Page 62 of Forever

“Ah, yes, the email I received from you this morning. Was that when you decided you were done with the conventional treatment? Or did your team at Anderson pull the plug earlier?”

C.P. got to her feet and thought about the way she’d pulled out of Gunnar Rhobes’s penthouse conference room.

“My doctors told me I couldn’t have any more treatment a day or so ago.”

Actually, Gus had walked in just after she’d hung up the phone with her team there. He’d assumed her distraction was from her having seen Daniel’s results, but it had been her own medical data that had rattled her—although of course, she’d felt awful for Lydia and Daniel given their own situation.

So much bad news lately.

“My oncologist in Houston had suggested a couple different clinical trials.” She shrugged. “But after Daniel gave his final no, I figured, why not do my own for Vita? And now I’m going to suggest we go up to the house so you can see exactly how my bedroom is decorated—and I’m not talking about the drapes.”

She reached for the door.

“Who else knows you’re doing this?” he asked as he looked up at her.

“No one. And no one can know. I need to be anonymous, or the corporations I’m negotiating with will see this as the biggest conflict of interest since Pharma Bro.”

Gus stared at the screen for a little longer. Then he logged off and stood up, too.

“You need to have someone in charge of your business affairs. If something goes wrong with you, I’m going to lose everything I’ve worked for—and hell, that may happen anyway with whatever terms you’re negotiating.”

She thought of all those stock options that were part of his employment contract. And then there was Vita, herself, the culmination of his life’s work.

For all she didn’t want to die, she hadn’t really considered the practical implications of having no will. No clear heirs. No successor for her business.

C.P. focused on Gus. “I’ll take care of it.”

Back up at the trailhead on the mountain’s summit, Xhex palmed her gun and trained it just past the front fender of the blacked-out SUV. Narrowing her eyes, she searched the dark contours of the pine trees and the boulders—but she saw nothing.

Just as she was thinking about making some kind of threatening announcement, Lydia, the wolven, had the brass balls to simply walk forward.

As Daniel went to get up from the tailgate, Xhex shook her head. “I’ve got her.”

She expected an argument. And respected the fuck out of the guy that he didn’t waste his time or hers. He just nodded and stayed where he was.

Xhex jogged a little to catch up to the female, but then she remained in the rear. There was something about the way the wolven scanned the landscape—it was different, like there were other senses being called into service, other instincts being relied upon. Meanwhile, on Xhex’s side, she was scenting everything she could and getting a big fat zero. Nothing moving, nothing that tipped her off—

“Stop,” Xhex said.

The wolven instantly froze.

Xhex looked down to the ground and pointed. “Here. They were standing right here.”

She dropped to her haunches and took out her cell phone, triggering the beam. The footprints were obvious but not distinctive, big enough to be a male’s yet nothing of particular note when it came to treads or a heel. Running the little light up the closest trunk, she saw no disturbance in the pine tree’s bark pattern or its branches.

Just as she was about to suggest they go back, Lydia lowered her whole body to the ground. Plantingher arms on either side of the prints, she leaned down and put her nose close to the markings.

“What is it,” Xhex said as the female straightened and sat back on her heels.

The wolven looked over. “It smells… like you.”

“I’m sorry?”

“The scent. It’s like yours.”

Xhex glanced around. The Brotherhood, she thought. Of course they’d followed her here—after what had happened to John Matthew last night, everyone was still jumpy. But they were clearly going to be discreet about it.

“I know who it is,” she said as she stood back up. “Who followed me, who’s checking up on me, I mean.”

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