Page 85 of Harvest Moon

He looked right at me, a smile spreading slow across his face. “We’ll certainly have to think about that.”

51

Alexis

Claudia had been asleep when we got back, but woke at the sound of us coming in, and looked much less pale and miserable. After downing the entire glass of orange juice and starting on the second I’d grabbed, just in case, she looked even better.

Linden was tense, sitting by her side and watching like a hawk. As Ridge set up the air purifier, Alpha Grove turned to look at that, fascinated.

Ridge, of course, was just gonna do what he did best: go about fixing things, and not think to explain or take credit when he should. Not that I thought Linden was the kind of alpha who would take credit for something he hadn’t done, but still. Ridge needed to speak the heck up.

I cleared my throat. Everyone looked over at me, except for Ridge, who was busy clipping a filter into place. I sighed and rolled my eyes. I’d chosen a mate who would listen to everything I ever had to say, but also, who focused on a task so completely that he sometimes forgot the world continued on around it.

“Ridge thinks maybe something in the chemicals Sterling is putting on those plants is the cause of the Condition.”

Everyone in the room turned to look not at Ridge, but at me.

Well, again, except Ridge, who was muttering about the filter not being tight enough, wiggling it out of place and putting a piece of cloth into the bottom of the frame before pushing it in again.

I sighed at him, but turned to look at Linden. “I know there’s no real way to prove it, but back in the day they couldn’t prove washing hands stopped infections either, right?”

Linden nodded, eyes sharp as he watched me, then turned to look at Ridge. “You’re basing that idea on where and when Claudia collapsed. But she collapsed before standing in her own kitchen, nowhere near any chemically treated foods.”

Ridge finally got the filter to snap into place and turned to look at Linden. “No offense, Alpha, but from what Lex tells me, Mrs. Claudia was always surrounded by chemically treated foods before she started her new diet. All those store-bought processed things with the shelf-stabilizers and preservatives in them?”

“They test those ingredients pretty heavily before okaying them for public consumption,” Linden hedged, but there was doubt in his voice. He was listening. I bit my lip hard, willing Ridge to be the absolute wonder that he was, that he didn’t usually bother to show people.

He snapped the front casing onto the purifier and flipped it on, then turned to look the alpha in the eye. “They do. They test them for human consumption. And we’re so much hardier than humans that maybe they don’t even think about us in this mix, just assume anything good for them is good for us. But maybe it isn’t.”

“Well, shit,” Claudia said, scowling. Linden turned to raise a brow at her, and she pointed at Ridge. “He’s right. He’s fucking right and you know it.”

“We’ll have to look into it.” When her scowl deepened, he put up his hands. “I’m not saying I don’t believe it. I’m saying I’m not willing to start a war with one of the biggest companies in the world without being absolutely certain. We know how big companies respond when people point out the harm they’re causing.”

“But if it’s that. If we can prove it. We have to tell everyone, don’t we?” I went to sit next to Ridge, leaning my head against his shoulder. “And if it is... then we can stop the Condition, right?”

Linden met my eye, then looked at Ridge. “If it’s true, and people will listen to us, then yes. We might be able to stop the Condition. It won’t save packs like the Reids, whose omega populations have already been decimated, but it could save thousands of lives.” He stopped, shook his head, and blew out a deep breath. “Hundreds of thousands.”

“But only if we can get them to stop eating Sterling snack cakes,” Claudia added. When Linden shot her a glare, she threw up her hands. “Don’t look at me like that. They’re addictive!”

“It’s not just that,” I pointed out. “I mean, I don’t suspect they’re putting pesticides or preservatives or whatever in their bottled water, but Sterling sells... everything. I read an article that said ten companies produce most of the food we eat, and Sterling is one of them.”

Linden scrubbed his hands down his face, nodding. “They’re everywhere. Even with absolute proof, it’s going to be hard for people to stop using their products. And companies like that aren’t historically inclined to listen when they’re told that their products are making people sick.”

If I live to be two hundred years old, I’ll never be able to shake off the chill my father’s next words gave me.

“Maybe they’re like those big cigarette companies back in the sixties. Maybe they already know.” He wrapped his arms around my mother protectively, and she leaned into him, looking scared in a way I’d never seen her before. “Maybe this is no accident at all.”

We all sat there in silence for a long time. Or maybe it just felt like a long time, since we were contemplating whether one of the most powerful companies in the world was deliberately killing werewolves.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and opened it up. Whatever we did or didn’t know, I knew one thing for certain. I pressed on the HeaTracker app until a little menu appeared next to it, and pressed delete.

There was no way I was letting the Sterling Corporation track my heats ever again. Who knew what they did with that information?

Thank goodness I’d turned them down when they’d offered to sponsor the podcast the year before. I blinked rapidly in realization. They had asked to sponsor a podcast aimed at omegas. I looked up and met Linden’s eye. “They asked to sponsor my podcast last year. Offered me a bunch of money. I turned them down because I didn’t want to sell stuff I didn’t use.”

Linden’s eyes narrowed and he leaned toward me. “Your podcast.Omega and the Great Outdoors.”

Again, I nodded.

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