I stare at it and zoom in for minutes on end, hoping to catch or see something. “Put on the monitors,” I tell Emmett.
The three monitors come up, and I stare at them, hoping and praying in my mind to catch something or see something, even if it’s just a flicker. But nothing comes up.
“Do you see anything at all?” I ask Emmett, hoping that he sees something I don’t.
“No, I don’t,” he says.
“Fuck!” I shout, slamming my hands on the table.
“What exactly is the problem?” Katy asks.
“The problem is, the disease isn’t showing up in their blood, and so there’s no way for me to find out what it is,” I explain.
Alpha Leo’s POV
After Lena left the room, I knew she said she would come and tell me what she found out, but for some reason, I couldn’t sit still. I tried my best and lasted all of ten minutes before I went down the hall to the office she entered, and I caught the tail end of her conversation with Katy.
“The problem is, the disease isn’t showing up in their blood, and so there’s no way for me to find out what it is.”
“What did you just say?” I asked her, unable to believe what I had just heard. I didn’t want to believe it.
“Leo, I was just about to come and get you. The disease-or whatever it is-isn’t showing up in their blood. Their blood is clear. Back at the lab, I thought maybe it was because we stored it overnight. That’s why I came here to get another sample, but it’s still the same thing. The blood is clear, and there’s no sign of any abnormalities,” she explains to me. I can hear the pain in her voice, and it’s almost like she feels the same pain I do from hearing this news.
“Okay, so what do we do next?” I ask her.
She’s clearly frustrated, though not many would notice, but I do. She has that little tick on her forehead, and she’s snapping her fingers. “I would say take more blood samples, but I’m pretty sure we’ll get the same results. So we’re going to start with Brie. I need a full workup done on her-CT scans, MRIs, everything. Do you get that, Emmett?” she asks her assistant.
“Yes, I’m with you, Lena,” he answers. That made my ears perk up-what kind of employee calls their boss by their first name?
“I need all the results by the end of the day. We’re going to work through the night,” she tells him, and he nods his head, jotting down everything she says.
Then she turns and faces me. “While he’s doing that, you and I are going to check out Brie’s house, and if we still have time, we’ll check out where her parents worked,” she tells me.
“Alright then, let’s go,” I tell her.
She gives Emmett and Katy some last-minute instructions, and then we both leave the office and head out of the clinic.
“We should take my truck. The road to their house isn’t that smooth,” I tell her.
“Sure,” she says, it’s clear that she’s distracted. I’m sure she’s running different scenarios through her mind right now.
I open the door, and she goes in. I step inside the car and start it up. Brie’s parents didn’t live in the main area; they built their house in the woods, among other families. They liked the fact that they were surrounded by nature and that they could shift anytime they wanted to and go for a run in the woods.
The whole car ride down is silent. The only sound comes from Lena scribbling down notes on her notepad. I peek at it once, and it looks like gibberish to me, but I’m sure it all makes sense to her. I’ve always known she was smart, but I have to say, she has completely exceeded my expectations.
We get there, and I turn off the car, but she doesn’t even notice. “Lena,” I call out to her, but she continues writing.
“Lena,” I call again, tapping her on the shoulder, and that finally gets her attention.
“What is it?” she asks.
“We’re here,” I tell her.
“Oh. Okay,” she says, then closes her book and gets out of the car.
The whole place has been overgrown with weeds. After Brie got sick, all the neighbors moved out so they wouldn’t get sick.
“I’m guessing the neighbors left after Brie got sick?” Lena asks.
“Yes, that’s right. So what exactly are you looking for here?” I ask her.
“I need to look around for anything out of the ordinary, like a plant that isn’t supposed to be here or a change in air quality. Things like that. Then I’ll take soil and water samples from around the house,” she tells me.
“Okay, what can I do to help?” I ask because I’ve been feeling pretty redundant lately.
“You can help me look around. You know this land better than anyone else, so you’ll be sure to notice if something is different. And you can also help me with this,” she says, handing me her bag filled with supplies.
“Happy to help,” I tell her, and she smiles as I take the bag from her and hang it over my shoulder. Then we start walking, keeping our eyes peeled for anything that looks different.
“So, how are the kids?” I ask her. I can’t help it-now that I know they’re mine, I just want to know everything about them.
She gives me a look, like she’s trying to read me or something, then shakes her head and faces forward before answering. “They’re good. We stayed up last night watching movies because I knew I’d have to leave pretty early this morning, and I wouldn’t get to see them after they woke up,” she tells me.
I can see it in my mind-movie nights with all four of them-and every fiber of my being just wants to be there with them. “That sounds nice and cozy,” I tell her, and she gives me a little smile.
“Yeah, it was. They’re good kids; they don’t complain. Especially after I uprooted their lives and brought them here. Unlike most kids who would throw tantrums, they took everything in stride. They were even happy-they saw it as an adventure,” she says, and she has this huge smile on her face as she talks about them.
I’m about to broach the subject of her fiance, especially because I don’t see a ring on her finger, but then she asks me a question.
“What is that?” she asks, and I can see fear in her eyes.
Lena’s POV
With the way Leo asks about the kids, I’ve come to two conclusions. The first one is that his mind is so filled with the threat of this disease and the possibility of his pack being wiped out by it that he hasn’t had the time to realize that Luke looks exactly like Leo did at that age. The second conclusion, which seems more likely but hard to believe, is that he knows the kids are his but, for some reason, isn’t saying anything-and I need to know why. Is he doing this because he respects my decision, or does he have something more nefarious in mind?
I answer his question, and for some reason, it’s so easy to talk to him about the kids that I volunteer even more information. But then my eyes catch something truly horrifying.
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