Awaken Me Darkly (Alien Huntress #1)(54)
Author: Gena Showalter

“I want hard evidence of her culpability,” I said. “Evidence I can take to my superiors. That way we can devote all our manpower to finding and killing her.”

Grim, he shoved to his feet and stalked to the hearth. There, he lit a fire, and the flames soon crackled and grew, filling the room with the crisp essence of pine. I waited, silent, not pushing for a response. He was struggling inside himself, so for once I showed patience.

“I have what you need,” he said, as if he hadn’t kept me at the edge of the chaise in suspense. “I have proof of her actions.”

At his words, a sense of foreboding claimed me—sank razor-sharp talons into me. I swallowed hard, knowing what he was going to say, and it didn’t require psychic abilities.

Perhaps I had always known.

I prayed that my instincts were wrong. But they never were.

Slowly, he turned and faced me. “You, Mia. You are the proof. You are a halfling, not quite human, not fully alien either.”

CHAPTER 18

I calmly rose from my seat, my face devoid of emotion as I walked to Kyrin. One moment I didn’t know what I was going to do, the next I was raising my hand and slapping him with all the strength I possessed.

His head whipped to the side, and he rubbed at his lip with his fingers. “Did you do that because you know I’m right, or because you hope to make me withdraw the truth?”

My eyes narrowed to tiny slits. “You’re contradicting yourself, Kyrin. A few minutes ago, you said all the babies died.”

“No, I said none of the babies born to the human women survived.”

I hit him again, using my fist this time and cutting his skin. The wound quickly healed. Violence churned inside me every time he opened his mouth. My ears rang as blood rushed to my head.

“The man you know as your father truly is your father. But the woman you knew as your mother is no blood relation at all. You are one of Atlanna’s experiments, born to an Arcadian female. This experiment worked only once. We did not understand at the time how we achieved success with you; we only knew that your birth destroyed the woman’s womb, and she was unable to conceive again.” He gripped my shoulders, forcing me to hold his gaze, to face the truth. “Until now, that is. She has found a way to duplicate the procedure, and she is using human men to impregnate her Arcadian women.”

“Halflings do not exist, therefore I am not a halfling. I—”

“You have psychic abilities,” he said, cutting off my words. A steely determination reflected within the darkening purple luminance of his gaze.

“Many humans do,” I countered.

“You are able to track and kill aliens other hunters never find.”

“I work hard.” My awkward attempt to convince myself of the impossibility of this seemed like nothing more than wasted breath.

“I saw the way you moved that day, when Atlanna attacked us.” He growled low in his throat, a sound of deep frustration, and shook me once, twice. “What will it take to prove your origins?”

I had no answer for him. I didn’t know what would convince me when I didn’t really want to be convinced. I’d spent so many years of my life hating other-worlders. Hunting them. Killing them. To be one of them…to be all that my father hated…

But what else explained how I’d slowed down the world as I myself had sped up? What else explained how I’d drawn that beer bottle to me without touching it? What else explained how I had shattered those door hinges with merely a gaze?

I pressed my lips together as another thought swept through me. In my vision about Dallas, I’d seen one alien and one human. I’d thought Isabel was the alien and I the human. I’d thought—Bile rose in my throat. Oh my God.

Kyrin covered his face with his hands. “I tried to defeat Atlanna myself, all those years ago,” he said. “I tried. And I failed. Her power for mind control surpasses even Lilla’s. I’ve known since the first man disappeared that I cannot face her alone, so I’ve done little things to hinder her. I spoke to the men, befriended them. Warned them. That didn’t slow her down. I knew I needed you. You can defeat her. Power churns inside you, churns as deeply and aggressively as an ocean storm, and you have only to reach inside yourself to find it.”

My teeth ground together. “How do you know this?”

“I sense it. Just as you sense my power whenever I walk into a room. But more than that, you…you are Atlanna’s daughter.”

“You lying f**king bastard,” I spat. Maybe I could accept being a halfling. Maybe. What I could not accept was being related to a monster like Atlanna. How dare he even utter those words.

He grabbed hold of my wrists, preventing me from striking him. “You are Atlanna’s daughter,” he repeated. “Your powers are as numerous and great as hers.”

“Shut up. Just shut the f**k up.”

“I do not know how you came to live with your father when Atlanna meant to raise you. I only know that Atlanna followed you here. And so, too, did I.”

Violently I shook my head in denial. “No—”

“Yes. Your father knows this to be true. You have only to ask him.”

Hate the aliens, Mia, my dad always said. Despise them. They are responsible for all our troubles.

“No!” I shouted.

“Deep inside, you know the truth.” His voice was so gentle yet held the dangerous power of a whirlwind.

He strode to a locked safe where he murmured a single command, the word unfamiliar to me. The safe door creaked open, and he withdrew a silver chain and locket. “Every Arcadian possesses one of these. A kalandra, we call them. Inside the center, they showcase a beloved moment in our lives. Sometimes the moment has happened, sometimes it has yet to happen. Here is yours.”

Mine? The color drained from my face as he approached me. Dangling the chain from his finger, he reached toward me. I pinched it between my fingers and held it from view. I wasn’t ready to look. I kept my gaze on him. “How did you get this?” I asked.

“You have seen how quickly I move.” He gave me a wry smile. “Need I say more?”

“No.” I shook my head. “No.”

I continued to hold the necklace away from me. I sat there, gathering my courage, battling a twisted mountain of turmoil. I blinked, gulped. Just do it.

With a deep breath in, I dragged my gaze from Kyrin, from the far bookshelf, to my fingers. I focused on the locket—and almost sighed in relief. The locket was round and appeared to be nothing more than a small, clear ball. My lips were edging in a mocking smile when I realized something was moving inside. I intensified my study.