Page 19 of Awakened Gifts

Before I can try to answer, a thunderous pounding erupts against my skull, and I drop to my knees. A roar of pain breaches my lips and resounds through the room as I grip the sides of my head.

“Hyven. Hyven. Hyven. Hyven. Hyven.”

Air cracks against my lungs as I heave and strangle. Mel is screaming in my ear when my senses return, and I look to Simone.

“What the hell does hyven mean?” I ask, my voice barely a whisper as I wince in pain.

That was fucking powerful. Aria is definitely trying to talk to me. I just wish she’d give me more than one word on repeat. And I wish I knew the fucking words she was giving me.

Simone and Kellan exchange a look, and then she scrambles to grab a map from the table.

“Hyven only grows in certain places. Rarely in the Unaligned. Given the first clue and the new knowledge about dead man’s blood... I think I know where she is. Well, not exactly, but I can narrow it down to a thirty mile radius. Maybe then you can hone in on her wavelengths that she’s using to contact you.”

I nod rapidly, and Kellan stands, his body radiating tension. Everyone is hopeful yet terrified. I can’t watch her die again. We have to get there in time.

“Here,” she says, pointing to a section on the map, and that hope inside me swells to be painful.

But a vicious scream echoes through my ears, only this time, it’s not my own. I look over just as Kellan drops to the couch, his body writhing painfully as his eyes start to dilate. Fuck!

“Get the meds!” Brazen yells, looking toward Simone.

“No!” Araya says, dropping from his arms with a newfound strength. “Let him lose it. He’ll find her quicker this way.”

My heart breaks, knowing Kellan’s savage is coming out and in seconds, he’ll be going after the girl I love. But knowing we have a chance at saving her... Nothing else matters.

His pupils fully dilate, and his low, rumbling growl comes out as Araya steps in front of Brazen, protecting the only true full blood in the room. Kellan snarls, sniffing the air and letting his threatening glare land on Brazen.

Brazen tries to move Araya out from in front of him, but she’s stronger and pushes him back as her eyes dilate by her own will. She’s the only one to have ever mastered control over her savage. Kellan’s not in control. At all. He’s mindless, and he’ll kill any full blood he sees.

But then he breaks the eye contact and jerks his head to the window, as though he feels or hears something none of us can. It has to be Aria. He’s sensing her.

Without another word, he starts blurring across the room, and the glass shatters as he breaks through the window, never slowing down.

“Follow him!” Araya urges, running by me, and we all follow, crashing through the rest of the windows and dropping to the ground.

Mel and Rex jump into the convertible, and Rex tosses me the keys as I take the driver’s seat.

“I could lose it,” he explains as I slam the car in drive. “It’s better if you’re driving in case my savage breaks free. It’s barely staying contained.”

Kellan is narrowly visible, his speed almost too much for the roaring engine. Normally I’m faster than him, but with his savage in place, there’s no way I can keep up.

“I wasn’t complaining,” I murmur, pushing the car into the last gear, and surging forth. Araya and Brazen are right behind us, driving at the same wicked speed, and Simone is behind them, driving alone.

Thank God there aren’t any woods around for a while. Araya will have to go savage so she can have the speed to follow him if we run into congested, wooded areas.

I’m able to cut across the open plains as Kellan veers left, moving toward the border. I’ll have to call them so that they have the gates open when we reach them. Nothing is going to slow him down.

I refuse to think about what’s going to happen when we get there. Right now, all I can think about is saving Aria. Seeing her alive with my own eyes is all I need.

“What phase is he?” I ask, gritting my teeth when Kellan roars again, acting as though he’s feeling the same pain Aria is.

I’ll kill every son of a bitch that has touched her.

“Three. I’ve rarely seen anyone go from sober to phase three so quickly. Aria’s pain must have finally reached him the second he believed she was alive. Or else the waves she spoke to you on breached his mind, since it happened almost simultaneously.”

Kellan turns again, and I skid sideways to keep up. We’d sure as hell better make it in time.

ARIA