Page 41 of Emerge

"Olivia, I need to tell you about-" The door to the suite exploded inward, sending wood flying.

On instinct, I pushed Olivia to the ground and covered her body with my own. She was full on sobbing as I protected her head and face against my chest. I didn't know what had gotten into me, but I felt an intense need to protect her at all costs.

"Vixen?" Morgan's voice hit me like a ton of bricks and my body went limp with relief. "Why are you on the floor?"

Arms wrapped around me and I was lifted off Olivia, who had her eyes squeezed shut. Being on land was probably scary as it was, but having a door kicked in unannounced was traumatizing. It probably didn't help that I had tackled her to the ground.

Jax and Blake were right behind Morgan and stopped, seeing Olivia on the ground. They all stared at her like they were trying to figure out if they were seeing things, and then she opened her eyes.

"Livvy? How... what... how?" Jax's voice was choked up as he tried to form words. He helped her up off the floor and pulled her into a hug.

She laughed and hugged him back. "It's a miracle."

It was a miracle, but at what cost?

* * *

My mind wasall sorts of messed up from being knocked out and traveling halfway across the world. When we left Greece in a private plane provided by the tritons, it was Sunday evening. I had been kidnapped around noon on Saturday.

When the wheels of the plane touched down in California, it was just before midnight on Sunday. Talk about trippy.

Dylan had disappeared with my knife and the trident, leaving Poseidon's castle devastated. On the flight back, Finn had shared that the castle and the cavern it was in, was where he went into stasis for years at a time.

There was a search for my mom underway, which made me incredibly nervous for not only her but for me. It was becoming more and more difficult for Finn to keep my existence a secret.

My mom had created such a large diversion by blowing up part of the prison there that most of the guards were distracted at the opportune moment for Dylan and me to sneak in through one of the secret escape passages.

For now, Poseidon was still asleep and unharmed. I had a gut feeling that if he were to wake, his wrath would be merciless.

I was curled up in bed as Jax walked in my room. "Is she all settled?"

"For now." He left the door open a crack and came to the bed, pulling his shirt over his head and dropping down next to me and turning off the bedside lamp. "She makes me nervous."

I yawned and scooted over so my head was on his chest. "She seems to be in good spirits."

His fingers glided over my shoulder and down to my ribcage. I was so exhausted my bones hurt. I had slept a little on the flight back, but not nearly enough.

"Your dad is taking her to see some doctors tomorrow, right?" I traced a finger over his pec, and the second it got near his nipple, he took my hand and brought it to his lips. "I wasn't going to touch it."

He groaned. "Let's not risk it, you need sleep. School tomorrow."

It was my turn to groan. "I say we just call in sick. We don't know where Dylan is. What if he comes for me at the school? We need to look for my mom too."

Jax was quiet for a minute and I looked up at him to find him staring off into space. I propped myself up so I could look at him.

"How did you find out where I was?" I'd been meaning to ask, but between Olivia and traveling back to California, it had slipped my mind a few times.

Jax's frown grew deeper and he traced around my neck with his finger. "I put a tracker on your necklace."

"You what?" I rolled over and grabbed my necklace from the nightstand. "I can't believe you'd do something like this, again!"

He took the necklace from me and peeled it off part of the clasp. It was as tiny as a grain of rice, which I didn't even know was possible. "It was worth your wrath to be able to find you. With everything happening, I thought it would be best."

"Did Morgan and Blake know?" I crossed my arms over my chest and didn't take the necklace when he held it back out to me.

"No. Not until we needed to track you." Jax rubbed the pearls between his thumb and forefinger. "Don't be mad. I just want you to be safe."

My anger was fleeting, and I snatched the necklace back, putting it back on the nightstand. "No school tomorrow."

He raised a brow. "That's what it's going to take to gain your forgiveness?"

"Yup." I laid back down and he wrapped his arms around me. "You would have found me eventually."

"True, but we figured out where you were headed a lot sooner, and what if he wouldn't have left you in that hotel?"

"I know." My eyelids grew heavy and I yawned for what felt like the hundredth time. "I'm glad your sister is okay."

"Me too." He kissed the side of my head. "Sweet dreams, Riley."

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