Chapter Three
Grace
“Are you sure she’s actually dead? You know that helping a fugitive is a criminal offense?” The officer from the Office of Designation Management scowled at me.
“My brother said that she was dead. There was no reason to not believe him.” I scowled back. I was cold, tired, and hungry. My heart ached for Spencer. I wanted Wes and Evan.
Instead, I was alone, in a hospital room, hooked up to monitors, being questioned by someone from the Office of Designation Management. I’d already talked to the police and what was probably this world’s FBI. The agent from the Bureau of Investigation was still with us.
“Look, Grace,” she snapped. “We need to find Rosalind. Why don’t you just stop covering for her?”
“Covering for her?” What? The audacity. Anger exploded inside me. “I told you, she’s dead, okay,” I shrieked. “I was told that she was dead. No, I didn’t go and make sure. Why? Don’t you know what she did to me?”
I turned so she could see the scars lacing my back.
“She had them beat me until I forgot my soulmate. I’d never cover for her.
She’s the literal reason I’m a gamma. She knew the professor was my biological father and that my being an omega was likely.
No, I was never tested. Probably because it was obvious that I’d be an omega.
I was making nests in the laundry when I was three.
Three! You know who smells like laundry?
My soulmate, who I started dreaming of when I was ten.
A mate I’d really like right now. Not to mention I have another mate who might still be in surgery. ”
Or dead. No. I think I’d know if he was dead.
I wanted my mates. Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm myself. 3.14159265359
“What did Rosalind steal?” I looked up at the agent through blurry, tear-filled eyes.
She sighed. “You don’t need to know that.”
“Fine.” I turned to the officer. “How did Thora die? Why did Thora die?”
“Being a sigma is illegal. It didn’t hurt her. I promise,” the officer assured.
“That doesn’t make me feel better. I never even got to know her.” Yeah, I absolutely was going to help Spencer figure out how to make Elaris’ project to protect the illegal designations a reality.
“Now, can you just tell us the information I need?” the officer pressed.
“So, Thora was brought into the police because they thought she was her twin, or because they wanted to question her because of her twin and her brother. She gave me to Adriana, who turned me over to the baby shelter, who then gave me to Thora’s mom.” Who I supposed was my grandmother?
I frowned. “Thora’s released, then picked up again, and somehow it’s thought she was a sigma.
You murdered Thora–and Thora’s dad and brother.
At some point, Rosalind sneaks in, reaches out to Adriana Thorne, takes a payoff, makes me a fake record, and we disappear.
Thora’s mom explains my disappearance by saying that she can’t take care of me, and I was put into care.
Do I have the timeline right? Because I’m confused.
Until a couple of days ago I thought Rosalind was my mom, not Thora, and I didn’t know who the professor was.
” I might as well get all the information they’d tell me.
Especially if it could help me figure out how we got to my world.
“Not quite. First, it’s not murder. Also, your uncle and grandfather were found and tested later, when the whole family, minus you, Rosalind, and Thora, were brought in.
If you were in the house, you would have been tested, and there would be mention of it under one of your records.
They should have looked for you in care, but we don’t always have the resources to search hard for someone,” the officer told me.
“You test babies?” Horror coated me. But then my siblings were tiny, and they were tested.
Also, not murder? Really?
“You’ve had the test, it doesn’t hurt. Small children will need to be tested again as teenagers.”
“How can you be so calm about it?” My hands fisted as the tears started again.
“Can you just answer the questions?” Anger and frustration rolled off of the officer.
Ugh. It’s not like I could tell them the truth.
Or could I?
“Fine. But I want my mates. Somehow, Rosalind accessed a smuggling network that helped people with illegal designations start over. We were sent elsewhere. No, I don’t know who these people are. I’m making deductions here,” I told them.
“Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. Give me your address where you grew up.” She tapped on her tablet.
I gave it to her.
“A real address, Grace. This city doesn’t exist.” Her eyes narrowed.
“Not here. Somehow, we were smuggled to another world. One like ours, but not quite. One where she wasn’t illegal. The smuggling ring isn’t around anymore, and I wish I knew how they did it. I mean, I know the basics of the math behind it, but not how you’d actually implement it,” I elaborated.
She blinked. “You expect me to believe that you went to another world? How did you get back?”
“That’s a whole different story,” I replied. “But that’s why you can’t find Rosalind Ellington or her address.”
Anger filled the room as the officer huffed. “I can’t even.”
“Grace, your genetics are fine. You said so yourself, she hurt you. Just tell us what we need to know, instead of making up stories about other worlds,” the agent scolded.
“I did! A concussion gave me memory loss. It’s in my file.
She’s dead, okay. So, you can rest easily that there’s one less sigma out there, and you’ll just have to recover her treasure later.
That’s what this is about, right? Not prosecuting her, but finding whatever it was she stole?
Can I have my mates now?” I snapped, tired of all this.
“I’m done here.” The officer stormed out, slamming the door behind her.
The agent shook her head and left.
Ugh. I wanted my mates. While I got love from Wes and Evan, I wanted them. But I had no idea where my phone was. Also, I was only in my swimsuit.
I used the bathroom, bringing the monitor with me. Maybe I’d go find them. I tried the door to the hall. Locked.
“Can I have some food? My mates? Anyone?” I banged on the door.
Nothing.
“Hey, I thought I didn’t do anything wrong?” I opened the shades and tapped on the window that looked out onto the hallway.
Still nothing. Trudging back to the bed, I pressed the call button. Maybe a nurse could bring me some food?
The room was a little smaller than the one I’d been in back in Rockland. It had a couch and a small table. But it felt uncomfortable. Probably because I didn’t have my hot man mattress.
Two people walked by, and I perked as the door opened.
“Hi, Grace. I came to check on you,” the doctor I’d seen earlier said.
A male nurse in pink scrubs was with her, pushing a small machine.
She looked at the monitors and made notes on a tablet.
“I feel fine.” Though I know I had a seizure.
“That’s good. You have had a lot of seizures, and that’s concerning. Though you blacking out because your mate was in pain isn’t abnormal.” She glanced at her tablet and nodded.
“Could I have my mate now? Also, some food?” My belly rumbled.
“One of your mates has been banned from the ward, the other is unconscious, so I think the answer is no,” the nurse snapped as he attached me to a small device that, if I remembered correctly, read my brain.
“Spencer’s unconscious? Did the surgery go okay?” I asked. Wes had been banned? I thought I’d heard shouting earlier.
“Well, he did get stabbed because of you,” the nurse muttered.
The doctor shot him a look. “I believe the surgery went well, and he’s now in recovery.”
“Okay, can I see him? Could I get my phone? Maybe a T-shirt? Can I have my omega? One of my packmates? I’ll take any of them?” Actually, Riley would be a good companion right now.
“Let me check. Usually it would be yes, but this is… extenuating.” The doctor frowned.
My shoulders slumped. “Okay.”
“I’ll be back later. We’re going to need to run some more tests. The nurse will finish up and bring you some food.” The doctor left.
Muttering under his breath, he finished up the readings and unhooked me from the device.
“Thank you. I understand if I can’t see my mates, but maybe the person from the Omega Center that they sent away can come back?” I asked. “Could I get a blanket? Please?”
“No,” he huffed as he punched some buttons on the monitor I was attached to. “You don’t even belong here. Ugh. I don’t know why they’re keeping you here and not at one of their facilities. Dirty fucking variants don’t deserve medical care.”
“What? I’m not an illegal designation. It’s about someone I once knew. I didn’t do anything.” Why was everyone so mean here?
His eyes narrowed. “That’s what they all say.”
Pushing the machine out, he slammed the door, muttering, “Yeah, not bringing a variant food or a blanket, especially one that almost got her mate killed.”
Well, someone needed to work on their bedside manner.
Still, what he said weighed on me. You don’t even belong here.
But it was my fault. Spencer’s injury was because of me. He put himself between me and the knife. I was the one that Adriana meant to stab. He could have died. He could still die. If we lost him because of me…
Spencer never would have been on that beach if it hadn’t been for me. Actually, so many bad things happened to the pack because of me.
Not to mention, were they really okay with my bio-mom having illegal genes? It seemed like some people weren’t. Like that nurse.
Maybe they’d just leave me here. For all I know, they were gone. I mean, she said Spencer was recovering, but she didn’t say that he was here. Maybe he’d been sent to another hospital.
None of the guys signed up for a gamma with a mom with an illegal designation, a bio-dad with homicidal mates, and an aunt that somehow ran away to another world.
I was toxic. Dangerous. The entire pack could be in danger because of me.
Love and reassurance came through the bond from Evan and Wes. I tried to tamp down the bonds and shut it off the best I could.
I didn’t deserve it. Them.
Yeah. They would have been better off if Agent Weigmier had never brought me here.
All I did was ruin everything. Curling up in a ball, I started to cry.