I think I was starting to hope for that myself, even as it filled me with dread at the possibility of facing it all over again, should Violet get too sidetracked from our true goal.

Family.

Our family.

The five of us.

Damien dances around Violet, teasing her, even as her monster rages at full speed.

We built this world to live forever with the woman we all once loved, and…our new, much gentler woman is a target. Now I know she’ll need us protecting her all the fucking time.

We’ve been too careless.

“I really think you should never tell her how stupid she looks for being so scared of…this side of her,” Anna carries on, even as we pointedly ignore her.

“This little monster killed your wolves, even when she was mostly starving herself?” I ask Emit, wrinkling my nose at him. “I’d be offended if I had betas so weak and slow. Surely more than three could have made retreat, if they’d been smart enough to get out of her path.”

His mouth opens and closes, his eyes blinking as though he’s been standing over here in a stupor. Come to think of it, he’s had no commentary.

“Wolf?” Vance prompts, brow furrowed.

Emit scratches his head, eyes never leaving Violet.

“I-I-I have no idea,” Emit stammers. “To be fair, I’d taken a blow to the head so hard that it knocked me cold, and my skin was burning with silver. Maybe I suffocated and mildly hallucinated? Fuck if I know,” he says, exhaling harshly, clearly the most disappointed of all of us.

“We were damning her if we were hoping she could singlehandedly dispatch Idun,” Vance states as he easily trips her up.

He reaches out to right her before she falls on her face. He grimaces when she still manages to crash into a tree, face first, of course.

The tree crashes to the ground, and her along with it.

“At least she’s strong. And she’s still pretty,” Anna inserts.

Damien chokes on laughter and then scowls like he found the humor inconvenient.

I find Anna conveniently inconvenient.

“You’re entirely too suspicious, ghost. I suggest staying out of my sight, because I may break Violet’s heart and eternally salt you just for the suspicion you provoke,” I state, finally glaring over at Anna. “I doubt you’d come back again.”

She grins in a way that suggests I’ve spoken magical words. In the next instant, she vanishes from sight.

Violet carries on with her slow, sad, terribly tragic rampage for a few moments longer, and finally drops to the ground like a limp doll, abruptly burning out.

Just like all the Simpletons.

Except much faster.

She collapses haphazardly, her body completely vulnerable, as her chest rises and falls with even strokes.

“She didn’t crash like this the night of the massacre,” Emit says, suspicion in his tone…for a brief second.

We all startle, when very suddenly, and without any warning, she jack-knifes to the seated position, eyeing us as though she’s confused about what’s going on. At least, for a brief second. Then her eyes widen, and her face goes white.

“Wh-why are you so close?!” she shouts.

“Or maybe she did pass out. It was quiet for a few seconds before the sobbing sat in. I remember that,” Emit relents on a near groan. “My wolves just weren’t prepared for her strength. She’s still stronger than the betas, so there’s that,” he adds, being Mr. Positive.

I’m not scared of betas.

I’m embarrassed for Violet.

She needs to stop posturing on Idun. Now that I know how misguided she is, it’s certainly alarming.

I was damning Violet by wishing she’d be that much more impossibly perfect.

“If she could’ve handled Idun in a fight, the world would’ve changed. It may have been what finally turned the wheel of power once again,” I pointlessly tell them, feeling stupidly deflated.

It was a pipedream I dared to hope for. And confessed to.

I’m smarter than this.

“Why are you all so close?! I had one rule! Do you know how lucky you are? I could have killed you!” she snaps, swaying on her knees.

“No. No, you couldn’t have,” I immediately inform her, since it’s important she understands that.

Vance gives me a shut-up-and-let-him-handle-this look.

“Don’t coddle her, Van Helsing. I’ll have her do it again and this time I’ll video it, if she doesn’t remember it soon. She needs to know the truth. If anyone else sees that, they’ll never take her seriously,” I very reasonably interject, as I go to kneel next to our fragile little girlfriend.

“One thing. I asked you guys to do one thing, and you couldn’t do it,” she says as she pushes away from me and stands to stalk off.

“She said Caroline apologized after their monsters both broke free,” Vance states, feeling as gob-smacked and underwhelmed as all of us, presumably, given his expression and desire to explain away Violet’s other victory.

“I guess Caroline held back and got control of her monster before she tore Violet completely apart,” Emit says on a tired sigh.

“One thing!” Violet shouts from across the field.

Anna pops up at her side, patting her on the back, despite the fact Violet can’t see it. Her phone vibrates loud enough for us to hear it.

“Trust me. It wasn’t necessary, bestie,” Anna tells her quietly, but still loud enough for us to hear.

“Should we go after her?” I ask, since I’m certainly at a loss for words.

“Give her a minute to calm down. I think it’s best we not rile her. She may get angry and turn into her vicious monster,” Damien says, lips twitching with too much amusement. “Besides, she’s upset about the email Idun sent, warning she’d be claiming the Simpletons to do the upgrades on her home very soon.”

“I’m dreading that future conflict. Violet’s going to have a problem with Idun’s work environment. It’ll be a nightmare,” I state on a groan, already getting a headache.

“I have no idea why I feel so disappointed. It’s a good thing that she’s not too powerful. But it’s really terrible that she thinks she is, while provoking Idun too often,” Emit says on a tired breath.

“She’s young, naïve, and completely ignorant to Idun’s ruthlessness. Even though she managed to fend off Dorian, he scared her more than Idun does. I think we’ve desensitized her to the threat, since Idun is being more passive than aggressive at the moment. The escalation is coming. That’ll be what opens Violet’s eyes to the truth,” Vance says, while we all stare into the thick forest she’s disappeared into.

After ten minutes, I start worrying she’s never coming out of the woods.

“Violet?” I call, just to ensure she’s coming back at some point.

“I’m still mad!”

Of course she’s mad. Any girl who thinks that wee monster is a match for the four of us…is clearly mad.

Damien answers his buzzing phone.

“Now’s not the time for a social call,” I point out.

I barely hear Shera’s nearly muted voice, before Damien quickly strides away.

“I genuinely believe you’ve all forgotten that Shera is my beta. I’ll loan her to Violet, but the rest of you should get your own,” I say, glaring at Vance and Emit.