“That you’re an omega werewolf? Or that there are other werewolves on the Dallas SWAT team?”
If she’d thought Carter looked pole-axed before, it was nothing compared to the expression on his face now. Hadley considered pulling out her cell phone for a photo but decided that would be a bit unprofessional. Still, a picture of him with that dumbfounded look on his face would have been priceless.
“I’ve known about werewolves since I was sixteen when my older brother went through his change and became an omega,” she said.
Carter did a double take at that. “Wait a minute. Your brother is a werewolf?”
Hadley closed her eyes for a moment at the wave of emotions that always washed over her whenever she thought about her brother.
“Was a werewolf,” she said slowly. “Gideon was never able to get control over the rage issues that come with being an omega. It ended up being too much for him and he committed suicide two years after going through the change. He was only twenty-one.”
“I’m sorry,” Carter said softly. “I didn’t realize…”
She nodded. “It’s okay.”
They sat in silence for a moment before Carter spoke again.
“How did your brother know he was a werewolf, much less an omega?”
“It was luck mostly,” she admitted. “Gideon hadn’t been a werewolf for more than a month or so—thinking he was going crazy the whole time—when we met a woman who knew all about werewolves—omegas especially—because her husband was one. We thought she was delusional at first, of course, but ultimately, we ended up believing her when everything she told us turned out to be spot on. I’m convinced Gideon made it as long as he did because of what she taught us. I owe her a lot.”
Carter took a drink of water. “How long have you known there are werewolves on the Dallas SWAT team?”
“It’s okay to call them your pack instead of team if you want,” Hadley told him with a smile. “You already referred to them as your pack mates a few minutes ago.”
His mouth fell open, and it took everything she had to keep from laughing. He was so cute when he was flummoxed.
“But as far as how long I’ve known about the werewolves on the SWAT team, that would be since last June, when your pack mate, Officer Cooper, was required to sit through those mandatory counseling sessions following his behavior during a bank robbery.”
Carter made a face. “Oh, that.”
“That,” she agreed. “When I saw the surveillance video from inside the bank, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. He threw those four bank robbers around like they were plushie toys. Having seen my brother do stuff like that, it wasn’t difficult to figure out that Officer Cooper is a werewolf. I assumed he was simply one wolf hiding in plain sight, but then Officer Bennett had to come in for help with the nightmares and hallucinations she was having. When my office ended up trashed after a session went wrong—complete with claw marks on the floor—that’s when I started reading your team’s press clippings and noticed that you people have a knack for surviving impossible situations. That’s when I realized most of you must be werewolves.”
Hadley expected some pushback on her theory, but instead, Carter shook his head, letting out a snort of amusement. “You know, with those deductive reasoning skills, you could get a job as a detective if this psychiatry gig doesn’t work out for you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said with a laugh, reaching for her bottle of water on the coffee table. Opening it, she took a sip, noting that Carter seemed more relaxed than she’d seen him since he’d started coming to therapy.
“So you knew—or at least assumed—that I was a werewolf before we even had our first session,” he said. “When did you figure out that I’m an omega? Most of the people in my pack don’t even know.”
Hadley smiled to herself a little, more thrilled than she probably should have been that Carter was finally comfortable enough around her to use the word pack. “Until you started using terms like curtain and started talking about things getting hazy, I didn’t know anything. Those are the exact same things my brother said when he started blacking out and losing time.”
“Is that when you came up with the finger massage thing and the lullaby? From helping your brother?”
Hadley nodded, pushing away the melancholy feeling that popped up anytime she thought of comforting Gideon. “It is, though it was mostly through trial and error. But while those tricks worked for him, you responded to them much better than he ever did.”
Carter finished his water and leaned over to place the empty bottle on the table, then sat back again. “I don’t want to dredge up bad memories or anything, but could I ask you something personal about your brother?”
She knew when she’d brought Gideon into this that Carter would want to know more, especially since he was an omega like her brother.
“I wish I could say that after all these years I’m over the pain of my brother’s death, but I’m not. I probably never will be,” she said with more honesty than she’d intended. “But I understand why this is important to you, so go ahead and ask. I’ll tell you anything I can.”
Carter nodded, but then hesitated, like he was trying to gather his thoughts. “I was hoping you could tell me why your brother killed himself.”
And there it was, the thing that no doubt scared Carter more than anything else. She couldn’t blame him.
“If only there was a simple answer,” she said with a sigh. “All I can say for sure is that my brother had problems with anger and impulse control long before he became an omega. On top of that he was dealing with some depression issues that I’m sure didn’t help.”
While she’d been hoping that answer would reassure him, the sudden tension in Carter’s shoulders told her that she’d done the opposite. She was about to ask if she’d said something wrong when he held up a hand to stop her.
