Page 84 of Fated for Dawn

“So,” I said, opening my eyes to face the grim faces around me, “we’ve got a goddess of discord building the world’s most dysfunctional army, and our best plan is still ‘bomb the crap out of everything’?”

Ryker nodded. “But…”

“But what?” Rafe prompted.

Ryker’s expression twisted with dark amusement. “Turns out, wrangling a bunch of chaotic evil assholes isn’t exactly easy. There are infighting and power struggles. One of my guys said, and I quote, ‘Eris might be a goddess, but she ain’t no miracle worker when it comes to team building.’”

I snorted. “So, what you’re saying is, we might have a chance to exploit those cracks?”

“Yep, there are power struggles between different factions. Vampires versus demons, that sort of thing,” Ryker continued.

“Makes sense,” I mused. “Throw a bunch of egomaniacs together and expect them to play nice? Recipe for disaster.”

Alister grunted in agreement. “Chaos begets chaos.”

I smirked. “Look at you. Waxing poetic.”

He rolled his eyes, but then it turned into a grin. “And it gives us leverage against the bomb-happy idiots. No offense,” he added, nodding at the chief.

“So,” I continued, “Eris doesn’t care about loyalty. She just wants bodies to throw at us and cause mayhem.”

“Precisely,” Rafe said thoughtfully. “As long as they’re spreading chaos, she’s happy. And if her name as ruler spreadsalong with it, all the better. For Eris, chaos isn’t just destruction—it’s power. Every act of mayhem reinforces her reign.”

I chewed my lip, thinking. “But keeping that mess in line can’t be easy, even for her.”

A light bulb went off in my head, and I grinned. “Then that’s our in. We don’t need to out-muscle her. We just need to out-chaos her chaos.”

The room fell silent as they processed my words. Then, slowly, matching grins appeared on their faces.

Suddenly, one of the agents—Bob or Bill, I could never tell them apart—stood up and knocked his chair back. The room tensed as he pulled his wand-gun from his waistband, aiming it directly at my head.

“Eris sends her regards,” he said, his voice eerily calm.

Before I could even react, Chad had already shifted and had him pinned to the floor by the neck.

Bill or Bob looked confused, his eyes wide with fear as he screamed, “Wait. I didn’t mean to do that. You have to believe me.”

The room was deadly silent, everyone staring in stunned disbelief.

“What the hell just happened?” Ryker growled, his deep voice rumbling like distant thunder. He moved instinctively, stepping before me like a shield, his broad shoulders blocking most of my view. His hand found mine, gripping tightly, reassuring himself that I was still there.

Lucien stepped closer to the pinned agent, his eyes sharp. “He’s been compromised.”

“I swear, I didn’t mean to do it!” Bob—or Bill—gasped, his face going red as Chad’s claws tightened. “I heard her voice in my head—she was there, pushing me to—to—”

Chad let out a warning growl, his glowing eyes narrowing.

“Wait,” I said, holding a hand to stop Chad from pressing further. “He might actually be telling the truth.”

The man’s pleading gaze darted to mine. “She wasin my mind.I couldn’t stop it. One second, I was sitting here, and the next…I don’t even remember standing up. It wasn’t me!”

“Everyone needs to protect their minds from now on,” Rafe said.

But protecting our minds wouldn’t be enough. It was time we unleashed some chaos of our own.

33

Evelyn

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