Page 199 of Sweetheart: Part Two

His scent was roses and blood? That was unusual. But… no, actually I thought maybe there was just a lot of blood in the room.

“I’m Cass,” he was saying to Drake and Vex as his eyes scanned Ebony. “I’m Havoc’s. I’m going to check him over, alright?”

Vex looked up at him in a flash at Havoc’s name, but her grip didn’t loosen on Ebony’s shirt.

“Medics are on the way,” Cass was saying, “but the faster we can treat the poison the better his chances. I need you to calm her down so I can—”

“Poison?” Love asked.

“He gave me access to his tracking data the government has on Agritox.” I thought that was Leighton. “Connected a stolen vial to the middleman they were using for all of this.”

“You didn’t mention that—?” Love’s voice was furious.

“I onlyjustfound it,” Kai snapped as he helped Cass unpack medical supplies from the bag.

“If he’s poisonedandhe’s cleaved, we need to make sure—”

“He hasn’t.” Vex spoke for the first time.

“What?” Cass’s voice was sharp.

“He only… He only did it twice. The cleaving needs three.”

She was shaking, blood, disrupted only by tear tracks, smeared across her face and neck, matting her hair and trailing down the thin chain that hung from the collar Zeus had placed on her.

I tugged my jacket off and reached for her. She flinched at my touch, but her eyes found mine and she let me move closer and wipe away some of the blood. “It’s okay,” I whispered. “Let him help.”

Her eyes were wide, but she didn’t move.

“Let her stay. I can work around her.”

I glanced down at where her fists were balled in his shirt. “I-If I let go, he’ll…” Her expression broke, fresh tears spilling out.

She was a force in the bond. Absolute. And I could feel her conviction with those words, her will almost a power in itself. And I felt it at last, the thing my instincts had been trying to say.

He was still here.

I could feel him by a thread, one she was clinging to.

But Ebony was still in the bond.

FIFTY-FOUR

VEX

My mind was hazy as I blinked heavy eyes open, trying to adjust to bright lights. Around me machines were beeping.

I was in the hospital.

Again.

I groaned, sitting up, still trying to place the feeling of dread in my chest.

“You’re safe.” That was Love’s voice, and I felt his touch on my hand.

What… happened?

I tried to ask, but my mouth was heavy.

---