Page 82 of Forged in Deception

“That’s not gonna happen,” she said, shaking her head, as though Paul’s idea was ridiculous. “Lily has way more experience with DX8 than Destiny did. There’s no way she…”

The woman cut herself off mid-sentence, shutting her mouth like a trap.

Asher paused for a moment, confused.

What did she mean?

He was all but certain Lily had said she’d never tried anything more severely mind altering than weed.

Man, his head hurt. It felt as though each time he tried to form a thought, he was killing off a few more brain cells and causing a little more pain.

He needed to drink some water, he needed to talk to Ben or one of his other brothers, and he needed to get his theory straight.

Most of all, he had to find Karlin.

“Fine, do what you want,” Paul said at last, wiping invisible dust from the front of his jeans. “I’m finding a phone to call for help. If I can’t manage that, I guess I’ll wind up back here or find some other shelter.”

“Be careful,” Asher warned. “If there’s no phone in the Jeep, the next one will be at the main compound. It takes a while to get there on foot in the daylight, let alone at night with a storm brewing.”

Paul considered this. “It would be a lot safer if you came with me.”

Asher shook his head. “Honestly, man, I feel way too sick. I’m just gonna hunker down here with Cora for a while.”

It was true.

His head was still pounding, his mouth was dry, and he knew that if he was going to find Karlin in this weather he was probably going to need to take a few minutes to get himself together. Everything still felt muddled, and he was afraid that in his impaired thinking, he could make things even worse.

Paul headed for the door, giving them a final wave as he strode out into the brewing storm.

For several moments, neither he nor Cora spoke.

The hut felt lonelier than ever.

Asher longed for the normalcy of his life in San Antonio. Failing that, he would have settled for a few hours of sleep back in his guest cabin down at the main area of the retreat site. Anything but here, unable to think straight, his body and mind rebelling against him even as he knew he had to start taking action.

“Hey, thanks for staying with me,” Cora said after a little while, moving her mat a little closer to his. “It would be seriously creepy by myself.”

“Yeah, seriously,” Asher agreed, not wanting to tell her that as soon as his head stopped spinning, he was heading back out into the rain. Hopefully, Paul would be successful in calling for help, and she wouldn’t be alone for very long, but he couldn’t stick around when Karlin was in much more danger.

“It’s better this way,” Cora continued, reaching for something in the pocket of her baggy jeans.

“Sorry?”

He had no time to think, no time to react.

In a single motion, Cora lashed out like a snake, and a sudden flash of pain jolted through him.

He glanced down just in time to realize that the end of a syringe was now stuck firmly into his thigh.

CHAPTER

THIRTY-SEVEN

KARLIN

Karlin forced her legs to continue carrying her forward as she tried to make sense of everything.

She knew the truth about Lily’s identity, but should she play her hand and confront her, or should she wait?

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