Page 295 of Caged

I stagger back a step, blinking to see past the black dots swimming in front of me.

“There is something fucked up with her,” Dax insists. “And I won’t let her become a weapon in our own damn home.”

“She didn’t know,” Vae’s voice is low and pleading. My Omega sits up, soothed by his attempt to stand up for us, but the more he speaks, the worse it sounds.

What the hell could possibly be in my blood that would kill or hurt other Omegas?

Dax shakes his head. “You can’t honestly believe that. That’s like trying to tell me you didn’t know you were a vampire when you were twenty-two. She is different, and she knows it.”

He’s so calm. So self-assured as he tears me down piece by piece, until all that remains is doubt and fear.

Gods, what if I do something to hurt someone else? What if something inside of me hurts Caelan?

I have no idea how this, whatever it is, works. If my blood can change others when I’m not even in the room, what else is possible?

My hand drifts to my neck, and I scramble back, vision blurring further as panic twists everything sideways.

“I don’t trust her,” Dax argues, but his voice sounds far away. “I didn’t trust her when we bought her here, and I sure as fuck don’t trust her now.”

Vae shakes his head, like he doesn’t want to believe it. But I can see it in his eyes. He’s seen me lose control twice in twenty-four hours.

He doesn’t know if I’m dangerous, and the truth is⁠—

Neither do I.

“He’s right.” My voice cuts through their argument. I can hear my own anxiety and resignation. I fall back and land on the stone bench, where I finally collapse.

“You don’t know what I am. I don’t know what I am, either. I don’t know what’s happening to me, or how I’m making things explode, or catch fire, or—or—” My voice cracks, and tears gather on my lashes again. “Or anything.”

It’s all too much—the interrogation, the accusations, the silence from Caelan’s side of the Bond. I can’t handle it anymore.

I need them to leave. They aren’t going to let me out. Even if Vae wants to, Daxen’s convinced. I can see it in the set of his jaw, and the way he holds himself—like a one-Alpha barrier between me and the rest of the world.

And gods, I don’t even think I can blame him this time.

I look at them. Really look at them both. Dax with his cold anger and Vaelenor with his guilty conscience. My Mates. The males who will never look at me with anything other than fear and disgust.

“It’s better to leave me here,” I say softly, blinking through my tears. “Until you can get answers.”

Vae’s head snaps up, eyes widening in shock. He opens his mouth, but I speak before he can.

“I’ll be fine. I’ve survived worse. And Dax is right. I don’t know what I am and until I do… until I know why people are being hurt because of me…”

Dax looks caught off guard. He clearly didn’t expect me to agree with him, and doesn’t trust it. But when Vae groans and rubs his temples in frustration, Dax inclines his head in acceptance. Grabbing Vae’s shoulder, he pushes him toward the stairs to leave.

“Can I please have a blanket?” I ask, before they can get far.

They both freeze. Then Dax glances at me over his shoulder, and his lips tip into a cruel smirk. “Just light something on fire if you’re cold.”

“Fuck off, Daxen.” Vae snarls, wheeling around to glare at him. When he turns to me, his expression softens. “Yes, I’ll get you some blankets. And a pillow and… I’ll bring them down here in a bit, alright? This is just until we can figure things out. What’s going on with your blood and who you are and⁠—”

“I get it.” I cut in gently. “It’s fine, I understand. Thank you.”

With nothing left to do, I curl up on my side and wrap my arms around my middle. My eyes flutter closed almost instantly.

I wish, with everything in me, that I had never been born. I wish my mother had never told me those stories about Fated Mates and happily ever afters. I wish I’d never begun hoping for something better, because watching hope die over and over is too painful.

I can’t keep doing it. I can’t.