Chapter 71 71

Chapter 71 71
Hannah

“Or it may have ended differently.” She adds, squeezing my hand. “Knowing what we do now, about Quinton, he could have killed you if you tried to escape.”

“I just keep thinking, if I had escaped sooner then I could have prevented Jake from meeting the...” I stop myself from revealing that she was a vampire, not just to protect Jake but because if it got out, then the pack would riot. We don’t need that right now. “Woman.”

“When Jake took over as Alpha, he made a lot of changes to the pack, the biggest one was having the warriors guard the border.” She tells me, information I’m already aware of though. “The other big change he made was making your birthday a day in which we all gather and share stories about you. He wanted to keep you alive in our hearts and minds.”

“But he gave up on me Serena.” I cry, knowing that to be the truth of it.

“I’m not defending Jake because I am disgusted that he was with someone else but I can promise you that he never gave up looking for you Hannah.” She says, earnestly. “I know you can’t just take my word for it and he’ll probably kill me for telling you this, inside his office, in a drawer, there is a folder with your name on it. That folder contains the proof you need that he never gave up.”

“And how do you know this?” I ask her, not because I doubt her as such but because I know Jake wouldn’t just willingly open up to Serena or anyone. He’s guarded, locked up like a fortress that no one can get into.

“I may have accidentally discovered it when I was doing admin” she sheepishly admits, avoiding eye contact with me.

“Accidentally on purpose?” I probe, making her squirm in her seat.

“Please don’t tell Jake.” She begs me when she realises she’s outted herself.

“Relax, I’m not going to spill your secret to Jake,” I promise her. “We’re not even on speaking terms.”

She breathes a heavy sigh of relief but I can visibly see that this is still eating away at her. Serena isn’t afraid of Jake but she wouldn’t want to lose his trust or her role as his assistant.

“He knew that I had looked in that file...” Her voice trails off but the implication is implied, she doesn’t need to spell it out for me.

“So, what’s in it?” I ask, my curiosity now piqued. Jake has a file all about me, of course, I want to know what it contains.

“I can’t tell you, you have to see it for yourself.” She says, leaning across the table and looking around to make sure no one is listening to our conversation. “All I can tell you is that it made me see that Jake isn’t as cold-hearted as we all assume he is.”

“Jake’s not cold-hearted.” I jump to his defence, surprising even myself. I guess because I’ve witnessed Jake’s romantic side, I’ve had him be affectionate and caring towards me.

“The pack nicknamed him the Tin Man because he has no heart,” Serena says dryly and I laugh.

“He has a heart, he just knows how to switch it off,” I tell her and she shakes her head in disagreement.

“No Hannah, once you see what’s inside this file, you will know that his heart has always beaten for you,” she argues but I know that there’s nothing in that file that will ever change my mind about Jake.

A wave of disgust hits me hard. Serena may be fooled by whatever Jake has hidden in that file but I know better.

“Let’s dance,” I suggest, wanting to quickly move away from the subject of Jake’s heart and who it beats for.

I jump to my feet so fast that it makes my head spin. I’ve only taken a few sips of my drink but I guess it’s hit me harder than I expected.

“You ok?” Serena questions me, standing up and placing a hand on my cheek. “You’re burning up.”

“It’s from the lights.” I lie, not wanting to admit to her that my cramps are starting to gain power. If I ignore it then it won’t ruin my night.

She leads the way to the dance floor, which is filling up and we find a spot in the middle. Surrounded by people my skin begins to blaze, burning from the inside.

Bright lights swirl around me, bleeding colours into the dark establishment. Searing heat from within me steals every drop of moisture from my mouth, like I’ve swallowed sawdust, so dry.

The music bounces off the walls, every thud pounding at my head so loudly. I can hear Serena calling my name but her voice is distant from me. I try to focus, thinking I can make this stop but the sensations build stronger.

“Air.” I choke out, trying to escape from the dance floor but my efforts are useless. My legs feel like two heavy sandbags and the more I fight against my own body, the quicker my strength depletes.

My mind plays tricks on me, creating fever hallucinations of pools of water that appear before me but I can’t get to them. My legs collapse beneath me but I don’t hit the ground; instead, I’m dragged out into the balmy night.

“Hannah” Serena yells and I open my mouth to respond but nothing comes out.

My stomach churns and, without further warning, I lean forward and vomit into the gutter outside the bar. I register the groans of disgust from the people lined up, waiting to go inside but it doesn’t stop me from hurling again.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” A man asks as he lingers close to me. I manage to open my eyes long enough to catch a glimpse of his face and almost heave again when I see that it’s his stinky breath from Wednesday night.

“Get away from her!” Serena yells at him but he doesn’t move. Instead, he put his hands around my waist and pulled me back against his body.

I’m too weak to fight him off but I try to anyway, using my elbows to dig in to his torso with as much strength as I can muster but it’s no use.

“Aww babe, did you drink too much?” He chuckles, pressing his lips against my ear so I can feel his warm, toxic breath seep into me.

“David, she’s too far gone.” Another man says to him, trying to peel his friend off me but with no luck.

“Good, she won’t fight back this time.” Stinky breath tells his friend. “She’s gonna learn a lesson about being a prick tease.”

The smell of rain filters through the air, growing stronger by the second. A loud, cracking sound rings in my ears and I begin to fall but am swooped up before I hit the ground.

The pain intensifies are I can no longer fight it. Everything around me goes black but the scent of rain is the last thing I hold on to.