Page 176 of Dream Mates
His scent went salty, and tears filled his eyes.
“It’s the thing I regret most in life. How I wish I could fix it. I’ve had to live with the fact I can’t ever reverse what I did. It… it kills me. Every single day I think of her, I think of what I did to her and Grace, and how even when I find Grace I’ll never be able to make it better. I honestly wouldn’t blame her if she never wanted to know me or my packmates–though I’d hope she’d try to get to know some of the children. Maybe?” He sniffed.
The pain rolling off him broke my heart.
“I’ve been told the story,” I said softly, my hand brushing his shoulder to comfort him. “I’m glad that you never stopped looking for your Grace, and that you acknowledge you screwed up. Creed and Verity told me because they were trying to convince me that I was your Grace, I think.”
He nodded. “Can you blame them? You and Creed look like twins.”
“It is eerie. But genetics are weird. Um, why couldn’t Thora just be part of your new pack? I get that Pippa was your scent match, but not all mates are. Only one of mine is. Was it because she was an alpha and the other women didn’t know her?Because she was a piano major? Sorry if I’m prying, I’m trying to understand.” It seemed like the obvious solution.
“Because we’re idiots.” He raked a hand through his blond hair. “It honestly didn’t dawn on me, and well, Adriana did a very good job of convincing me that Thora was a stalker. I think it was alpha possessiveness that drove her to do it. They wouldn’t have gotten along, and Thora being a piano major would only be a part of it. Thora didn’t play well with other alphas. But, we should have given it a chance. At the very least we could have shared our child.”
Huh. Adriana seemed to be the real problem here.
“Are you safe?” I murmured. “Adriana seems like a piece of work, and if you need help, my mate Evan is an advocate at the Omega Center. We can get you help, and keep you and the kids safe.”
His look softened. “I’m not being abused, promise. You probably wonder why I stayed. In the beginning it was because of Pip. IlovePip with my entire soul. It took a lot of work and therapy. I met with my advocate and therapist regularly for decades until they both retired.”
“As long as you’re safe.” I frowned.
“I am. I apologize for Adriana harming you and yelling at you. She still has anger issues and does take the protective alpha thing too seriously sometimes. But that doesn’t give her leave to harm you.” The professor frowned and shook his head.
“Do you love Adriana?” I was so confused by their pack.
“I care for her enough that I repaired our relationship and stayed with the pack for over two and a half decades. I’ve children with her and enjoy her company,” he explained. “I get something different from each of my packmates and it’s not always romantic love.”
I understood that. “Not to change the subject but why would a record be locked?”
His head tilted. “She must have done something very bad or gotten involved with terrible people for them to not want it to populate in your file when you were genscanned.”
“I never did a genscan,” I frowned. Maybe it was a test I’d gotten along the way?
The bigger question was why would a record onmyfile, my very fake file, belockedand why in the world did they think that Nate was my dad? Unless there really was an alternate me here? But then wouldn’t that have been apparent when I arrived here, and they kept scanning my face and having me press a finger to that little box?
“I honestly don’t know what happened that caused Thora to be in trouble, and what led to her death. They never gave me that information. But, oh, that sister of hers, it wouldn’t surprise me if once again, she’d brought her into something shady,” Nate added. “Or that her sister tried to blame it on Thora entirely.”
“Huh.” Things were getting weirder and weirder. My brain–and heart–couldn’t take it.
He nodded at my neck. “That mark looks brand new, are you okay? It must be hard being apart from him so soon.”
“It is, and…” I closed my eyes, reaching out and getting so much anxiety and panic from my guys. “We were supposed to spend the day at the beach. I was building a sand castle.”
“I do like the beach,” he told me. “I grew up on the Northeastern coast.”
“Oh, I went to Seaside recently with my mate Wes.” I grinned, remembering how much fun that was.
“There’s a pier there, right?” he asked.
I nodded. “With a sky swing and funnel cake and games. He won me a stuffed rabbit.”
“As he should,” he agreed.
The door opened and the nurse walked back in. “Good news, neither of you have illegal designations. Nathaniel, you’reconfirmed omega, and Grace, you’re confirmed gamma. As is your right, someone from the Center is on her way. Now, let’s take some blood so we can do the second test.”
“You’re a gamma?” He went quiet, still sitting next to me as the nurse took a large vial of his blood. No Compass BioTek tests here apparently.
I nodded.
