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Once our initial surprise is over, we realize she looks fatigued.
I’m standing over her as she brings her shaky hand up and sets it on the wound. She flinches when it comes into contact with her cheek.
“Katarina.” Ash’s voice is low and full of tension. “What in the fuck were you thinking?” Her eyes widen slightly like she’s realizing she fucked up.
“You could have died,” I say, crossing my arms.
“What would your kids have said when we saved them and had to tell them their mother died?” Tyler shoves his hands in his pockets, and I can tell he needs to let off some steam. Az has quietly retreated to the safety of the back of the room, but he probably wants to take her to his room and punish her. I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing that.
We ask more questions, but she responds to none. “Is it gone?”
Ash throws his arms up in irritation. “That’s the first thing you ask?”
She closes her eyes, and when they open back up, we all gasp. She sits up immediately, startled at our reaction. What the hell?
“What? What?” she shouts and looks around her room as if ready to fight.
Az’s footsteps come closer. He’s drawn to it, just as we all are.
“Your eyes, Kat,” Tyler says, his hands tightening into fists at his sides. “They’re a deep violet.”
“Go,” Ash tells Tyler. I know he needs some time to himself because I can feel his strong emotions bursting through our bond. He’s not very good at accepting failure. In all the years I’ve known him, Tyler has been a perfectionist, and when he gets like this, he needs space to work through it or he’ll end up taking it out on one of us.
Nothing could get past him when we worked for the council, but now it seems like we’re failing at every turn. We haven’t found out who took the kids, we didn’t know Theo was a supernatural, and we have no idea why Ava can’t fully shift.
When Tyler leaves the room, Ash brings Kat to sit on the edge of her bed, while I grab the rag to wipe her face. Her eyes track my every move carefully, and I try to be as gentle as possible, yet she still flinches at the contact.
Forty minutes later, she stands up slowly but keeps drifting in and out. Az picks her up and takes her downstairs to get her to eat something.
I pull out the chair at the head of the dining table so that he can gently place her down. Ash and Az sit next to her, and I sit next to Ash.
I’m happy to watch her inhale the sandwich we made. She has color again, but those eyes still haven’t returned to brown. I wonder if they ever will.
“We need to find them.” She keeps repeating herself over and over again.
“We will,” Az reassures her every time. It’s nice to see this side of my brother. He has a hard exterior, but he’s just a big softy.
Az looks me dead in the eyes. “Benji, whatever you are fucking thinking about, stop.”
“Not a chance,” I smirk.
“From now on, you’ll always have one of us by your side. We don’t know what threat is out there.” Ash is thinking of all the worst-case scenarios.
“We know who the threat is,” she says more forcefully than I’m used to. “It’s fucking Theo. I know it’s him.” She brings her fist down on the table, rattling the plate. “He has the resources to get what he wants; he always has and always will.”
“No I don’t—” I start to respond gently.
“Actually, she’s right,” Az interrupts.
“What do you mean?” Ash asks, looking pensive.
“Krissy masked Theo’s scent. Dante had no fucking clue about Theo, but Krissy did. They . . .” He looks at Kat with guilt. “They had a relationship together. She was helping him. I can’t quite figure out why. I would like to say that she was in love with Theo, but when Krissy killed her whole family, she sacrificed the love she was able to give and receive for power.”
“It makes sense.” Kat has a faraway look like she’s trying to put all the pieces together.
“Who the hell is Theo, and why is there absolutely nothing about him?” Kat shivers at my question. I can’t imagine what she’s feeling right now. Her kids are gone, her ex-husband—if we can even call him ahusband—is not the person she thought he was.
Kat shakes her head before bringing her violet eyes to meet mine. “That’s the question I’ve been pondering. There’s something he’s keeping from the whole world, something that he doesn’t want anyone to know.”
