Rafe just shook his head. "There's no way to know."
"Dammit, Rafael! You know Trevor would never have made the decision to have that spell cast if he'd known that it could hurt Colby or the rest of you."
"I know that," he said so softly that I barely heard him. "That's exactly why I couldn't tell you. It has to play out the way it was meant to, and Trevor would never have risked anyone else's happiness for his own."
When Rafe looked up, the pain in his eyes took my breath away, and I was overwhelmed at the selflessness that it had taken to risk his own family.
"He's not wrong that I didn't earn him," I finally said after a long pause. I met Rafe's gaze. "And you know how I feel about forced claims. I'll have to find a way to convince him that we belong together or let him go." I exhaled sharply at the thought of my horrific behavior when I'd learned that he was carrying. "It doesn't look good."
Before Rafe could respond, Colby came to tell us that they'd finally stabilized Trevor and he was being moved to a private room. The conversation drew to a close.
~*~
The next several hours crept along. There was no way that I was going to leave the room while Trevor was lying motionless on the bed, so I pulled out the small leather-bound book that I'd taken to carrying in my pocket.
Adalwolfa's words flitted through my mind."Start at the beginning."
It was Trevor's story. How he'd been raised in the small mountain town of Hopewell, the product of two Betas who had been over the moon at the birth of their Omega son. With a caring nature and a gift for communicating with the animals in the forest around his home, he'd grown up cherished and adored by the humans in his village. He'd dreamed of a family of his own, of an Alpha who would love him and never let him go. Then, after an intensive vetting process when he was eighteen, he was sold to the Blue Ridge Alpha as a mate. That was where Trevor's happy story went south.
It told a tale I already knew by heart,andrereading it put me no closer to understanding how I was supposed to use it to solve our problem. Especially given how big the problem had gotten.
ChapterSixteen
Trevor
"Trev? If you can hear me, squeeze my hand." A familiar voice tickled my ears. I tried to answer and gagged on something in my mouth. I grabbed for my face, but my wrists were caught midway and gently pressed back down beside me. "Clint! A little help?" The familiar voice hissed seconds before the room was flooded with calming pheromones.
"Relax, Trevor." Clint's whiskey-smooth Alpha voice washed over me as a comforting hand slid behind my head and clasped my neck in a reassuring grip that finished the job, leaving me utterly boneless in a cloud of confusion. Once I'd relaxed, the hand slipped away, leaving me feeling bereft.
I struggled to open my eyes against the hundred-pound weights that seemed to be holding them closed. When I finally succeeded, it was Colby's worried face hovering over me.
"Oh, thank the Gods!" Colby sighed. He reached up to wipe at his glistening eyes. "I'm gonna get the doctor." He took a step back and then narrowed his eyes at me. "Donotmove!"
I would have nodded, but after the adrenaline burst that had moved my arms, I was exhausted, and voluntary movement just didn't seem possible.
"I've got him." Clint's voice was back, coming from somewhere to my right.
Colby nodded sharply and turned quickly, leaving us alone.
I waited for Clint to speak but he remained silent and out of sight, his calming scent the only way I knew he stayed with me. After a long moment of wondering why my Alpha wasn't coming to my side, something niggled in the back of my mind like a loose tooth trying to break free. When it finally did, the memory of his anger at my unplanned pregnancy prickled in my brain and caused alarm to thrum through my body.
"It's okay, Trevor," Clint said soothingly when my distress flooded the room. "We'll figure it out. Try to relax."
Before I could puzzle through the drastic change in his demeanor, the doctor and several assistants bustled into the room, all speaking at once. After much poking and prodding, I was deemed well enough to have the breathing tube – the monstrosity that was choking me – removed. The doctor began asking me questions, but I didn't have much in the way of answers.
No, I hadn’t taken any drugs. No, I wasn't aware of any allergies. After several minutes, the doctor seemed to lose patience with me.
"Your body is at near toxic levels of several unidentified compounds," he said with a scowl. "There has to besomethingnew that you've been taking."
"Tea," I managed to croak. "Drinking tea."
The doctor raised a brow but was quickly shut down by Colby.
"Trevor doesn't use drugs," he said dismissively, "but he has been drinking a lot of that tea." He looked at me strangely. "How much of that crap do youhave? I know I forgot to give the other box back."
"Oh, shit," Clint groaned. "I picked some up in town this morning. He had three cups with breakfast."
"Tea?" The doctor repeated with a frown. "What kind of tea?"
