The Exclusive One

Chapter 1

Day 1.

12:00 a.m.

Parker:

I sit high up in the tree watching and waiting just the way Nikki taught me how to do.

She told me this is what they do 90% of the time they go on a mission. They sit and wait for any unusual activity. Occasionally they come in contact with the Aberrations and other times nothing happens.

I’ve been up here for at least 3 hours and I’m freezing and bored out of my skull. But, I know if I want to be like one of them then I need to be able to last doing this for at least 6 hours.

I feel my eyes begin to droop and I begin to yawn which makes me close my eyes for one second.

In that one second I’m yanked to the ground.

I gasp as I’m descended from the tree and soon land hard on the ground. I look up and prepare myself to attack, but I’m stunned to see the leader of the Aberrations, Hunter, standing before me.

I gulp as he eyes me up and down and he asks, “What do you think you’re doing here?”

I gulp nervously again as I try to scoot backwards away from him.

My actions seem to anger him as a scowl appears across his lips. The two men standing beside him take a step towards me, but before anyone can grab me, I launch myself towards the river hoping that with the darkness of night and the darkness of the water I may be able to escape.

I hear Hunter yell as I begin to disappear.

I take a deep breath and stick my head under the water as I swim further away trying to make sure they lose track of me.

I’m under the water for at least two minutes before I push myself through to the surface and I feel the piercing cold air hit my face. I take one gasp of air before I go back under, trying as hard as I can to keep myself hidden.

The current begins to pick up and I’m struggling to surface again. It’s been at least two minutes now and my throat begins to burn.

Drowning is a weird feeling.

I kick my feet harder as I try to resurface because my throat is on fire as it begs me to open my mouth and get air in my lungs.

I need to surface. That's my only priority right now.

Somehow, I’m able to get a small breathe in before I get pushed into a sharp rock and it takes off a chunk of my arm. I scream out in surprise and in pain and the water floods into my mouth. If I don’t surface again soon I know I will die.

This was a stupid idea. I should’ve just let them do whatever they wanted to do to me; maybe then I wouldn’t be drowning. I don’t even know what they wanted to do to me, I just know when Hunter is around that it means trouble and I was terrified by his anger that this seemed like the only logical solution.

How long has it been since I last got some air?

I don’t know how it's possible, but I get my head just above the surface and inhale deeply before falling under again.

Soon after I feel someone yank my arm and before my head is above the water I yelp in pain because they grabbed my injury. As soon as I resurface, I start coughing out the water that had come in and struggle to breathe in and out.

Air-fresh air!

My God, it’s never seemed so nice!

I get thrown onto the icy grass and I hug the ground as if it is my lifesaver. 

I look up and get on my hands and knees, but before I have time to process what is going on around me, I am kicked in the stomach and it makes me fall back down.

Someone grabs my arms making me hiss in pain. And I look up scowling as I see one man on each side of me. I look in front of me and glare as Hunter, the glorious leader of the Aberrations walks towards me. The scowl across his lips, the fury flaring in his eyes, it's obvious he is livid with me.

He crouches down in front of me as he stares me down. I feel as if I'm a child about to get chastised by their parents.

After what I can only assume is two minutes, but it feels like an eternity to me in this freezing weather I ask him with my teeth chattering, “Wh-what?”

He slaps me in the face and I whimper in pain and he says, “You will not run from me like that again, do you understand?”

I mutter, “Yes.”

He looks back at me and crouches down to look as my face. He grabs my chin and makes me move my face around as he observes me. After a minute he inquires, “Tell me, is it you or her?”

I try not to react although I am conflicted about his question.

I try to sound exasperated and clueless as I say, “W-what are you tal-talking about?”

Although, I am fully aware of what he is referring to. I do my best not to look away from him knowing that he will be trying to figure out the truth from my eyes.

I clench and unclench my hands trying to keep them moving to keep my body from completely going numb while I watch him as he shakes his head as he stands back up. He looks back at me and I swear his eyes got darker.

A loud popping sound goes off and I jump in surprise. I glance up and see fireworks in the distance.

It’s officially midnight.

It’s officially a New Year.

By now Thomas and the others have surely noticed my absence and are more than likely searching for me.

Hunter kicks me backwards while I'm distracted, and I grunt as I now lie on my back; my shirt has pulled up a little bit making my bare back come in contact with the icy grass. He yanks me up by the front of my shirt and brings his face closer to mine as he whispers threateningly, “Parker, you know good and well what I am talking about. Now, are you the Exclusive, or is she?”

My body begins to quiver in fear. I’ve only heard that term a handful of times in my life so I know that I can’t be the Exclusive but I’m pretty sure Nikki is, but if I reveal that then what reason would he have to keep me alive?

I could lie and save both of our lives right now or I can tell the truth and possibly die from it. I don’t know which one would be easier to do, but I know Nikki’s life is more important than my own. I struggle to take a breath before I lie to him with my teeth clenched together because I want to sound strong and that is the only way I can talk without my teeth chattering, “I. Don’t. Know.”

He crouches down in front of me and says to his men while he continues to stare into my eyes, “Release her.”

My arms fall to my sides as he holds my head in place again and his scowl gets deeper and his eyebrows furrow in frustration as he looks into my eyes as if trying to figure out whether or not I was lying to him.

I am.

Please, don’t figure that out.

He begins to smile. It looks... twisted. He looks evil.

This look shakes me to the bone. He says, “I will find out and, in the process, I will make you suffer for being so stubborn.”

I don’t respond… I stare back at him knowing well that he will make good on his word. He pulls a small test tube out of his shirt pocket and holds it to my lips and commands in a soft tone, “Drink it; it will stop you from freezing.”

In his own twisted way he does care for me otherwise he would’ve left me here to freeze to death or he would’ve left me to drown. I drink it because I know he doesn’t want to kill me- yet. I can’t help but pucker my lips a little at the taste of the serum; it’s much stronger and bitter than the ones we make.

He turns around and begins to walk away with both of his men following him and they leave me in the middle of nowhere.

All I know is that I’m cold, numb, and exhausted, but at least I am slightly more comfortable than I was before he gave me the serum. Once it gets to the point where I couldn’t see him and his men I stumble as I try to stand up and cross my arms in an attempt to get warmer. I start to walk along the stream to see where it would end- praying that I won’t get hypothermia.

I bet I already have it after being in that freezing water for so long…I can’t feel my toes. I have to keep moving. He may have given me that serum to prevent sickness and if that’s the case I wouldn’t have to worry about hypothermia.

I jump from hearing another explosion and I look around me expecting to see smoke in the sky from a bomb. I’m pleasantly surprised and relieved to see beautiful colors exploding in the sky. I huff and I notice that I can see my breath before I mutter to myself, “What a great start to a New Year.”

I continue to walk knowing that soon I should be able to find other human beings since so many are shooting fireworks.

 ******

Day 1

12:10 a.m.

Ryan:

I feel my bed move and I moan in frustration. Come on! Why can’t the guys just let me sleep?

I don’t give a damn about it being a New Year.

I hear a voice whisper, “Ryan.”

That doesn’t sound like one of the guys.

“Ryan, wake up!”

It’s probably my sister.

“Come on, wake up, Ryan!”

I groan in response as my shoulder begins to get pushed on, and I moan as I open my eyes. I’m surprised to see my gorgeous girlfriend on the side of my bed. Her smile shines as she laughs at me and she says, “Come on, Ry, get up!”

“Why?” I mutter back to her and she says, “Come on, I want you to look outside.”

I nod and wipe my eyes trying to wake up then sit up as she’s pulling the blinds up from the window. I hear a boom sound and watch as the fireworks explode in the sky. I glance over at her and she’s grinning from ear to ear and I ask, “That’s why you woke me up?”

“It’s beautiful and I wanted to share it with my love.” Her comment makes me smile and I pull her back so she’s sitting between my legs with her head tucked beneath my chin. I kiss the top of her head then whisper into her ear, “You’re the best girlfriend ever.”

She giggles at me, “I know.”

I smile and look down at her so I can watch her as she looks outside. She glances over up me and asks with a concerned look, “What?”

I smile in response, “What?”

She rolls her eyes and touches her face as she asks, “Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?”

I chuckle and shake my head and play with her auburn curls as I say, “No, I’m just wondering how I got so lucky to have you in my life.”

She sighs and relaxes in to my arms as she goes back to looking out the window, “I’m the lucky one, Ry. I’m so incredibly blessed to have been able to meet you at such a young age and spend the last four years together. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Her confession makes my heart skip a beat and I kiss the top of her head and mutter, “I love you, Bella.”

She glances back up at me before focusing on the fireworks again. She smiles widely and I swear I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.

After a few minutes she sits up pulling away from me and her eyebrows furrow and she starts to frown while she looks out the window I ask her, “Is everything alright?”

“Is that Nikki?”

I stand up and look down to see a figure rushing off to one of the cars and I say, “Yeah, I think it is.”

“What do you think she is doing?”

“I don’t know, sweetie but I’m sure it’s not a big deal.”

“I don’t know…I don’t have a good feeling. It’s so late for her to be leaving, maybe we should call her.” She brings her hand up towards her face and I notice she begins to bite her nails. Something she has always done when she is nervous. 

“Bella,” I wait for her to look at me and when she does, I can see the worry she has written across her face and I grab her hand then place my other hand on her face stroking her cheek with my thumb. She closes her eyes leaning her head into my hand and smiles softly at me and I say, “Sweetie, this kind of thing happens all the time and at any time of night. She probably got called in for a routine protocol. I’ve been called in like that before, we all have.”

“This late at night though? Lorelei and I have never been called in this late.” She asks skeptically as she pouts because she’s confused.

I chuckle softly because of her expression, “Yes, baby, that’s normal around here.”

She mutters, “I guess.”

She doesn’t talk after that and she turns her head to watch the fireworks. I watch her, but her uneasiness now has me uneasy.

It has to be just normal protocol. That’s no big deal- Nikki’s done that a billion times before just like we all have.

On top of that she’s the Exclusive even if she gets into any trouble, she can take care of herself. She’s more powerful than any of us.

Still, I can’t help the knots in my stomach.

I focus on getting into her mind and feel a faint connection, so I say through the link I made: Nikki?

Shit! Ryan, why the hell are you in my head?

I smirk at her reaction and respond: Bella and I were watching the fireworks and she noticed you running off. Is everything okay?

There’s a hesitation.

I know immediately that she’s hiding something then she responds: Yeah, bro, everything’s fine. Tom called me in for a protocol mission. It’s my night for that, remember?

I don’t let her know that I’m suspicious and just respond: Okay… if you need back up feel free to connect back with me.

I’ll be fine.

With that she blocks off our connection. She’s the only one that can do that. I try not to take advantage of my abilities with my family and friends, but I have the power to read minds and to communicate in a mind link. With Nikki being the Exclusive she is the only one that can shut down the link and block her mind off from me. Everybody else has always been fair game, but I don’t go into their minds unless I’m communicating with them or if it’s a life or death situation.

I wish that she didn’t block me out though. I’m highly suspicious of this mission that she’s going off to.

My sister is insanely powerful, but she can also be pretty reckless. She frequently gets herself into trouble and normally needs a little assistance out of it.

I glance back down through the window and count our cars. With so many of us in this mansion of a house we have 6 cars and 3 motorcycles, but I heard Tom and Jasper recently discussing if they should invest in another motorcycle.

There are 2 cars missing and 1 motorcycle. It makes sense that Nikki and Tom are gone, but who else wouldn’t be here?