He blinks. He tears his gaze away. He looks at me. His eyes are wild.
“Get Jasper inside,” Seth manages. “Lock the doors.”
“What about Billy?”
Seth looks back at the bunkhouse. “Billy’s already gone.”
I turn and grab Jasper, who is standing behind us, trying to see what’s happening.
“Get in the house,” I tell him.
“But—”
“Now!”
I shove him toward the door.
I take one last look at the bunkhouse. The door is closing. The smell is fading, but it’s already in my head. In my veins.
I close the door of the main house. I lean my back against it.
I squeeze my eyes shut.
The calf died today. And tonight, the heat is rising.
We’re trapped in hell. And the devil just walked through the door.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Billy
The door clicks shutbehind me, and the world narrows down to this one room. I had no idea what I was walking into.
The air is heavy. It presses against my chest, wrapping around my throat. The walls aren’t just painted wood; they are saturated with her.
The scent is everywhere. It’s in the fibers of the rug, the fabric of the curtains, the very oxygen I’m breathing in.
It’s not just the sickness anymore. The smell is subdued, buried under a wave of sweetness. It smells like baking bread and blooming jasmine, cut through with the sharp tang of mineral-rich earth.
It’s the scent of an Omega in distress. An Omega in need.
My Alpha brain screams at me.Find her. Protect her. Breed her.
I grit my teeth so hard my jaw aches. I force the instinct down, locking it behind a wall of willpower. I’m not an animal. I’m a man.
I turn to Clara. She’s standing by the small kitchenette, her arms wrapped around her stomach. She looks terrified.
“What the fuck is this?” I ask. My voice comes out rougher than I intend.
Clara flinches. She glances toward the bed, then back to me. “It happened fast.”
“What happened?”
“Maggie talked to Dr. Thames,” she whispers. “He recommended a double dose of heat suppressants. To counteract the interaction with the antivirals.”
“And?”
“They gave them to her an hour ago.” Clara’s voice cracks. “It backfired. Instead of stopping it, the meds just… spiked her fever. Her body is fighting the suppressant and the parasite at the same time.”
