Page 182 of Awakened

“You’re sure?”

Idril nods decisively. “Yes. I want to know what I am. I want answers.”

Calder looks to Caelan, then Soren, clearly expecting pushback. Fates, I’m struggling not to stop this myself. Does she have any idea what she’s offering?

“She makes her own decisions about her body,” Soren says, leaving no room for confusion.

Idril turns to him, a blinding smile on her face. I only catch a glimpse of her joy, but it’s enough to punch the air from my lungs.

I reach for my water, trying to work some fucking moisture back in my mouth, and I’m a little relieved to see Vae doing the same. At least I’m not alone in my spiral.

Calder hums tunelessly as he preps the Omega’s arm. She sits stoically as he ties a blue tourniquet around her upper arm, cleans her skin, and slides the needle into her vein with practiced ease.

Idril doesn’t even flinch.

Dark, shimmering red flows from her vein into the vial.

“Remarkable,” Calder murmurs, leaning closer. “Your blood looks like it has glitter in it.”

Idril perks up. “Really?”

Calder hums, swapping the vial. “Last one. Don’t want to take too much. Not until you’re a bit healthier, yeah?”

When he’s finished, he places a square pad of gauze against her inner arm and instructs her to keep pressure on it. She does, but after a few seconds she gets curious. She peels back the corner of the gauze, watching with interest as a ruby-red drop of shimmering blood wells up from her vein.

“Wow,” she breathes. “It really is shimmering.”

Vae’s in the middle of taking a drink when he releases a strangled sound and chokes on his water. I turn to him, about to ask why he forgot how to swallow.

The scent of Idril’s blood hits me, and I get my answer.

Ozone, lavender, and amber fill my lungs, coating my sinuses and the back of my throat until it’s the only thing I can taste or smell. I open my mouth, and my fangs drop, slicing into my lip. I don’t even care.

I moan, pushing my chair back away from the table and dropping my head between my knees. I try to breathe through my mouth, but it makes no difference—and frankly, I don’t want to. I want to breathe in the scent of her blood until it becomes a permanent part of me. Until it fuses with my soul and⁠—

Fates, is this what Vae smelled in that warehouse that sent his Curse off the rails? If so, I owe him an apology. I don’t even have a curse, and I feel like my bones are about to explode through my skin.

I don’t understand—why didn’t the runes smell like this? The scent of ozone was amazing, but this….

Fuck.

My hands curl into fists. I’m not surprised to see them shaking. It’s taking everything in me not to jump across this table and sink my fangs into Idril’s delicate throat. My instincts are screaming at me, begging me to do whatever it takes to get a taste of her blood. And, gods, I want it. I want it with a hunger I’ve never experienced before in my life.

It feels like my system has been reprogrammed. My DNA rewritten to obey an imperative set of commands.

Bite. Drink. Take. Mine.

“Oh fuck.” Vae’s practically salivating. His pupils are tiny pinpricks, fixated on her blood slowly soaking through the white gauze.

He tips back his head, throat working furiously.

This is not normal. Not by any stretch of the imagination. I’ve consumed blood millions of times in my life. Not once—not a single Fatesdamned time—have I had a reaction like this.

This isn’t mere thirst. I need Idril’s blood. Ache for it with a desperation that scares the shit out of me.

“What the hell is wrong with you assholes?” Calder barks, staring at us like we’ve lost our minds.

“Bl—blood,” Vae chokes out. He reaches up and wipes the corner of his mouth where he is quite literally salivating.