Page 89 of Flock Around and Find Out

That was the part that got to me, that he helped make the mess by not being a part of this shit from the start.

Likethis,for example. He was so vague, to send me to find a book instead of just fucking telling me what was going on.

“A god?” I asked, incredulous at the information.

“Did you think that a pool of liquid could create Spirits?Really?”

“Oh, and talking about fucking gods is more realistic?”

“After everything, that’s the hard thing to accept? Werewolves and shifters and vampires and mind readers are all okay, but thinking that something more powerful than you is crazy?”

I hated that he was right. That wasn’t anywhere near the craziest thing that I’d heard or dealt with, so why was it so hard to believe?

Because I didn’t like the idea.

Also, because it made me think about Knot, about what that made him.

Nope.

I couldn’t agree with that nonsense. I couldn’t accept that he was a god. That just wasn’t possible.

“You said the god was sleeping,” Porter said. “What do you mean?”

Knot lifted his gaze toward Porter but he didn’t look thrilled at all about the idea of talking to the other man. He didn’t rise, didn’t appear bothered at all about any of them around him.

He turned his attention back to me as though he didn’t see the men as being worth speaking to. “Immortality is long, and longer still for those who have the most power. When it becomes too long, when gods grow tired, they like to sleep. Sometimes they feel forgotten by the world, and that is their next best option.”

“So the Weres are going crazy because the god who created them is napping?” I spoke slowly, the words clumsy in my mouth, like a sentence that my brain rejected because it made no sense.

“Basically? Yes. Spirits are created by the introduction of energy into humans. That energy is connected to the god, but if the god slumbers, the energy stops flowing. It turns bad, the energy corrupting, and the Spirit ends up going mad and dying from it.” He shrugged as though it was expected, like it wasn’t a big deal.

“So we just have to wake the god up?” I got to my feet.

Wakey, wakey eggs and bakey, bitch.

Knot grabbed my arm to pull me to a stop. “It’s not that easy. Let me just say that this god has been hibernating for a long-ass time and we shouldallbe happy he is. He isn’t exactly friendly, after all. He isn’t going to see us here and be thrilled by it.”

“Aren’t you a god?” Ruben asked, his dark eyebrow lifted.

“I hate that term. If you’re asking me if I can deal with him, the answer is a big, fat no. He isn’t a huge fan of mine.” His expression didn’t seem to have any fear, but it was pretty fucking clear he wasn’t a fan of this god, either.

“We can’t just let the Weres die,” I said, even though I felt as though that should have been obvious enough that it didn’t require actually saying it, but then again, I’d found people didn’t pick up on what seemed obvious.

“Look… I don’t want to see the Weres die either, but I’m telling you, you don’t want to meet this guy. He’s an asshole. He’s amuchbigger problem overall than some crazy Weres. The last time he decided to wake up and take a stroll around our world…well, there are a lot of cities that didn’t survive it.”

His warning silenced me for a long moment. It didn’t matter the risks, though, or what he had to say about it. The truth was that no matter how dangerous he was, how bad an idea this might have been, I wasn’t going to just let Galen die. I recalled the pack, the families, the children. I couldn’t just walk away.

“Maybe he’s right.” I expected that statement from Ruben or Kelvin—they were both heartless when it came to the were clan—but I sure as fuck didn’t think the words would fall from Galen’s lips.

“Excuse the fuck out of me?” I turned to nail him with a glare. “After all this work, after I fought a weretiger—”

“She did what?”Knot asked under his breath, and I ignored the question.

“You are not about to just lie down and die now. Not a fucking chance.” I held out my arm, the wound still there. “I got bit by a weird fucking bug! Worst of all, Ihiked.Twice! So there is no opting out at this point.”

He crouched, but it wasn’t like Knot. Where Knot was balanced on the balls of his feet, his stance lithe and graceful, Galen’s was more of a squat, his weight on the flats of his feet, his hands up, his fingers wrapped in the strands of his hair. He looked down, not at me, and for the first time I really saw the weight on him.

I crept toward him.

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