"Carm," he sobs. "I don't know where Cassie is," he cries into my shoulder. His whole body is shaking, tears pouring down his face, drenching us both.
"Shh,Nene. I'll get her back. She's safe for now." I rub his back, letting my alpha-wolf rumble in comfort for his male.
He raises wet, accusing eyes to me. "You and N-Nico have to stop saying that! Get her back now!"
I laugh, rusty and in disbelief. Relief is pounding at me so hard that I feel my head swim. "Si, Mattie. I'll never let either of you go again."
I stand with my male cradled in my arms. For once, my Mattie doesn't cringe away from being babied. My heart swells for him, my brave little omega. I kiss him gently on his forehead and walk back into the foyer where my pack lingers, ready to wreak our particular brand of negotiation with more wolves ofmipapá.
"¡Papá!" I let my voice echo through the house and wait for a response. He had better pray to the goddess that my female isn't crying. I fucking hate her tears.
---
36 – Superhero
Cassie
Lily hums something, a sound of distress, and the alpha's attention shifts back to her instantly. It's only then I realize that she can't speak. The damage to her neck must have ruined her vocal cords.
The injustice of it all makes me see red. She can't speak, can't scream, can't beg. She can only exist here in theattic, alone and silent, with no one visiting her but this crazed alpha-male who put her there in the first place!
The alpha is hushing her, his wolf rumbling contentedly when my omega wolf's eyes pop open, and her head comes up. Her lip curls back, exposing her glinting, sharp canines. She snaps her jaws at me, and the urge to be this female's voice is overwhelming.
I shift back to feet and use the momentum to scramble from the alpha's arms. He moves, almost in perfect synchronization, to put himself between her and me.
"You-you kidnapper!" I shout at him. His eyes flare wide. "You stole her! Carmichael is going to belivid! Youliedto him and Nico and Rique and José and Luis and-andeveryone!"
Ranting madly, I step toward him, ignoring the hardening of his eyes and the flexing muscle in his jaw.
"You're a terrible alpha!" I scream.
A tiny face pops around the corner of the open door Lily had emerged from earlier. Then another.
I choke on my own anger. "Pups," I whisper. A sob is wrenched from deep inside my body. I meet Lily's blue eyes past the alpha's shoulder, as bright and beautiful as my mate's. My mate has his mother's eyes.
"You're his truemate. You're Carmichael's mom. His real mama," I whisper. Black dots swim in my vision. I can feel my lungs compress with sheer disbelief and a soul-rending sorrow. The disbelief is mine. The sorrow... it's coming from her. From Lily. From the omega Carmichael was raised to hate when he should have loved her more than anyone else in the world. My mate was orphaned when he was only nine, and it was all a lie.
I look at the alpha, dead in his cold eyes. "I'll hate you enough for her," I tell him faintly.
The alpha growls before he stalks past me. "Clean the omega up and feed her. She carries our grandpup, Lily." He stalks down the hall into a bathroom, slamming the door shut. A moment later, I hear the sound of water coming on.
I meet Lily's eyes for only a fraction of a second before she's in my arms. Crying, she touches my belly gently. Even her tears sound strangled, and I know it hurts her throat to this day to make any noise at all.
"Don't worry. Carmichael will come for me, for us," I tell her confidently, trying to stem her tears. It's only a matter of time before he finds me. My heart aches. My mate is going to be devastated by this.
Lily just smiles sadly as her two pups sneak out of the hallway and grab onto her pants, peering up at me shyly.
"Hello," I greet them softly, "my name is Cassie."
"Juana," the older female says shyly. The younger one doesn't say anything, just stares up at me in wonder. "Rosalia," Juana points at her sister.
Rosalia reaches out and touches my thigh with the barest skim of her fingers. She gasps before burying her face back in her mom's pant leg.
"Are you Papa's new daughter?" Juana asks me innocently. "Like Rosie?"
I do my best not to make a face of disgust. The questions scrape my insides raw. My omega-wolf isn't acting very omega-ish right now. She's been abducted, imprisoned, and exposed to a horrific secret all in the space of a measly... I look around for a clock and find nothing that tells the time. Even the stove is one of those old-fashioned ones without any electronic controls... Well, I'll call it a day.
One day and my omega-wolf isn't happy. If she could, she would rip the alpha's throat right out, mate's father or not.