Page 62 of Awakened Gifts
With shaky hands, I tear open a bag of blood and force it down Rex’s throat, happy that my blood is dead once it hits the air, considering it’s running out of the wounds I didn’t know I had and dripping all over the place. Damn. I barely felt anything when I was fighting.
Jase shoves a pack of blood and Melania and forces her to drink before ripping open another bag for me.
“Mom. Mom needs it. And Uncle Brazen,” I say with a rasp tone.
Jase’s lips tighten, but he starts running toward my mother to feed her the blood. I glance over my shoulder to watch as numerous others join her.
Rex coughs, drawing my attention back to him as his wounds slowly start to heal enough for him to raise up just a little.
“It’d be really fucking nice if you could help me get my visions back,” he says while wincing, reaching out for Melania who goes willingly into his arms.
She sobs on his chest as the weight of how close to death he just was hits her harder than she was prepared for. I’m barely keeping it together myself. I’ve been weak for too long. It’s my turn to be the strong one; the one everyone needs me to be right now.
“I wish I knew how to. I’m a little scared to try asking my savage how to unblock you.”
Rex coughs again before starting to sip another pack of blood. “Afraid you’ll look crazy for talking to yourself?” he muses, trying to make light of the situation.
After taking a breath, I shake my head. “I’m afraid she might actually answer.”
He swallows audibly, and then he gives a ginger nod of his head in agreement.
“Rex, this attack wasn’t meant for me. They were after Mom. It’s almost as though they didn’t know who I was. Or maybe they didn’t expect me to be here.”
He tilts his head, his eyes roaming toward where our mother is still regrouping and drinking blood.
“It’s your wedding day, Aria. That shit can’t be coincidental.”
“It’s not coincidental. It’s bad fucking luck. But they weren’t after me. They were after her.”
Before Rex can respond, Jase returns to me, his eyes weary, and he bends to scoop me up and carry me back toward the compound that seems to be recovering as well. I’m too exhausted to try and carry on this grueling conversation at the moment, so I’m grateful for the escape.
“This is far from what I had in mind tonight,” Jase says as he walks, holding me as close to him as he can.
“You mean this isn’t the way you wanted to carry me over a threshold?” I ask dryly.
He smiles just barely before it’s replaced with a grave expression. “We have a problem.”
We have so many problems. “You mean the fact that Alice just sent a fleet to kill my mother?” I ask bitterly.
He shakes his head, glancing over his shoulder, and then he turns back around and walks a little faster.
“No. I mean the fact that your mom now knows who Alice really is.”
Chapter 20
ARIA
“Someone should have fucking told me, dammit!” Mom barks, still looking like she just escaped a massacre.
None of us have had the chance to clean up. We barely made it inside before Mom began berating us for leaving her out of the loop. Again. She called a family meeting, meaning just the four of us in one small room. The room seems a whole lot smaller with a pissed hybrid female.
“We didn’t want to you to know, Mom,” Rex says gingerly, making sure to stay safely behind Uncle Brazen.
“Why? Because you thought I couldn’t handle it? I’m not weak! I’ve never been weak. I’ve lived through more hell than either of you could ever imagine. I’ve clawed my way out of the devil’s lair more than once. I can handle this. This can’t break me. Believe me, I’ve dealt with worse.”
She’s lying. I can feel her heart breaking right now. She had to watch her father die for her, even after she had told him she’d never forgive him, and now her mother is a heartless, coldblooded killer that gets off on sadistic fantasies of wiping the earth clean. And it just so happens that her main targets are her daughter and granddaughter.
“We know you’re not weak,” I say, trying to placate her. “We were trying to take care of you the way you’ve always taken care of us.”