Page 31 of Betrayed Kidnapped Mate

“You’re not? Explain the constant—”

Finally losing my patience, I spin around in my chair, lifting my goggles from my face and pointing at the two of them. They both look at me with wide eyes, like kids who’ve been caught out.

“For the love of Antoine Lavoisier, can the two of you be quiet for a single moment? Byron, you don’t have to actually sit right here next to me. I’m sure everyone will be content for you to sit out in the hallway.”

“Actually,” Byron mutters, “your boyfriend practically threatened to rip my head off if I so much as thought of taking a bathroom break while I’m here to protect you.”

“Bigby is your boyfriend?” Kaila asks from her spot across the room, her eyes peeking up at us over her book.

“No,” I say to her and then to Byron, “I’ll rip your head off if you keep saying stupid things like that. Bigby is not my boyfriend, and I’m not going to be able to get any work done with the two of you going back and forth like this!”

“Well, then just tell him to give me access to the internal systems,” Olivia says, crossing her arms. “He’s lucky I’m asking nicely.”

“Excuse me?”

“Byron, sweetheart, what do you think will happen if you don’t give me access?”

“Yeah, right, go ahead and try.”

“You already admitted you think I can get through your security measures. Don’t confuse yourself now.”

“There’s no way you’re going to hack into the system right after you tell me you’re going to hack into the system—”

“Oh really? Because I just did.”

“You’re not even looking at your tablet!”

“What? Oh, you need to look? Honey—”

“Olivia!” I say, setting down the vial with my test antidote and turning to the two of them. “I have never been more serious in my life. If you can’t be quiet, you’ll have to leave. I’m trying to work here, and if I mess this up, it could seriously hurt someone.”

“You’re going to hurt someone?” Kaila asks, lowering her book again, her eyes wide as she looks at me. I sigh, reminding myself not to touch my face, no matter how badly I want to pinch the bridge of my nose right now. I feel a migraine coming on.

“No, not on purpose. It’s just that Olivia keeps distracting me, and I’m trying to make medicine for someone who’s very sick.”

“Bigby?”

“What? No—he’s not sick.”

“Then why is he sweating all the time? And he doesn’t sleep. I can tell.”

I swallow thickly when Byron and Olivia go silent behind me, and, in my head, I dare one of them to make a single comment about it. Everyone in the pack can see our situation so clearly—Bigby and I are mates, and Kaila is our daughter—but nobody else has had to live inside of that reality. And if one of them snickers or riffs off of what my daughter just said, I might actually have a meltdown.

“Kaila,” Olivia says, putting her hands on her knees and getting to her feet, “why don’t I call Aris and see if he’ll bring Araya down. We can all go to the park.”

“Yes!” Kaila says, jumping up from her spot and setting her book on Gerard’s workbench. It’s a Saturday, so the other chemists aren’t in today. I couldn’t resist the urge to come in and work—it feels like the answer to the serum problem is just around the corner.

Olivia goes out into the hallway to make the call.

“Son of a bitch,” Byron says, “she actually did hack in.”

“Hey,” I say, and he snaps his gaze up to me. “Don’t say that word around my daughter. Better yet, don’t say it at all.”

“Right sorry, it’s just—Olivia makes me crazy.”

“That makes two of us.”

Ten minutes later, the door to the lab opens. Olivia and Kaila go out, while Linnea comes in. I watch Byron as he puts his ear buds in—so he had the option to block Olivia out, and he chose not to.

---