Page 54 of Whispering Waves

Iolana blinked, and a slow smile spread across her lips. “Nina. Congratulations. My lack of children has always been a painful experience for me.”

“Why don’t you adopt? Go via IVF and a surrogate? You and your husband get a beta who’s bi? There are options.”

Everyone was staring at her. She looked around. “What? I hang around with a lot of women who hang around with a lot of alphas. Not all the alphas are male. Some are female and just missing a family.”

Iolana blinked. “That is... interesting.”

“There is one excellent clinic in the city. Since we have a ton of weird alphas there and more are coming now that word of the specific betas is spreading, the fertility industry is booming.”

Kimo chuckled. “Not all of us are smart enough to go looking for a match.”

Noa frowned at Nina. “You don’t mean you are one of these specific betas?”

“Uh, yeah. Kimo recognized the mark because he isn’t blind.”

Kimo chuckled.

Their drinks arrived, and Nina kept the glass of juice between her palms.

Noa asked her, “May I see the mark?”

“Did you see my back?”

“The tattoo with the waves?”

“It’s not a tattoo.”

She put her glass down, opened the outer wrap, and lowered the gauze to her hips, turning toward her newly found relatives.

Iolana gasped. “It’s moving.”

She nodded and put her wrap back in place. “Yeah, in time to his—” She jerked a thumb at Kimo. “Moods. The link has the same kind of echo.”

Kimo chuckled. “It’s comforting. I am teaching her to dive. She has an interest in treasure hunting.”

Noa chuckled. “Of course she does.”

Now, it was Kimo’s turn to look at the elder. “What do you mean by that?”

Noa smirked. “She has landed one of the most eligible bachelors in the islands, if not the most eligible. Fortunehunting is probably near and dear to her heart.”

Kimo nodded and got to his feet. “That concludes the visit.”

Halia stood. “No. Please. He just has biases against betas since our son married that little bitch and took him away.”

Drake froze and got up slowly. “Kimo?”

“Yes, we are going.” Kimo picked Nina up.

Iolana looked at them. “You are going already?”

Drake said, “Nina has spearheaded the search for family, especially after she was disowned by our parents for nearly being murdered by an alpha. How dare she tutor and help me socialize with other alphas under her watchful gaze? Of course, one of them was going to try something with her and hospitalize her for months.”

Nina heard him telling the story as Kimo got her out of there. He sighed. “They seemed so nice on the phone.”

“They were talking to you and not me.”

“Yeah. I get that. So, we are going to visit my parents right now. Right fucking now.” He took out his phone and made a call, balancing her in his arms.