucking talk, that makes him the dumbest bastard in the room.

Caelan shakes his head and pins his Packmates with a look full of pity. “You don’t get it, do you?”

“Get… what?” Vae asks, looking at Dax like he might know what’s happening.

“The shit you’re saying,” Caelan throws a hand out at Vae. “Idril would never, ever do something like that. She would never purposely hurt either of you. Even with no control over her abilities, she still managed to obliterate a deadwalker less than two feet from Daxen’s back without singeing even a hair on his head.” He sighs, squeezing his eyes shut like he’s in physical pain.

“You don’t fucking know her. If you did, you’d know she’d never hurt any of you because that’s not who she is.”

“She shouldn’t just forgive us,” Vae mutters.

Snorting, I lean back against the wall and prop up a foot. “Once again, that’s exactly the point Caelan’s trying to make. You seem to think she’s either a god with all these powers, coming to rain judgment down on your heads, or a weak little girl who doesn’t know her own mind, let alone how she does and does not deserve to be treated.”

“Daxen said⁠—”

“Daxen might know her DNA, but he doesn’t know her,” I snap, talking over him. “And if you both have somehow managed to confuse the two, you’re bigger idiots than I thought.”

Caelan narrows his eyes, and I brace myself for verbal beat-down number two of the day when a jolt of shock explodes through my system that doesn’t belong to me.

It—Fates… it came from Caelan.

His muscles strain, his shoulders tightening as he shifts and adjusts his stance slightly. To someone who doesn’t know better, the change is imperceptible. But I recognize it for what it is.

A male preparing to attack.

From his seat on the couch, Shade snarls. His head lifts toward the ceiling, and he braces himself, muscles flexing under his fur like he’s getting ready to pounce.

Vae’s lips part, but I throw up my hand before he can speak. Warily, I follow Shade’s gaze and curse when I see what he’s looking at.

A black mist hangs in the air, tucked up against the wooden beams of the ceiling. It’s coiled into a tight ball, pressed into a natural shadow. If Caelan hadn’t already been looking in that direction when he opened his eyes, he wouldn’t have seen it.

None of us would have.

My neck prickles in warning as my Beast snarls in my chest, pushing to the surface. I can almost smell it—smoke and ozone creeping into my sinuses. Not unpleasant, but not right, either.

Shade moves from the couch, slinking across the room to stand between Caelan and me. He crouches down, then lets out a deep, angry, vibrating scream that can only be taken one way—a warning.

“Fates, is that—” Vae reaches for his dagger, wrapping his hand around the hilt.

“What do you think your blade is going to do against a fucking shadow?” Dax scoffs, but I can see his pulse pounding in his throat even from here.

“Gods…” Caelan curses. “I knew there was something I kept forgetting. I knew it. It’s been right there, right at the edge of my memory⁠—”

“Same here,” I tell him, keeping my attention on the shadow above. “Idril and I even ran into it again the other day and just like the War Room…”