Trent sighed, flipped the burgers, then turned to face him. “We’ve been over this. I can’t come back. I won’t.”
Daniel fought down the urge to argue, to remind Trent of all the good they used to do together. That fight wasn’t one he was winning, so he stayed on track. “I know. Look, let’s not bullshit. You’re feeling Alison just like us. It doesn’t matter if we get pissed, if we fight, clearly we aren’t done with one another yet, since we seem to want the same omega.”
“Fate does think she’s funny,” Trent admitted.
“She is hilarious. Alison can’t follow us around, right? What if we tried to make this work? You’re settled here and so is she. Kyle and I have talked, andwe can try to take on less field work, but when we have to go? You’ll still be here.”
A tic in Trent’s jaw said he wanted to like the idea. “You ever think maybe too much time has passed? Like maybe wounds heal and no matter how much we want to go back, we can’t?”
“Yeah, I did think that, until I saw how Alison brings us all together. Can you honestly say you’re willing to walk away from her? That you’re willing to throw this all aside because we had a problem?”
Trent shuffled his foot on the ground, distrust there.
Daniel couldn’t blame him, not entirely. What had happened had been horrible. There were times Daniel thought about it—when he didn’t think just about his side, but when he actually considered Trent—and he never failed to feel like shit. He and Kyle had walked out on Trent when he’d needed them.
They’d done it hoping he’d come back into the fold, and when he hadn’t, the more all of them had pushed, the more hardened in their positions they’d become.
And yet seeing Trent with Alison, Daniel thought for the first time in a very long time there might be a shot. Maybe they could fix this.
“I don’t know,” Trent admitted.
“Fair enough. Just…think about it, okay?”
Trent nodded, and Daniel left him be, hoping he’d just need time.
Theycouldfix this, if only everyone would stop being so fucking stubborn.
* * * *
Waves of nausea rushed through Alison. She huddled in the tub, the water from the shower rushingover her. She’d twisted the dial to cold, but it did nothing to cool her skin.
Her stomach wouldn’t settle, rolling and threatening to expel what little she’d eaten that day.What the hell is wrong with me?
Her mind moved sluggishly, as though it couldn’t quite keep up with whatever she was thinking. All of it frustrated her, had her sliding her fingers through her hair and grasping as though that would make her feel better.
Had she caught a bug? A flu? A cold? Something? It had been days of feeling under the weather.
Whatever it was, she didn’t have time to deal with it. She couldn’t just go to the store and pick up medication, and the last thing she wanted was to face the alphas and have to ask for anything.
Shehatedto need help, and that was all the worse when it came to failures of her body. Not to mention they’d hover.
Still, taking enough cold medicine to knock her out and sleeping through the worst of whatever this was sounded amazing.
She shivered, as though even with the sweat, even with how it seemed flames were licking over her skin, she was still reacting to the cold of the water.
Something was wrong.
Paranoia got her first, a creeping fear that perhaps the slavery ring had gotten wind of their involvement. Could they have had poisoned food sent there? Maybe the alpha who had come to the meeting had done something to her. The idea of dying from poison before finding Anne haunted her.
Then she stilled, terror filling her.
The vial… The drug…
She recalled the way she’d sniffed, taking in that putrid chemical scent, how it had stuck to her sinuses even as she’d tried to blow it out.
Another rolling wave of pain forced a whine through her gritted teeth.
The answer was so obvious, even if she had tried to ignore it.
