Chapter 654: Not In Heaven

"Fine..." Elsie smirked wickedly, savoring Daisy’s defiance. "Duck her again."

"No—wait!" Daisy shouted.

Elsie raised a brow, amused. "Oh? You ready to talk now?"

"Yes—yes... just let me—let me catch my breath..." Daisy coughed violently, chest heaving.

Elsie’s expression hardened. "I see what you’re doing. You’re stalling."

"I’m not..." Daisy rasped. "There’s just too much water in my lungs..." another coughing fit shook her.

Elsie rolled her eyes, impatient. "Throw her back in."

"No, don’t—Violet’s not here!" Daisy blurted in desperation.

Elsie leaned down until they were eye-to-eye, her face twisted with vindictive satisfaction. "Exactly. Then where is she?"

"In a place far away," Daisy whispered hoarsely. "I can’t tell you. I’ve been spelled not to. You have to believe me."

"Bullshit," Elsie laughed. "You think I’m stupid because you and your little squad embarrassed me last time. Not happening again." She flicked her fingers. "Do it."

"No—don’t—!" Daisy’s protest drowned in a rush of water as her head was shoved under. Bubbles stemmed around her as she screamed into the pool, inhaling more water.

A loud bang slammed against the door.

Elsie’s head snapped toward it, eyes widening. "Shit. Help is here, and she hasn’t told me anything yet!"

The two girls froze, exchanging fearful looks. They did not sign up for a murder charge. They hoped Elsie knew what she was doing.

"Pull her up!" Elsie barked.

They dragged Daisy above water. She surfaced with a violent gasp, coughing, eyes red and burning.

"Where did Violet and Lila go?!" Elsie yelled, desperate now.

"I CAN’T tell you! How many times do I have to say it to get it into your dense skull?!" Daisy screamed back.

Elsie flinched, startled by the fire in Daisy’s voice. The nerve. The audacity.

Of course, she didn’t believe Daisy was spelled into silence. In Elsie’s mind, Daisy was just testing her patience. And to Elsie, stubbornness was a challenge. A dare.

"Fine," Elsie hissed, her voice low and chilling. "You want to drown? I’ll help you drown."

She snapped at her minions, "Put her back in, and don’t let her up."

"What?!" the girls cried, horrified. Even they weren’t expecting that. Didn’t that mean Elsie practically wanted the girl to drown?

When neither moved, Elsie snarled, "Fine. I’ll do it myself."

Daisy’s eyes widened. "Don’t let her—!"

Elsie shoved her head under. Daisy’s scream turned into a stream of bubbles as her legs thrashed helplessly.

The two girls panicked as the pounding on the door intensified. Whoever was out there would break it down pretty soon.

"Oh, I’m out of here!" one girl yelped, scrambling out of the pool. The second one didn’t need further convincing and bolted right behind her.

Elsie, blinded by rage, never stopped pushing Daisy down. Violet had taken everything from her. The Alphas. Her place as Luna and her popularity. And now, she would experience what it felt like to lose something that mattered to her.

The door exploded inward, kicked off its hinges as Oscar stormed into the pool area with three others at his heels.

"She’s over there!" one of Elsie’s fleeing minions shrieked, pointing toward the pool where Elsie was still forcing Daisy underwater.

"Fuck my life," Oscar hissed the moment he understood what he was seeing.

When Ivy had sprinted to him screaming that Daisy had been abducted, he had not expected attempted murder. Daisy and Ivy were under his pack, his protection, and with Alpha Griffin gone, Oscar was the one holding the East House together.

And here this psycho was, trying to drown a member of his House.

Not on his watch.

Oscar hit the pool in one giant splash, cutting through the water.

He wasn’t the only one.

Ace Storm stripped his jacket and dove in right after him. He knew exactly who Daisy was, he could recognize her even blindfolded after all the hours he’d spent researching Violet’s roommates.

Underwater, Oscar ripped Elsie off Daisy, dragging the crazed girl away while Ace surged forward.

He reached Daisy before her body sank, an icy bolt of panic shooting down his spine. He hauled her up to the surface and swam with her to the edge, lifting her out of the pool as gently as possible.

Ace laid Daisy on the tiles, water streaming from her hair and limbs. His heart stuttered.

Daisy Fairchild wasn’t breathing.

Ace began chest compressions. He’d grown up around science and emergency drill, hence he knew the steps, yet panic still made him skid the rhythm. Ace couldn’t explain it but every fiber of his being was scared of losing this girl.

So he forced his breathing to become steady, counted under his breath, and pushed again. "Come on. Come on. Breathe."

Behind him Ivy pressed a hand to her mouth, tears running down her cheeks. If Abel hadn’t held her back she would have lunged forward and broken Ace’s focus with her sobs.

Around them phones were out as the students filmed the scene, the poolside filling with the roar of noise and shock.

In the pool area, Oscar had Elsie pinned to the ground while she screamed like a banshee.

"Let me go, you moron! Let me go now!"

Meanwhile, Ace kept at it, slamming his palms down over Daisy’s chest. "Don’t die on me. Come on."

Then, like a small, impossible mercy, Daisy gasped and came alive, sputtering as her lungs found breath.

Relief hit Ace so hard his knees nearly buckled. He let out a sound that was half laugh, and half sob.

Daisy blinked up, her eyes glassy. A wet mop of blonde hair clung to the stranger’s skull above her, and when their gazes met the breath left her for a different reason.

The blue of his eyes struck her, they were startling and, in some ridiculous way, beautiful. She didn’t even know when she

reached out and found his cheek.

"Am I in heaven?" she murmured.

Ace let out a short, incredulous chuckle that sounded like music to her ears. He brushed a thumb along her jaw and said, deadpan, "No. You’re not, Daisy Fairchild. And I’m glad, because that would only mean you’re dead."