There was no way.
But his gaze narrowed. Shoot. He was on to her. She took another bite of cake.
Deflect. Deflect.
“Do you want some?” she asked as she swallowed.
“Arabella? Are you going to tell me why you’re here in Haven?” Cole asked impatiently.
“I don’t think she owes you any explanation, man,” Eli snarled as Horse growled again.
Yeah, poor Horse did not like all of this tension.
Even though she tried to tear her attention away from Kellan, she couldn’t seem to. Suddenly her throat started to feel like it was tightening. She dropped the fork, staring at the cake in horror.
Oh shit.
Her pulse started to race and everything around her blurred as her head spun.
Can’t breathe.
I can’t breathe.
“Something’s wrong!” Kellan yelled as his eyes widened. “Something is wrong with Arabella.”
She needed to tell them. But she could barely even raise her hand to show them her bracelet. Panic flooded her. She was going to die. She needed her EpiPen! She couldn’t breathe.
Then, all too quickly, everything went black.
Kellan leaped forwardto grab Arabella, staring down at her in horror.
“Fuck!” Eli yelled. “What’s going on? What happened?”
“Anaphylactic shock,” Cole said as Kellan laid her on the floor. “Where’s her handbag? She carries an EpiPen.”
Eli saw her bag, grabbing it. Horse let out a long, mournful yell and tried to get to Arabella. But Julian and Keira somehow pulled him out of the way. He thought about warning them about Horse’s less than friendly personality, but he went without a complaint.
Eli grabbed her bag and tipped it up, searching for the EpiPen. “Here it is.”
He’d had medical training and he’d even used an EpiPen on someone before. But this was Arabella and it hit him harder as he drew up her skirt and pressed the EpiPen against her thigh until he heard the click.
His heart rate was through the roof and he could feel nausea bubbling in his stomach.
What had been in that cake?
“Oh my God! What happened? Is she all right?” a woman with red-brown hair wearing a green dress with flour all over it rushed over to them. “What was it? Did she choke?”
Kellan leaned over to check her breathing. Cole had moved her into the recovery position so she was lying on her side. Kellan also had her wrist in his hand, taking her pulse.
“She has a peanut allergy,” Cole said. “Has someone called an ambulance?”
“Yep, I did,” Julian told him, looking pale.
Cole ran his gaze over Keira, who was holding Horse, and Julian. “Are the two of you okay?”
They both nodded.
Eli stared down at his girl. She was the one in danger. She looked terrible. Her lips and eyes were all puffy and there was a raised rash on her neck and chest. He didn’t know how far the rash went down under her clothes and he wasn’t checking with all these people around.
