He almost made it to his father's study. Almost made it to the conversation that would change everything. Then Serena woke up, and the everything that changed was him.
She was awake.
He felt her confusion first. The disorientation of waking in a bed she remembered falling asleep next to, wearing a chemise she had no memory of putting on.
Dex was already moving.
He turned on his heel and covered the distance at alpha speed, pushing through the door so hard it cracked against the stone wall behind it.
Serena was sitting up in bed, white hair wild around her shoulders, eyes red-rimmed. Onyx had been startled off her chest and was now huddled at the foot of the bed, wings flared, looking personally victimized by the sudden movement.
"Dex?"
She stared at Dex in the doorway. Her lips parted, but the words died before they formed.
The thing that hit him through their matebond was devastating.
