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“You’ve got five minutes,” Angel said. “Then Cleo will be here. I’ll leave you to it.” She walked out of the room, and the door shut behind her.
The intensity in Rexx’s gaze took Daisy’s breath away.
He grabbed her hand and held it between both of his. “They wouldn’t let me in.”
“It’s okay. I guess I needed to rest. Rexx, what happened? I can’t figure out how I ended up here.”
He sucked in a breath. His hesitation made her panic flare.
“What do you remember?” he said.
“Getting to Asiram. Detecting movement on the scanner and going after it.”
“Do you remember the hounds?”
“Kind of. We fought them?”
“I did.” His grip tightened around her hand. “You left.”
Daisy shook her head. “I’d never leave you in a fight. You’re always yelling at me because I want to fight next to you.”
“Not this time. How do you feel?”
“Confused as hell. Why has Angel shackled me to the bed?”
Rexx brushed a finger behind her ear, where her translator chip sat. “Angel found something on your test results.”
“Like an infection?”
“It’s not an illness. It’s a... she’s not sure. It’s alien. Don’t worry. We’re working on getting it out.”
Daisy swallowed against the tightness in her throat. “An alien... virus?”
The silence stretched out between them.
“Rexx! Tell me what’s going on.”
“It’s not a virus. You’ve been implanted with something.”
Dread whacked into Daisy like an out-of-control freight train. “This is a mistake.”
“Angel’s certain. It was hidden behind your translator chip. She thinks it’s why you’ve been feeling sick.”
“This implant is giving me a temperature and making me queasy? Is that the worst it can do?”
A flicker of pain crossed his face. “You don’t remember acting strangely when we were on the mission? You chased after something on the scanner when you had no clue what it was. You just ran off.”
She hissed out a breath. “I’d never do that. You weren’t hurt?”
“It’ll take more than a few mangy hounds to put a dent in me. I was more worried about you. I’ve never seen you behave like that.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t remember any of that. How did I get here?”
“I found you passed out. The Apocalypse picked us up. You were burning with fever. Angel helped to get you stable.”
“This implant, or whatever the hell it is, it’s making me act like a dick?”
“It has to be that. And you’ve been stronger and faster than usual. That could be another side effect of the implant. We’ll get it out. We’ll fix this.”
