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He lifts his arms to encompass the entryway. “And you can see we are here, and you are standing in the Raleigh home.”

I glance over at the men outside.

They’ve stopped their work to look at me. Their stares aren’t the least bit threatening, but they’re not the least bit friendly either.

I refocus on Franklin. “So you’re a Raleigh and you offered something to Shane for him to have joined your cause, whatever that is.”

He nods, smiling faintly down at me. “Smart. I should have known the daughter of Douglas Boone wouldn’t be a fool. And the answer is yes. Wedidoffer him something in return for his help on a couple of matters.”

He looks at me and I don’t know why I even bothered to ask what that something was.

From the longing stares that Shane has been aiming my way since I woke to him kissing me in the cabin, it’s clear what thing he wants out of this partnership.

“Me.”

Omegas were being hunted. Ivy and Connall confirmed it. So did Clary, the shifter from New Mexico, looking for his missing mate. But we never knew why or who would do it.

Now I’m face to face with a man who says he is a Raleigh, and if I can believe him, which, I think I do, it must mean the Raleighs are back with a new home they rebuilt on the ruins of the old.

The old Raleighs didn’t seem to want much. They were feared and they were respected. They had nothing to prove.

But this new Raleigh Pack. What do they want?

“You’ve been kidnapping omegas,” I say, watching his expression closely as he leads the way down the empty hallway. “Why?”

“They are helping us with something,” he says.

“Which is?”

“Making our presence—and our strength—known,” Franklin says. “We’ll return them once they’ve served their purpose.”

I don’t believe him for a second. Why go to all the trouble of kidnapping so many omegas just to let them all go again?

I look at Shane, wanting to gauge his response to Franklin’s words, but he’s a silent presence on my right. He either knew all this before or he doesn’t care.

We pass more closed doors than empty, and occasionally, I hear voices from inside. Most are male, and a couple are female.

Somewhere in this house are the missing omegas. Or, they are in another building, maybe one they’re in the middle of constructing.

“And my purpose?” I ask.

Franklin beams at me. “Has been fulfilled. You and Shane can have a home here if you wish it.”

“And if I don’t wish it?”

He continues down the hallway, stopping at a closed door about halfway down. He throws it open and indicates I should enter.

Inside is a bed, a heavy-looking dark brown dresser, a crib for a baby, and a balcony that leads out to the backyard. Through the window, building work continues.

Three more buildings are going up. Too big to be a cabin, but not the two-story farmhouse that this one is.

Just how many people are living here that they need so many buildings?

“Then you and Shane can make a home for yourself elsewhere,” Franklin says.

I pull my arm from him.

He releases me without hesitation, and I wander over to the balcony.

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