Page 30 of Chosen (The Registry #2)

Chapter

Twenty-Three

JAMIE

I ran until my lungs were on fire. I fell to the ground, and got back up and attempted to run some more but my body wouldn’t cooperate. I didn’t want to leave Draken but he told me to run.

I was hoping to get to the tree marked with a snowflake symbol that Ayla told me about. When she’d come to collect me earlier she suspected that we were being watched because much of her access to the doors in the fortress had been cut off.

She told me that the communicators were also down.

When I got dressed, she led me down a secret pathway and told me once I was outside to look for that marked tree.

And that it would be westward. Ayla told me she’d meet me there and that she needed to go to the communications director’s office to unjam the signal.

I didn’t expect to get caught by a group of Enforcers. When I tried to fight back one of them had punched me in the face and I was once again met with that horrible Chancellor Braeden.

I could see the heartbreak on Draken’s face when his cousin had told him that he hated him.

I could only hope he could find a way out of this mess.

Using the last bit of my strength, I see a set of trees, but one stands out being its taller and wider than the others. In the middle of it is a carving of a snowflake.

I take shelter behind that tree and wait anxiously.

I’m tempted to go back and help Draken somehow but I know I’d just get in the way. I see several rocks on the ground that can be used as weapons. The longer I wait the more tempting they look.

I have to go back. I grab two of the biggest rocks off the ground with the intention of using them and I leave the tree to go back and help Draken but I stop when I see a figure coming my way.

It’s Ayla!

She runs toward me. There’s a smile on her usually stoic face. “It’s over! The Chancellor has been taken down.”

“Oh, thank goodness.”

I wobble from side to side as dizziness sets in making the world spin. My vision goes blurry and then suddenly everything is black.

I slowly open my eyes and am suddenly hit by a bright blinding light. An older white clad physician is standing over me, with a pin light in one hand.

“You’re awake.”

“Where am I?” I look around at the sterile white room. I’m lying on a bed with white sheets, and I have a needle in my arm that’s connected to an IV.

“You’re in the infirmary, Miss. I’m Physician Gwyen and I’ll be taking care of you. You passed out after all the excitement and you’re slightly dehydrated. You have to take care of yourself for the health of the child you carry.’

“What? Child? What are you talking about?” I’m sure I didn’t hear him correctly.

He pats my hand in reassurance. “It’s customary to give all of our female patients a pregnancy test before we administer treatment and you are indeed pregnant.”

My hand automatically touches my stomach. I’m not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand this is what I was assigned for, to bear the Sector Leader’s child. But another part actually felt excited to be carrying a piece of Draken.

I was so conflicted.

Now that I’ve served my purpose would he get rid of me?

“Have you told the Sector Leader?” I ask.

“Yes, I’ve been informed,” Draken says from behind him.

I didn’t notice that he’d entered the room. One of his eyes is swollen and there’s a bandage on his neck.

I gasp. “Oh no! They did that to you?”

He waves his hand dismissively. “I’ve suffered worse.” He walks over to me and takes the chair next to my bed.

My heart races when our eyes meet and I feel a sudden peace as I stare in to his pale blue eyes. “You must be happy to hear that I’m pregnant.”

“I don’t care about that. I care about you.”

I snort bitterly. “That can’t be true. You wouldn’t have gotten a breeder otherwise.”

“I got a breeder because I needed an heir as do most Sector Leaders. But you’re not just a breeder to me Jamie.

You mean so much more to me than that. I’ve fought against this since I first laid eyes on you, but I’m tired of fighting.

I love you Jamie. And I know with me being a superious , it will be difficult for you to accept my feelings but I can’t go another minute without saying it.

I’ve gone through so much, lost so much not to. ”

Tears sting my eyes because of this confession. He’d already told me that he cared for me our last time together, but he had stopped short of saying the word love. “But…why did you want to send me back to Sector 2?”

He takes my hand. Mainly to keep you safe.

Braeden had filled the fortress with so many of his loyalists I didn’t know who to trust. And plus…

I was scared of my own feelings. I had already fallen for you but I was in denial.

I’ve been let down by so many people in my lifetime.

My uncle, and the cousin I thought was on my side. Even my mother abandoned me.”

“All my life I’ve been told I’m no better than a beast, and I started to believe it.

I thought when I became Sector Leader, I could change the image people had of me, make this sector better but I apparently never had a chance with Braeden around.

I had no business bringing you to Sector 10 while you still have that flag on your profile.

It’s in your best interest to go back to Sector 2 while the laws are sorted out on this end. ”

My heart breaks for him and what he’d experienced. I’d been so wrapped up in my own pain that I had been blind to his. But somewhere along the way, I had fallen for him as well. “Draken, do I get a say in this? What if I don’t want to go?”

His eyes widen. “Jamie, you don’t know what you’re saying.”

“I do. Draken, in my last assignment I was in a horrible place. But that’s not where my trauma began.

It started when me, my family and my entire community were rounded up and thrown in cages.

That was under Magnus’s rule, by the way.

So obviously I had some resentment toward him and the people under his rule. ”

“I didn’t think it could be any worse than that experience until I was assigned to the Fredresk, household.

It wasn’t just the physical abuse I suffered that made that assignment a living nightmare but the psychological torment as well.

It changed me into someone I’m not. I snapped and I killed that man.

I don’t regret that but it broke something in me.

It made me hate. I hated everyone, other homo sapiens, my family, the superious . But most of all, I hated myself.”

He squeezes, my hand. “Jamie?—”

“No. Please let me finish. If I don’t get this off my chest, I don’t think I’ll have the courage to say it again.”

He nods. “Okay.” He gives my hand another reassuring squeeze. His lips curve into a smile. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen him smile and my heart begins to beat out of control. My breath hitches in my throat and I’m reminded of how handsome he is.

I moisten my lips with my tongue as I search for the right words. Draken patiently waits for me to continue.

“When I was reassigned to your sector, I was sure I’d hate it here as well.

And I did at first but the more time we spent together something inside of me shifted.

I saw through your gruff exterior and I saw your heart.

You were looking out for me from the beginning.

You did little things like tucking me in the bed on the plane and gently touching my scars.

You genuinely seemed to care for me without actually saying the words.

You showed me through your actions. And I started to fall for you.

When you touch me, I want more. When you’re not around I miss you. You made me feel again.”

His smile widens and he reveal perfect white teeth. My heart flips. It’s so unfair for one person to be this beautiful.

Draken raises my hand and brings it to his lips. “It means a lot to me to hear you say that.”

“Draken, I need to be honest with you. I still hate this system that subjects my people to these brutalities but I see the good in you and I know you want to make a positive change in your Sector for everyone.”

“I do. But it’s going to take some time. I have a long road ahead of me to undo the damage Braeden has done.”

“Then let me stay by your side. There’s no reason for you to send me back to Sector 2. You’re the Leader and I know you’ll protect me.”

“Jamie, I’d lay down my life for you, I wouldn’t let anyone harm you. But my cousin has already spread the word to the governors in this sector that I’m harboring someone marked for execution.”

“So?”

“So, they could rally together and petition for me to follow protocol. As Sector Leader I can protect in the fortress, but you’d never be able to leave.

When I brought you here, it was never my intention to keep you tethered to the fortress.

sector 10 has its problems and yes, because of the harsh climate, many homo sapiens are transferred here to perform hard labor for their punishments.

But outside of the unflattering reputation we have, this is also a very beautiful land.

I want you to be free to explore it and love it as I do. I want to show you every aspect of it.”

Again my heart flutters at his thoughtfulness. “I’d like to see it too but if it means staying by your side, I don’t mind not leaving the fortress.”

“You don’t mean that Jamie. Besides, I’m sure your family would miss you.”

At the mention of my family, shame engulfs me. I wasn’t kind to them when I’d been in the Sector 2 manor. “They probably don’t want to see me. Especially after the way I acted.”

“I know with absolute certainty that isn’t true. Magnus told me how much they miss you. I think it’s a good idea for you to visit them while I sort things out. You can be there for the arrival of her baby.”

I touch my stomach. “What about our baby?” I demand with tears my eyes. Despite his declaration of love for me, it seems he still wants to send me away.

“I’m doing this for you and our baby. I don’t want him or her to be born beneath this stigma that we both carry.

Besides, until I root out all of Braeden’s loyalists from the fortress, I’m not 100 percent comfortable with you being here.

You should always be safe in your home. I’m still reeling over Willa’s betrayal.

It seems she was loyal to me until very recently.

I suppose my cousin made a convincing argument for her to switch sides.

And because of that I need to be careful in my investigation. ”

“But I’ll have Ayla. She helped me. I know she’s loyal to you.”

He nods. “That’s true. I trust her. But I have to wade through 100s of staff files, the administrators, the kitchen staff, all the Enforcers, the maids and even the cleaners.”

“What about your personal attendant Johra?”

Draken releases a heavy sigh. “He’s recovering. Braeden’s men attacked him and nearly killed him along with a bunch of other staff who didn’t plead loyalty to him. They even killed my maid Anora. Others were thrown in holding cells. I’m still accessing he extent of all the damage he wrought.”

He takes both of my hands in his. “I promise you I’ll fix this and bring you back to me.”

A tear slides down my face. “How long?

“From what you’ve told me about the incident you experienced, it was self-defense.

If you’re temporarily transferred back to Sector 2 Magnus can have those findings entered into the Registry and have that flag removed.

There are no such protocols in this Sector 10.

I don’t foresee you being there for longer than a month, five weeks at the most.”

My heart sinks. I don’t want to leave him when he’s going through so much but I understand he has to get things sorted out. Besides, I know had another life to think about.

Our gazes collide and I reach out to cup his bearded cheek in my palm. “Draken…I believe in you. But don’t make me wait too long.”

His beautiful smile returns. “If you believe in nothing else, believe my love for you. I’ll always come for you Jamie and when you’re back with me, I’m never going to let you go again.”

A tear glides down my face. “I’ll make sure you keep that promise.”

And with that, he leans over and presses his lips against mine.

My heart sings. No longer did I need to call upon the numb that helped me survive my past ordeal because now I have something even better.

I have love.