“I’m here, Lena. I’m sorry, I was setting up my things in the office,” he tells me, but his body language is saying something very different. He isn’t meeting my eyes, and his cheeks are flushed-not the kind of flush you get when you’ve done something wrong, but rather the kind when you’re embarrassed about something.
“You were setting things up in your office?” I asked him, and he just nodded.
Now, if I were a normal employer, I would let it go, but as I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’m not a normal employer. Emmett is like my little brother.
“Emmett Grey, are you hiding something from me?” I asked, and he finally looked up at me.
“I wanted to… I mean, I was about to, but I didn’t,” he tells me.
“You didn’t do what, Emmett?” I asked.
“I didn’t look into Nurse Katy,” he says, and at this moment, his face is as red as a tomato.
“Aww, Emmett, you like her?” I asked, and he slowly nodded.
“That’s good, but wait a minute, when you said you didn’t look into her, were you planning on looking into her using means that aren’t legal?” I asked, and he didn’t even need to answer. He had the look of a guilty man.
“Emmett, you know you can’t do that anymore,” I tell him.
“I know, I know, and I didn’t, but I just needed to know some things about her,” he explains.
“Okay, I’m going to be your big sister for a minute. If you like her, then just talk to her. I know it might seem daunting since you’re most comfortable behind a computer, but trust me, the best way to get to know her is to talk to her, not by hacking her details,” I tell him.
Emmett is smart-too smart for his own good. After he graduated at the top of his class, he decided to hack into the Department of Homeland Security, and he did, but they were able to track him down. Luckily for him, he was able to make a deal with them: he’d go free, no records, nothing, as long as he stopped hacking-even the smallest things, like hacking into the DMV. If he was caught again, he would be thrown in prison. However, he had to help them every once in a while, so he was like a contract worker for the government.
The fear of prison still haunts him. He misses it, but he gets his fix whenever the government needs him, and he stays busy working.
“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll do that, I’ll talk to her,” he tells me.
“That’s good, but unfortunately, it’s going to have to wait until we’re done here,” I tell him.
“You found something?” he asks.
“Yes, I did, but first, what about Brie’s workup? Were you able to find anything?” I asked him.
“The results aren’t out yet, but Katy said she would bring them over to us the moment they are,” he tells me.
“Okay, that’s good. Back at Brie’s parents’ house, we found this liquid sludge not too far from there. The whole land is covered with it, but it’s underground,” I tell him, showing him the vial filled with the silver sludge.
“Then I also took water and soil samples from the area around the house,” I add, pulling out those samples as well.
He picks up the vial with the silver sludge and examines it critically. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” he says.
“Neither have I,” I concur.
“You think this has something to do with the disease?” he asks me.
“I have my suspicions. So how about we get to work and find out for sure?” I tell him.
Alpha Leo’s POV.
Every fiber of my being wanted to stay and look after her ever since she had that scare back in the woods, but I knew I couldn’t. Apart from her not liking it, it wasn’t my place anymore. But when she ran into my arms, for just those few moments, everything felt right in the world. My heart was at peace because it was at home; she was home, as she always has been.
I need her back in my life; I need a plan, a foolproof plan, because I’ll only get one shot to get her and the kids back. I park my car in the garage and head into the house, straight to my office where I know Zeo is waiting.
“You’re back early. I thought for sure you’d spend all day with Lena. What happened?” he asks as I walk into the office, smirking.
“We have a problem,” I tell him, and he must hear the urgency in my voice because the smirk immediately fades from his face.
“What is it?” he asks.
“Lena and I went down to Brie’s parents’ house to check out the house and the area surrounding it, to see if there was anything there that could be the cause of the disease, and we found something. There was this black sludge in a puddle. Lena got a sample, and just as we were about to leave, I noticed something: the ground was too soft. So, I stomped on it, and my leg went right through, straight into the black sludge. It’s underneath our land, and I don’t know how far it has spread,” I explain to him.
“Do you think the sludge could be the cause of the disease?” he asks.
“I don’t know yet, and neither does Lena. She said she has to run some tests first,” I tell him.
“How could we have missed it?” he asks.
“There’s no way we could’ve known; it was underneath the land, and no one has been there since the sickness hit us. But we need to get the men there, figure out how far it has spread, and come up with a plan to get rid of it,” I tell him.
“Of course, but I don’t think the men are going to be comfortable going over there,” he says.
“I don’t give a fuck. I’ve allowed them to hide in their houses and do nothing for too long. I might be the Alpha, but that doesn’t mean I can do everything on my own. Besides, anyone who hasn’t gotten sick by now is immune. Send out the word: they’re to meet us there in an hour, and anyone who isn’t there will face my wrath,” I tell Zeo as he proceeds to send out an SMS blast from his phone.
I take a seat and let out a huge sigh. It’s one problem after another. Sometimes, I think maybe I’m cursed, because how else can I explain this series of unfortunate events that have befallen me and my pack? Who knows, maybe all this is punishment for abandoning my mate and my kids.
“Are you good, Leo?” Zeo asks.
“No, I just want all this to be over. I want everything to go back to the way it used to be. Because even if we do find a cure, this pack will never be the same. The loss will always be a permanent fixture in our lives. Then there are the kids who will wake up to find out they’re now orphans, or the families that will never be the same after the loss of their children. Finding a cure is just the first step. We still have a long way to go in order to heal,” I tell him.
He just nods his head and stays quiet because there really is nothing else to say.
“We’ll figure everything out, Leo. We just have to take things one step at a time. Let’s start with the things we can fix. While Lena is trying to figure out a cure, we can figure out how to get rid of this sludge, and after that, we’ll tackle the next thing,” he tells me.
“Yeah, you’re right. One step at a time. Any news from Elijah?” I ask.
“He’s going to send me a report tonight,” he tells me.
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