Expiration Date (Books 1 and 2)

3 We've Arrived

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Colton~~

Jonas: Is this really worth it?

I scratch my forehead and shut off my phone as Percy turns the limo into the parking lot of the hospital. There's no point in looking at old text. Eli's in there and once we have him and his vote, I'll be Preeminence. Of course, this is worth it. Me being Preeminence is what's best for the Society, for the country.

We could have been here sooner, but it took a lot of coaxing Eli to get him to reveal where they were. Iris has been in the hospital a week now.

Beside me Tobias yawns, stretching out his legs and kicking Bently across from us. Asleep, Bently doesn't notice, which is ridiculous because it's the afternoon. He slept on the plane ride here too.

Even with eight of us, the limo is hardly crammed. I don't know why Tobias found it convenient to sit so close to me.

I lean forward to see the hospital outside the windshield. Iris is in there. After Eli meets us and we vote, I'll go inside and kill her. After I'm Preeminence.

August tosses his phone next to him on the seat.

"Still no luck?" Enzo asks him.

"He won't pick up. Someone is going to have to grab him."

"Sebastian?" I look at the Theta, the tenth in command, who rolls his eyes but nods.

Percy parks the limo in the middle of the lot. We're not too close to be spotted easily, but not far enough back that it looks like we're trying to hide. Though since we're in a limo, we're already ostentatious enough as it is.

While Sebastian walks through the front entrance of the hospital, I head in through a side one, flashing the Society's insignia badge whenever a nurse or doctor stares too long. The insignia is also enough to get a man behind a desk to tell me where an unnamed patient who the Preeminence is seeing after is being kept.

As I wait for the elevator, I fight against my own muscles to keep my nose from twitching. The hospital smells so clean that it burns. The Society enjoys cleanliness, but if we always demanded it then there would be no bloodied rebels in our cells.

The elevator doors part and my eyes widen as my eyebrows rise.

From a wheelchair, Iris looks up at me, a tray of food laid across her lap. There's a slice of cake in one corner with a cookie balancing on the edge of the cake's plate. A dark colored soda sits next to a small glass of water. A grilled cheese sandwich is in the middle of the tray and pushed into a corner is a small plate with an even smaller serving of salad. Even then there are more croutons and egg than lettuce.

How did she ever survive our dinners?

Iris looks like a sheep that's been caught eating a wolf's food, while her nurse looks as if a god has just appeared before her.

I like keeping people on their toes.

The elevator doors start to close, and I thrust out my hand to stop them. I'm not surprised Iris looks the way she does—a bit embarrassed, a bit scared. The last time she saw me, I was holding a knife to her throat and then I was tied to a chair in her hotel room. Has she told Jonas about that?

"Out," I order the nurse who grabs hold of the handles on Iris's wheelchair. I shake my head. "Leave the girl."

The nurse bows. "Beta," she says and races out.

I step inside the elevator, grinning when I see that there are unbound straps on her chair. This could be easier than I expected. "Iris."

"Colton. You're looking . . . good."

The doors shut behind me, and I bend down and pluck the tray out of her lap. A flick of my wrist and the food slides off the tray, landing on the floor.

"I had a salad there. Is it a crime to eat healthy now?"

"That salad was a crime in and of itself." I hit the button for the lobby and then I lunge.

She puts up a fight, but with the injury Eli filled us in on, I'm able to strap her wrists and ankles to the chair. When the doors open to the lobby, I wheel her out, playing the role of the dutiful friend.

The lobby is small but full of people—witnesses. I spot a clear path and take it. In a few minutes, I will be—

Iris screams. Her voice is the only weapon left available to her, and she wields it—very, very well.

Heads turn toward us.

Maybe I could have gotten her out and made it to the limo, but I'll never know because at that moment Erik appears at the end of my route where the doors await, holding Sebastian by the back of his jacket. Erik's eyes are livid.

This did not go as I hoped.

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