Page 33 of Mate Night Snack
“Witches, too?” she asked. “Fae?”
He nodded again.
“And you’re just now telling me this?”
“I was trying to protect you,” he said. “But now I think keeping you in the dark is more dangerous.”
Her voice dropped. “Because of Ashwin.”
“Because of Ashwin. Because of what he’s capable of. Because of what he sees when he looks at someone like you.”
“And what’s that?”
Emmett’s eyes met hers, sharp and steady. “A threat to the silence. A spark inside the fog. You’re not just seeing what’s happening, you’rerememberingwhat the town forgot. And that scares him.”
Katniss swallowed hard. “The girls from the journals… they didn’t make it out.”
He didn’t have to answer, she already knew.
She stood up again, shaking her head like it might clear everything pressing in.
“I don’t know how to be part of this,” she said. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“You already did,” he said, voice low. “You stayed. You kept digging. And you’re still breathing.”
Her gaze found his again. “Just... don’t lie to me,” she whispered. “I’ve had enough of people acting like silence is safety.”
“I’m done being silent,” he said. “And if you really want answers, accept what you are. Twyla already seems more than willing to hint to you about everything.”
The truth sat between them now, solid and undeniable. Her lip trembled, just a little. And he saw it, the flicker of something she hadn’t let herself feel since she got here. Not just curiosity.
Fear. Trust. Hope.
He should’ve walked away. Should’ve put space between them. But he didn’t. Because now he knew what the pull was. Why her scent haunted his thoughts. Why her voice settled in his chest like a second heartbeat.
She wasn’t just his responsibility. She was his mate. And now that Ashwin had carved his mark into blood and earth, Emmett Hollowell feltafraid.
Not for himself.
For her. For the future. For what fate was already weaving between them. But for now, he’d settle for keeping her close and breathing.
And keeping her alive.
13
KATNISS
Katniss woke before the sun.
Her journal lay open on the nightstand, the pages crammed with scribbles of names, symbols, entries from the attic, the Veil, wolf fur, Ashwin, and now Emmett. She had underlinedshifterthree times in red ink the night before, like seeing it repeated might make it less absurd.
Except it wasn’t absurd anymore.
He hadn’t lied. Not with that look in his eyes. Not with that ache in his voice.
Magic was real. The Veil was real. Hollow Oak wasn’t just steeped in secrets. Itwasa secret—living, breathing, sentient in ways that defied logic but felt true down to the bone.
And Emmett?
