“The point is,” I continue, “you have all been painting and decorating her new dinosaur themed nursery in the penthouse. She likely will never know Logan, but we’re one big family. After all, I grew up in a pack like that. I love Papa, seeing him as being as much my father as Dad is.”
When Ellington ducks his head, Hatton purrs to comfort him.
“And Bird is my son too.” Dad clenches his jaw. “He should be here.”
The smile dies on Papa’s lips. “I miss Bird. I need him to be brought home.I need my son.”
Ollie wraps his arms around the small Omega, kind as always.
Icarus stands up to his full height and paces between the couches. “Nothing feels right without him here. I promise, we are doing everything that we can to find him.”
“It’s like he’s just vanished,” I whisper. “The Institute are being deliberately unhelpful. I thought that if I could take over the Frost inheritance, I would have the money to buy Bird back. But it doesn’t seem to matter how wealthy I am, the Institute won’t allow him home.”
I can’t bear to think what could be happening to Bird.
What type of pack he could have been bonded to.
I don’t allow myself to think that the reason we can’t find a record of him is because he’s died.
It would break me, and I have to be strong for my family and pack.
“It’s more complicated than that, Gracie.” Piper shifts away from me, wiping his hand over his sweating forehead. He pulls off his sweater. I knew that he was too hot, sitting this close to the fire. “Bird is a high profile Omega sent to the Institute as a Rej. But he is also suffering from a serious pheromone imbalance. It’s a rare condition. Our…organization…haven’t been able to find out everything that we want to about the inner workings of the Institute because they’re secretive. But we’ve long guessed that they remove some Omegas’ names and hide what happens to them after that.”
“Why?” I demand, trying to mask how terrified I am for Zoe’s sake.
Yet I can feel the echo of it through the bond with Icarus.
“Because they have classified them as Rogues.”
Dad pales, and Papa whimpers.
“Nobody calls OmegasRoguesanymore.” Ellington looks like he’s on the verge of tears. “The last Rogue Hunt was inthe late sixteen hundreds, followed by mass burnings. Even amongst the most Traditional packs, it would be draconian to treat Omegas like that just because…they’re different. Bird has a pheromone imbalance. He merely needed a doctor. I t-t-ried to p-persuade Maya. I’m s-s-sorry.”
Papa scoots across the couch.
Even though tears are chasing down his own cheeks, he wraps his arms around Ellington’s shoulders. “I know you did. We will get our son back.”
Our son.
It is all Ellington needs to hear.
By the way that he immediately purrs and nuzzles Papa, for the first time in his life, I know that to him, it means everything.
“Whatever it takes.” I tilt up my chin. “I am getting my brother back, no matter how much the Institute try to hide him.”
“Plus you have us: an awesome Beta and Omega at your side now, love.” Zero gestures at himself and then Piper. “We’ll bring Bird home.”
“Whatever the risk,” Piper adds, “we’ll take it as our next mission.”
Dad is staring at Piper with a piercing intensity that I don’t understand.
Unexpectedly, he passes Zoe to Papa, then lurches toward Piper, before falling to his knees.
I wince at the crack of his kneecaps on the marble.
Startled, Piper tries to reach for Dad and push him back to his feet, but instead, Dad drags Piper into a hug.
“Do you know how many years I have wanted to hug the Wolf kids?” Dad is shaking. He smooths his hands over Piper’s curls. “How many times I have dreamed of saving you? Yet here you are, swaggering into my life to save my family and even talking about risking your life for my son like it’s nothing. But it’s not,young man. Your life isnotnothing. Don’t you realize that you could be executed?”
