Empathy

22- Goodbyes and Hellos

“Samara, wake up,” a gentle voice demanded and I felt a light pressure on my cheek. I peeled open my eyes and saw Aiden was leaning over me, his hand on my face.

I blinked a few times to clear my blurry vision. “What happened?”

“The girl on the couch woke up,” he replied with a scowl. I started to sit up, but his hands landed on my shoulders, keeping me on the ground. “Don’t- you might have a concussion.”

“Where’s Milo?” I asked as my head throbbed. If that was anything to go by I definitely had a concussion.

Aiden carefully picked me up, holding me bridal style so I could see for myself. The room was a complete mess, but that didn’t matter because Milo was passed out on the floor, his wrists tied to his desk. The girl that had knocked me out was in the same predicament but on the other side of the desk. Kate, Mr. Hence and a few of the Pack’s fighters were watching over them.

“Is she alright?” Kate asked Aiden rather than directly to me.

I answered before he could. “I’ll be fine. Let’s just take Milo to the Elders and get this over with. I want to go home.”

“What are we doing with her?” Kate nudged the girl that had caused me to pass out. Now that I noticed, she was pretty young- she looked around fifteen.

“Kill her.” Aiden demanded sharply. I gaped at him and saw he had a deadly expression on his face. “She hurt Samara, could’ve killed her.”

I frowned. “Aiden, she’s so young…”

“She’s Milo’s daughter and I want her dead. If I can’t kill Milo; his daughter will have to do,” he snarled glaring at the unconscious teen.

I scowled. “You can’t kill her because of who her dad is! She grew up with him and knew I was going to kill him. Of course she’d try to stop me. Can we at least try talking to her when she wakes up?”

He sighed. “Fine, but I want her locked up. We’ll deal with her after we get rid of Milo. Drake, you stay with her.”

“Okay,” Drake instantly replied. He looked on guard even though his job was simply to keep a young girl in captivity. Although with Milo as a father who knew what she was capable of?

Mr. Hence nodded thoughtfully. “I suppose we should take care of Milo before he wakes up… Mark and Trey, will you carry him behind us?”

“That’s not necessary. I got this,” Kate stepped in. She pointed at Milo and in a few simple movements had his wrists chained together rather than to the desk. She managed to pull him to his feet without touching or waking him. Then she flicked her wrist and he glided towards us, the heels of his feet not touching the ground.

I saw Aiden’s dad flinch. “Fine, let’s go.”

“You could say thanks,” she complained as we started towards the exit, Aiden still carrying me. The house was empty now and I wondered where everyone had gone.

“I’m not thanking you for your witchcraft.”

I looked up at Aiden. “What’s up with the conflict between them?” Maybe it was the reason I had been ordered to kill Milo before I could be allowed to be with Aiden.

“It’s a long story which I’ll explain later,” he assured me. “Just relax for right now, okay?” I nodded and cringed when it hurt. I could really use some Tylenol right now. Aiden noticed my discomfort and asked his dad, “Do you think we need to be there? I know this is a big deal, but Samara needs rest.”

“It should be okay. I’ll call you if you need to come down,” Mr. Hence replied as we got outside. He started towards his car with the two fighters, Mark and Trey, following him. Kate looked reluctant but did the same, keeping Milo near them.