THE CLAIMING (The Chosen Series #1)

THE DEAL

Erin was the one to find me later, face still in the toilet bowl, my stomach empty and head pounding. "Babe, babe, what the fuck! Siobhan." She yells, kneeling beside me and wiping my face with a cool washcloth.

"Erin, what is it, child?" hearing the bedroom door open and close, I can feel Siobhan's footsteps as she moves closer.

"I don't know. I came in and found Ava like this." Erin's panicked voice replies, cleaning the vomit from my mouth, my body shaking.

"Ava, love," Siobhan starts, speaking just above my head, then when I don't respond, says to Erin, "Erin, help me lift her so that we can get her back in the bedroom and on to the bed."

"But," Erin replies, "what if she's sick again?"

"When she's lying down, we'll call for one of the girls to get an old bucket. There's no point in her freezing here on the tiles." Her words making me violently shiver again.

Obviously agreeing with Siobhan, I feel two sets of arms lift my body and transport me back to the bedroom. The pain in my head and body, intense and throbbing with each step they take.

"Damn girl, lay off the pastries, will you?" Erin jokes as they guide me onto the bed, assisting me with climbing onto the soft mattress and then covering my shivering body with the warm quilt. Once the shaking subsides, warmth seeping into my pores, Siobhan sends for a bucket, water, and pain killers, then returns to the bed to feel my forehead.

"She is cool, no sign of a temperature. Ava lass, is your tummy a little unsettled?"

One of the girls, Reagan, passes Siobhan the water and tablets asking if I'm okay. "I think so love, let Liam and the others know we'll be up here for a while. We'll come down to join them when dinner is ready."

"Will do, Ma." The girl exits, closing the door behind her as Erin lifts my head, popping two pills in my mouth and raising the glass of water to my lips, telling me to swallow. Gulping down the cool liquid, she gently lays me back on the pillow before joining me on the bed.

"Thanks," I mumble, opening and closing my eyes, blinking until the room stops spinning and the painkillers kick in. Sighing, I face them, both ladies sitting on the other side of the bed. Locking my eyes on Siobhan's dark ones, I ask. "You said before that Griffin's family had seen tragedy. What did you mean by that?"

Smiling gently, she pats my hand, "Aye, Ava, they lost their father first, our old Alpha Lorcan, killed while trying to protect our clan, his family. Then poor Aisling." Shaking her head, her lengthy hair flowing around her shoulders. "That family has seen too much death for any lifetime.

"How did Aisling die?" I pressed, needing to know if there was any truth to what I witnessed in the dream?

Eyes filling with what looks like grief, her voice breaks a little. "She was taken, never to be returned to us."

"Who took her," I push again. "Was she taken by someone called Viktor?"

Her whole body tensing, face draining of all color and lips pursed, she swallows. "Who, aye lass, who told you that name?"

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

Siobhan swallows again, her throat bobbing. She nods, "Aye, Ava, that monster was real, and if you dreamt it, then what you saw was most likely a memory of Griffins."

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

Her face completely crumples, tears starting to well in her eyes, as she shudders. "The poor lass."