Blood Legacy

15

We walked down a hallway, and the sound of a gunshot echoed in the halls.

"Please, I'm telling you the truth." The old man screamed.

"You tried killing one of our own," Simon shouted the words. "And blamed the council for your sorry-ass attempt."

"Calm down, Simon." Kai's voice was loud. "We aren't killing them. The council wants us to take these three to them."

Thank God. I took in a deep breath of Liam's comforting musky sandalwood scent. I thought they'd kill them, and they don’t deserve that.

They don’t deserve it? Liam shook his head, and his forehead creased. They tried shooting Micah, and they kidnapped you. Because of them, you're bleeding.

But you heard them. It was self-preservation. For some reason, it stopped me from hating them. They weren't doing it out of hate; they were protecting their pack. It's sad that they had to resort to this in order to try to protect their pack and family.

What do you mean? He hurried down the hallway, and some natural light soon filtered in.

I glanced around the room, trying to get my bearings. Obviously, if they were in need like that, it'd been for years. Why didn't a city or district alpha step in? Isn't that their role? To tend to all the packs’ needs and figure out how to help them?

Yeah, it is. He furrowed his brows as we approached a glass double-door that had seen better days. There was a large crack in the glass of one door, and the other door was nothing but shattered shards littering the ground.

The bright sun bore down on us as we stepped outside.

I blinked several times until my eyes acclimated. There was no telling how long I had the blindfold on. The light didn't usually bother me like this.

The Escalade was pulled right up to the front, and the back door was open.

Evan was in the driver’s seat and glanced over his shoulder. "Let's move."

Liam smoothly stepped into the backseat of the car and shut the door, cradling me in his arms.

"Go."

Immediately, the car moved forward.

It was silent for a few moments before Evan glanced in the rearview mirror at Liam. "Do you think our parents really did this?"

"I don't know." Liam leaned his head down and pressed his lips to mine. You've got to stay awake. You can't fall asleep. We're only ten minutes away from the academy.

"Don't give me that bullshit." Evan's voice was his normal low scary one. "There was a reason I didn't make your ass leave her that night after the KSU football game. I wouldn't have trained her if I hated her. And damn, well, I like her. Besides, after seeing what she did for Micah, she's officially

one of us to me. So, don't try to give me that half-assed answer. Don’t hold back the truth." My eyes began to close, and my heart warmed after hearing Evan's confession.

"Yeah, I think they did it." Liam touched my cheek. "Mia, keep your eyes open."

"s**t, we gotta get back there fast." Evan's voice was scared, and the car seemed to be moving faster. "Keep her awake."

"Mia." Liam took a hand and shook my face. "Stay with me."

I'm here. Even though I spoke the words in my mind, they even sounded slurred to me.

"Stay awake, please. Baby, please." Liam's voice cracked as he kissed my lips. "I need you to look at me."

It broke my heart to hear his words. I didn't want him to be upset with me, but there was less pain in the dark. I just needed to rest for a minute.

"Mia." Liam's voice entered my unconsciousness, urging me back to him.

It had hurt so bad; I didn't want to go back. It was kind of nice here in the darkness. I felt peace, which had been hard to find lately.

Something dug deep inside me, breaking through my protective barrier. I wanted to retreat further into the darkness. The pain, the hurt was so excruciating.

Mia, please wake up. His voice almost sounded like it was broken.

Though he was too strong for that. If Mom and Dad could move on from their fated, surely he'd be fine without me.

Another stabbing pain hit me, and my stomach roiled even here.

I need you. Please, open those beautiful green eyes. Through our bond, I felt his grief. The bullet is out finally, but we need you to wake up.

If I thought I knew what pain was, it was nothing compared to what he was feeling now. It felt as if a part of him was being ripped out. In a way, it was since I was the missing piece of his soul.

It was as if he was projecting into my mind; memories of our first kiss, our night of s*x before he had disappeared, and then the day we claimed one another.

I don't know what I'd do if I lost you. I love you. His words were broken, and the pain of potentially losing me was taking over.

I couldn't hurt him like that. I needed to be with him. Why should the council be allowed to strip one more thing away from someone? Not only did I have my fated mate, who was desperate to stand beside me, but I had to find justice for my father. If not, then he had died in vain.

There was no way I was taking the easy way and backing out now. I took another second to enjoy the darkness, the peace, the once again pain-free space between, only God knew where. There was no bright, shining light or fire and brimstone. Was I stuck in some kind of purgatory?

Dammit, Mia. Wake up now. His voice had turned desperate. No longer was he begging; he was commanding.

I braced myself and opened my eyes to find both Liam and Evan hovering over me.

"Her eyes are open." Evan breathed out a sigh of relief as his face smoothed back into its normal features.

I glanced around a room that didn't look familiar. It had the standard silver of the school colors, but there was a huge-ass, blood-red leather couch that I was lying on. The pain hit me again, so hard that I almost felt like I couldn't breathe. Where … am I? My stomach roiled as the pain somehow grew stronger.

You're in my and Evan's dorm room. Liam frowned as he glanced at Evan. "She's about to puke."

Now that he said the words, I realized that was exactly what was about to happen. I moved to sit up, but even more pain washed over me. I had barely moved an inch.

Evan ran into the kitchen right as bile from my stomach began traveling up my throat. I can't roll over. I was going to puke all over myself. Dear God, this was going to get nasty.

Let me help. Liam leaned over and gently grabbed my shoulder. As he tried to help me turn to my uninjured side, I began dry heaving.