Page 103 of In Doubt

“I’m going home,” I tell him.

“How about the dig?”

I shrug, trying not to show him how much it hurts to abandon this trip.

“There’s still a day left. Still time to prove your theory. And then there’s the tour.”

I close my eyes. “I want to go home,” I whisper.

“Home,” he repeats. “I’ll find us flights. I’ll take you home.”

“My brother’s going to arrange it.”

“You can’t travel home alone.”

“Why not?” I say, jutting out my chin. Maybe this is what we need to do. Argue. Fight. Return to what we’re best at. If I provoke him enough.

It doesn’t work. He scrubs his fingers over his jaw. “Whatever you want, Giorgie.”

I pick up the second slice of bread. The food and the water already make me feel more normal. If I can take that shower, wash away the stench, I’ll be fine.

We can forget any of this happened.

I bite through the second slice of bread. “It is,” I tell him.

* * *

Ifeel a little better after the shower, clean, refreshed. But as much as the water can wash away the slick, come, sweat and scents, it can’t remove the scratches I made across my skin, or the bruises at my hips and thighs where alphas held me tight. It will take time for those to fade. Reminders in the meantime that I’d rather forget.

Yes, I want to go home and forget this mess ever happened, forget all about this pack.

The clothes I wore the day my fever started are ruined, so I help myself to a pair of shorts and a t-shirt from the wardrobe. They swamp me and I have to pull the drawstring on the shorts as tight as it will go to keep them at my waist.

Something flashes in Jake’s eyes when I step back out of the bedroom and he takes me in. He’s hovering by the doorway as if he’s been there the whole time I’ve been getting ready.

“The taxi’s here,” he tells me. “Do you have everything you need? Can I fetch you anything?”

“I should unlock the safe,” I tell him and he winces, causing unease to swim through my belly.

He leads the way to the picture on the wall and for a moment I’m filled with regret staring at the painting. I’ve wanted to see the pyramids ever since I was a little girl and we first learnt about the ancient egyptians in class. I’d been obsessed, forcing Ric to take me to the city library on the bus and checking out every book I could find on the subject. Now I’m going to miss seeing them.

Jake catches my gaze lingering on the picture, seeming to understand my emotions.

“Giorgie, you should stay.”

“I can’t,” I say simply, my voice breaking. I swing the picture away, punching the code in the lock and waiting for the door to pop open. When it does, I stand to one side and let Jake pull the devices out.

“I want you to browse through the pictures,” Jake says. “So you know we didn’t–”

“There’s no need,” I explain. “I know I freaked out for no reason.”

“It wasn’t no reason.”

“Jake,” I say, my tone conveying my reluctance to discuss this again.

“OK.” He places the devices on the counter, dragging a pad of paper towards him and scribbling a note across the page. “We’ll go then.”

“We?”