Page 66 of Awakened Gifts
Simone laughs humorlessly. “Ty was child’s play compared to what they’ve accomplished. He created hybrids that Araya took down with the flick of her wrist once she got a handle on her savage. These people have created hybrids that Araya can’t even compete with. We’re so fucked if we don’t find a way to penetrate their skin with something other than our gifts, because we’re not strong enough to take on an army of them. Not even Aria will be strong enough once they fuse Araya’s blood with hers and complete the formula.”
Kellan and Jase curse, and Uncle Brazen looks up at me, realizing why I wouldn’t tell Mom. It’s in his eyes, and I hope he backs me up.
“She’ll kill herself if she finds out. If she’s dead, her blood is useless, and she’ll sacrifice herself to save everyone else,” he whispers with tears in his eyes.
No one says anything for a long, heart-wrenching moment.
“We can find a way to beat them.” Rex’s voice is broken, and he swallows hard on the invisible knot in his throat.
“We will find a way. We have Simone. They don’t have a scientist in their lab that comes close to being as good as she is. She’ll find a weakness.” I look over to Simone who nods.
“I’ve got plenty of corpses I can start dissecting. I’ll learn all I can, and I’ll use my gift to separate each and every cell until I can find a flaw in the pattern. Nothing is ever perfect. Somewhere within the code there is a weakness.”
Uncle Brazen’s crestfallen expression matches my own inner turmoil. Keeping this from Mom isn’t going to be easy. But within a few days, the point will be moot. They’ll have used her blood, and killing herself will be pointless.
“But she’ll still kill herself even if it’s too late this time. She’ll try to prevent it from happening again,” Jase says, adding to the thoughts in my head, though I hadn’t even thought to question that.
“Christ,” Uncle Brazen says, distressed. “She can’t know. She has to think this was all a stage for her death as opposed to a sham for her blood.”
At least we’re in agreement. Now the question is how to do that while we search for Alice.
Jase walks with me inside, his brow furrowed in deep thought. I try to block out my own thoughts in an effort to keep from weighing his mind down even more. This whole night has been stressful enough, and he just came down from his savage.
Our wedding night is ruined, my mother’s life depends on secrets, and the crazy bitch grandmother from hell is building a fleet of indestructible mercenaries with a scent for our blood. Life is really fucking grand.
As soon as the door shuts, Jase lets out a pained groan before dropping to his knees, and my heart jumps to my throat.
“Jase!”
He doesn’t answer me or speak at all. A feral growl rumbles in his chest, and my knees tremble when he looks up at me with killer eyes and a wicked grin.
Chapter 21
KELLAN
I’ve never felt so free and trapped in all my life. Simone makes it easy to breathe again, and for the first time in so long, I don’t feel the least bit alone. Hell, I’m actually a little fucking pathetic, considering I couldn’t even manage to pry myself away from her long enough for her to finish her autopsies. Well, considering these sons of bitches were more like animals, I suppose I should refer to them as necropsies.
“Nothing on the specks,” I say, pushing aside the machine that has failed me every time. I spent years under the tutelage of Clay Jude, the most brilliant scientist to ever live, and yet I can’t figure out a damn thing.
“We’ll find something,” she says absently, and I watch with unguarded fascination as she slowly and cautiously wields the blood in the air, transforming it into simpler threads as the cells separate. It’s beautiful.
“You’re staring and smiling,” she says, biting back a grin of her own.
There’s no doubt fate really did fuck up, and thank God for Aria. I could have never accepted Simone with the ties I had to my ex-counter. But now… It’s amazing how easy it has been to fall for her. And I don’t feel a damn thing for Aria. Everything has turned friendly, and I would still die to protect her, but there’s no sense of romantics behind my feelings toward her anymore.
“You’re amazing to watch.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, the smile she’s been restraining slips free against her will, even though she keeps her focus on the blood and not me.
“Captain Fricks may give us Alice’s location now,” she says, moving the blood in spirals as she separates it again and simplifies it even more.
His name sours my good mood, and reality crashes down with the force of an avalanche. “You can’t go anywhere near him. Especially since you’ve learned Aria’s blood can’t cure his wife. He’ll never believe it.”
Her beautiful lips turn down in a frown, and she looks away from the blood to catch my eyes. “I have to tell him. And I have to go around him to collect more blood for the emergent children. I was making a lot of progress with that.”
“You weren’t even supposed to messing with his wife’s treatment. You were only supposed to be focused on the emergent children. If you go tell him the procedure failed, he’ll do something. And I’ll have to rip his throat out, making him useless in tracking down Alice.”
She sighs as she turns back around to the blood, but I see the faintest of smiles playing on her lips.
“You really do care about me, don’t you?”