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Chapter 20

“Come on.” I dragged Dan up the hospital corridor. He was using all his force, trying to delay us. “Dan, I swear I will kick your butt.” Dan’s face was so smug. He knew that even my hardest hit would most likely not hurt him.

I stopped and twirled around, still with his hand in my grasp. “Look, we go meet her and at the end of it, if you still don’t want to save her, then we walk away. And I won’t bring it up again.”

Dan attempted to pull his hand from my grasp, but my fingernails dug into his skin. He wasn’t leaving, not after the hours I had spent to get him to this point.

“I already know I don’t, so why does it matter!” he snapped, his jaw clenched and his eyes wide with disgust. “I don’t need to see her again!”

“Dan, having a mate is a beautiful thing. She has been designed for you. You have been designed for her. Don’t turn your back on this.”

“Xavier has been designed for you.” He spat. “Why don’t you go play with your mate, and leave me and mine alone.”

“Don’t try and get me angry with you. It’s not going to happen.”

“Fine.” He sighed, defeated. His shoulders shagged slightly, and he glared down at his feet. “Let’s get this over with.”

I smiled intensely and loosened my grip on his hand. “I’m right here, Dan. You aren’t doing this alone.”

Maddison

My mom poured a glass of water and handed it to me. Holding my hand out, she placed the new cocktail of medication in it.

A knock on the door caught both our attention, and while she glanced up, I quickly placed the pills under the blanket and brought an empty hand up to my mouth. Just in time before she looked back.

Sipping from the water, I cleared my mouth and opened it for her to see that there were no pills inside. She examined my mouth and, pleased with the result, took the glass of water from my hand.

“And you would be?” She said politely to the guests at the door. But I was more focused on keeping the blankets tight around me, so she didn’t see the pills.

“Chloe, and this is my friend Dan. We are with the visitors program.” A sweet low female voice spoke to my mom. I glanced up, and took in the raven hair beauty. Here I thought that sort of beauty was only seen on a magazine cover. Her beautiful tanned skin made me feel even paler.

She moved slightly, and I gulped when I took in her friend. Great, out of all the people possible, it was him.

“Oh, I remember reading that on a pamphlet.” My mom smiled. “Well I was about to leave to go to work away. So thank you.”

Yes, thank you so much for ruining the only time I get alone. She kissed me lightly on my forehead and I glared into my lap as I heard her picking up her bag and making small talk with them.

I have five peaceful hours to myself, and what do I get? Some stupid teenagers doing volunteer work.

“I’m Chloe.”

I slowly dragged my eyes from my lap and looked into her excited ones. Why the hell was she looking at me like that?

“Maddison,” I muttered and then glanced at Dan as he pulled up a seat next to her. “Nice to see you again, Dan.”

He didn’t look at me. Instead he nodded his head and glared down at his feet; just as friendly as I remembered. I pushed my hand under my blanket and pulled out the pills. I pulled the bedside drawer open and placed them in there.

“Shouldn’t you be taking them?” Chloe frowned at me.

“You can if you want.” I closed the drawer.

She threw an angry glance in Dan’s direction. Why, I didn’t know. But the room fell to silence again.

“You guys can go.” I leaned back into the wall of pillows behind me. “You don’t have to stay. Believe it or not, I manage fine with no one to talk to.”

Chloe shook her head. But clearly Dan hadn’t gotten the message because he started to get up. And I swear, I heard her growl something at him under her breath.

“We are here for a while, so might as well get use to it.” Chloe smiled and leaned back in her chair. She was proving to me that she wasn’t going anywhere. “So, how old are you?”