I needed to leave.
“Adriel, please let go of me,” I said calmly.
Adriel paused. His grip on my shoulders loosened enough for me to step backwards. He and Pierce huddled slowly closer to Maxwell, their eyes never leaving me. I stared at the clean white tiled floor as I trudged towards the door. As soon as I left the room, I gasped for air that wasn’t tainted with the scent of Maxwell’s blood.
I ran out of the clinic, only stopping when I reached the outside and the night air. I hunched over, then sat on the concrete, trying to get my bearings. The craze of hunger in my stomach slowly began to subside, now that the blood was mostly out of scent range--or at least, far away enough that I didn’t feel like I was about to go crazy.
What happened in there?
The past few minutes seemed like a chaotic blur. The experiment, my brothers rushing in to “save” Maxwell, the bursting blood vial…
I shuddered. For one moment, I truly was afraid to lose control. It was slipping out of reach, like I was losing my grip on a single thread, and then...
My mind kept flashing back to that same mental image--of Maxwell pregnant with my baby. That was the final shield between me and losing control. Even thinking about it now, I felt myself becoming clear headed. My eyes opened and reality sank back in. I was alive, and so was Maxwell.
Our baby couldbecomereal.
“Um… Are you okay?”
An unfamiliar voice came from above me. I looked up to see a shy-looking young man with dark skin, around Maxwell’s age. He wore a gentle expression and his brows were furrowed in concern. Something about him seemed strangely familiar.
“Yeah,” I said, getting to my feet. “I just needed some fresh air.”
He nodded, then glanced at the building. “Uh, I might be wrong, but isn’t the clinic closed at this hour?”
“Er. Yes,” I said awkwardly.
We stared at each other for a moment.
“Can I ask you a weird question?” the young man asked suddenly.
I shrugged. “Go for it.”
“Uh, you came in here earlier with someone, right?”
I hesitated. Was this another case of someone following Maxwell around, like the mugger?
No,I thought.I don’t sense any malicious energy from this guy at all. Just the opposite, actually.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Oh.”
He glanced down, then back at me, like he was having difficulty keeping eye contact. It reminded me of Maxwell’s mannerisms. Then something clicked in my mind.
“Wait a second,” I said. “Your name isn’t Jordan, is it?”
He blinked, startled. “Y-yeah, it is. How’d you know?”
I snapped my fingers and grinned. “Oh! I know you. You’re Maxwell’s friend.”
He stared at me like I was some kind of wizard. “Er, uh. Yeah? Who are you?”
“I’m Theo. Maxwell’s--” I hesitated, then said, “--boyfriend.”
Jordan’s eyes widened in recognition. “Wow. Then I know you, too! He used to text me from your phone when he was away for awhile.”
I realized Jordan must have been talking about when Maxwell lived at the mansion and was unable to leave. After Adriel and Caleb had run into Jordan at Caleb’s workplace, he’d told them that he missed Maxwell at their weekly anxiety meetings.
