Page 46 of Awakened Gifts
My voice betrays the fact that I’m trying not to get sick. Deep down, I was hoping that my Aria was still in there and holding onto me.
“Because you were barely registering in the percentage,” Simone says in a raspy voice, slowly getting back up from the floor. “She and Kellan were counters. It would have been like losing half his soul to be cut off that quickly. She… If Aria had any control at all, if she was in any way still tied to her own body, she would have never allowed herself to hurt Kellan. She sure as hell wouldn’t have allowed her ties to you to be stripped.”
My stomach twists even tighter, and a wave of nausea slaps me like a powerful uppercut. When my knees start to buckle, I drop to a chair. What if the damn savage has destroyed my girl already?
“I’m going after her.” Araya’s voice is sudden and startling, and we all whip our heads around to look at her. She looks as though she hasn’t slept in weeks, her clothes are worn and wrinkled, and her usual confidence is missing, allowing fear to reside in the depths of her violent eyes. “Brazen has some leads. They’re thin and possibly pointless, but I have to try.”
“She’ll kill you,” Rex growls, shaking his head. “We need to find a way to get her back before we go after her. She’s not going to just come willingly, and believe me, you’re no match.”
She can’t go, but my mouth refuses agree with Rex. My words get trapped in my throat, because reality is one cruel bitch, and right now, I feel as though my lungs are trapped in a merciless vacuum that is sucking the air out of me.
“I’m the only one who has a shot, and we have no idea how to cage the savage. It’s not like ours. It doesn’t seem to ever expire, and the longer it’s in control, the more powerful it seems to become.”
Brazen walks in, his eyes already narrowing into thin slits as he glares at his wife. “If her savage kills you, the guilt will kill Aria if she ever emerges. You can’t fucking go after her.”
His breaths are shallow, and he seems as though he’s slept even less than her. It’s doubtful any of us can sleep right now. If I can’t get her back, I’ll probably never sleep again.
“Any suggestions on drawing her back?” Mel asks, looking hopeful as her eyes land on Simone.
Simone frowns and stares at the hybrid still resting in a mystical sleep. “If we could somehow reconnect her to her hybrid counter, then maybe. Our counters ground us, and they can rein in the beast when it’s unleashed. If we could reconnect them and somehow hope they link better, then maybe. I’d have to play with his blood and see if I can repair the damage the savage done. My gift might somehow reconnect them if I figure out a way to do that.”
My heart gets stuck in an invisible vice and twists until I can’t breathe. No matter what we do to get her back, I still can’t have her. It was a forbidden match from the beginning. But I’d rather give her up to save her life, than to lose her completely.
My whole life is nothing but one scrambled, fucked-up hell. Always has been. Living a life where I had to hide my true self was what I thought the low point was. I was so wrong. So, so wrong.
“What do you need to attempt something like that?” I ask, but my voice is barely even a whisper.
No one says anything for a long moment, but I refuse to look up to see the pity in their eyes. I’ll fall apart when they’re not watching me. Right now, I have to be strong and save the girl I love from her broken half.
Simone finally decides to break the uncomfortable silence. “The blood I have of hers can be separated and reused. Her savage blood is different from her normal blood, which I also have. If I can fuse the two—”
Her words are interrupted when a coughing fit forces Kellan to jerk awake. His body shakes with his coughing, and he leans over on his side, heaving as though he can’t collect enough air. For several stunned seconds, all we do is stare in disbelief, but finally Simone rushes to the sink and grabs a glass, quickly filling it with water.
Half of it sloshes over the sides in her quick, graceless haste to return to Kellan, and he spills more when he rips it out of her hand and swallows it down. His coughing and hacking continues, and Simone refills the glass to bring him more.
“Shit, Kellan. We’ve been worried to damn death,” Rex groans, walking toward his sister’s true counter.
I slink back, trying not to lose my motherfucking mind. I’ve never hated anyone as much as I hate Kellan right now, and it’s only because I envy him with everything in my body.
“Blood,” he whispers, his voice almost gone.
Simone does her quick steps to the fridge, and she throws a pack of blood to Rex, who quickly hands it over to Kellan. After several sips, Kellan finally stops coughing.
“I was talking about her blood,” he says in a somewhat stronger voice, even though he winces as though it hurts to speak. “I got it. You have to use it.”
“We found the blood. Why and how did you get it?” Araya asks, walking around the table to stand in front of her daughter’s true future as I do all I can to disappear.
“I bit her. Her guard was down because she was too fucking strong.” His coughing comes back, and he quickly sips the blood again. After a minute, he takes in the faces of all of us. I know I’m fucking pale and furious at the same time.
“You blood fucked her?” Simone asks, confused. He couldn’t have. We got there only minutes after he did. Didn’t we?
As my blood boils and stews in my veins, Kellan shakes his head. “No. I thought if I bit her, she’d realize I was her counter and her attention would focus on me. I was trying to save her—or at least stop her. But she knocked me away. That’s when I spit out what I could into the tissue I had. I thought I could leave it behind while she took me away, and then you’d have her savage blood to study.”
He’s forced to take a second of rest, but no one speaks while he sips on the pack of blood some more. After he catches his breath, he finally continues.
“The venom burned through me, calling me like it was supposed to, but she seemed fucking immune and denied it. Not only that, she told me she was done with the stupid strings and she was cutting them. To everyone. I swear I thought she was splitting me open. That’s the last thing I remember. How long have I been out?”
I turn away while Simone answers. “Days. But we have a new problem. Aria has stripped herself of you, and now we have to figure out a way to mend the severed ties.”