Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
RILEY
My head was pounding as I began to wake up. I wasn't in the water anymore and I had legs again. That motherfucker had hit me in the head and probably seen me naked.
I jolted fully awake, clutching the blanket that was over me to my chest. I was in a hotel room that was so bright that I shielded my eyes. My clothes I had shed earlier were on the end of the bed and I quickly put them on.
I had done everything he asked; I didn't understand why he had knocked me unconscious. At least I woke up in a cushy hotel instead of in a dumpster.
I went to the window that had a small balcony overlooking the sea. It was nearing sunset, and the sun glistened off the blue water. What happened to the castle and the tritons who were inside the cavern?
Guilt overwhelmed me because I should have done something. I could have helped them or taken the trident from Dylan so he couldn't use it.
After using the attached bathroom, I listened at the bedroom door. All I was met with was silence, so I slowly opened the door.
A girl was sitting with her back to me just outside on a balcony. Her feet were propped up on the railing and her brown hair moved with the slight breeze.
"Uh, hi?" I walked toward the center of the room, keeping the couch and coffee table in between me and the girl. She was tiny, but sometimes danger came in smaller packages.
She jumped and turned around. Her blue eyes met mine and a grin spread across her face. My mouth hung open as she jumped up and nearly fell, but steadied herself by grabbing onto the chair she had been sitting in.
"You must be Riley!" She came toward me as I stood staring at her like an idiot. I surely had hit my head and been stabbed with syringes one too many times, because it was like looking at a younger, female version of Jax. But that couldn't be right.
"I am."
She looked so healthy and vibrant that I wouldn't believe it until I heard her say it. "Who are you?"
"I'm Olivia." She walked unsteadily around the couch and wrapped her arms around me.
"How is this possible?" I got a good look at her as she pulled away.
She was drop-dead gorgeous with pale skin and a smile that would brighten any room. I didn't understand how she could be here in Greece, perfectly healthy and on land with no training.
She grabbed my hand as if we were two old friends seeing each other again for the first time and led me around to sit on the couch. "Dylan rescued me from a certain death."
My brain told me to tread carefully with how I approached this situation. "What happened exactly?"
She kept hold of my hand and looked out the French doors to the ocean. "The last thing I remember is the dolphins calling for help and then I woke up here in this hotel suite. Dylan said that I was stuck in a tank and they had written me off as a lost cause."
"Your dad and brother would never-" I shut my mouth as her eyes welled with tears. "They’re worried because you were sick and Dylan took you."
Tears slid down her cheeks, but she didn't wipe them. "I thought they would be happy to be rid of me."
I reached over for a tissue off the side table and handed it to her. She stared at it with furrowed brows. "You wipe your tears with it."
She laughed and blotted at her face. "I don't know much about land, just what Dylan has taught me or what I've seen on the television."
"Why would they be happy to be rid of you? Your dad was by your side every day and Jax visited every chance he got."
Her tears were falling even more now, and I handed her the entire box of tissues.
"After Mom died, Dad was gone so much and then Jax went away to school.
.." She sniffled and rubbed her nose with a tissue.
"Anyway, I'm better now thanks to Dylan and I can be on land!
I've always been so jealous that the males had the gene to shift and we didn't."
That was news to me. I had just assumed triton women were in whatever program Jax, Morgan, and Blake were in too.
"How did he heal you?" I didn't know if I really wanted to know.
"I'm not sure how it works exactly, but he did a blood transfusion with his own blood, which healed me and gave me some abilities I didn't have before." She gestured to her legs.
My heart nearly jumped out of my chest as I saw how nonchalant she was about the whole thing. He had injected me with just a small amount of his blood and I not only turned blue, but he could control me to an extent. What did that mean for her?
"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 was all 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."