Page 97 of Stolen Omega

She stares at me for another second before she exits.

I move quickly after her, key at the ready.

She holds out a hand to have me pass it to her, and I hope to hell she doesn’t notice if Zelena’s bed really smells like a nest, like Russ said it did. She’s a Beta, so none of her senses are enhanced, but a nest is usually an obvious thing. She’d have to have no sense of smell.

She opens the door and steps into the room, making a disgusted noise almost immediately.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve told that girl to pick up after herself.”

Apparently, the pair of heels by the side of the door are the offending item.

She picks them up and moves forward.

The rest of the main room is in order. It’s tidy, with no clutter. The waste basket has a few empty soda cans and water bottles in it, but that’s the only real sign that there hasn’t been a cleaner in the room for a few days.

“Stay close to the door,” Alma instructs. “I’m going into her bedroom alone.”

I stay where I am, holding up my hands.

She takes the heels into the other room, and my heart starts to beat faster.

I don’t know what she’s going to find in there, or what she’s going to decide it means.

All I know is Russ claimed Zelena in her bed last night, after she perfumed for him.

She takes her time in there, and I can hear her muttering about the mess and making a racket with clothes hangers before she eventually steps out of the room and closes the door.

“I knew my daughter would hide it from me when she went into pre-heat,” she says, something small and white in her hand.

The aspirin bottle. Shit. She knows what it really is.

“I was ready to take her to a doctor to hurry things along. Looks like I don’t have to do that now.”

She taps it off her hand. “Where is Russell Kent tonight? Where was he when my daughter went missing?”

“He was on the tour bus when she went missing. He’s driving around looking for the van now.”

“I’m sure he is. Well, make sure you take him off night duty when you get my daughter back for me. I don’t want her getting overly attached to any one man. That won’t help her when her heat comes along.”

This woman is fucking diabolical. Her daughter is missing and all she cares about is making sure nothing changes the plans she has to keep her under tight control.

I’m wasting precious fucking minutes standing here.

I could be out there looking for my mate.

Alma puts the pills down on the coffee table. “I suppose she’ll need those after her first heat has been satisfied.”

She stalks over to me, and I clamp my jaw tightly to keep from saying something I might regret later. I’ve worked too hard to keep her from knowing what Zelena means to me to let my guard drop because her bitch of a mother is pissing me off.

She stops inches away from me and stares up at me. “Make no mistake about this, Archer. You’re the one responsible for letting kidnappers steal my daughter away. It’s up to you, and you alone, to bring her back to me, safe and sound. I don’t give a shit what you have to do to make sure that happens. Just make sure you’re the one to bring her back. If you don’t, I’ll tell the press and the police that you’re behind this kidnapping, and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you get charged and put in prison for the rest of your miserable fucking life.”

She means every word. The rage I’m filling up with is ready to boil over like lava.

She called me back here to make this threat, and she took her sweet fucking time to get out here because she wanted her power to be felt. She doesn’t give a shit about Zelena. She only cares about the money her daughter can make for her. That’s what she’s threatening to ruin me over.

Well, there’s nothing she could do to destroy me.

The only thing that could do that would be losing my true mate.

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