Page 37 of Born Wicked
“I’ll go get my SUV,” Roman says softly. He places his hand on my shoulder as he walks by, a sympathetic and tender gesture.
“Do you think…” I trail off after Roman has left. “Do you think you two can clean him up? Change him into something else? I don’t…”
“We can take care of him,” Dev says with a nod.
“Thank you,” I say, taking in a deep breath. I feel slightly dizzy as I step out of the room into the sterile white hall. I numbly make my way down the hall until I push open the doors into the main corridor of the hospital.
I need to tell Elena. She needs to know her twin brother, the person she loves most in the world, is dead. That the time has come when he’ll Resurrect as an immortal.
It’s so bizarre. They’re twins. Born at the same time. They’re supposed to be the same exact age.
But Elena took matters into her own hands a few years ago, ending her mortal life and process of aging. Mason looks, and biologically is, several years older than her now.
I feel like a failure. Elena needs to know what’s happened. But she’s in a coma right now, lying in a room full of others in the same state, upstairs. And I feel only marginally closer to knowing what happened to her.
“Dr. Doe?” Holly’s normally perky voice comes out cautious and wary. I look to the side to see her walking up, her brows raised, caution in her expression. “What happened?”
Her genuine concern, the fact that I can tell she gives a damn, it breaks me just a little. Tears push out, and I squeeze my eyes closed.
Holly, a woman I pay to be my assistant, doesn’t hesitate. She rushes forward, wrapping her arms around me. This woman who has only known me for ten days wraps me in her arms and holds onto me as I completely fall apart.
And I know for certain right then. I will never leave Chicago. Because Chicago is where my people are. My family. I learned what love is in this city. I’ve torn down the steel walls I’ve built around myself in this city and found others who were willing to be my support instead.
Roman once asked if I was willing to die for the people of this city to save them. And I did. And I know now that I’d do it over and over again.
Home is where the heart is, and Chicago has claimed it in every way that matters.
CHAPTERELEVEN
Roman backs right upto the doors of the emergency room. There will be no death certificate. We certainly don’t need word of Mason’s death getting out into the world. It would cause massive waves. No, Mason will Resurrect in four days, and the world will have no idea anything has changed.
We slide his dead body into the back of the SUV, all the seats folded down. And then the medical staff who tried so hard to save his mortal life watch as Roman and I drive away.
I pull out my phone and dial Sigrid.
“Mason was in a car accident,” I begin speaking after she answers. I rub two fingers over my lower lip, hating that these words are coming out over them. “It was bad.”
“Is he at the hospital?” she asks, her tone panicked.
I squeeze my eyes closed, leaning my forehead against the cool glass. “He didn’t make it, Sigrid.”
A word I don’t recognize comes through as a huffed breath, a curse in Norwegian, I’m sure.
“Roman and I are taking him to the Nocturne, so we can make sure there’s no one around when he wakes up,” I continue explaining.
“That seems a wise decision,” she says. “Elena… well, I can only imagine her reaction when she finally wakes up and learns this news.”
“Yeah,” I say, my throat feeling tighter. I’m still no closer to waking Elena up or knowing if I even can. “Anyway, I just wanted to let you know.”
“Thank you for telling me,” she says. “And Juliet, I am sorry. I know how much you love him.”
“Yeah,” I repeat. She ends the call, and I just keep looking out the window.
Love is a complicated thing. Sigrid is fully aware of my relationship with Mason, not that it was actually a relationship. But she understands. Even though Mason and I never could be, she knows that I’ll love him forever. Because he’s the best person I’ve ever known.
He’s too good for you. Sebastian said it once. And it was true. Mason deserves someone as good and golden-hearted as he is.
Roman parks at the curb to the Nocturne and climbs out. I look up and down the street. It’s the middle of the day. There are more than a few people coming and going.