The whole room erupted in chaos.
Dylan shoved himself between them. Bells had upended her drink in the panic, and the sheer hatred and distrust in Callum’s eyes rooted Nicole to the spot.
‘What the fuck is wrong with you?’ demanded Dylan.
His hands were wrapped around Callum’s strong forearms, which looked hard as steel. From the shock in Dylan’s eyes, he couldn’t budge the other Empyreal an inch.
‘How the fuck did you hide it?’ Callum snarled around Dylan.
‘I won’t hurt you,’ their father said tightly, though Nicole was surprised he could breathe, let alone speak.
Callum let out a laugh. ‘I can feel it pulsing off you like a dark aura. You’re one ofthem.’
‘Them?’ Bells asked, frantic on their other side. She’d tugged on Callum’s left arm, and thankfully he didn’t try to dislodge her.
‘Let him go, right now!’ Nicole ordered.
‘Callum,’ Kyan said calmly. He didn’t haul his friend off, but approached slowly. ‘Why don’t we sit back down?’
‘I’m not taking my goddamn hands off him until he explains!’ Callum roared.
‘Callum,’ Kyan interrupted, a flash of anger in his tone.
Callum shot him a look of warning ire that said,You don’t understand.
But Dylan was the one snarling in his face when he returned that expression to their father.
Nicole could barely think over the pounding in her head.
He knew.
Callum had sensed whatever arcane power her father had used to torture the thief.
‘Let me go, and I’ll explain—’ her father said.
‘Backoff,’ Dylan snarled.
He and Callum looked each other, and Nicole felt the tension glaring off her brother like a live forge. This – threatening one of his family – was something Dylan couldn’t deal with. There was such a raw, electric anger there, but it was the vulnerability that made Callum loosen his grip and take a step back, fixing his shirt to get a hold of himself.
‘Get talking,’ Callum said darkly.
‘It’s not what you think,’ their father said, and Nicole was distantly impressed that he didn’t rub his neck.
‘I take it from the reactions of your children, that they don’t know.’
‘Knowwhat?’ Nicole asked, her shakiness reforming into impatience.
‘What’s going on, Dad?’ Bells whispered, staring up at him with worried eyes.
‘Yourfather,’ Callum began, ‘is one of the Wake.’
The world bent and fused around her. But Callum didn’t stop, because Nicole knew what that meant after what the Druid had revealed. It meant—
‘Your father is one of the banished Demon Gods that fought the Old Gods of Ireland. And somehow, he’salive.’
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
Nicole
