Page 55 of Dream Mates
“Yeah.” I could purr? Well, I could growl.
“Everything okay?” Wes asked as he and Jett joined us.
“We’re okay,” I confirmed.
The five of us went upstairs, and I entered the kitchen to do the dishes. Spence was there, washing large pans.
“Hey, I can do that.” I put my arms around his waist. It was my turn to clean up.
He gave me a fond look. “I’ll finish the special pans, and you do the rest?”
“Spence?” I needed to tell him the rest of what I learned about his dad.
“Yes, Darling?”
“Your dad didn’t go to jail just for discovering things. He was part of some sort of really big people-smuggling ring. But the good kind. Agent Weigmier wouldn’t give me details. He said that even though they were helping people, you couldn’t just send people from one world to another without consequence, and that they were still cleaning up the mess, years later–though he didn’t elaborate. I hope they didn’t send people back when it would endanger their lives.” I rested my head on his back.
Putting down the pan he turned and enveloped me with his arms. “Thank you. And I know a little of this. I was trying to figure out if there was anything I could do to get you back and stumbled upon the information that my father and Dr. K were part of a group of people smuggling omegas. My father and Dr. K would take omegas from worlds where they were illegal and set them up here with new identities. A lovely and worthy cause.But considering they’d done it for years, I could see how people might get upset. I do hope that no one sent those omegas back. It means the world to me that you asked about my father.”
“I hope they let him come home. I’d love to meet him.” Saving omegas? That sounded extraordinary.
Spencer tipped his head to mine. “I’d love for nothing more.”
Chapter Fourteen
Brennan
Unable to sleep, I left the bed in the room Jett and I shared in the cabin. Everything was dark as I went out into the hall. A little tug on my mate bond with Evan told me that he was not only awake but… busy. I shut that down as I went to the kitchen to get a drink.
I was still really confused about Grace. About her return. About what happened in the nest. About her too-crazy-to-be-true story about being from another world and taken by the interdimensional police to testify in an inter-world weapons smuggling ring trial.
Taking a bottle of bourbon from the cupboard, I poured myself a glass. I took a sip, letting the liquid burn my throat as I leaned against the counter, the only light coming in through the big windows.
What I’d told her earlier, about being glad she was back was true. I was happy she’d returned to us.
But the thing that ate at me was that it wasn’tjustbecause she meant everything to Evan and Wes. At some point I started to care about her. Which was why I’d pulled her to me when I’d triggered her and tried to comfort her.
“Can’t sleep?” Jett put his arms around my waist, he was only wearing boxers.
“Are we really believing that whole story about Grace being a witness in interdimensional protection?” I took another sip. It was a wild tale.
“Are you asking Officer Jett or Packmate Jett?” He left my side and opened the fridge. “Snack?”
“Both and yes.” I swirled the liquid in my glass, watching that ass as he bent over and rummaged through the fridge. The main tattoo on his back was of a dragon, surrounded by some smaller ones.
“Officer Jett feels like it’s perfectly plausible. If key witnesses were beingkilled,and someonetried to kill Grace so that she couldn’t testify, I could understand her being stashed somewhere until the trial. Shit, I’ve been that officer, helping to hide someone then get them to the stand without other people finding out.” Jett closed the fridge and set some chicken wings and butter on the counter. “Don’t know what they’re for, but they’re not labeled, so they’re my snack now.”
I mulled over what Jett said as he got down spices, flour, oil, and hot sauce.
“Did you get anything from her body language indicating that she might be lying? Both tonight and ever?” I leaned against the counter.
“No. I mean, there were holes in her story, there still are. While I knew that she was hiding something, I never got the idea that she was outright lying. Packmate Jett also believes her. Tonight, it was pretty obvious that she was trying hard to tell us some painful shit. I felt flickers of her pain through our bond with Evan. Her professor tried to pin a crime on her and then attempted to kill her–and nowshe remembers it. She was literally dropped into another world with no memory in order to protect her. I think no one’s paying attention to all that. Not to mention, they almost sent her to another world away from Wes. That probably scared the shit out of her.” Jett mixed the flour with spices.
I rubbed my chin, considering this. “You’re right, the story is so big, so wild, that I really didn’t consider all of that.”
While Spencer and Wes did drop this on us days ago, I’d been so busy with Evan and his heat that I hadn’t had time to process it. It was a lot to take in. Other worlds existed.
And Wes fell in love with someone from one.
