Call Her Out

[Aera’s POV]

"Dammit!" I hiss, gently slapping Ayla’s cheek. "Wake the fuck up!"

"Aera?"

Turning, I watch as Silas and Lennox rush toward me, their faces filled with shock and confusion.

"What happened?" Silas demands, dropping down beside Ayla and scooping her into his arms. "Did you do this?"

"Me?" I hiss, rage rolling through me. "More like your own fucking daughter."

"Daughter?" Lennox repeats, her eyes growing wide. "Celia!"

My interest piques due to how she knows exactly who I’m speaking of. Just from that reaction alone, it is easy to see that this wasn’t a one time occurrence.

"Do the elders know about her?" I ask.

"Aera," Silas warns, shooting me a glare. "This is none of your concern, and it would do you well to keep what you’ve seen tonight to yourself."

Oh, so they were keeping this a secret from everyone. It seemed that the self-righteous Silas was also capable of breaking the rules of our world if it meant protecting his own. Too bad he was going to have a hard time keeping at it.

"It isn’t me you need to worry about," I point out, nodding toward the crowd that had begun to grow behind us. "You might want to worry about all of them."

Eyes growing wide, he turns and takes in the crowd, then curses under his breath.

"Don’t let this worry you for now," Lennox murmurs, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Getting Ayla help is our main priority."

"You’re right," Silas huffs, shooting me a look and then looking back toward the crowd. "Come with me."

"Me?" I ask, unable to think of why I would be needed. "Why should I?"

"Because you witnessed what happened and therefore will be of help if Brian has any questions," he responds simply.

For a moment, I debated whether or not I should go. This wasn’t my concern, and I needed to get home to take care of some business anyway. I hadn’t wanted to come to this damned party to begin with, but my father insisted I make an appearance to keep the peace between our packs, so here I was. Who knew that doing what he wanted would get me into such a mess of trouble?

‘If you didn’t think with your dick, you wouldn’t have gotten into it,’ Rayze chuckles, appearing out of nowhere. 'Should teach you.’

‘Not hardly,’ I respond. ‘I’ll continue to do as I please.’

‘Whore,’ he huffs in disgust.

‘Takes one to know one.’

"Aera," Silas calls, snapping me out of my head. "Come along."

"Fine," I sigh, shoving my hands into my pockets. "But once I’ve told you all, I know I’m leaving."

"That’s fine."

When we arrive at Crimson Tides’ infirmary, Silas’ medic, Brian, is already waiting for us. I remembered him from when Alphonze first got injured, as he had helped take care of him. When he sees me, he gives me a sympathetic look, knowing how that moment in time changed the entire course of my life.

"You’ve grown, kid," he announces. "How’s your brother?"

"The same," I respond. "And don’t call me kid."

At my words, Brian lets out a chuckle, but before he can say anything more, a growl escapes Silas, reminding him of the most important matter.

"What happened to her?" Brian asks, beginning to examine Ayla’s wound, which isn't trying to heal around the glass that remains in place.

"The boy can answer that better than me."

I guess this was my cue to speak, but I found myself too busy taking in Ayla’s prone form. Something about seeing her like that wasn’t sitting well and was making an odd emotion build up within me, leaving me feeling all sorts of uncomfortable.

"Kid," Silas repeats, drawing my attention to him. "Can you tell us what happened?"

Opening my mouth, I prepare to respond, but stop as Celi strolls into the infirmary with Lennox on her heels. 

"It was me," she announces, her expression blank. "I lost control, and I..."

Before she can finish, Ayla’s expression shifts to one of agony, and her lips begin to move.

"Ayla?" Silas gasps, grabbing her hand and examining her. "Are you awake?"

"Barren."

Fury rolls through me at having to hear that damned name again. Who the hell was this bastard, and why would she be envisioning him when she was in such a touch-and-go state? What’s more, why the hell did it bother me so much anyway? This whole fucking evening just wasn’t making sense.

"Whose Barren?" Silas asks, furrowing his brow. "Does anyone know?"

"Does that really matter?" I snap. "Shouldn’t the main concern here be getting that fucking glass out of Ayla so she can heal?"

"It is," Brian agrees, his lips twitching into a frown. "But the issue here is removing it without damaging any of her organs."

"Won’t she heal either way?" I ask, confused as to why this was even an issue. "And as a medical professional, you should be able to do it."

"I’m not fully equipped here for surgery," he points out. "But since Ayla is a special case, she can’t go to a hospital."

"Brian," Silas hisses, as confusion rushes through me.

"Oh, sorry," Brian gasps, realization dawning on his face. "I didn’t…"

"Just shut up!"

Narrowing my gaze, I take in both men's expressions, which are slowly shifting from concern to straight-out worry as their eyes come to rest on me.

I don’t speak, as I’m sure they wait for me to question what it was that they meant by special case.

"You shoulder leave," Silas finally sighs, realizing he had made a mistake in making me come along with him. "We can handle the rest from here."

"And if I don’t want to leave?" I challenge, standing my ground. "It’s too late to try to shoo me away since I’ve clearly heard something I wasn’t supposed to."

As the words leave my lips, Silas shoots Brian a glare, but Brian ignores him and busies himself preparing to remove the glass from Ayla’s body. Once he is prepared, he inserts an IV and attaches a bag filled with blood, then flips Ayla over so that the largest piece can be seen protruding from her back.

"Aera, will you step outside with me?"

Celia’s voice is soft as she speaks, but it rings loud and clear to me.

Frowning, I turn and meet her gaze while wondering what exactly it was that she wanted to speak to me about. It couldn’t possibly be anything important.

"It’s about earlier," she explains, fixing her large hazel eyes on mine. "Will you please spare me a moment?"

Remaining silent, I look from Celia to Ayla and then back. Shrugging, I begin to move and motion for her to follow.

Once we are out in the hall and alone, I wait.

"Earlier, you heard…" Celia begins, her cheeks flushing red. "What I said I just wanted to say I didn’t mean anything by it."

Didn’t mean anything? She was so pissed off that she damn near killed Ayla. How could she even claim that it was nothing?

"Didn’t mean anything?" I repeat, raising my brow. "So you just go around unleashing that power and trying to kill people for a hobby?"

"Try to kill?" She gasps, her eyes growing wide. "I didn’t…"

"But you did," I counter, leaning in close to her ear. "You were so jealous that I paid attention to Ayla instead of you that you decided to try to get off her." As each word leaves my lips, I can feel Celia growing stiffer and stiffer, but I don’t give a damn. "But let’s not forget who put me up to it in the first place and who happened to push him along."

Letting a slow smile spread across my face, I watch as Celia’s expression shifts from shock to understanding and then to straight-out fear.

Good, this meant that she understood what I was saying.

"I don’t know exactly what you’re plotting in that fucking head of yours, but you aren’t any better than all those other women," I sigh, not bothering to spare her feelings. "You’ll do whatever it takes to get what you want, even if it means using your body. I don’t know what you were trying to achieve by having me sleep with your cousin, especially when you got so fucking angry about it, but next time you want to scheme, leave me out of it, got it?"