It’s just enough to keep me from completely breaking down.
“Where are you?” Dad asks again, his voice a little softer. “Why did you leave your mother at the dress shop? She was so scared. Where did you go?”
“I didn’t leave,” I say, and Cass’s hand presses gently between my shoulder blades. “I was taken,” I say. “But I’m safe now.” I don’t bring up the black market or anything that's happened since. There’s no point.
“Taken,” Dad repeats, like he’s struggling to believe it. “Are you still with the people who took you?” His voice drops to a whisper, “Do you need me to come and get you?”
“No,” I say with a nervous laugh. “I really am okay.” I take a breath. “I’m with my new pack. They saved me,” I say, knowing full well it’s a very simple way of explaining things, but I don’t care.
There’s a pause on the line, but when my dad speaks again, his voice is quieter, almost sad. “Are they being good to you, Tans?”
His gentle question hits me square in the chest. Guilt creeps in because I can hear how worried he’s been.I should’ve called sooner.
“Yes,” I say, and Cass’s hand moves over my back in slow, thoughtful circles. “They’re very good to me.”
“Sweetheart, I’d like to speak—” Dad stops short, but Ihear movement on the other end. Then there are voices overlapping. “No,” Dad says loudly, as if he’s talking to someone else. “No. It’s Tansy!”
Someone gasps on the other end of the line, and my pop’s voice cuts through first, thick with relief. “Tansy?” It sounds like he almost drops the phone. “Holy shit! Tansy? Are you there?”
“Yes,” I laugh, picturing the smile on his face.
“She has a pack, Daniel,” Dad says. “She’s mated now.”
“Oh, thank the stars!” Mom’s voice cuts through all the noise, and my smile fades. There is a beat of silence, and then her voice grows louder. “William? Did she say why she left me at the dress shop?” She sounds stern. “I turned around forone second, and she was just gone. Does she know how frantic I was?”
“She knows, Renee,” Dad says, and I close my eyes, pressing both my hands to my forehead.
The memory of that day flashes hot and sour in my chest. The saleswoman’s polite smile. That lovely green dress. My mother’s hand on my arm, steering me back into the dressing room like I was an unruly child. And then I walked right out the front door.
Dad huffs loudly. “Renee,” he says, clearly losing his patience. “She didn’t leave you. She wassnatched.” His words have bite to them, even through the phone.
“What?” my mother whispers.
“Someone took her,” Dad says. His voice is steady, but I know that tone. It’s the one he uses when he is forcing himself not to lose his temper. “She wasgrabbedfrom the shop. She didn’t leave you. I knew she never would have done that.”
A sound breaks out of my mother that is half sob, halfgasp. “Oh my god!” she cries. “Oh my, I knew it! I knew this would happen.” Her breathing turns uneven. “That was always my worst fear. Ever since she presented as an omega. I told you, William! I told you that the world is not safe for an omega like her.”
I just sit and listen, waiting for her to finish her little fit.
Cass’s hands find my hips, his thumb moving in a slow, thoughtless circle through the fabric of my shirt. He doesn’t interrupt or speak. He just holds me, while my crazy family yells at each other on the other end of the phone.
“I was right there,” Mom goes on, crying harder now. “If I hadn’t trusted that she would stay put…” There’s a gargled sob, then there’s movement.
Mom’s cries grow more distant, words blurring together as the phone is carried away. Footsteps echo faintly, the acoustics changing, my mom’s crying trailing off into the distance.
Then there’s the click of a door, and my mother’s voice completely fades. I hear Pop exhale, long and tired, before his voice comes back.
“Hey, kiddo,” Pop says. “You still there?”
“Yeah,” I say softly.
“We want to meet your pack,” Daniel says without hesitation. “All of them. I want to see where you are and who you’re living with. I need toseethat you’re okay.”
My stomach tightens, and I tilt my head up, looking at Cass. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say to that.
My pack alpha’s gaze drops to mine immediately, steady and focused. He shifts slightly, adjusting me in his lap, holding me closer before he speaks. “This is Cassian Vexler,” he says into the phone. His voice is calm and even. “I’m Tansy’s pack alpha.”
There is a brief beat of silence on the other end.
