Sebastian
I know something is horribly wrong with my cousin when he finally starts to reply to my mind-link messages in a groggy, almost unrecognizable voice. “Don’t come here, Sebastian,” he says to me. “It’s dangerous.”
“Dez? What’s going on?” I ask him, but he won’t tell me. All he keeps telling me is not to come.
When Aria and I are in the basement, and I finally make him realize that he’s not going to get rid of us, he tells me that Mim has a machine gun, and she’s planning on killing all three of us.
I ask him a lot of questions about where he is and what’s happening to him, but he can’t say much of anything. Just, “Sebastian, please. Leave me. Go. Save
AriaI hear the crack of the gun just as I am lunging toward Dez, trying to reach him before the lack of oxygen makes it impossible to save him. I know that Mim has her machine gun trained on me, hoping to make me stop, but I trust Sebastian to make it to her before she can hurt me or Dez.So when I hear shooting, I am surprised. I duck my head but move forward toward my goal of helping Dez. A sharp pain pierces my upper arm near my shoulder. It feels like a bee sting, maybe a little more severe. I don’t slow down, though. Whatever it is, I can put up with it for a moment longer. If it can keep Dez alive, that’s all that matters. I hope that he is not hit, but he’s so covered in blood anyway, it’s hard to tell.I also have to pray that Sebastian is all right. I know that Mim was
SebastianSeeing Aria bleeding is heart wrenching. I know that her arm isn’t bothering her too much right now because she has so much adrenaline coursing through her body, but later, when all of this is over, it’s going to hurt like a son of a bitch. I wish she would listen to me and leave, but she is already making her way down the hallway, looking for Wilks, and she will not be stopped.Wherever he is hiding, he is doing a good job of it. Our best troops are looking for him all over the house and coming up empty handed.I wish that Dez was awake so that maybe he could help us, but then, I know how much pain he’d be in if he were conscious. I don’t know the extent of his injuries yet, but it’s clear that Mim has done quite a number on him.
AriaMy arm is really beginning to ache. I shouldn’t have been the one to torture the prisoner. Not only did I end up hurting myself more, I am not cut out for it. I’m going to be worried about hurting that man for the rest of my life. I know he deserved it. I know he is the enemy. I know if the circumstances were reversed, he wouldn’t have hesitated to hurt me, yet I am going to be thinking about this for the rest of my life.Which might not be very long depending upon what Wilks has waiting for us.I’m not afraid, though. As I follow Sebastian into the darkness, I believe that we will keep each other safe, and that we will find a way to defeat Wilks and get vengeance for my parents.The stairs are steep, and it is pitch black
Sebastian“Aria!” I am screaming at her through the mind-link, but she’s not answering. I know that the mind-link doesn’t work so well when we are in our human form, so I’m praying that’s why she can’t hear me, but I have an awful feeling that it’s something else. Somehow, I manage to free myself from these bastard wolves. “Aria!” I run toward the door as Grip manages to get his fingers around a gun. I hear the pop, pop but also the squeals and shrieks of wolves going down.I take the steps so fast, I miss one and slide about halfway down the stairs. I feel my hand rip open on the railing but don’t stop as I regain my footing and make it into the library in time to see a naked man with a gun fleeing the room. I dive for him as he turns to shoot but misses me. We go down hard on the
SebastianThe doctor has a grave expression on his face, and I feel my stomach twisting in knots. “Mr. Kurts, we’ve done everything we can. Her condition is quite serious. If she makes it through the night, I’ll be surprised. I’m sorry to be the one who has to tell you, but she just lost so much blood. Even if she does make it, her brain was without proper oxygen for quite some time. There’s a chance she’ll… never be the same.”His words wash over me, and I have to struggle to stay focused on the positive. Aria is alive. That’s the most important part. I know that she is a fighter, that she will not go down easily, that she will do everything she can to come back to me. Whether or not she will be the same as she was before is not as important as the fact that she is still alive.
Sebastian“She’s awake?”The nurse nods at me. She is one of those no-nonsense sort of gals who isn’t going to stand there and wait for me to get over the shock I’m feeling at hearing her words. She puts her hand on her ample hip and says, “Come with me.”I fly out of the chair and follow her out the door. My mother comes with me, but we don’t make it too many doors down the hall before the nurse says,”Only one of you will be able to come in at a time.”“Yes, ma’am,” I say, getting a look from her out of the corner of her eye. I’m not trying to be sarcastic or rude. I am trying to be respectful, but she doesn’t take it that way.
Aria “Werewolves?” I repeat the word this man has just said to me, but I don’t believe it. I begin to wonder if perhaps he has also hit his head. I almost laugh, but he looks so serious. The idea that people could change from human form into wolf form seems like something out of a dream or a movie to me, not reality. Besides, I think, surely I would remember something like that. I don’t remember anything, though, not really. I remember what some things are. I remember that this place is called a hospital, that the man who was in here before is called a doctor, and that his rudeness is referred to as “poor bedside manner.” But I don’t remember being a werewolf, that’s for damn sure. And I don’t remember the man standing at the foot of my bed looking a
AriaFirst I completely forget everything about who I am, where I came from, and how I got here, and now I’m hearing voices in my head?I think maybe it is the medicine. I’ve had a lot of it, after all. I almost died, or so they tell me. I truly don’t remember anything before waking up and realizing I was in a hospital. I know I need to sleep, but that Sebastian guy has me thinking.I feel sorry for him. It seems weird. One would think I would feel sorry for me. I guess I do. But I also feel sorry for him. He just lost the woman that he loves. She’s still right here, looking at him, looking just like she should, but it’s not her, not really. Maybe I will be someday, but I’m not right now.And also he thinks he is a werewo