Page 136 of Scorned
“I am. Is that okay?”
Nervousness etched lines on her face. “Whatever keeps you on this earth.”
I glanced at Luka. “Where’s Ben?”
“He got away,” he said, and my gaze locked on him in disbelief.
The sensation of spiders crawled across my face, anger filling my body, and I let out a low growl.
My mother sucked in a surprising gasp, her hands covering her mouth.
I quickly turned away from her. “How do I get these to go down?”
Luka grabbed my arm, leaning into my neck. “Just breathe, Princess. Calm yourself and they’ll go away in a second.”
After taking a few deep breaths and thinking about cute little kittens, my anger dissipated. I turned back around and gave my mom an apologetic expression, hoping to ease the tension in her face. She gave me an uneasy smile.
Before I had a chance to blink, Lyric plowed into me with a huge hug. “If you would have stayed dead, I would have slaughtered everyone.” She pulled back, her golden brown eyes locked on me. “Blood of the coven.”
“Blood of the coven,” I repeated.
She released me from her death grip and her eyes darted across the dozen Venom members nearby, one of them talking to Ravage. I immediately recognized the man as Andrew Pace, one of the senior-ranked officers in Venom. Naomi was standing with them.
“Come here, girl,” Ravage shouted, his hand waving me over.
I glanced at my mom, not wanting to leave her alone.
“I got her,” Winnie said, his blood-soaked body assuring me she was safe with him as I headed toward Ravage.
“What’s going on?” I asked him, confused.
“I think it would benefit everyone for you two to chat.” Ravage pointed to Andrew, then me.
“Nice seeing you again, Sage.” He extended his hand and I shook it, my brows furrowed. “We were at a loss coming to this battle. President Argent appointed me to lead this team with the objective of protecting Mrs. Argent and you. We were completely clueless about the hybrids that Ravage just informed us of, or Ben’s involvement.”
“Yeah, we knew some things, but not how deep this really went.”
Andrew gave me a sympathetic smile. “I figured I should tell you, in article four, section A2 of the Venom employee handbook it states, ‘If the current president should succumb to death, their oldest child shall immediately gain all rights to the society and its members, taking command without an induction ritual, a defusion trial, or discrimination from the cabinet or any of the society members without prosecution.’”
We were required to memorize the handbook, so I knew exactly what he was referring to, but I had no idea why. “And?”
“And it doesn’t say a damn thing about you having to be human, President Argent.”
President Argent? What does he . . . oh god.
My heart raced, my mouth falling agape.
Andrew smiled, seemingly amused by my shock. “All you have to do is accept.”
A weird pooling pinged in the pit of my stomach, confusing me. I assumed any of my short-lived witch abilities would have died with me, but they hadn’t. Then Shayla’s words replayed in my head.
As a born witch, even in fanged death, she is still family.
My instincts told me one of my ancestors attempted to communicate with me, advising me to accept what was being offered to me.
The sound of shuffling filled my ears as each surviving Venom member stood up straighter, turning toward me.
Swallowing down the lump in my throat, I nervously scanned the group, an unwavering loyalty in the eyes of each member.
