Page 193 of The Delta's Rogue
“Hi, Dylan.” Sebastian leans in towards them. “I’m your Uncle Sebastian, and this is your Aunt Sarina.”
“Tía,” I correct him. “TíaSarina.”
“Right. Sorry. This is yourTíaSarina,” he says with a chuckle. “He’s perfect,” he adds, glancing at Haven.
She nods and continues staring at her son. “He really is.”
Wesley’s phone rings, and he jumps up, grabbing it from the dresser. “It’s Reid,” he announces. “He’s video calling.” He holds the phone away from his face as he answers.
Before Wes says anything, Reid’s voice blares through the speaker. “I’m a dad again!”
“Me too!” Wes beams. “Well, not again, but yeah. Our baby is here too.” He crosses to the bed and waits at the edge. “Should we introduce them to each other?” he asks Reid.
“Absolutely!”
“You go first,” Wesley says.
There’s some shuffling on Reid’s end of the phone as he gets ready, and then he says, “Here’s our little gummy bear!”
“He has a name!” Taryn yells over the sound of her hand smacking Reid.
Sebastian laughs and wraps his arms around my shoulders. Nolan, Cassandra, Sebastian, and I wear smiles that stretch across our faces and hurt our cheeks as we watch the future leaders of Crescent Lake “meet” each other for the first time.
“And that name is?” Sebastian asks.
“Austin,” Reid says. “Austin Laurence Thomas, Crescent Lake’s future beta.”
“All right, Austin.” Wesley angles himself so Haven and Dylan are in the camera’s shot. “This is your future alpha, Dylan.”
“I can’t believe you two had your babies on the same day.” Nolan shakes his head. “Then again, I can’t say I’m surprised either. It feels like it was meant to be.”
Wesley passes the phone around to everyone so we can all see Austin and gush over him like we did with Dylan. Reid and Taryn look just as exhausted yet happy as Wesley and Haven do, and for a moment, all thoughts of the traffickers, of my mental and physical scars, or of anything that exists outside of this room leave our minds. The only thing that matters is right here and right now, and the little pocket of joy we’ve all found amidst the chaos.
Cassandra tenses as she hands the phone back to Wesley. Her eyes go hazy. The phone slips from her fingers, and Nolan grabs her as her knees buckle beneath her. She gasps for air, and her terrified green eyes meet his worry-filled hazel ones.
At the same time, Wesley’s front door slams open and footsteps pound up the stairs and towards their bedroom.
“Cassandra? What happened? What did you see?” Nolan asks, keeping her upright as she trembles in his arms.
“I saw them,” she chokes out as Dominic bursts into the room, his chest heaving and sweat drenching his body. “Nuncio. Amara. The rest of the traffickers. They’re coming. They’re cominghere. To Crescent Lake.”
Dominic nods. “That’s what I ran here to tell you,” he says between his gasping breaths before anyone can respond to Cassandra. “Brenna just told me the same thing in a dream.”
Another auction done andover with. Another group of girls sold off to the highest bidders—bidders who will use and abuse them. They’ll add them to the rosters at their clubs, for the…enjoyment…of the equally vile patrons who frequent their establishments.
I don’t know how many more of these events I can take. I don’t know if I can sit through one more night like this one, pretending to be unfazed by the males who trip over themselves to snag one of the girls presented to them.
The entire operation sickens me. I hate that I’m constantly positioned at Amara’s side, that she considers me her protégé, that she requires me to follow her around during every auction.
If I could, I would leave. I would run and run and never look back.
But I can’t. There’s no way for me to leave. There’s no escape for me. I don’t have access to the exterior doors. The only time I’m allowed to leave is for auctions, and Amara rarely lets me out of her sight during the events.
So, I played my part. On the outside, I’ve spent every single day pretending to be exactly what she wants me to be: innocent, impressionable, compliant. I’ve protected myself by doing everything she asks without question and without showing my distaste for it all. All the while, I waited. I waited for a girl to come into that sorting room with a fighting spirit or connections to someone—anyone—on the outside who could outsmart Amara.
Fate handed me Sarina. Sara Anaís Goodrich Cisneros. The fiery lycan female who is the heir to the throne of the werewolf kingdom. Someone whose family would definitelynotice she was missing—a family that would do anything to get her back. And she happened to be hunting down the very group that captured her.
My one hope. My shot in the dark.
