Free Web NovelChapter 85: THE HEAT ACCELERANT
KEISHA’S POV
They were both still looking at me.
Dane was waiting and Callum was still beside me with his hand no longer on my waist and tension hung heavy in the room.
I looked at my hands.
"I’m not sick." I finally said.
"Then why the clinic?" Dane said.
"I hadn’t been feeling well." I looked away. "On and off for a while. I wanted to get properly checked." I paused. "I didn’t want to say anything before I knew what I was dealing with."
"And what are you dealing with?" Callum asked, his voice careful.
I exhaled slowly.
"When I was at the cabin." I said. "The heat." I looked at the wall in front of me because looking at either of them right now felt like too much. "It wasn’t natural."
The sitting room went very quiet.
"Dr. Fenn found traces of synthetic heat accelerant in my bloodwork." I said. "She told me recently. Someone put it in something I consumed while I was at the cabin. Food or water or something I came into contact with." I paused. "It induced the heat artificially. Which means everything that happened after—" I stopped. "Someone planned it."
Four seconds passed before Callum stood up.
He didn’t pace nor raise his voice but his stance had become rigid, his voice hard.
"Someone drugged you." He repeated as though he needed to hear it a second time.
"Yes." I said.
Dane was very still on the other side of me. "At the cabin." He frowned. "Which Nadia suggested."
"Nadia didn’t do this." I said immediately.
"I know that." He turned to me. "But someone knew you were going to be there. Someone had access before you arrived or knew your movements well enough to—" He stopped. His jaw worked. "Who knew you were going to the cabin?"
"Nadia." I said. "Callum. Anyone either of them mentioned it to."
They looked at each other over my head.
"The accelerant." Dane said, looking back at me. "Did Dr. Fenn say what form it came in?"
"She said it could be anything." I said. "Food, water, something I touched. Whoever sourced it had medical knowledge or very specific connections." I paused. "Or both."
"To source a synthetic heat accelerant, you need either a black market contact or someone inside a medical supply chain." Dane said. "That’s not something you find easily or quickly."
"Which means this was planned well in advance." Callum said. "Someone researched it and sourced it. Waited for the right moment." He looked at me. "And they wanted the bond to lock."
"Why?" I asked, my voice low.
Neither of them answered immediately.
"We don’t know yet." Callum said. "But we will find out." He looked at me directly and something in his voice was very certain. "I promise you that."
I looked at him and Dane.
"Okay." I said quietly.
We talked more after that. About timelines, access, who could have known about the cabin, who had the resources to source the compound. Dane asked questions to start his own investigation and I answered what I could while Callum listened without saying much.
Eventually, we rounded up the discussion.
The three of us sat in the quiet and the tea had gone completely cold and the evening had darkened outside.
"Tea." I suddenly said. "I’ll make fresh."
I stood and went to the kitchen and stood at the kettle.
Right now, I had told them about the accelerant but I didn’t tell them about the pregnancy.
Not tonight.
I was scared. Nervous. Sick of what was going to happen.
I made the tea and we drank it and talked about nothing for a while before Callum stood and Dane stood and they said goodnight and left.
I locked my new door behind them and stood alone in my hallway with my hand pressed flat against my stomach.
I genuinely hoped they could forgive me for lying to them. Or at least not telling them everything.
I went to bed after that.
The next morning was ordinary. I got in early, made tea from the break room kettle, opened my queue. Sera was already at her desk and we exchanged short nods. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
Work was going pretty fine, and I was actually feeling much better after burying myself in correspondence logs.
I didn’t mind coming to work. It was the one place that I could clear my head without thinking about anything else.
Then Vanessa walked in.
She came in at half past two, coat on, notebook under her arm, wide warm smile. She moved through the office slowly, looking at the filing systems, the boards and the equipment.
What the fuck was she doing here?
She never came here for anything, so why today?
She stopped at Sera’s desk and asked how the log documentation worked, making small conversations with the employees who looked nervous at her presence.
I kept my eyes on my screen.
She stopped by my desk. "Keisha." She said warmly.
"Vanessa." I answered without looking up.
She stood there for a moment. I felt her looking at my screen, at me, around the room. Then she moved on and eventually left.
An hour later she came back with coffee.
A whole tray of it, enough for everyone, set down by the door with that warm smile. "You all looked like you needed something." She said pleasantly.
The room lit up.
"She’s so thoughtful." Sera said, not quietly, after Vanessa left. "Honestly if she becomes Luna the pack will be lucky."
"Very observant." Peter agreed. "She noticed we were all staying late last week. That’s awareness."
"Completely." Someone from the back said. "That’s exactly what you want in a Luna."
I looked at my coffee cup and pretended I wasn’t listening.
Someone across the room leaned forward. "Keisha, are you okay?"
I snapped out of my thoughts and sat up straight. "Uh, yeah."
Something about the way they praised her made something ugly coil in my chest.
Because they were beginning to soften towards her. They didn’t see that this was just a ploy of hers.
And goddess help me, I didn’t want to think about how long until Callum succumbed.
