Page 55 of Born Wicked

I nod, and Mason’s eyes slide over to Sigrid. She looks hesitant, nervous. But she nods her head just once.

“Alright,” I say as once more, I pull my phone out and hold it up to my ear. “I’ll get us a meeting.”

It’s not even three in the morning. The reception desk sets me an appointment for just an hour after Teresa gets in, in five hours.

“Come on,” I say to Mason. “Let’s go wait for Elena to wake up. Sigrid, call me if anything feels wrong.”

“I will,” she agrees.

I’m practically bouncing on the balls of my feet as Mason and I work our way down the hall. So much is about to happen. So much of it is exciting, anticipated for way too long now. But then there’s the part that’s hard. The part that makes me feel like I’m an actual council member because if I weren’t, I’d so much rather shy away from the deep stuff.

“Jon was right,” Mason says as we ride the elevator up a floor. “You were born for this. Only seven weeks on the council, and you’re making calls for the betterment of the city.”

“Does it always feel this scary?” I ask. “Making decisions that might affect so many people’s lives?”

“You already do that every day,” he points out. “You’re a doctor, Juliet. You make life-and-death decisions all the time. Trust your intuition.”

My intuition has led me to do some pretty questionable, reckless things in the past.

But he’s right.

I do need to trust myself. I’m not the same person I was as a stupid teenager. I’m not the same clueless, self-centered person I was when I first came to Chicago. I’m not even the same person I was last week when I always had a backup person to fall on.

Good ol’ Mason. He always knows exactly what to say and when to say it.

We walk back into the vampire ward, and I know the second I step inside that something is different.

“They’re breathing better,” I say. I walk up to a monitor that’s hooked up to Elena. “Heartbeat is more regular. Temperature is normal. It’s working.”

I can’t help but grin like an idiot as I walk down the row, finding the exact same results on every one of the vampires.

Right then, Dr. Roshan steps inside. “Holy shit,” he breathes, because he can hear it instantly, as well.

“I know,” I say with a nod and a grin. “The antidote, it’s actually working. They should start waking up in the next few minutes.”

And, as if on cue, Echo walks through the door, a massive, insulated bag slung over her shoulder.

“You really found the cure?” she asks, doubtful. She always has a sour expression on her face, but I’m beginning to realize that it’s just her dark personality.

“Literally, found,” I explain without explaining. “Though Sebastian had to tell me where to look. But yeah, they’re all about to wake up.”

In that exact moment, Elena suddenly rolls onto her side and vomits right onto the floor. I’m at her side in an instant, holding onto her, so she doesn’t fall off the bed.

Tears instantly well in my eyes, and as I look up at Mason, poised on her other side, I see he’s filled with just as many emotions.

“Elena,” he says, reaching for her.

She flops back onto her back, placing her palm against her forehead. She looks like shit, and I’ve never seen her look like anything less than a goddess before. “What the hell is going on?”

“Oh, you know, just miraculously waking from a coma we thought was incurable,” I say, reverting back to the only language I know when things get tough and heavy: sarcasm. “It really shouldn’t be a big deal. I don’t know why you’re acting like such a baby.”

She makes to take a swing for me, but the strength hasn’t fully returned to her muscles yet. Instead, a weary smile pulls at her lips, and her arm flops back to the bed.

I hear a groan behind me and turn to see Tabitha wake, and then throw up on the floor. Two others follow her within seconds.

Lovely. We’re about to be swimming in puke.

“Look at you going and being the ultimate boss babe,” Elena says as her blue eyes meet mine. “Curing a bunch of vampires.”

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