Chapter SixWes #2
The look of longing on Grace’s face as she wrapped her arms around herself broke my heart.
I was fucked.
Evan turned to Grace. “You said someone took Fade away? How?”
How was he coping with this? I wasn’t. My soulmate from another world was here. In person. In my kitchen. Hurt and with amnesia.
All I wanted to do was hold her tight and kiss away her tears.
“Drugs–among other things,” I said softly.
“It was my own fault. All I had to do was admit that Fade wasn’t real, and everything was a dream, and then it would stop.” Her tone went mocking, and she winced, as if the memory hurt her.
It probably did. The shit they put her through…
“I don’t blame you for not finding me, Fade. I mean, if I couldn’t find you, then why should you find me? Anyway, I always came to you .” She peered up at me.
Grace was right. In our dreams, we were always in the park by my house, my room, my favorite places. She could come to my world in our dreams, but I couldn’t go to hers.
“Are you saying that your parents used drugs to make you forget him?” Evan went into social worker mode.
“It makes more sense than the boy in my dreams being real .” She looked away, still hugging herself.
It was worse than that. So much worse.
“But the boy in your dreams can be real, Peaches. People do dream of their scent matches. I helped someone track down their dream alpha a few months ago. Why didn’t your parents take you to a Center?” He looked at me, silently asking me the same thing.
Her world didn’t have Omega Centers.
People only dreamt of their scent matches, their soulmates. Not that everyone with a soulmate dreamed of them.
Evan hugged me to him, clearly feeling my conflict through our mate bond. “Easy, Babe. It’s okay.”
It wasn’t okay on so many levels.
Her head cocked. “Doctor. I’m Doctor Grace Ellington. I remembered something useful. Finally.”
Doctor. She did it. She got her PhD.
And came to me.
She finally figured it out. My sweet, brilliant, Grace used her theorems to find me, keeping that childish promise to get to me, just like we’d talked about over and over.
I’ll find you. Promise. What did I even do?
Evan was in full-blown work mode, probably the only reason he was functioning, and not the hot mess he was when Brennan’s ex tried to force her way into the pack.
“You said you were researching something, and the men that attacked you were after your research, do you remember what it was? You’re a research scientist? That sort of doctor?” Evan prodded.
“I remember how you wanted to become a string theorist and prove your parallel world research.” I studied her. “You did it. That’s all that makes sense. You did it and made it here like you promised, and somehow scrambled your brain in the process.”
“How… how do you know about that?” Her face scrunched up. “It’s just something I do for fun. I know, it’s ridiculous, but I think trying to prove it has been driving me since I remembered how fun math was.” Her head cocked. “Wow, I just remembered something else.”
“What are you talking about?” I stared at her.
She thought? Something wasn’t right. Even if her memories were messed up from coming here, shouldn’t she at least remember that?
“Your entire theory about why we were both real, and how we could travel to each other in our dreams, was based on math. You were going to prove it so you could visit me in real life using the string cheese theorem. That’s how you were going to find me.
But your mom didn’t like how focused you were on math.
Hearing you tell me about what they were doing to you undid me.
I tried to find you. I really did.” My voice broke, and my hands fisted as I wrapped my arms around Evan to keep myself from going to her.
“So did Lexi. We tried so hard. One day you never came back to my dreams.”
It crushed me.
“I think it’s just string theory? But it’s just that, a theory .
It wasn’t even a good theory; it was a hobby.
” She grabbed my drink off the counter and drained it.
“I mean, I think I do work with string theory, but…” She turned to Evan.
“Why can I remember that and not how I ended up here? What is wrong with me?”
“Brains are weird,” Evan soothed.
“It was your life’s work, well, it was going to be. Don’t you remember?” I frowned, even more confused. It wasn’t some silly thing to her.
“No.” She chewed on her lower lip and made herself small. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m in this predicament because I don’t know how I got here.” Her chest shook as her big, blue-grey eyes seared my soul. “But I remember you.”
Those words were bullets in my chest.
“I… I miss you.” She hugged herself again.
“There’s a lot I don’t remember about you–and us.
It makes sense now, why I always had this drive to pursue that research even though that wasn’t my actual field, so I could get to you.
But it was all theoretical. So how did I physically travel here?
How would I dream-travel? None of this makes any sense.
Just like what I do and don’t remember. It’s nice to see you, but I’m so confused that it hurts.
” Frowning, she muttered numbers and walked out of the room, like she did when she needed to puzzle things out.
“I’m so sorry. Um, I’ll make her go.” I pulled Evan tighter to me so I wouldn’t run after her. “Somehow, I’ll make this up to you.”
“Are you saying Grace dreamt of you, then traveled from a parallel world to get to you?” Evan’s eyebrows rose. “Parallel worlds, like something out of a movie?”
“Yeah. Her world’s kinda like ours, but doesn’t have designations. I know it sounds weird, existing in other worlds, but that’s all we could think of when we couldn’t find each other in real life,” I told him.
“No designations? Is everyone a beta?” Evan checked his phone again.
“Um, I guess? Wait, you believe all this?” I blinked. Sure, I had, once. But it had been over the course of the seven years I dreamed of her.
Evan shrugged. “While it could be disorientation from her concussion, the theories she’s talking about are real , well, as real as any theory. Spencer was obsessed with parallel worlds for a while when we were younger. That would explain why there’s no record of her–she’s not from here.”
The fact that Evan just accepted the possibility of her being from another world took me aback. But then again, he’d grown up with our packmate Spencer–and him talking about the possible existence of parallel worlds didn’t surprise me. That man was a mad genius.
“You’re not angry about her?” My brow furrowed.
Evan shrugged, sending reassurance through our bond. “Why would I be? She dreamt of you across the universe. It’s quite romantic.”
“She’s exactly the type of person you feared would take us from you.” I took a swig directly from the bottle, even though Brennan would have a fit if he knew.
Part of me wanted to go to her. I wanted to fix it, like the alpha I was.
What I wanted was her.
Whatever we’d had was still there, and I felt the tug.
But I had Evan now.
Evan pressed his forehead to mine. “Babe, I’m a little more secure now.
I’m pretty sure that she’s not going to steal you from me.
In fact, I’m downright drawn to her. I’m curious, does her pussy taste like peaches?
It was so hard not to lick her when she was using me as a pillow. I didn’t know how she’d react.”
“What?” I kept rubbing my head. “It was a dream, yeah, but her pussy tasted like peaches, and when we fucked–” I stopped myself. “I’m so sorry.”
“Stop.” He wrapped his arms around me. “It’s okay to be attracted to her. You loved her, right? I’m actually surprised you didn’t pull her in your arms and kiss her–and that she didn’t do the same to you. That wasn’t how I’d expect a lovers’ reunion to go.”
Me neither.
“I bit her,” I blurted. I might as well lay it all out.
“During dream sex?” His eyebrows rose.
My horny teenage-self had lots of dream sex with Grace. Especially after I went full-blown alpha at seventeen and my knot came in.
“They used drugs to keep her from coming to me in her dreams, and because she was good at math. Which was always so weird. When they sent her to that awful place, I tried to bond with her so that I could track her and get her out. They shocked and beat her to get her to admit that I wasn’t real.
Who does that to their kid? I could feel her slipping away.
” I looked at him, hoping that he understood.
She’d been my everything.
Then they ripped her from me.
“It was all I could think of. I loved her, Evan. But I couldn’t feel the bond when I was awake, and I couldn’t track her in my dreams. Then…
she stopped coming. I was so desperate that I confided in Lexi.
That’s why my sister became a detective; she helped me look for Grace and liked it.
Please don’t hate me. I should have told you, but then I had to explain Grace and it sounds weird when I say it outloud.
We were kids, and it was a dream and…” My head bowed as guilt ate at me. “I’m sorry.”
“I think she’s hot as fuck. I’m not threatened by her. Also, it’s not illegal to be bonded to both of us.” He grinned and looked toward the living room.
“Why are you being so reasonable?” I hadn’t expected that with everything he’d been through.
“I felt something the moment I met her. That’s why I brought her home. I can see her fitting in with this pack. Fitting under you. Oh, yeah.” He waggled his eyebrows, a little lust shooting through our bond.
“ Evan. ” Though she would. No, no, no. I wasn’t going to have thoughts of how she’d look between us.
“Actually, I want to watch her take your knot as she sucks my dick.” He put an arm around my waist. “I read her file. There’s a bond mark under her right breast.”
I sucked in a breath. “I don’t know what to do about her. If she doesn’t remember she had theories, how can she use them to get home?”
She had to go home, right?
“Do we need to send her home? If the only reason you want her to leave is that you’re worried about my feelings, then I say we go in there and comfort her and help her figure out what happened,” he told me. “Obviously, she’s been through it.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” No, I didn’t want to hold her.
A growl emitted from my chest as my fists clenched. Okay, I wanted to cuddle her, stroke her hair, and make everything okay the way I couldn’t when we were teenagers.
“Why are you being a dumbass? Okay, she broke your heart, but it doesn’t sound like that was her fault. Look, she’s here now, and alone, scared, and confused. I won’t be your excuse to be an asshole.” Annoyance made his lemonade scent sour as he scowled at me.
“She undid me.” It would be so easy to let her back into my life. Not to mention, something in me was stuck on the idea of having both of them in bed together.
“She’s scared, Wes. Someone’s after her.
There are vast gaps in her memory. She has no record, so she doesn’t exist here—and it’s pretty clear she needs help.
” He walked toward the doorway. “You fucking dreamt of her. That means she’s your scent match and not just your mate.
You should be greeting her like you’ve just been reunited with the love of your life.
Do you know how many people would love a second chance with their lost love?
If you’re going to be a fuckwad and deny her the comfort she desperately needs, then I’ll do it for you.
That little body fits so well in my arms.” He left the kitchen.
“Grace, Peaches, come here,” he said from the other room.
Another growl rumbled in my chest.
Evan liked her. Fuck. I’d never known him to be like this. My phone buzzed.
Lexi
The center said my Jane Doe was discharged to your omega. She’s at your house? That’s Grace, right?
Me
Yeah.
Lexi
I’ll be by in the morning.
For a moment I sat there, looking through the group chat–including Evan’s latest additions.
Evan
We figured out who Jane Doe is. Her name is Dr. Grace Ellington. She’s a research scientist or something, and I’m keeping her.
Brennan
We can help her, but she’s not a puppy.
Spencer
What sort of scientist?
Evan
String Cheese.
Brennan
***
I found myself adding to the chat.
Me
Theoretical mathematician with a specialization in string theory or something.
My phone beeped with a response.
Spencer
Quantum mechanic? I could use one of those. Do you know what field specifically?
Me
I don’t think she brought her wrenches.
I couldn’t help but remember her math jokes.
Brennan
What does quantum mechanics have to do with biotech?
Jett
Do I even want to know?
With Spencer? No. That man would either save the world or explode it.
With a sigh, I walked into the living room. This wasn’t her world. It would break me to lose her again–and unlike last time, I don’t know if I could come back from it.
At the same time, my childhood love was here and upset. My omega was welcoming, not jealous.
I had another chance with the woman I thought was dead.
My alpha screamed at me to stop being a knothead. To go to her and make it all better.
Hugging her sounded nice. After all, she was scared–and here.
Whatever I’d been through had been so much worse for her–and not her fault. Evan was right, I needed to get over my hurt and comfort her.
After all, what harm could come from a few cuddles?