“And then what?” Luke asks.
“They get married,” Rex says, making a little hand motion of people walking down the aisle. We all laugh.
“Will you?” Daniel asks.
I shrug. “We’re just getting to know each other again right now. I’m keeping my mind open.”
“You know this isn’t the best time for this,” Rex says, a hard note entering his voice.
“I do,” I retort just as sternly. “And I’m not going to hear any reprimands over it. I let her down once, and I’m not going to do it again.”
“I completely understand,” Rex says more softly, putting a hand on my shoulder. “I always hated that rule myself. Obviously, we don’t want to endanger civilians, but we should be able to bend the rules of secrecy a little for people we trust.”
“There has been a lot of loss over the years,” Luke mutters.
A brief, intense silence falls as if our thoughts have become so heavy, they are weighing down the air itself. I’msensing a deep pain from Luke, and I wonder if all of us have little secrets the others will never know.
I wouldn’t blame them one bit if they did. I knew I was doing the wrong thing by getting involved with Alisha, and I was going to have to keep secrets from everyone, but worst of all was the guilt of leaving her behind.
“We should get going,” Rex says. “We are sending out another team this afternoon. I just wanted to give you a rundown on the new intel, because the anomaly came from Eccles, and it’s staying close to the town. Even though it moves around through the mountain, it isn’t leaving that cave system.”
“Great. My neighbor is a nuclear-powered ancient snake,” I sigh. “What else could go wrong?”
Immediately, my phone rings, and I curse softly.
I know better than to tempt fate like that.
“Alpha Bradley? It’s Grace.”
“Hi, Grace,” I answer. “You can just call me Brad.”
“Ok, fine. Brad. This is probably nothing, but I thought I should tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“Well…I can’t find Alisha.”
“Excuse me?” My voice rises several octaves.
“She was here, talking to some of the others. Now she’s gone, and I’m not sure where she went. I’m just checking the far end of the garden now—”
“I’ll be there as quickly as I can!” I yell, running for my truck.
If I have fucked up again and she’s gotten hurt, I really will never forgive myself this time.
Chapter 6 - Alisha
While I’m walking up the laneway with Grace, a deep sense of unease builds inside me. I tried to brush off the comment from that elder, Mitchell, but every moment that goes by only makes it ring even louder in my head.
Swinging by this garden was a nice surprise, and it did distract me a bit. I’m also pretty impressed that Brad remembered how much I like plants.
In fact, it unsettles me quite a bit. If he cares about me so much, why the hell did he abandon me?
“Here we are, dear,” Grace says, leading me into a covered garden. “This is the nursery. Let me show you the hyacinths.”
I give her a little nod and a smile, wishing that I could open up about my troubles. All the feelings I’ve had to deal with on my own weigh heavily in my chest, making a stony lump in my throat that won’t let any words through.
Maybe she’s just being nice to me because I’m partnered with the alpha. I don’t know any of these people. She might look down on me just like the others do.
