whether he said anything or not. I’ve just played right into her hands. Regardless, he knew it was too late – the deal agreed upon. Taking off at a run, Derrick stopped for no one as he made his way through the compound to save Lexia.
Chapter 5
When she woke, it wasn’t from the pain of her wound – although that was a dull ache in her side – no, what she felt existed deep within herself, at her very core. The kind of pain that festered over time, devouring her from the inside out. A pain born from guilt and self-hatred, and an unimaginable loss that no amount of time could ever heal.
Lexia’s agony consumed her. She no longer sensed the dark shell of Maura encasing her, suffocating her. Maura’s darkness numbed Lexia’s pain, so as the poison worked its way through her bloodstream, it stripped away the dark power that had kept the crippling emotions at bay.
She wished for it to come back. She didn’t want to be Lexia. She didn’t want to remember all the horrible things she’d done. Didn’t want to wake every day knowing she could never go back to the man she loved.
Only she had no choice. It was time to wake and face the things she’d done. It was time to be Lexia again.
Lexia kept her eyes shut for a second longer and breathed deeply through the pain. Opening her eyes, she saw Derrick watching her, always watching her. Emotions evident in every gold fleck of his eyes.
“Welcome back, Lexia,” he greeted, his cool, controlled mask slipping back into place. “It’s been a while,” he continued with a smile.
Lexia sat upright, grimacing as her wound stretched. Looking around at her friends, who’d stuck by her even as she’d become a monster, she felt a flicker of happiness to have met them. “So what did you have to do to get the antidote, which by the way, doesn’t work all that fast?” She felt like crap.
“Well…” Derrick started, turning away and avoiding eye contact.
“Derrick, what did you agree to? What did she want from you this time?”
He turned back. Clasping his hands behind his neck, Derrick released a long low breath, then faced her. “She’s lost interest in me. She wanted something from you.”
“Just spit it out!” Lexia snapped, her head pounding.
“You are to join Lucy. Be by her side. You’re to be a team so no one else will dare question your authority. You are to stand united.”
Lexia stared at him. She stared and she waited to be sure this was a nightmare. Surely, she was going to wake up any moment. “United? You agreed that I would stand by her side? Mother and daughter ruling as one?”
“Well, that’s a little extreme. She just wants you to stop killing off her best soldiers, and to maybe stop questioning her every order. But she said you’d be her equal. She’d share her plans and knowledge with you.”
“And if I don’t agree?” Lexia knew it was bad before he even spoke. The guilt on his face was there for everyone to see.
“She’ll take her anger out on us.”
“By us, you mean me and Belinda, too?” Marcus piped up from the back corner.
“Yes,” Derrick mumbled.
“Wonderful, what exactly does, ‘take her anger out on us’ mean?” Belinda asked.
“What he means is you’ll all be dead, and if she can get her hands on Lincoln or any other shifter I used to know, she’ll kill them too! Perfect, Derrick, just freaking perfect.”
“Don’t get mad at me. It’s not like I had much choice. I couldn’t just let you die.”
“Yes, Derrick, that’s exactly what you should have done. God knows it’s what I deserve,” Lexia shouted.
“Well, there could be an upside to all of this, boss,” Marcus said, stepping forward.
“What, we all get to die together?” Belinda muttered.
Marcus cast her a look of annoyance before continuing. “Well, Lucy said you’d be her equal. You may finally be able to learn something of use to us.”
“And what is it you hope I will learn?” Lexia asked.
“A way out of this God-forsaken place! And not just a life on the run, but a real plan to bring this compound down, and to make sure no more hunters are ever made again.”
Lexia looked at him shocked. Is this what they expect from me?
“Oh, come on, boss – there’s a reason why so many follow you, and it’s not just because they fear you. It’s because they made it through the tests with their