“Maya, this is Ms. Kendrick,” Shelby says softly, lowering her voice like she always does with other omegas. “She’ll be handling your case personally.”
Maya blinks at me, clearly thrown. “I—I thought you’d hand me off to someone else. I didn’tfigure you…”
“I don’t trust anyone else with these kinds of cases. Not the ones that matter,” I say, gesturing toward the chair across from me. “Please, sit.”
She perches on the edge, body tense. Her scent, probably normally a pleasant light lavender and linen, has sharpened into something bitter, fear and exhaustion burning it at the edges. It makes me want to hide her away, and I’m not even an alpha.
Shelby raises an eyebrow at me, and I shake my head. She closes the door behind her, leaving me and Maya alone.
“First thing first. You can call me Ava, not Ms. Kendrick,” I say, leaning forward and opening my body language so she knows I’m on her side. “When I take a case like this, I want you to think of me as your meanest best friend. I’ll fight like hell for you. The cops like to call me the viper.” I grin.
A hint of a smile loosens her face, and her shoulders drop half an inch.
“Start at the beginning. Tell me what brought you here.”
She bites her lip. When she finally speaks, her voice trembles. “I left my alpha, Daniel, six months ago. I broke our bond and left with the kids. Now he is filing for full custody and wants to strip my parental rights.”
I wince but maintain composure even as anger flares beneath my ribs. I don’t know the facts yet, but it’s a story I’ve heard often enough. I slide a box of tissues closer to her.
“His lawyer claims that my heat cycles make me unfit,” she continues. “That I’ll either be bringing random men to our home or abandoning the kids to go to a clinic to get my sexualneeds met. He says it would be inappropriate for them to witness their mother being a… a whore.”
My jaw tightens until my teeth ache. “Let me guess, this motion came shortly after you brought up child support and alimony because you need help to pay the bills?”
She nods.
“It always does.” I let out a breath. “Okay. These are some questions I have to ask everyone, so please don’t view them as offensive,” I say carefully. “Do you have a history of violence or neglect? Anything he could point to besides your biology?”
She shakes her head, hard. “Never. I stayed home with them, and he never had an issue with how I parented until now. I actually got a job even with being unbonded.” She puffs up with a little pride at that, and it makes my chest ache. “I clean at our church when no one’s there. The pastor is a beta and helped me find a few other houses to clean while the kids are at school. My mother will watch them when I’m in heat, and I’ll use the clinic. I’m not in a rush to meet an alpha again. My kids are my priority. I’m a good mom, Ava, I swear. I’d never do anything to hurt them.”
I reach out and grab her hand. “Maya, I believe you.”
She looks so small in the chair, trembling but refusing to fall apart. The sight of her tightens something in my chest. She might be older than me, but she reminds me of myself when I was younger. Terrified but determined not to be seen as weak. It makes me wonder how different my life would have been if my parents hadn’t whisked us away in the dead of night after Ipresented and helped me hide what I am. I’d probably be in the same position as her.
I inhale slowly, reining in my emotions. She doesn’t need me lost in what-ifs; she needs me in control and vicious. “Can the same be said about your ex?” I question, leaning back in my chair and crossing my legs. “Is he a good father?”
She fidgets, shredding a tissue and twisting the pieces between her fingers and doesn’t meet my eyes.
“I can’t help you if you aren’t honest with me.”
Maya bites her lip, and I can tell she’s trying to think of how to word her thoughts. I wait patiently, though her silence has already told me what I need to know.
“He isn’t an abusive father. More of an uninterested one,” she finally answers. “In his family, raising kids is an omega’s only job, so he never took part. I don’t think he could even tell you what grade they’re in or who their teachers are.”
I notice the slight inflection on the abusivefather. “And with you? Was he a good alpha? Bonds are extremely painful to break. Not really something one endures just for a partner that doesn’t help with raising the kids.”
“No.” Her voice is small. “He wasn’t a good alpha.”
My heart breaks for her, though I’m not surprised. I reach across the table and lay my hand on top of hers,giving it a gentle squeeze.
“He was abusive,” she whispers. “Not the obvious kind, though. He’d punch the wall near my head or pinch my leg under the table if he didn’t like something I said.”
“I’m so sorry. You should never have had to deal with that. Was there anything else that people witnessed? Maybe verbal abuse?”
She takes a shuddering breath. “He screamed at me a lot. The neighbors called the cops a few times, but since I didn’t have any visible injuries,” she pauses, taking a shuddering breath before releasing a short, bitter chuckle, “they took his word and didn’t file charges. Probably not much of a help for you.”
A small, wicked smile flashes across my face. “You let me worry about that. You’d be amazed at what my team can dig up. If there are 911 calls, we’ll get them.”
Her lips part, hope flickering in her eyes. “Do you really think you can help me?”
