Page 45 of Fractured Fate

“Not anymore, but I did. You can turn the overhead light on.”

Collective groans sounded when Dominic flipped the switch, several of them shielding their eyes as they adjusted to the brighter room.

Dominic glanced around at everyone with a sober expression.

Aiden sat up straighter. “What’s wrong?”

Dominic moved over to the desk and pulled out a chair, then straddled the chair back, facing the room.

Blaire tucked her phone away. “Dom?”

“I just got off the phone with my cousins.”

“Which one?” Riley asked.

He looked at her. “Cousins. It was a conference call with the entire clan and a couple members from the extended court.” He placed his hands on the back of the chair and leaned forward, his eyebrow piercing glinting as it caught the light. “I said it wouldn’t be long before we had rogue issues over on this side of the world, and don’t you know it, it’s on our doorstep.”

“What?” Blaire swung her gaze from Dominic to Lukas and back again. “What does that mean?”

“The clan has received many reports of rogue movement along the Eastern seaboard. It’s foolish to think they weren’t around, as I said long ago, but the problem is their movements have become more organized, and it’s no longer petty gang crimes.”

Aiden’s brow pinched. “What are they doing?”

“Shipments of weapons in high volume and Folinarin have trickled into the country for the last month at an alarming rate.”

Mera’s finely sculpted brows rose. “Folinarin? The suppression drug?”

Dominic nodded.

They had told Mera and Kai all about their experiences with the new drug while in Europe hoping Mera knew about it, but she didn’t. There wasn’t a lot known beyond the drug’s ability to suppress preternatural abilities, making Vasirian nothing more than humans while the effects lasted.

Humans that still required blood to survive.

“What? But why?” Lukas looked at Dominic with lowered brows and frustration clouding his eyes. “What’s the point of all that?”

Dominic rolled his neck from side to side, as if steeling himself. “Gabriel thinks they’re preparing for war.”

Riley looked at him with big eyes, twisting in Seth’s lap. “War?”

Dominic inclined his head.

Aiden looked from his sister to Dominic. “War with who?”

Chocolate brown eyes shifted to Blaire, and Dominic’s grip tightened on the chair. “With anyone who supports her awakening.”

When they learned about the existence of rogues while in Europe, it didn’t surprise Aiden. Most species had outliers who didn’t adhere to the social structure and accepted hierarchy. Different animals drove out those who disrupted the balance. Humans had gangs and other criminals. Prisons were full of those who went against the system and lost. His kind had Cresbel Asylum—a place rumored to be several stories high and spread across a lot of acreage. They didn’t even have photos in their textbooks of the asylum. The rule of thumb was that no one wanted to go; and if they knew what it looked like, they likely weren’t leaving.

“I don’t understand how the rogues can be so against Blaire becoming a Vasirian,” Riley said, nose wrinkling like she smelled something foul. “Our kind needs that to happen to survive.”

“Know how we guessed some didn’t believe it or didn’t hear that piece of information?”

“Uh huh.”

Dominic dropped his hands in his lap. “Well, Tobias and a few other members of the extended council captured and interrogated some rogues when they seized one shipment. Turns out they are aware of the prophecy, but the rhetoric spreading through the underground is that it’s false. That the Oracle is becoming too old to have clear sight.”

“I’ll be damned,” Seth muttered.

Lukas’s brows tightened as they pulled together. “So these idiots are going to risk the future of our kin on the off-chance the Oracle is, what? Senile?”