Chapter 36 #3
Apparently I don’t have to because Vae nods, smiling sadly.
“It feels like she broke a promise, right? One you didn’t even know she made.”
I deflate, grateful to know he truly understands how I’m feeling.
”Yes. That’s exactly how it feels.”
“What if we’re missing something?” He whispers, and if I didn’t know better I’d think he sounds scared.
“Missing what?” I frown.
Vae isn’t prone to deep analysis. Not because he’s ignorant, but he tends to follow his instincts more than his head—unless it involves his Curse—which is in complete opposition to the way I make decisions.
That being said, it gives his words more weight when he speaks after taking time to really consider something.
So maybe I need to shut up and hear him out.
He turns to face me, tucking a leg underneath him. “Have you ever noticed anything odd happening around her?”
“Like what?”
“Like… I don’t know. Just weird shit. I know I mentioned the possibility of her father injecting her. You’d think if he had, we’d have noticed something by now.”
I consider it before shaking my head. ”No. I haven’t seen anything. Haven’t heard her rattling off weird shit in her sleep, either.”
Vae raises a hand to his mouth and starts chewing on a cuticle. I reach over, swatting it away.
“Stop that. You’re not five. You only do that when you’re stressed, so what else is going on besides the fact that I’m an asshole to the Omega?”
He glares at me but drops his hand. “I just don’t think she deserves how hard we’re pushing her. It would be one thing if we just had her locked up, you know—”
Alright, now I’m starting to get irritated. We’re rehashing the same shit. Not to mention, he agreed with me.
“You were completely on board with this,” I remind him.
He stands with a glare, fisting his hands and planting them on his hips.
Alright, I guess this is devolving into a fight after all.
“I was, Dax. From the start.”
“Then—”
“Except for the part where I told you we had to be completely sure she wasn’t innocent before doing anything drastic.”
“Fucking Fates, Vaelenor.” I groan. “What are you trying to say? That you don’t think she helped her father? What’s next, you think she actually has a Mate Bond with Caelan?”
“She was beaten to hell when Gav and Silas found her, Dax. That just doesn’t scream ‘willing participant’ to me. It never did, and I told you that.”
“Yes, her father clearly punished her,” I snap. “Are you questioning Gavran’s integrity now? I could maybe understand if this were coming from Silas alone, but it’s not.”
“Don’t put words in my mouth. I’m not questioning Gav.”
Both our scents have soured. The air smells burnt, and I hate it.
We’re going in circles. This is the same argument we’ve been having since day one. I lay out all the facts, Vae agrees with me, then out of nowhere decides to question shit because of his feelings.
His damn instincts.
“I don’t want to fight about this again,” he says, sounding defeated. “It’s not why I even brought it up. I need to tell you something.”
That gives me pause. Unease begins to swim in my chest.
“What?”
“I went up to the omega’s room earlier this evening.” He glances at me warily, like he expects to be reprimanded.
“You’re an adult, Vae. You don’t need my approval for every decision you make regarding our prisoner.” I emphasize the word deliberately. A reminder.
He shoots me a flat look.“Yes, I’m aware that I don’t need your permission. I just know this song and dance well enough to anticipate you losing your shit.”
I roll my eyes.
“Anyway, I brought her a blanket.”
A blanket. Of course. Suddenly, I strait to see her little Omega freak-out earlier in a new light: the tremors, the panicked breathing, the wide eyes. For a second, I wondered if it had all been an act. Now I’m really starting to believe it was.
“I got up there, and she’d obviously been crying—”
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
Our eyes snap to my phone lying face up on the coffee table. A name flashes across the screen that has us exchanging an anticipatory look.
I snatch the device and press accept.
“You’re on speaker. Vae’s here.”
“Lovely,” Whitetail replies sardonically.
“Do you hate everyone you work with, or is it just us?” Vae asks, circling the couch to drop back into his seat.
“Oh, I hate everyone.” She replies, making me smirk. “Where did you say this blood came from again?”
I frown. I could swear I already told her.
“Caelan found it. Hidden cryo chamber inside a study—”
”Whose study? At whose house?”
“Jonathan Varenthrall,” I answer. “He’s a human Alpha he discovered working with the Severed.”
“Does he have any family?” Her voice is sharp.
I exchange a confused look with Vae.
“What’s this about?” Vae asks.
“Family. Living family. Who are they?” Whitetail snaps, irritation bubbling to the surface.
“He has a daughter,” Vae answers before I can stop him. “Female. Omega. Her name is Idril.”
There is nothing but silence after that. It lasts so long that I tap the screen to check the connection before her voice explodes through the speakers.
“You fucking morons. You are incompetent, half-feral, testosterone-laden, soup-for-brains fucking turnips.”
I recoil, opening my mouth to reply, but snapping it shut when she keeps going.
“When I told you idiots that the blood was from a female Omega,” she continues, “you didn’t think once—not fucking once—huh, maybe it belongs to his Omega daughter who lived in the same godsdamn house?”
“Her name wasn’t listed on anything.” I shoot back. “We went to Albertson’s house and found a fucking murder board. There wasn’t a mention of her anywhere. All the other subjects had pictures. Initials. We’re still trying to ID them, but none of them were his daughter.”
Whitetail’s reply is scathing and dripping with sarcasm. “Oh, I stand corrected then. Clearly playing gumshoe detective trumps the DNA. Obviously, she’s not involved. If she were, she’d be on the murder board, duh!”
My reply is an irritated grunt. I flick my gaze toward Vae, noticing his face is suddenly pale. His scent is bitter with anxiety.
“Okay, okay.” I raise my hands in supplication like she can see me through the phone. “I’m listening. Just calm down—”
Based on the half shriek/half growl that comes through the speakers, that was the wrong thing to say.
“Calm down?” She echoes, voice syrupy-sweet with an undercurrent of danger. “I’ll tell you what. I’m going to hang up this phone, pour a huge glass of wine, and calm down.”
Vae’s eyes widen and he tries to talk her down.
“Whitetail, hold on— ”
“No, it’s fine, Vaelenor. Just one thing before I go. My sequencing came back. Thought you might want to know. Results show a ninety-nine point nine nine fucking nine percent match to Jonathan Varenthrall.”
Whitetail takes advantage of my shocked silence to add, “That’s a paternity lock. You know… just in case it wasn’t on your super-accurate, not-at-all-fucking-stupid murder board. You gave me his daughter’s blood.”
She hangs up.
I shoot from my seat. Heart racing, blood pumping, I scramble away from the phone like if I get far enough away, I can unhear what she said.
“Dax.” Vae approaches me like he is corralling a possibly feral animal. Fuck, he might be. Right now, I feel feral. I feel like I am going to explode with rage and disbelief.
“No!” I cut my hand through the air and turn away, pacing to the far end of the den.
My scent is everywhere. Anger and fear and adrenaline choke every inch of the room, but I can’t calm down. Can’t slow it down or make this all go away.
Her blood. We’ve had Idril’s blood this entire time.
I can’t make it not true. Not science. You can’t argue with fucking science.
“I told you,” I growl, advancing on my packmate. “I fucking told you she was hiding something.” My fingers rake through my hair, my pulse thundering in my head like a fucking war drum.
“She might not know,” Vae says carefully.
“Oh fuck that,” I snarl. I know my eyes are blazing. “She lied, Vae. You want to talk to me about fucking guilt? About how bad you feel for how we’ve treated her?”
I laugh bitterly.
“Fuck, we don’t even know what she is! Her blood is literally so full of magical properties that we can’t even sequence it.
” My scent is everywhere. Acrid and bitter.
“Her blood does impossible things, and you think she just never noticed? You wanted to feel bad and give her blankets and make sure she was comfortable while she played you like a fucking idiot.”
“You want to blame me? Go ahead. Blame me for having a shred of fucking decency left.” He steps closer. “Blame me for not wanting to torture a girl who might be innocent. Blame me for not turning into a monster just because you have.”
I rear back in shock. “I’m not a monster.”
“You’re acting like it!” Vae shoves me. Hard. “You threw a glass at her head—”
“I threw it at the wall!”
“You Alpha Commanded her. You’ve been systematically breaking her down for days, and now you find out that her blood is magic and your first thought is ‘oh she must have been lying to us.’”
The pressure in my chest feels like it is about to explode. Before I know it, Vae’s hands are on my shoulders, and he is spinning me around to face him.
“Daxen,” he barks. “Breathe. Listen to what I’m saying to you. I don’t think she knew, okay? If you were thinking clearly—”
I laugh. It is bitter, half-crazed, and slightly unhinged.
“I am thinking clearly, Vae. I’m the only one thinking clearly,” I hiss, shrugging him off and stalking to the door. I fling it open and storm down the hall. Vae follows, hot on my heels and practically running to keep up.
I move faster, taking long, angry strides toward the main staircase. I hit the ornate double doors and shove them open, hard enough to rattle the hinges. The sound echoes through the landing and follows me as I bound up the stairs two at a time, turning toward the attic door.
Then Vae catches up to me. He grabs the back of my shirt and slams me into the wall with a hand to my chest.