Page 40 of Emerge

Chapter Thirteen

Riley

My head was pounding as I began to wake up. I wasn't in the water anymore and I had legs again. That motherfucker had hit me in the head and probably seen me naked.

I jolted fully awake, clutching the blanket that was over me to my chest. I was in a hotel room that was so bright that I shielded my eyes. My clothes I had shed earlier were on the end of the bed and I quickly put them on.

I had done everything he asked; I didn't understand why he had knocked me unconscious. At least I woke up in a cushy hotel instead of in a dumpster.

I went to the window that had a small balcony overlooking the sea. It was nearing sunset, and the sun glistened off the blue water. What happened to the castle and the tritons who were inside the cavern?

Guilt overwhelmed me because I should have done something. I could have helped them or taken the trident from Dylan so he couldn't use it.

After using the attached bathroom, I listened at the bedroom door. All I was met with was silence, so I slowly opened the door.

A girl was sitting with her back to me just outside on a balcony. Her feet were propped up on the railing and her brown hair moved with the slight breeze.

"Uh, hi?" I walked toward the center of the room, keeping the couch and coffee table in between me and the girl. She was tiny, but sometimes danger came in smaller packages.

She jumped and turned around. Her blue eyes met mine and a grin spread across her face. My mouth hung open as she jumped up and nearly fell, but steadied herself by grabbing onto the chair she had been sitting in.

"You must be Riley!" She came toward me as I stood staring at her like an idiot. I surely had hit my head and been stabbed with syringes one too many times, because it was like looking at a younger, female version of Jax. But that couldn't be right.

"I am."

She looked so healthy and vibrant that I wouldn't believe it until I heard her say it. "Who are you?"

"I'm Olivia." She walked unsteadily around the couch and wrapped her arms around me.

"How is this possible?" I got a good look at her as she pulled away.

She was drop-dead gorgeous with pale skin and a smile that would brighten any room. I didn't understand how she could be here in Greece, perfectly healthy and on land with no training.

She grabbed my hand as if we were two old friends seeing each other again for the first time and led me around to sit on the couch. "Dylan rescued me from a certain death."

My brain told me to tread carefully with how I approached this situation. "What happened exactly?"

She kept hold of my hand and looked out the French doors to the ocean. "The last thing I remember is the dolphins calling for help and then I woke up here in this hotel suite. Dylan said that I was stuck in a tank and they had written me off as a lost cause."

"Your dad and brother would never-" I shut my mouth as her eyes welled with tears. "They’re worried because you were sick and Dylan took you."

Tears slid down her cheeks, but she didn't wipe them. "I thought they would be happy to be rid of me."

I reached over for a tissue off the side table and handed it to her. She stared at it with furrowed brows. "You wipe your tears with it."

She laughed and blotted at her face. "I don't know much about land, just what Dylan has taught me or what I've seen on the television."

"Why would they be happy to be rid of you? Your dad was by your side every day and Jax visited every chance he got."

Her tears were falling even more now, and I handed her the entire box of tissues. "After Mom died, Dad was gone so much and then Jax went away to school..." She sniffled and rubbed her nose with a tissue. "Anyway, I'm better now thanks to Dylan and I can be on land! I've always been so jealous that the males had the gene to shift and we didn't."

That was news to me. I had just assumed triton women were in whatever program Jax, Morgan, and Blake were in too.

"How did he heal you?" I didn't know if I really wanted to know.

"I'm not sure how it works exactly, but he did a blood transfusion with his own blood, which healed me and gave me some abilities I didn't have before." She gestured to her legs.

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest as I saw how nonchalant she was about the whole thing. He had injected me with just a small amount of his blood and I not only turned blue, but he could control me to an extent. What did that mean for her?

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