Page 47 of Don't Look Away

Christian gestures to me. “You just heard what she said, dude. She saw the book. We have no choice but to initiate her now.”

Oh, damn. I guess I didn’t realize that justseeingthe book was that serious. But hey, if it works in my favor, then whatever.

“If we don’t,” Jackson says, “Then we put the entire society at risk. But if she goes through initiation, then she’s sworn to silence.”

“Roman won’t like it,” Lucas says firmly. “He’s going to raise fucking hell.”

“Then maybe he shouldn’t have left his book where Lux could fucking get to it,” Jackson yells.

“Jackson has a point, Lucas,” Christian says calmly. “The rules are clear. The protection of the society comes before our personal feelings. And Lux is right, if Roman has a bias against her joining—which he clearly does—then we can vote without him…”

CHAPTEREIGHTEEN

Lux

My breath is heldas I listen to Jackson, Lucas, and Christian debate about whether or not I can go through initiation. Thankfully, it sounds like the society rules are on my side.

Lucas pushes out a breath. “Does anyone know where Roman is right now?”

“He said he needed to take care of some society business, and that he’d be back tonight,” I offer.

“Then he’s up north,” Christian says with a sigh. “Probably talking to the lawyer.”

Weird. Why would he need to be talking to alawyer?

Lucas glances at me, but he doesn’t look happy. “Fine, we’ll initiate her, but we have to tell Roman. I’m not keeping secrets from my best friend.”

“He’s going toloseit,” Christian points out.

Lucas lifts his hands in frustration. “All I can do is make our case. But the second I text him, he’s going to turn right around and come home to stop this. So we have three hours—four at most—to pull this off.”

Christian looks skeptical. “Is that enough time?”

“It’s going to have to be.” Lucas looks directly at me. “Are you ready now?”

Uh.Wow.“Um, sure.”

“We need ten senior members as witnesses,” Jackson says.

Ten witnesses.This all sounds so official, and serious.

As they talk about the details of pulling this together, knots start twisting tightly in my stomach. I’ve been so focused on making this happen that I haven’t even asked them what the ritual actuallyis, not that they’d tell me. Everyone up to this point has been very tight-lipped on that subject. But Wyn said the ritual was rough.

“I’ll have a couple of the girls come in and help Lux get ready,” Christian says.

“I’ll round up the ten witnesses,” Jackson adds.

“And once we’re ready to go, I’ll text Roman,” Lucas says with a sigh. “Let’s meet back here in a half hour.”

Jackson and Christian nod in agreement, then everyone disburses, except for me. Before Christian leaves, he tells me to wait here. As I wait, a text comes through from Roman.

You have an appointment at 4 pm today with Dr. Lee. I’ll send the driver around for you.

Oh, shit. There’s obviously no way I can make it to that appointment, so I decide not to reply. He thinks I’m resting, right? I could be asleep. That’s a reasonable explanation. I’ll ask someone to tell the driver I’m asleep and send him away. No harm, no foul, right?

But Lucas is right about one thing. When Roman finds out what we’ve all done, there will be hell to pay. But maybe—and it’s abigmaybe—once the initiation is behind us, he’ll cool down.

Why be angry about something you can’t change, right?

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