"Wait." I jut my chin up in what I hope resembles alpha confidence as I say, "What do you want?"
"The cure."
I frown, and a knot forms deep in my gut because something is terribly wrong with the world if Nóthos is coming to us for some sort of medical breakthrough. They've always had the best scientists, the biggest innovations.
Is this for karkinos? Is it possible that they don’t have the cure to the illness that plagues my brother?
"For what?"
Stefan glances over at Colter and then back at me before he answers, "For the virus your mother released on our people. For the Harpax Project."
The breath flees my body.
That's the same thing Pedro asked me about. But I have absolutely no idea what he means.
My befuddlement must show on my face because Stefan gives a crisp nod.
"I'm actually happy it seems like you have no idea what the queen did. Our sources claim you and your sister were left in the dark.”
"No clue."
He gestures toward the tent's interior. "Think we can talk?"
Here, Colter interrupts. "No. Wild alphas from that lab?—"
Our earpieces crackle.
Ridge's voice calls out, "All clear here."
Luka signals back. "All clear. George and I have the door shut and secured. I'm rigging it with explosives in case someone breaks through. Should collapse the dirt on top and seal it for good."
George? Is that Mole Face's name? Guess so.
Ridge responds, "Excellent. Kylian, report."
"Does it count as clear if I'm extracting teeth?"
Ridge sighs before he asks, with the patience of a parent who's too exhausted to scold, "From a dead body or a live one?"
A gunshot rings out.
"Dead now."
"Okay, all clear. Colter, heading your way."
Colter's hand flicks up to his earpiece, but he looks at me for permission before he speaks. "Come back to camp."
He doesn't give them a heads-up beyond that, but I'm ninety percent certain that the second the other alphas spot Stefan, they'll shoot first and ask questions later.
We can't have that, so I press the button on my own com and say, "We ran into Stefan Kairos. He wants to talk."
"That dirty fucker!" Ridge's curse makes me grind my teeth. "He ambushed us."
Ridge's conclusion makes me glance over at the king’s son and evaluate the situation in a whole new light. But intuition pulls at me, whispering that my alpha isn't right this time.
"Stefan, did you set those alphas on us?"
His features twist, though I can’t decipher the emotion distorting his face. Anger, maybe. Or disgust. Or…sadness.
