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“Didn’t the doctor just say we need to keep your stress levels down?” Sebastian chimes, drawing my attention to where he’s seated. His blond brow quirked in challenge.
I roll my eyes, “Fuck that shit. This is important. The faster we get through this, the faster one of you assholes can bring Ariah here.” I feel the mood in the room shift at the mention of her name. “Okay, what the hell is going on?”
“Owen,” my father steps to my bedside, but I recognize that tone from a mile away. “I—.”
“No! Don’t try to bullshit me right now. Where the fuck is she?” I can feel the heart rate pick up long before the machine alerts the room.
Was she kidnapped too? Do they still have her?
The room remains silent—only worrying and pissing me off further. “Somebody better talk fast, or I’m hopping out of this bed and going to find answers myself,” I snarl. The medication must be working its way through my system because I’m not in nearly as much pain as I was fifteen minutes ago.
It’s Wyatt who speaks. “She’s gone.”
My eyes grow to almost four times their original size, and my jaw flexes as I process his words. Gone? My breath seizes in my chest. I can’t—she can’t. “What do you mean gone? Who has her?” I demand because I refuse to believe she’s dead.
“She’s not missing,” Lev begins, and the machine kicks up to alarming levels.
“No,” I snap, kicking my leg from the bed and pulling wires and tubes from my body. “She can’t be dead!”
“Fuck,” Wes shouts. “She’s not dead. Stop before you hurt yourself, you goddamn idiot!”
Wes’s words still me long enough to listen to Lev. “She’s not missing—she left.”
Left? “Why the fuck would she do that?” I growl. This shit doesn’t make any sense.
“Get back in the bed, or this conversation is over,” Wes’s father instructs as David strides back into the room. Mr. Edgewood waves him over.
I reluctantly sit back in the hospital bed and let the nurse insert a new IV line. No one says anything until he finishes and exits the room.
Locking eyes with the Council members, I state, “Somebody better tell me what the hell is going on, or not even the Council will stop me from leaving.”
“I chose Samantha,” Wes grumbles.
“Chose Samantha for what?” I ask, seeking clarity because there’s no way he means what I think he does.
Wes moves to stand in front of me before he answers, “For our Chosen.”
I feel my left hand begin to jerk, the imperceptible twitch noticeable only to me. “And why the fuck would you do that exactly?”
Wes sighs but replies, “It was you or her.” He must notice my confusion because he explains without me having to do anything but flare my nostrils. “I received a message forcing us to choose Samantha or lose you. I chose to save you.”
“But why would Ariah leave after knowing that?” I ask.
“She doesn’t know,” Sebastian explains. “It was a stipulation. Wes had to make her believe we chose Sam, or you’d die. Wes made the wise decision of saving you.”
A scream burst from my lips, “You fucking chose wrong. You should’ve let me die!”
Before anyone can rebuff me, the room door slides open, and our attention shifts toward the intruder.
“Wonderful. You’re finally awake,” The demon spawn of lip fillers’ saccharine voice claws at my ear drums. Samantha doesn’t wait to be acknowledged before she continues. “Now we can finally begin.”
11
LEV
“You can’t disable it?”
We’ve been working for weeks to find some workaround for the damn chip the Senator had implanted in Owen’s arm. When Samantha strolled into the room a month ago, any hopes of finally getting Ariah back died with the Senator’s demands. Any hint that we aren’t doing as instructed, and Samantha will activate the chip and kill Owen. Needless to say, no one’s been in the cheeriest of moods, much less up to celebrating. Wes’s and Wyatt’s nineteenth birthdays came and went. Wes was forced to spend it with Samantha, and Wyatt disappeared from town altogether. He’s been doing that more often, and I have a sneaking suspicion as to why. Her.
