Page 185 of Dream Mates
I kept crying into his shoulder, thinking of all the times I huddled under the bed with only my pillow, of all the times I was grounded for too many blankets.
Of her knowing what me dreaming of Wes actually meant.
And her knowing that he could bereal.
“I’ve never really believed everyone about this gamma stuff, I mean how could I be an omega?” I sobbed, trying to work it all out in my head.
The reality crashed down on me. I’d been born an omega, and not only did wilderness camp rob me of so many things, ithalteda genetic process that was quite possibly close to being finished. No wonder my body was so screwed up.
“She did that, is that what you mean?” The professor held me tighter.
“Yes.” It came out as one big sob. She knew. She knew that Wes was real and had me convinced he wasn’t.
Just like she knew that my theories about travel between worlds were possible.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry she did that. I’m so sorry that I didn’t find you sooner. I looked for you and I never stopped looking. I promise.” His voice broke.
“It’s not your fault. You never would have found us,” I whispered, letting him hold me as love shot through the bond.
But how did we get there in the first place?
Chapter Forty-Seven
Evan
“Evan, is everything okay, you seem distracted,” my boss Claire said as I hurried back to the office after teaching a class.
“Um, yeah, there’s a lot going on.” I sighed. “I might need to leave early today.”
It had been difficult feeling Grace’s panic, Wes’ fear, and Brennan and Jett’s concern, and trying to function as normal.
“Come on.” She pulled me into the care closet. It was a place where we usually went to have private conversations and phone calls.
The shelves in the small room were filled with clothes, bedding, backpacks, housewares, and so many other things an omega might need.
She leaned against a shelf. “What is wrong?”
I sighed. “Grace has been taken in by the Office of Designation Management. But she’s not here, she’s out of town. Mrs. Beekman is on it, and someone from the local Center has been sent to her, but it’s fucking scary, Claire.”
“Oh shit.” Her brows furrowed. “Why? Sorry, none of my business.”
“We’re not really sure. It might have to do with her bio-dad.” Well, I wasn’t sure. Wes and Riley had probably figured it out by now.
“You can leave if you need to,” she told me.
“I have one meeting I need to take, then I’ll probably leave. I don’t know if we’re going there to be with Grace or not, but our head alpha is rounding everyone up.” Not to mention I could really use a hug.
She nodded. “That’s fair. You’re not on this weekend anyway. Can you reschedule this meeting?”
“It shouldn’t take long.” It was with Rose’s bio-dad. I’d already pumped Rose for information and done my own research. Now I needed to corroborate his story, and make sure his intentions were good, before I let Rose know that he wanted to see her.
We left the closet. A couple of people were in the office, eating lunch or working. I took my laptop and found an unused intake room. Ironically, this was the same one Rose had been in when I’d first met her and looked like a little living room.
Opening my laptop, I navigated to the video meeting room. Oh, he was already waiting for me.
I started the meeting and a man in a cowboy hat with red hair and Rose’s eyes stared back at me. Behind him were ropes, trophies, books, and pictures. A tiny cow sat on his lap.
“Um, hi. I’m Colt Sterling.” He waved awkwardly. “Oh, this is Jess. She’s not feeling good today.” Colt pet the cow on the head.
