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“So did he.”
My conflicted emotions didn’t know what to do with the words. I was still so angry at my father for his betrayal. Had all but fucking cursed him myself when I told him I never wanted to see him again. That he was dead to me.
Looks like you got your wish, Kingston.
Something slithered in my stomach, making me nauseated as a terrible possibility took root.What if... No, there’s no way. I couldn’t be...
But what if I was?
My thoughts were chasing each other, my mind too scared to even think the words, let alone say them out loud. Could I be responsible? Those horsemen my sister saw in her fever-induced dreams, could she have been referring to me? To Thorne and Caleb and Alek? We were dealing with Armageddon here. Signs of it were everywhere. Hell, even that witch said our baby would bring about the Apocalypse. If she was the Harbinger, had we been the Horsemen all along?
Fuck.
It was impossible, right? Crazy talk.
FUCK.
I tore out of the office, leaving Doc standing alone with his own grief as I headed out in search of the guys. They needed to know what Phe had said, how this was connected, before I could face my mom or sisters. But what I really needed was to hear Thorne and Alek tell me I was reaching with my theory. Because I couldn’t be the reason my dad and sister died. I fucking couldn’t. And if I was... I didn’t know what I would do.
ChapterTwenty-One
ALEK
“Well, if we are the Horsemen, clearly I’m War.” I forced a smile as I let Kingston’s words sink in. I didn’t want to admit it could be true. How could I be something so nefarious and not know it? Then again, Iwasa berserker and didn’t have a clue. But now, I couldn’t deny that part of me. As if summoned by thought alone, a tremor worked through my hand, and I had to ball it into a fist to stop the involuntary movement. The beast was becoming harder to control with every passing moment I was without my mate.
“Who does that make me?” Thorne asked, his lips twitching.
“Death, obviously. And Caleb would be Famine. The bastard loves to deprive himself.”
Thorne snickered. “Hilarious and oddly apt. There might be something to your theory after all, Kingston.”
“Fucking Pestilence, of course. They died of a fucking plague right after I said he was dead to me.” The wolf looked like he was about to be sick. He hung his head and braced his elbows on his knees, refusing to meet our gazes. For once, he wasn’t the one cracking inappropriate jokes.
That sobered me more than anything else, and my smile slipped. “You aren’t responsible for this,” I said, lowering myself next to him on the couch and resting a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t you think we’d know if we were somehow involved in all this chaos?”
“But we are involved. That baby exists because of us. Who’s to say we aren’t part of the rest of this too?”
“I haven’t killed anyone I don’t know about.” Thorne’s conviction bled from his words.
“Neither have I. And neither have you, King—”
“Would you guys shut up? We can’t hear what they’re saying.” Tessa’s words were uncharacteristically harsh as she gestured to the television. Moira, Ash, and Kingston’s youngest sister were squeezed onto the room’s second sofa, all wearing matching looks of shock as they read the scrolling headlines of the evening news.
As a unit, the three of us trained our focus on the news program on the screen. She raised the volume and turned on subtitles for good measure.
“This is Bill Williams reporting live from the shores of Lake Michigan, where scientists are still scratching their heads over this morning’s baffling discovery. A spokesperson from the Department of Agriculture and Fish and Wildlife Service’s joint task force has just confirmed the mysterious substance responsible for the change to the water is, in fact, blood rather than the suspected invasive algae. The CDC has not yet commented on these findings, likely awaiting their own results as samples from the lake were also sent to them for further research.
“So far, reports indicate the blood is human, and every sample has been linked to the same DNA source, which should be impossible given the sheer quantity. But as matters currently stand, the entirety of the lake seems to have been replaced with blood overnight.
“This strange development comes directly on the heels of two other events, now being called Acts of God. A massive underwater volcano erupted in the South Pacific Ocean with a nuclear blast force, triggering an earthquake measuring 9.1 on the Richter scale. The shock waves were felt at nearly maximum strength all the way up the west coast of the United States and into Canada. Currently, the entire coast is under a tsunami warning, and reports of catastrophic damage have begun filtering in.
“We don’t know yet if this is connected to the wall of flames reported in the Red Sea, but to this lapsed Catholic, it all seems very biblical to me. Are we in the end times? I, for one, plan to dust off my rosary and head to confession. Back to you, Karen.”
Tessa muted the TV, the remote falling from her now limp fingers. “Holy. Shit.”
I swallowed through a thick throat. “Not it. I did not do any of that.”
“Has someone said you did?” Moira asked, cocking a brow.
