“What the fuck?” He glanced up at Daryl, hoping that he’d read it wrong.
Daryl sighed. “I know. It’s bollocks. But what can we do?”
Nothing.
They had to suck it up and get on with it.
Like Daryl said, part of being in a pack was carrying out your alphas orders. Even if you didn’t like them. Jason wasn’t overly keen on these, he had to say, but Cam must have agreed to them with Alpha Cornell, so . . .
“Fuck,” he hissed.
Daryl laughed, a touch bitter. “Yep.”
Jason read the lines in bold in the middle of the page again, hoping by some miracle they
might’ve changed in the last two minutes.
For the next two nights at dinner, you will take it in turns to be blindfolded. The one withsight will escort the other to dinner, choose dinner and help the other to eat. Then escort themback to the room.Failure to complete this task will result in the two of you being solelyresponsible for the preparing of all meals for the remainder of your stay.
If that wasn’t incentive, then Jason didn’t know what was. No way was he cooking for sixteen people three times a day. Fuck that. He met Daryl’s gaze and shrugged. “How hard can it be?”
CHAPTER FIVE
Daryl followed Jason back up the stairs to their room, shaking his head at Jason’s words. “Howhard can it be?”Of course it was going to be ridiculously hard now he’d said that. Just the thought of having his sight taken away raised Daryl’s hackles. Yes, he already relied heavily on his other senses, like smell and hearing, but being forced to rely on them was different.
He understood the purpose of the exercise, he wasn’t stupid. Relying on Jason would require a level of trust.
Obviously one that Cam didn’t think they had yet. Which was probably a fair point. Daryl didn’t think he’d feel this ill at ease if he’d had to do it with Alec or Mike.
He still hated the idea.
Jason opened the door to their room and Daryl followed him inside, shutting the door behind him. They needed soundproofing for what he wanted to talk about.
Not wasting any time, he sat on the edge of his bed and motioned for Jason to do the same. “You said in your text that Davies, Brown, and possibly Moreton are the ones to look out for, right?”
Jason nodded. “As far as I’m aware, those have been the most vocal. Rob and Kevin were the ones who seemed closest to Wes, at any rate.” Daryl grunted at that. A beta shouldn’t have favourites, but then Wes had been almost as much of a wanker as Newell. Jason gave Daryl a pointed look. “We should get used to calling them by their first names.” When Daryl frowned, he added, “You don’t go around calling Nathan,Kohl, do you?”
“No,” Daryl reluctantly agreed. “Fine. I’ll try and remember.” Rob sounded far too nice a name for someone like Davies. In Daryl’s mind anyway. “What about the other two in my group, Tom Sharp and Simon Tate? Do you know much about them?”
Jason hesitated. Only for a split second, but Daryl saw it, and in his experience, that meant he was hiding something. “I don’t think they’ll give you any trouble.”
Narrowing his eyes, Daryl studied him, wondering what the best way would be to get him to talk. Jason was honest and loyal, Daryl was usually a good judge of character, and he didn’t peg Jason as the type to play games. If Jason had held something back, it was more than likely he wasn’t one hundred per cent sure about it. Regardless, Daryl wanted to know. He’d take gut feelings any day.
“Jason.” He kept his voice calm, and non-threatening. “If there’s something you want to add to that, I don’t care if it’s unsubstantiated. If it’s something that strikes you as strange but you don’t know why exactly, then tell me. Please,” he added when Jason looked like he was wavering.
“Fine.” With a sigh, Jason sat forward, elbows on his knees. “There’s something about Tom that sets me on edge, but I can’t put my finger on why. He’s never openly complained about Cam, not to my knowledge anyway, and he seems to be one of the quieter members of that group. But there’s just . . .something.” He straightened and shrugged. “I feel bad for singling him out when he hasn’t done anything, but . . .”
“I appreciate you telling me. And for what it’s worth, if your instincts are telling you to watch him, I’d trust that regardless of his actions so far.”
Jason nodded. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”
“Let’s hope not.” Daryl made a mental note to keep an eye on Sharp.Tom.
THEY MET THE others downstairs just before ten thirty. As much as he’d complained about coming on this pack bonding,Daryl couldn’t deny the tingle of excitement skittering down his spine at
the prospect of what they were about to do. He cracked his neck from side to side and grinned when Rachel rolled her eyes at him.
“I knew you’d like this part,” she muttered.
