Page 32 of Knot the Alphas' Feral Omega

My eyes widened until I was certain it looked like they would fall out of my head. It was so much worse than I thought. Melvin’s Rehab was one of the worst state-run facilities for shifters. Many shifters never left its walls once they were admitted, even if they recovered from the original ailment that they had been brought in for in the first place.

“Did you tell them that she could come home?” I whispered, helplessness twisting inside of me. “Did you try—”

“I’m not exactly the picture-perfect caretaker for a feral wolf right now, Killian,” Katrina said, her voice sad and dry. “But yes, I did ask. They told me there were no other choices until she came out of her feral state. Apparently, she hasn’t even shifted back to human form yet. I’ve been calling every day to get status updates.”

I closed my eyes, a few hot tears leaking out and trickling down my cheeks. I knew I needed to be strong and keep myself together so I could get Lilah out of the situation she’d been shoved into by Oliver and his bad decision-making. But for amoment, I let myself be weak, and I felt the pain inside of me ache intensely before I slowly, slowly shut it down and looked back up.

Katrina was looking at me sympathetically, and she reached out to pat my wrist again. “Do you want to tell me what happened?” she asked, her voice quiet and non-judgmental.

I was only certain that she wasn’t biting my head off only because I wasn’t Oliver; if he had been the one to show up, even with the best of intentions, he never would have made it past the front door.

I swallowed hard and looked up at her, curiosity warring with the devastation inside of me. “Before I do,” I started, “I have to ask you a question.”

She arched an eyebrow at me, and I plowed forward, even as everything inside of me screamed that this was an enormous violation of privacy that I should be asking Lilah and Lilah alone about. But Lilah wasn’t around, and I needed to know before I went to get her.

“Do you know who Lilah’s father was?” I finally asked, keeping my voice carefully neutral.

Part of me had wanted an immediate refusal, an indignant scoff, or something else that would tell me that Oliver’s instincts about Lilah knowing who her father was were wrong.

I didn’t get that, though. What little blood remained in Katrina’s cheeks drained away as she looked at me, and she clasped her hands together in her lap, her digits trembling slightly as she determinedly looked anywhere but at my face.

That, more than anything, told me all that I needed to know. My stomach sank, and I ignored my inner wolf howling, begging for me to shift and ignore the pain all over again for another couple of days.

I had to hear it from her lips, though. “You do, don’t you?” I asked gently. “You know who Hunter Randall is.”

I saw her sway slightly as her heart rate monitor screamed even louder. It calmed after a second, though, and Katrina looked at me with resignation in her face. “Yes, I know who he is,” she said softly. “And yes, I know that he was Lilah’s father.”

I swallowed hard but didn’t say anything, and she seemed to take that as an invitation to keep talking.

“We were young when we first met, Hunter and I. He was the perfect alpha—strong, smart, and witty. He stood up for me when other shifters looked down on me for my beta status. Things were different back then; there wasn’t the same understanding and acceptance of other designations,” she explained. She waited until I nodded, and then she continued. “We moved in together after we finished our degrees, and neither of us was entirely sure what we wanted to do with our lives. We were very much in love, and I only knew that I wanted to be with him as long as he would have me.”

She sighed. “He told me that he got a job. He would disappear for hours at a time, but our bills were always paid, so I didn’t ask him exactly what it was that he was doing for work. That was my mistake, but one day, he came home smelling like blood, and I...” Her hands trembled, and she had to take a shaky breath before he finished, “I couldn’t bring myself to ask. But I had to know, too.”

My stomach sank. “What was he doing?” I asked softly.

“I’d just found out I was pregnant with Lilah,” Katrina said softly. “I was so excited to tell him. But the way he’d smelled when he came home scared me and planted doubt in my head. I had to know what he was doing before I told him I was pregnant, so the next day, I followed him.”

Her face paled a little, and she got even quieter as she continued, “I watched him kill a man in cold blood on the street. A wealthy-looking guy with a suit that probably cost a few month’s rent. He was just walking down the street and turned down an alley to take a shortcut. Hunter followed him, and I heard the man scream.” She shook her head, then looked at me pleadingly. “I...I didn’t look to see exactly what it was that he did. But I knew, and I fled.”

I reached out and put my hand on her wrist, squeezing firmly. “You did the right thing,” I rasped.

Katrina latched onto my hand, squeezing tightly, and she nodded. “I know. I couldn’t stay with him after that. So I went home and packed a bag to leave. We hadn’t formally bonded yet, which is why I got away. It was also why he didn’t know I was pregnant yet.” She licked her dry lips, letting out a sad little sound. “I had to flee. I had to start over again. I hid away in a women’s shelter for a while and then was able to rent out a tiny little apartment to wait out my pregnancy. Lilah saved my life. I knew I had to get out for her...to be better for her.”

I nodded slowly, understanding her story washing over the hurt and fear I felt for my mate. “And you never told Lilah?”

She bit her lip, then slowly shook her head. “I never told him, either. I didn’t want him to come after us. I was so frightened of him after seeing what he did, and I knew that if he knew that I had a daughter, he would never let me go. He was the only man I’d ever been with, and there was no way I would have been able to convince him that Lilah wasn’t his.”

I struggled to wrap my head around what she was telling me. “So...not only did you never tell Lilah who her father was...but you never told Hunter that he was a father, either?”

She shook her head. “I kept my eye on the news while I was pregnant. The stories of men being slaughtered, all with the same symbol carved into their bodies...they terrified me. It’s his family crest, you know—the symbol.”

I let out a shaky sigh. “I didn’t know that.”

She nodded. “I knew staying silent was the only way to keep her safe.” She eyed me sharply. “Why are you asking about Hunter, Killian?”

It was the moment of truth. She’d shared her story, and it was time for me to return the favor. “Hunter Randall killed our fourth pack member, Jack. Almost two years ago.”

Her face paled, and she clutched at my hand even tighter. “Killian, I am so sorry.”

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