“You did what you could,” Foster cuts in, his hand moving to rest on my knee. The warmth against my bare skin sends shivers up my spine. I get lost in his eyes, drowning in the pride and reassurance I see there. When his thumb swipes against my skin in soothing circles, I nearly melt into the couch. “Whatever the Montgomery cult is planning, the DAU and FCDA will stop them. Acting recklessly would have only put you and your children in danger.”
Shepherd grunts his agreement, leaning closer to me as if he is as drawn by our connection as I am. It’s too much. The weight of their attention. It would be far too easy for me to fall into it. To accept the support they seem to be willingly offering.
But I can’t.
Can I?
No, at least not until all of this is over and I have taken care of my marriage to Colin.
Sitting up straighter, I gently remove Foster’s hand from my body. Donovan drags Lex and Shepherd into the next room, and the male Omega eventually follows them, muttering something about doing the dishes, so Omen doesn’t have to.
My sister is lost in thought across from me. Every second watching her wilt compounds the worry growing inside of me. Rejection is a grievous disease. An incurable one. Leaving her here to face it alone feels wrong.
When I ask as much, she brushes me off with a half-smile. “I just got my big sister back. I’m not going anywhere. We have a lot of catching up to do after the dust settles.”
She wraps me in a long hug, her body melting against me like she did when she was little. Our time together may end soon, but I have faith that I will see her again. Fate will not take my sister from me yet. She’ll fight this rejection like the little gremlin she is.
Tears line Omen’s eyes as she stands at the bottom of the stairs, watching us prepare to leave. Saying goodbye so soon hurts me just as much, but Lex was right when he mentioned we would be a bigger target if we stayed together. We have to trust our assigned DAU guards to keep us safe. One day soon, we’ll be reunited again; I know it.
“Here, take this.” I press a worn shirt into her hands. She fists the fabric, looking torn between refusing it and accepting it. “I have enough clothes to last,” I promise her. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed you trying to get more of my scent. It soothes you, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, but-”
“No buts. If I cannot be here with you, then you’ll take my shirt so that you have a familiar scent to help settle you.”
She caves rather quickly, pressing the fabric against her chest with a watery smile. “I wish you didn’t have to leave.” Pulling her against my side, I wrap my arms around her and hum the song I used to sing to her when she was a baby. Her spine steels after a long moment, and she wipes her eyes as she steps away. “We’llsee each other soon. Stay safe until then. And don’t have that baby without me! I want to be there to hold your hand this time.”
I huff out a laugh as I let Shepherd lead me out the door. Donovan is waiting by the cars, swapping vehicles with us one last time before we disappear to our permanent safe house. Foster is buckling Kaitlin into her seat on the other side of the car, so I take a moment to pull the older Alpha aside.
“There is something I didn’t mention when we were inside. I didn’t want Omen to know.”
His brow quirks, but he nods in silent agreement. Even he can sense how fragile my sister’s emotional well-being is.
“The phone call I overheard between Colin and my father wasn’t just about locating Omen. They’re trafficking Omegas—and potentially Alphas—into New Hampshire. I don’t know the full logistics because this was the first I’d heard of it, but they are harvesting their glands and using them to produce something.”
Donovan’s face is drawn by the time I finish explaining what I overheard, including the time and location of the drop Colin expects tomorrow evening. “This is… extremely troubling. I’ll alert our agents and see if we can’t find more information to stop them before they cross the state border.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t gather more information to help with this.” The poor Omegas and Alphas they’ve captured. I feel like I have failed them.
His hand comes up to rest on my shoulder, heavy and steady. Blue eyes stare into mine with an intensity that comes only from Alphas. “You are not responsible for either your family’s actions or your husband’s. The information you have provided is worth more than you are crediting yourself.Thank you, Hannah, for everything you have done to hinder them and bring an end to their terrors.”
Swallowing back my protests, I try to let myself believe he is right. I cannot bear the weight of others’ actions as if they weremy own. The eleven years I’ve spent fighting should be enough. It’s more than anyone else has accomplished.
Seeing my slow acceptance, he smiles. “Good, now get going. You still have quite a journey to the safe house you’ll be staying in.”
The six-hour trip takes us along bland highways and down into the winding hills of western Virginia. As we bump along a dirt driveway leading up into the mountains, I pinch my nose and send up a quick prayer that I won’t be sick all over the floor. Rocking motions are not helpful when morning sickness already has my stomach a mess.
“Sorry,” Shepherd grunts, golden-brown eyes flickering to me in the rearview mirror. “We’re almost there.”
Not trusting myself to reply, I jerk my head in a nod and focus out the window. Ahead of us, a weathered log cabin comes into view. A covered porch wraps around the front and left side. The stone chimney peeking from the back of the roof piques my curiosity, but I doubt we will use the fireplace if they have one. Not in mid-July, when the temperature rarely drops below eighty.
When the car rolls to a stop, I glance around, searching for the agents who are taking over our care. There is no one in sight. In fact, the entire place looks as if it has been empty for some time. Furrowing my brow, I turn to ask Shepherd about it. My question dries on my tongue when I find both men’s attention already on me. Fates, I swear the temperature in here rose ten degrees.
Clearing my throat, I fiddle with Kaitlin’s buckles. “Are the other agents meeting us here?”
“Other agents?” Foster asks as he climbs out of the car and opens the door opposite me to grab the bags piled on the back seat.
“The ones taking over for the two of you.”
