THE CLAIMING (The Chosen Series #1)

THE DEAL

Erin finds me later, my face still in the toilet bowl, my stomach empty, head pounding. "Babe, what the fuck! Siobhan," she yells, kneeling beside me and wiping my face with a cool washcloth.

"Erin, what's wrong?" Siobhan's footsteps near as she enters the room.

"I found her like this," Erin replies, cleaning the vomit from my mouth, my body shaking.

"Ava, love," Siobhan says, speaking above my head. When I don't respond, she instructs Erin, "Help me move her back onto the bed."

"But what if she vomits again?" Erin protests.

"We'll call for a chamber pot once she's lying down. There's no point in her freezing to death on the tiles," Siobhan reasons.

Agreeing, they lift me and return me to the bedroom. The pain in my head and body intensifies with each step.

"Damn girl, lay off the pastries, will you?" Erin jokes, guiding me onto the bed, covering me with a warm quilt. Once the shivers subside, Siobhan sends for water, painkillers, and a chamber pot.

"She's cool, no fever," Siobhan says, feeling my forehead.

One of the girls return and Erin helps me swallow the pills and settles on the bed beside me.

"Thanks," I mumble, eyes blinking until the room steadies and the painkillers work. Facing them, both women sit on the other side of the bed. I lock eyes with Siobhan.

"You said before that Griffin's family's seen tragedy. What did you mean by that?"

Siobhan smiles gently, patting my hand. "Aye, first his Da was killed while trying to protect them. Then poor Aisling." She shakes her head, her lengthy hair flowing around her shoulders. "That family has seen too much death for any lifetime.".

"How did Aisling die?" I press, hoping to verify what I witnessed.

Her eyes fill with what looks like grief, her voice breaking a little. "She was taken, and never returned to us."

"Who took her?" I continue pushing. "Was it someone called Viktor?"

Her entire body tenses, face draining of color. "Who... aye, who told you that name?"

"No one," I reply, immediately. "I dreamt it, and what I want to know is, was it real?"

Siobhan swallows again, nodding. "Aye, he was real, and what you saw was most likely Griffin's memory."

My heart, already swollen with pain, cracks even more for him. "So, Griffin was taken too?" Siobhan nods. "And Isla?"

Now her face completely crumples, tears starting to well in her eyes. "The poor lass."

Remembering Aisling's swollen belly and Griffin's age in the vision, I piece things together. "Who's Isla's father?"

Siobhan looks away, blinking several times, jaw clenching. "If you're asking that question, then you already know."

Not a dream – Oh my God, it was real, oh Griffin.

Pushing myself up into a sitting position, my head suddenly clear, my next question come out like a demand, "Siobhan, tell me what you know."

Tears now freely flowing down her cheeks, she bats them away and shakes her head. "I don't know much, love, other than Aisling didn't come home and those broken children bear that man's mark."

"Mark?" I ask, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Aye, both of them, hold his brand on the back of their necks, like a little cattle branding," she explains gently, patting my hand.