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“No, but you can help me. Set up the room. I want all of the assistants on hand.” Knox practically growls the words, and I groan and shift, trying to move. But he holds me too tight. He doesn’t loosen his grip on me until the world around us falls silent.
“We need to clean her up quickly. I need to assess the bite.” Knox gently sets me onto something soft. “Sawyer, give her more blood next. Cooper stand right here and hold her hand. I need to get the machine up and running to monitor the baby.”
Cool hands touch my chin, and the light shines in my eyes. “Hayley? Hayley, look into my eyes.” Sawyer’s silhouette comes into view, and I catch sight of his silver flashing irises.
“It’s working. I need you to get her to calm down as best as you can.” Knox shifts behind him, his movements quick and blurry with my poor vision.
Sawyer leans even closer, holding his arm between our mouths, the trail of blood awakening my senses until I reach out and grab onto him. “I want you to concentrate on me. Let me into your mind, Hayley. Let me help ease your pain. You keep trying to fight us, and I know it’s in your very nature because you’re scared. But please, just let me help you. Open your mind. Let me show you something.”
My body slackens under the weight of his stare, and the world turns dark and quiet, the ringing of the machines and Knox’s commands fading with Sawyer’s all-consuming presence.
“Where are we?” I lick my lips, finally managing to peer around. We’re no longer in the hospital, now standing along the path that winds around the huge fountain in front of the Bella Hotel. Water geysers shoot up and climb toward the sky, and music fills the air. Dozens of donors cheer and laugh, the world around us unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.
“This is one of my fondest memories of Las Vegas before it was taken over by the leadership and turned into La Vega. There were always so many humans around, enjoying the sights and the excitement of Sin City.” Sawyer rubs his fingers across my jaw. I can’t really feel him but my body remembers the sensation, filling it in for me even though I know this is all in my head. “This was the spot where I decided to stay here for good. I had no idea what that truly meant at the time but I...I wouldn’t change anything. That decision led me to the Bella Crew and to you.”
“I wish I could’ve seen it.” I spin around, experiencing what Sawyer projects to me through his thoughts and mind manipulation.
“You will. We will build the city better than even what it was. We are already so close. I can see it and feel it. The city has already gone into lockdown willingly. Control is ours. We will have everything we could want...and then some.” Sawyer touches my belly, his eyes sheening over as he stares at me in the world he created for us.
“I can’t wait to see it.” I smile, turning toward the fountain again. Mist hangs in the air, dampening my skin. It feels so real, I can almost pretend Sawyer and I are donors in the back-world.
“Me too, Hayley. There’s a lot of things that I can’t wait for you to see. Including this beautiful baby you’re about to bring into this world. So I’m going to need you to focus with me. You need to be present for this, okay?” Sawyer kisses me softly, the mist growing cooler around us.
I’m not ready. I know that if I leave this memory with him, I will find myself slammed back down in a world of pain I’m not sure I can survive. This is too soon. I don’t even know what to expect.
“Hayley! Hayley, hey. You’re doing incredible. Come on. Look at me.” Knox’s voice cuts through the world, sending black cracks across the marble wall separating us from the fountains. The water suddenly vanishes, leaving a wall of pristine white behind.
“No,” I cry, my voice hitching and barely coming from my mouth. “I can’t do this. I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. You’re the strongest, most powerful woman I have ever met. You can do this. We got you.” Monroe’s voice encircles me next, trying to drag me away from the beautiful world Sawyer created.
“Keep talking to her. She’s fucking terrified. Everybody remind her what is here. Remind her that we aren’t going anywhere. She can do this.” Knox touches my cheek, his blurry figure materializing in front of me and stealing Sawyer’s away. “Come on, Hayley. You have to stay with me.”
But I can’t. A wave of pain crashes over me, stealing my breath away. It’s too much.
“I can’t,” I whisper, blinking my eyes.
My world turns dark.
Chapter twenty
Knox
Strong Enough
Myhearthammers,myworld crashing around me as Hayley’s head bows forward and she loses consciousness.
“Fuck! Do something, Knox!” Monroe yells, digging his fingers into the bloody sheet as if it’s the only thing keeping him from flying across the bed at me. “She’s dying!”
“Shut up, Monroe. She’s not going to die. Our girl’s strong enough. She needs more blood.” Sawyer locks his hand to Monroe and sinks his fangs into Monroe’s arm, opening another wound for him. He holds Monroe’s arm over Hayley’s mouth, trying to fill it with blood.
All it does is dribble down her chin and stain the front of the sheet covering her.
“Sawyer, open her mind again. Command her to drink. She’s going to just keep spitting it out otherwise.” I adjust the monitor across Hayley’s waist, checking the vitals of both her and the baby. Her heartbeat slows, and her blood pressure drops. If she doesn’t deliver soon, she could very well die on us.
“What do I need to do to help you, Knox?” Cooper stands beside me, his voice sturdy, and his hands steady. He manages to keep his shit together when Sawyer and Monroe fall apart. And it’s taking everything in me not to join them.
“I need fresh linens. I need another IV line. Ask the nurse. She should be right outside.” Because I didn’t want anyone in here if they didn’t have to be.
