Page 118 of The Donor’s Dilemma

With a nod she typed out a quick message, saying that she was staying with a friend and had lost her phone. When she moved to collect the bowls, Theo took her hand.

“Leave them,” he said. “You need bed.”

She didn’t argue as he led her down the corridor to his room, pausing with his hand on the handle.

“If you’d rather I…” she gestured to the spare room.

“No,” he said, opening the door and guiding her inside.

Lamps on the twin nightstands cast soft orange light across the room, giving the grand furnishings a warm, fuzzy glow. Much like the rest of his home, paintings and trinkets dotted the space, making it feel more lived in than the antique decor would normally suggest.

“Do you have a preferred side?” Theo asked, watching her from the corner of his eye.

Verity shook her head before crawling into the nearest side of the biggest bed she’d ever seen. Fuck king size, this thing was huge. She wriggled into the middle, meeting Theo there and wrapping her limbs round his, far too tired to feel awkward.

They nestled into each other, Verity pressing her face to his chest as Theo buried his in her damp hair. It was all she could think to want. To hold him and be held. It was everything.

Well, almost everything.

She didn’t want to break the spell, but she had to know.

“What’s going on?” she whispered.

Theo sighed, pulling back enough to lean over her, watching as he spoke. “I think I know something that I’m not supposed to.”

“And what’s that?”

“There is no flu in Cliffhaven. The Exchange collapsed.”

Her mind moved slowly, struggling to understand what he was saying.

“My brother called to tell me. I think… with the records being falsified and…”

“It’s happening here,” Verity said, horror in the pit of her stomach. “I’ve been looking at old articles. Everything that happened in the weeks running up to the quarantine, is happening here.”

“How do you know?”

“Well, I searched it and…” she paused. “You think my phone was bugged?”

“I was trying to call you all night,” he said, brows drawn.

She nodded. “I was trying to call you.”

Somehow, despite the bombshell he’d just dropped, Theo smiled, settling beside her.

“If there’s something to be happy about, I think I missed it,” Verity said, frowning at him.

“Whatever’s happening, whoever’s doing this, they’re so scared of us being together that they tried to force us apart. We must make quite the team.”

Rolling her eyes, Verity grinned. She supposed that it was true.

“We need a plan,” he said. “We need to work out who we can trust and how we can stop this but before that, we need sleep.”

She didn’t want to agree, but she knew he was right. Verity was no use to anyone feeling like death warmed up.

“Theo?” she asked, looking up at him from the crook of his arm.

He hummed in answer, eyes closed, pulse slowing beneath her cheek.