The Awakening
1599 Words
Dean’s POV
This is beyond weird.
Who the hell is this guy? Where did he come from? Why did he pick Alaina Hayworth to be his “Alpha”—or whatever the vamp equivalent of that is—when he seems to regard her as little more than an afterthought? They clearly aren’t in love. He doesn’t even seem to like her.
And why does he seem so fixated on Quinn? Sure, he’s a guardian and she’s a guardian, so maybe he feels more comfortable addressing her than me. But he’s treating me as almost as much of an afterthought as Alaina, and I don’t care for it.
“Nice place you’ve got here,” he says when we’ve all stepped inside and closed the door behind us. “Sort of… shabby-chic.”
I resist the urge to growl again. If not for the fact that we’re potentially teetering on the brink of a paranormal world war, I would. He’s seriously coming into my house and insulting it to my face?
Quinn squeezes my hand, which, of course, instantly calms me. Her touch has always had that effect on me—that, and the exact opposite effect of driving me crazy, in a more s****l setting.
“Thanks,” Quinn says shortly. She gestures for him to sit at the wooden table in the dining room, then does the same across from him. I take my seat next to her, and Alaina next to him. Marie and Garrett remain standing behind us.
I’m glad Quinn invited Marie to join us. I don’t like that Cooper is messing with her head again, and I’m hoping this reminds her to keep her head in the game and not let an i***t vamp like him distract her.
“I suppose I’ll get right to it,” Nolan says, clearing his throat. “My goal is to unite paranormal creatures around the globe and reveal our existence to the public. I call it the Awakening.”
My mouth falls open.
Surely I misheard him, right? Surely this complete nobody with a following of thirty rag-tag vamps and wolves isn’t trying to change the status quo of paranormals on the entire planet?
“I’d start slow, of course,” he continues cheerfully. “Here in the Southeastern US, then out west, with the eventual goal of California. New England will be the hardest, of course, given their historical disdain for us.”
He’s referring to the Salem Witch Trials, I guess. I’ve never been much of a history buff.
This guy is seriously off his rocker.
“Once I have the whole US behind me, I’ll take it public,” he continues. “No sense in waiting for global control. We’ll be too big for any of the other nations’ covens or packs to come after us at that point. Besides, what would be the point? The cat will be out of the bag. The Awakening will have begun.”
I’ve heard more than enough. “There’s a reason paranormals keep our existence secret. There are far more humans than there are of us, and they fear anything more powerful than themselves. To reveal ourselves to the public would be suicide.”
“It would be suicide now,” he agrees. “Even if I took over the entire country, it would probably still be suicide. But me and Quinn? Two guardians, on the same side? That, the humans wouldn’t stand a chance against.”
So that’s why he’s so fixated on Quinn.
I don’t resist the urge to growl this time.
I know it’s insane, Quinn says in my head as soon as the sound escapes my throat. But we have to be careful here. We can’t start another Battle of the Blood.
I think of the mural in my basement—the one my dad told me about when I was a kid. It’s the reason both Quinn and I know about the Battle of the Blood, in which a giant coven fought ruthlessly against a conglomeration of wolf packs, both of which had the assistance of guardians.
It was a m******e on both sides.
“We have a daughter,” Quinn tells him. I wish she hadn’t said it, though he probably already knows. “We can’t make decisions that risk her safety.”
“Which is exactly why you should consider this,” he urges. “Your daughter—essentially human, isn’t she? Guardianship doesn’t pass down genetically, and a half-wolf is barely wolf at all, right?”
I hate that he knows all this. “Right,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Think of the pain she’ll be in as she grows up. Having to hide what she is from her human classmates, yet not being able to fit in with her paranormal ones, either. Think of the danger she could be in if the wrong person found out what she was without fully understanding it. In my scenario, that won’t happen. In my scenario, paranormals will be revered for their strength.”
There will never be a scenario where humans revere paranormals for their strength. They’ll always live in fear of us, just as they do now, without really even believing in us at all.
Right?
“Could you give us a moment, Nolan?” Quinn asks him, smiling a shaky smile. She glances behind her at Marie and Garrett and adds, “You guys, too. I’d like to talk to Dean alone.”
I’m glad she said that. I would very much like to speak with her alone.
“Of course,” Nolan says diplomatically, rising to his feet. “Take as much time as you need. I’ll wait at the entrance with the others.”
Alaina follows suit, keeping her head downcast. It blows my mind that she didn’t utter a single word during our entire meeting.
Garrett follows them out, but Marie hesitates, glancing at Quinn with dark, nervous eyes.
“You’re not seriously considering this, are you?” she asks. “It’s suicide, and not just for us. It would mean mass destruction.”
“Of course not,” Quinn assures her. “But just as his plan would mean a world war, upsetting him could mean a paranormal one. Dean and I just have to work out how best to navigate declining his offer.”
Relief floods through Marie’s dark eyes, and she gives Quinn a tight hug before exiting.
“Jesus Christ,” I breathe when it’s just the two of us. “This is bad.”
She nods, remaining still for several seconds, then tears over to me and buries her head in my chest. She isn’t crying, I can tell; she’s just overwhelmed.
“It’s not how it’s meant to be,” she murmurs into my chest as I hold her. “Him and Alaina. The guardian-Alpha relationship. It’s supposed to be about love, not power.”
“I know.” I rub her back slowly and methodically, cherishing every second of holding her, like I always do. I think of all the conversations we had about her being a guardian—and of how much I begged her not to do it. I can’t imagine what it must have been like with Nolan and Alaina—some sort of emotionless transaction.
She lifts her head from my chest to look up at me, but makes no move to wrangle out of my grip. “I’m scared, Dean. Scared for Julia. Scared of what he’ll do if he says no.”
“I know. But we can’t say yes.”
She nods, biting her lip. It reminds me of how badly I want to bite her lip—of how badly I want to forget all about Nolan and Cooper and everyone else on the planet who isn’t us and make love to my perfect wife. “So where does that leave us?”
“I guess we could try and smooth the waters. Tell him we’re mulling it over, take a few days, just so he feels like we’ve really given it some thought. After that, we turn him down as respectfully and politely as we can. And then we just… pray.”
“Where would they stay, though—if we told them we needed time? If we want them to believe we’re really considering their offer, they’ll expect us to do the hospitable thing and offer them a place to stay.”
The thought of that freak staying in my compound is bone-chilling—especially given that my daughter sleeps here. It’s not an option. “Do you think we could convince Cooper and his coven to house them? They are the Refugee Coven, aren’t they?”
In a way, Nolan’s clan is sort of like Cooper’s—a smorgasbord of rejects thrown together under a new leader. Doesn’t mean he’s likely to say yes, though. “He didn’t exactly seem pleased to see them, did he?”
She bites her lip again. Moon God, it’s distracting. How long ’til we work this out so I can really have her in my arms?
“He’s not going to like it,” she admits. “But I think I know of a way to convince him.”
It isn’t hard to follow where her mind is going—especially given that I can read the majority of her thoughts these days.
I grin, close my eyes, and link to Marie, We’re gonna need you to come back. Bring Cooper—and bring your flirty eyes.
- Writer
