Resurgence: Green Fields book 5 Read Online Free Page A

celebrating—and not just because of the extenuating circumstances.
    “Doesn’t make any sense,” I murmured.  
    He shrugged. “You tell me. You’re the one who keeps insisting that you went to college not just to land a girlfriend.”
    My mind was wiped enough that thinking, at all, was hard, and it took me a while to understand what he was getting at. But once he said so, it was impossible not to see.
    “The antibodies,” I whispered.
    Nate inclined his head. “At least that’s my guess. We already know you had some in your blood from screwing me. Sunny explained that all of the others also had massively elevated levels. That’s how they confirmed it happening in two cases. That’s what I meant when I said that you wouldn’t have had the baby. From the first moment on, your body was fighting the child that was growing inside of you. I know that this sucks, but losing the baby was still the best outcome.” I just looked at him, letting my eyes tell him that I didn’t agree, but he shook his head again. “One of the women died. Two more insta-converted, just like we do. Apparently, that somehow transferred from the child’s DNA to the mother’s blood and made her turn from one moment to the next. As painful as the knowledge is that you lost the baby, I’d rather not lose you, too.”
    He had a point, but it hurt too much for me to admit it now.  
    Thinking about that made another epiphany happen.
    “They knew,” I grated out, coughing several times until my voice started working again. Nate raised his brows after making me sip some absolutely tasteless tea, waiting patiently for me to explain. “Bucky and his soldiers. They knew. That’s why they wanted me. That’s why they set the trap.” And that was why Bailey and Cho had died for nothing.
    The utter lack of surprise on Nate’s face wasn’t exactly comforting.
    “That thought has occurred to me,” he admitted after a small eternity. “Question is how, when none of us had a clue.”
    “The blood sample. In Aurora,” I said. He mulled that over, but I could tell that he’d thought about that, too.
    “It’s possible, but I don’t think so,” Nate replied. “Do you really think they would have let you go if they’d known? I have no fucking clue what they intended to do with you had they caught you, but even for completely willing cooperation they would have tried to sweet-talk you into staying.”
    If my body had worked a little better, I would have shrugged. “Maybe they only tested for that later.” My mind skipped ahead, remembering a particular detail of my departure from Aurora. “Maybe it was my stupid comment about the antibodies being there because we were having sex that made them run the test.” Which just came down to it being my fault all over again.
    “I doubt it,” he said. “No idea whether what Sunny told me is common knowledge or more something that the traders have been sharing among them, but I don’t doubt for a second that Stone had them run a full blood panel on you. Besides, that was close to two months ago now. I don’t think there was anything to test for yet back then.”
    There was nothing I could have replied to that, so I didn’t bother. In the end it didn’t matter. Nothing really mattered right now.
    “Think you can keep anything to eat down yet?” Nate asked. “Hungry?”
    I shook my head, to both. “Not really.”
    His eyes skipped to the thermos again. “I think you should drink some more. You must be dehydrated.”
    “And I think you should leave me the fuck alone,” I rasped out, then bit my chapped lips. “Sorry. It’s just—“
    “All too much right now?” he guessed.
    I nodded. “Yeah.” The scratching in my throat got worse. Tea was likely a good idea, even if it tasted like tepid water. “Or not.”
    Nate allowed himself a small smile as he let go of my hand. “Wanna try sitting up? Not that I mind changing the sheets, but it’s so much easier if I don’t have