Claimed by the Devils

Chapter 26

Sebastian POV

The guys decided to take Aria back to our dorm, but I headed to Fred’s room. He let me in with a roll of his eyes.

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”

“These are the only meetings we’re allowed.”

I closed the door and locked it, turning to see him already seated at the computer and typing away.

“You got anything?”

“Not much. I mean, this society s**t that you’ve told me about, their firewall is f*****g hot stuff, man. I’ve never seen anyone like it.”

He let out a low whistle.

“It’s taking me some time, and it doesn’t help that you’ve asked me to do this undetected. It makes it slightly trickier.”

“But you can do it?”

“Yeah, I can do it.”

He ran his fingers through his hair. It looked like he’d done it so many times that it was now really greasy.

I was tired.

After Lucian’s confession of the agreement he made with Aria, and just all the normal school bullshit, I was more than ready to call it a night. I didn’t even care that my d**k wasn’t going to get sucked tonight.

“So, I did find a slight trace of Aria’s time at River High, and to be honest, even there it was like she didn’t exist.”

“Tell me more.”

“We all have documents, right?”

“I’m guessing so.”

This wasn’t helping my headache.

“The only trace I found was when she came to this school.”

“But I thought you said that it was gone. There was no trace of her,” I said.

“Exactly. Someone did a crap job of trying to completely erase it. So long as you know what you’re looking for, and I mean dates, times, locations, and all people involved, most of the time you can find anything. When I didn’t , I didn’t know what direction to go down. Also, here is another interesting fact, according to these papers I found.”

He clicked and pointed up at his screen.

“The woman who enrolled her was Drew Vales.”

“I know her nanny was named Drew.”

“Exactly, but Vales? It’s a pretty common last name, but get this, another little interesting detail right here. She’s a distant relative of Aria’s mother, and here is your evidence.”

He clicked away and there was the picture of Joan and Drew Vales.

“Okay, let me get this straight, Aria’s mother had a distant cousin take care of her daughter. Drew became the mother to her and enrolled her into the school.”

“Yep, and then Drew mysteriously dies of cancer, but I found an unfiled and considered incorrect autopsy.”

Fred spun around in his chair after bringing up yet another file.

I was going to need some pain pills when I was done with this guy. He worked a mile a minute, and the truth was I couldn’t make any sense of it.

“She was shot?”

“In the head. Get this, there was no funeral for her. Just a gravestone near the Vales’ family plot.”

“Let me get my head around this. How could Drew be named Vales if that was Alexander’s name?”

“I can’t find a single trace of Joan or Drew’s maiden names. Alexander married Joan, but I don’t know how Drew became a Vales. Do you want me to delve a little deeper?”

“No, that can just be one of those big questions I’m never going to know the answer to and I’m just going to have to accept,” I said.

“Stick with the plan, okay?”

“Will do.”

I got up and made my way toward the door.

“Do me a favor, be careful.”

“I always am. I won’t get sloppy.”

I hoped not.

After leaving Fred’s dorm, I crossed the grounds, heading toward my own dorm.

Arriving, I was met by Aria sitting at the dining room table, notebooks open, studying. She wasn’t hanging out in her room or complaining.

“Hey,” she said when I entered.

“Hey.”

I didn’t know what else to say.

“The guys have ordered pizza. It should be on the way soon.”

“Now that you’re here, we can have that convo,” Rowan said, moving from his seat by the television where he’d been playing a video game, to settle in one of the chairs beside Aria’s.

She released a sigh.

“Do we have to?”

“You had some conditions. I want to hear what they are to see if we can figure them out,” Rowan said.

“The sooner we can get this party moving.”

She looked between us and I had to say, the more I looked at her, and I mean watched her, I finally saw her beauty. Her long, brown hair was full and luscious. Designed to be wrapped around my fist or spread out across a pillow. I wanted her so badly, but I knew that hunger for her was going to have to wait. I also loved how expressive her eyes were. She tried to hide her reactions to us, but there was no getting away from the intrigue she felt. Aria tried to fight it, but her interest was there, even if it was fleeting.

I wanted to draw her attention to me. Instead, I sat down and wrinkled my nose at the mathematics textbook open in front of her.

Lucian and Elliot joined us. As usual, Elliot scribbled in his notebook. As if we didn’t already know he was drawing her. He’d been doing so for the past couple of weeks. The likenesses were getting better.

“Okay, fine.”

She closed her textbooks and placed each one back in her bag.

“If you want to talk about this, then let’s talk. I guess we need to start out with what you want from me. How is this going to be between us, and what are you hoping to get out of it?”

“You’re going to belong to us,” Lucian said.

“It means no other guy at the school or out of it can touch you. You’re ours to protect.”

“Apart from if Chloe’s near.”

“She is going to be taken care of,” Lucian said.

We all knew Chloe had gone too far already and breaking the rules set out by The Society, well, it was a punishable offense, even for us. Just because we were seventeen or eighteen, in the eyes of The Society, we were responsible for all of our own actions and would be punished accordingly.

It f*****g sucked.

There was no leeway on these rules, and I wasn’t willing to test any more limits.

My tiredness wasn’t fading. I wanted my bed. Food. Bed. An orgasm. I didn’t care which order they came in.

“Fine. So I belong to you. What does that mean exactly?”

“I’m sure you’re aware.”

“Treat it like you’re all my boyfriends. As if you couldn’t get any more vague.”

She groaned.

“Does this mean you expect us to make out? Have s*x?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

All of us spoke at the same time. Lucian and Rowan both said yes, while Elliot and I chose the no.

I glared at Lucian. He was so f*****g focused on reaching his end goal, he didn’t realize how carefully we had to tread, and it was starting to piss me off. I got that his dad had put a lot of pressure on him, but he had to understand we were all f*****g feeling it. This wasn’t just about him anymore, and it hadn’t been for a long time.

Aria put her hands flat on the table.

“I get that some of you want to protect me from the truth, but seeing as my own family has forced me, that’s not an option anymore.”

Tears filled her eyes as she looked at us.

“Just … I know this is more than pretending.”

She bit her lip.

“Just tell me.”

I looked toward Lucian and shook my head, but he was already talking.

“Halloween night, you and I have to go to a confirmed location. You will give yourself to me in every single way that matters. After that night, you will be with Elliot, Rowan, and Sebastian, it doesn’t matter what order it is at, just so long as you are with them. You will be ours in mind and body. You’re ours, Aria. I don’t know of another way to put it.”

This f*****g prick. If I could get my damn hands on him and throttle him, I would.

Gritting my teeth, I was saved from doing it by the doorbell ringing.

I got up and took my time. There were six pizzas. I paid a healthy tip and returned to find Aria wiping away her tears.

“Are you okay?” I asked, dropping down the boxes onto the table.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

She got to her feet.

“I’ll be back.”

I watched her go, and like Elliot and Rowan, we all turned our glares onto Lucian.

“What?” he asked.

“Do you even know what the hell you do? Or do you not think?” I asked.

He looked at us.

“What did I do?”

“Seriously, let’s start with no tact.”

Rowan shook his head.

“f*****g asshole.”

He grabbed the vegan pizza and made his way into Aria’s room. She still hadn’t come out yet.

“You think because I’m giving it to her real, this makes me the bad guy?” he asked.

I didn’t even bother to answer that. What was the point? He was only going to make up whatever s**t he wanted in his head.

I wanted to kill him. Or tear his d**k off. I wouldn’t do anything. His methods were callous and unnecessary but his heart was there.

Aria didn’t come out, but I sat and ate my fair share of pizza. I only hoped Rowan would be able to talk some f*****g sense in the situation.