Page 64 of Awakened Gifts
“What if they gain control of their savage?” I whisper, watching all the puzzle pieces fall into place.
I sprint out of the room, crashing through the double doors that lead to the hallway, and rushing by a very surprised commander. He reads my mind, hearing my fears, and he reacts with the same vicious pace I have, almost beating me outside.
He’s getting stronger and faster. Is his connection to me changing his line of power?
Considering I have more pressing things to concern myself with, I push aside the thought and head toward the battle scene. I hope I’m wrong. I killed everyone, surely. They didn’t get to succeed with their plans.
“What the fucking hell is going on?” Kellan demands as he slows down. He’s getting slower and losing strength. Not enough to be worried about, but enough to notice.
Unbelievable. His ties to me made him stronger. Now that he’s been released, Jase is the one assuming the extra strengths.
“They were here after Mom,” I say, moving my eyes across the ground.
“And she’s safely tucked away insid—”
“Why would they want me?” Mom asks, interrupting Kellan’s words.
He frowns as he looks her over. Everyone has cleaned up except for Rex, Mom, Brazen, and myself. Her body is healed, but her clothes are still stained in the major amount of blood she lost.
My whole body tenses when I read the ground, the nightmare in my head unfolding and turning into reality.
No. No. No!
Small, barely noticeable impressions are leading away from the spot where Mom’s blood is still staining the ground. Her blood isn’t like mine. It doesn’t die once it hits oxygen. And now they have copious amounts to do with as they please.
“He could have killed her,” I say absently, more to myself than anyone else, as I study the proof that confirms my fears.
But he never wanted her dead. He took his sweet fucking time, just waiting on someone to save her. None of them planned to survive the night.
I run my hand through my hair as I read the fresh impressions. They’re barely ten minutes old, and they lead away from her bloody stains on the ground and move into the woods. She shed a lot more blood than what’s here. In fact, there’s barely any left.
“Aria, we’re trying to follow, but it’s getting a little hard to keep up.” Kellan sounds as frustrated as everyone else feels, but I’m too concentrated on the sickening truth to worry about explaining myself.
Jase doesn’t say anything before walking away, pulling his phone out as he heads toward the woods, probably trying to set up an interception discreetly. But it won’t be possible. These people have planned everything out, and they’re far more intelligent than we assumed. Our constant flaw is underestimating them.
“Mom was the target,” I say again.
“Because Alice wants me dead,” Mom says bitterly, a hint of pain on her tongue.
“Yeah,” I lie, knowing damn well she’ll kill herself if I tell her the truth.
Her death will serve no purpose, because they’ll eventually find another way to do this. Evolution is steadily getting faster, and something as simple as savage control can be around the corner for several of her kind, should Simone find the cure.
“And you had to run out here to figure that out?” Mom asks suspiciously.
I acted too damn rash. I should have calmly left and done all this behind a veil. Now I’ve tipped her off, and Mom is a master interrogator.
“I thought they might have left some trace when he was on you. It dawned on me that I never got to check the scene, and they’ve been out here cleaning it up. He was careless when he was trying to take you out. I needed to assess the scene before it was completely gone. I think I can track their steps from the way they came. A crew like that would have had to have left a trail.”
It’s not a lie, but it is a misleading truth that she might just fall for. Her emotions relay to me that she’s falling for it. She’d never believe anyone else, but considering she raised me, I’ve had inside information as to how to manipulate her.
“They’ll be gone by now. They would have prepared for failure and evacuated whatever facility they were in,” Mom says, huffing out a breath.
She bought it. Now I need her out of here so I can tell the others the truth.
“Araya,” Jase says as he rejoins us.
“Commander.”