Page 61 of After the Burn

Beck stepped closer to me. “Yeah, Fox. I am.”

I hated myself for the shiver of desire that ran through me at the thought of it. “Then what? We stay here and leave Ethan and Lane at the farmhouse with the girls?”

Silence settled heavily over the room.

Adrian stared at the wall, that big brain of his working overtime. “For now, we play along just enough to find a way out of here.”

My brows pulled together slightly. “For how long?”

Guilt tugged hard. The girls were starving while we were being fed and kept relatively safe.

Beck snorted softly. “The minute we get the old bastard to trust us, we’re gone.”

Adrian’s expression softened for the first time since Beck walked in. “We get supplies. Weapons. Fuel. Information.” He took a breath. “And then we go back for everyone.”

I nodded.

“There is one more thing,” Adrian said, his smirk returning.

Seeing that expression on his face freaked me out.

“What?” I asked cautiously.

“Lucas.” He smiled.

“What about him?” I was afraid I knew where this was going.

“He’s going to be part of our family group.”

Well, fuck.

CHAPTER TEN

LUCAS

The clinic smelled like bleach, blood, and burned coffee.

Which, honestly, felt reassuring at this point.

I sat on the edge of an examination table while two armed guards stood outside the open doorway, watching me as if I might suddenly start biting people.

I understood it.

The fever had transformed enough survivors that trust among everyone had vanished.

Finley, a doctor here, had introduced himself and stood across the room, studying a vial of my blood under a portable lamp while another doctor scribbled notes nearby.

“Enhanced,” Finley muttered finally.

Neither of them looked surprised.

“No signs of active infection,” he continued calmly. “Healing markers match the others.”

Others?

That was interesting. We’d been secluded at the farmhouse, so I hadn’t known whether we were the exception or the rule.

Finley looked up. “You survived the fever. How long ago?”