Chapter 8: The Choice
678 Words
Time seemed to freeze in that sterile hospital hallway. Sarah looked between Kane and the mysterious woman, her heart pounding so loud she was sure they could both hear it with their enhanced senses.
"Elena." Kane's voice was carefully neutral, but Sarah felt him tense beside her. "You're supposed to be dead."
"Darling, you of all people should know how hard we are to kill." Elena's eyes flickered to Sarah, then to the burner phone on the floor. "Oh, what's this?"
She moved with supernatural speed, snatching up the phone before either of them could react.
"My, my..." Elena scrolled through the contents, her perfect eyebrows rising. "What a thorough investigation. Pack secrets, transformation videos, private conversations..." Her smile turned cruel. "Love confessions. How very... enterprising of you, Miss Chen."
"Give that back," Sarah said, her voice shakier than she wanted it to be.
"Or what? You'll expose us all?" Elena laughed softly. "Sweetheart, you're playing games you don't understand. This?" She waved the phone. "This is nothing compared to the secrets I could tell."
Dr. Rivera cleared his throat awkwardly. "I should check on Mrs. Chen..."
"Stay." Elena's command froze him in place. "In fact, why don't you tell Miss Chen exactly how much time her mother really has without that trial treatment?"
The doctor swallowed hard. "Without immediate intervention... weeks at most."
Sarah felt like she might pass out. "Weeks?"
"But that's the beauty of it all, isn't it?" Elena's voice dripped false sympathy. "You have everything you need to save her right here. One story, one big scoop..." She held out the phone. "All you have to do is destroy Alexander."
"That's enough, Elena." Kane's eyes were starting to glow.
"Oh, but we're just getting to the good part!" Elena turned back to Sarah. "Did he tell you why I 'died' ten years ago? Why he arranged that fake assassination attempt?"
Sarah looked at Kane, whose face had gone completely rigid.
"He didn't, did he?" Elena's smile widened. "He didn't tell you that I was pregnant. That we were going to have a child – an heir to the most powerful werewolf bloodline in America."
The world tilted sideways. Sarah grabbed the wall for support.
"Elena," Kane's voice was a warning growl.
"But I lost the baby," Elena continued, her perfect composure cracking slightly. "Because of his human business partners, his insistence on playing in both worlds. They found out what we were, sent hunters..." She took a shuddering breath. "So I gave him a choice. The pack or his empire. He chose... well. You can guess what he chose."
Sarah felt sick. "Alexander?"
"It wasn't that simple," Kane said roughly. "Elena was going to expose everything, kill everyone involved – innocent people. I couldn't let-"
"You chose them over your own child!" Elena's eyes blazed amber. "Over your mate! Over your pack!"
"I chose to prevent a m******e!"
The fluorescent lights flickered overhead. Sarah could feel both wolves' power filling the hallway, making the air thick and electric.
A weak voice cut through the tension: "Sarah?"
Her mother's voice. Sarah turned to see her mom in the doorway of her room, clutching her IV stand for support.
"Mom, you shouldn't be up-" Sarah started toward her.
"Actually, her timing is perfect." Elena moved faster than thought, suddenly beside Sarah's mother. "Now everyone has to make their choices. Right here, right now."
She held up the burner phone. "So what's it going to be, Miss Chen? Expose us and save your mother? Or protect your wolf and watch her die?"
"Stop this," Kane growled.
"No, you stopped having a say when you chose them over us." Elena's hand moved to Sarah's mother's shoulder. "But don't worry, my love. Once she makes her choice... once she betrays you like I never would... you'll remember where you really belong."
Sarah looked at her mother's pale face, at Kane's tortured expression, at the phone that held everything – salvation and destruction both.
"Times up, little journalist." Elena's smile was all teeth. "What's your story going to be?”
- Writer
