“Not helpful,” Griffin says, rolling his eyes.
“You werearrested?” I gasp. I sure have been doing a lot of gasping. I don’t think that’s entirely my fault, though. Everything has just been so crazy to digest.
“I was,” Rowan nods, reaching out and lacing our hands together. “And I was assigned a criminal defense lawyer.”
“But you’re okay now, right? Reyna promised me that none of you are in trouble!”
“I’m okay now, Sugar, no need to worry,” Rowan reassures, his thumb tracing small circles on the inside of my wrist. “That defense lawyer... he...”
“Just say it, Rowan,” I say, practically dying from the suspense.
“He’s your father, Mirabelle. Your full name is Mirabelle Hollis and you were kidnapped in the riots that happened fifteen years ago. Apparently, when everything happened and mobs from the Southside started raiding the Northside, there were some mercenary groups who went through kidnapping people. Kids and young teens that were from families with omega or alpha parents.”
“O—oh my God,” I say, clutching at the blankets around my shoulders like a lifeline.
“Your mother... Didn’t make it, according to your father. She died trying to keep you from being taken. She loved you a lot,” Rowan murmurs.
Tears trail down my cheeks as I try to swallow past the lump in my throat.
“Wasn’t there a better fucking way to explain this shit?” Ash grumbles, tugging me into his chest.
I bury my face in the crook of his neck, soaking in his charred Sage scent and letting it wash over me.
“It’s fine,” I whisper, trying to wrap my head around the fact that I do have parents. Parents that sound like they loved me a lot. A mother who was willing todieto protect me.
“Sorry, Sugar. I just think it’s important for you to know the whole story of where you came from. And I think it’s best if it came from us.”
“No, you’re right,” I sniffle. “Keep going.”
“The running theory your friend Reyna and her pack have come up with is that you were taken because they thought you had the possibility of presenting as an omega. And you did,” Griffin continues.
“So you were put in that facility where your blood was used to produce the enhancement drugs that were sold on the black market,” Rowan continues.
“So girls were just... kidnapped?”
“Yes,” Rowan nods.
“Not just girls,” Ash drawls, hiking a thumb over his shoulder towards Rage, who stares at me intently.
My eyes widen in understanding.
“They took me too,” Rage murmurs. “When I was a teenager.”
“Because they thought you’d present as an alpha?”
Rage nods, staring down at his hands.
“Kids like Rage were sold to farms like my family’s, and they were forced to become feral and fight. Their blood was sold to the same pharmaceutical company that produced the enhancement drugs, except the feral alpha blood was used to produce the suppressants sold on the black market,” Rowan continues.
“Stronger and more dominant the feral alpha, the greater the amount and stronger the suppressants they could make,” Griffinadds.
I reach out a trembling hand to Rage, pulling him closer to the makeshift cuddle pile going on in the center of the bed.
“So we—we were both taken,” I say, my heart squeezing in my chest at the thought of all of that happening to a young, teenage Rage.
“I don’t remember it,” Rage shrugs as he shifts closer. “Doctors say... I might never.”
“I don’t remember being kidnapped either,” I say, ducking my head down to meet his gaze. “That doesn’t mean we can’t have feelings about it.”
