Chapter Forty-Six
Wes
Taking a sip of excellent coffee, I looked around the chaos as we had a lovely catered brunch in the giant mansion Spencer’s family had rented for the weekend. Our house was fancy, but this was just ridiculous. Though honestly, if we ever got a new place, I wouldn’t mind a pool with a waterfall.
While I wasn’t hungover from the mating ceremony, I’d been up late as Evan bounced between my bed and Brennan’s, both of us getting Grace’s lust and desire through the bond as she and Spencer enjoyed themselves at the hotel last night.
Okay, that was a bit of an understatement.
Fuck, I got so worked up last night that I’d been tempted to join Brennan, Jett, and Evan. Yeah, usually Brennan and I didn’t fuck outside the nest, but he’d let me in, right?
All around me, people chatted and joked. A few people played music in the corner.
I hadn’t met much of Spencer’s family other than his mom. I’d expected them to be like him–serious, reserved, a bit shy. While his father was like that, most of them were exactly the opposite. Especially his cousins Daphne and Zoie. They’d all grown up together.
And no one would tell me how Zoie made Evan dislike pizza. He knew most of Spencer’s family, even if he hadn’t seen a lot of them in some time.
Everyone wanted to talk to Grace, and it was nice that they liked her, especially since she’d been nervous about it.
They also wanted to talk to Spencer’s father. He arrived this morning with Spencer’s mom, looking like they’d had a very happy night of their own.
Fuck, Spencer’s dad was back. Wild. At least Spencer was happy about it. If my mom showed up, I’d probably kick her out and refuse to talk to her. If Grace’s not-mom showed up I’d kick her ass.
I was curious if Nick remembered sending Grace and Rosalind to another world.
“Eat, you haven’t had enough,” an auntie of Spencer’s told me as she gave me another plate of food.
“Thank you.” Was there anything else to say? The food was delicious, though I couldn’t eat much more.
The entire pack was here at the brunch Spencer’s family had organized.
The house had a piano, and Brennan played along with the musicians, occasionally laughing as he tried to improvise to an unfamiliar style.
For once, he looked relaxed and happy. Huh, was that the secret to his having fun at large functions?
Sonja and her fiancée were also there, talking to Evan in the kitchen.
Grace walked past me, and I pulled her down into my lap. She wore a blush dress that made her look like a princess going to a garden party in a story.
“Hi, Peaches.” I kissed her, hoping I could get her alone before we had to go to the adventure park. Last night made me think about how amazing it would be when she, Evan, and I finally had our wedding.
“Hi, Boo-Bear.” She leaned her head on my shoulder. “Ugh, I wish that I didn’t have to attend a lunch after this. I need a nap.”
“Oh, I’d gladly put you to sleep.” I kissed her, holding her close.
Spencer’s mom had some family in town, too, and they were having a late lunch. Fortunately, I didn’t have to go to that. I’d need a nap before the adventure park.
“Get a room.” Riley appeared before us in a skirt, shredded shirt, and boots. Mercy, in a Capitol Crushers T-shirt, shorts, and sneakers, was with her.
“You’re off? Have fun. We’ll pick you up on our way to the adventure park.” Grace climbed off my lap and gave them both hugs.
“Thank you for inviting us,” Mercy said. “We had so much fun. I can’t wait to come back, Tru, too.”
“Hale’s fireworks were the best distraction,” Riley added. “We’re out of here, laters, fuckers.”
The two of them left.
“Hale’s fireworks? You didn’t plan that?” I pulled Grace back down onto my lap.
“Hale and Dare’s present,” she laughed. “According to Verity, having some sort of elaborate distraction so that the couple can sneak off is a big thing in the South.”
Fireworks. And Hale tried to float the bouncy castle in the lake. Spencer’s club might not have us back.
“Oooh, food.” Grace took my plate and started eating.
“Here, have some coffee.” I offered her my cup.
“Thank you.” She made a joyful noise and ate my food.
Spencer came over to us. “Grace, my father would like to speak with us. My mother is busy talking to Sonja. Wes, you can come as well, if you’d like.”
“Sounds good.” I lifted Grace off my lap, and we followed Spencer up the stairs, Evan, Brennan, and Jett joining us.
Nick was waiting for us in what looked like a TV room. Spencer shut the door as Evan pulled Grace down onto the couch, I sat down with them. Jett and Brennan took the loveseat. Spencer sat with us.
“Oh, I didn’t think you’d all be here.” Nick frowned, looking a little nervous.
“We all know, Baba, both about you and Grace,” Spencer explained.
“Oh, I see. Grace, I wanted to know about your time with them, the Temporal Authority. I don’t remember anything, and I’m quite curious,” he said.
“I’d like to know about your encounters with them as well,” she replied. “I’ve seen some of your and Dr. K’s notes for your dimension mapping and how you found parallel worlds. It’s so different from what I was doing.”
Nick’s eyes lit up. “Did you bring yourself here?”
“No. But I wanted to.” Grace looked over at me and squeezed my hand.
Going light on the bad things, Grace told him about dreaming of me, her research, forgetting me but still being driven to prove parallel worlds, ending up seeing the wrong things, her time with the authority before she came to us, which I knew little about, coming to us, the trial, and returning here.
“Oh, that is quite an adventure,” Nick replied. “Thank you for asking them about me. If you hadn’t, perhaps I wouldn’t have been let go at all. I wish I could remember.”
“You may never. It could also just take a really long time. It depends on what Agent Weigmier gave you. I got too much on accident the first time, the second time, I think I got too little on purpose. My notes helped, but I eventually remembered almost everything,” she assured.
“You dreamt of your soulmate while in another world?” His hand went to his heart.
“We did,” I said, giving her a squeeze. “I’m so glad.”
He thought for a moment. “Why did the Authority bring you here? Because of your soulmate? That would be the decent thing to do, but also generous for them, not that I know much about them.”
“I think I fall under their Precious Population Protection Protocol. That’s what Agent Weigmier does for the Authority–help omegas and others. I think,” she replied.
Oh. I hadn’t really understood that. “Agent Asshole is the literal legal omega distribution system?”
“I think that’s actually Gloria in Processing who relocates people. But…” Grace sucked in a breath through her teeth. “Why I’m here, that's the second part. There’s a good reason why he brought me here–and why I dreamt of Wes.”
Grace explained everything about Thora and Rosalind.
“We don’t know everything,” Grace added.
“The only thing that makes sense is that somehow Rosalind contacted an organization that hides sigmas that was also in touch with you. She turned on her charm, and you sent her and a baby to a world without designations. I don’t blame anyone for anything.
Well, other than Rosalind. All I want is information as I try to piece things together. ”
I pulled her off Evan’s lap and onto mine, sending her love through the bond.
“Huh.” Nick thought for a moment, then spoke to Spencer in Greek. There was frowning and counting on fingers.
“Wait, you hadn’t been doing it that long, had you?” I breathed. “Huh. I never really considered that. I mean, if you were, good for you, but...”
Grace exhaled sharply. “It wasn’t you.”
Spencer squeezed her hand.
“It wasn't us,” Nick said slowly. “We worked with an organization in Europe that smuggled illegal designations–and we placed families. I will admit, there was a family or two we literally pushed through and hoped for the best. But it wasn’t us, I’m so sorry.”
“I’m curious. There were others?” I asked.
“They were tenacious. Huh,” Grace muttered.
“Dr. K and I weren’t the first,” Nick told us.
He looked at Spencer. “We really discovered the existence of parallel worlds–with no help from them. That discovery, and the paper Dr. K wrote, came after they first came to us. But it was just that, a theory. We did it partially because we wanted to prove it for ourselves and save people without their help. Of course, that discovery was just a small step compared to actually bringing people to our world, but it was an important one.”
“Of course it is,” Grace assured. “It’s further than I got. And you’re right, proving something and reliable travel are very different things.”
His eyes pleaded with Spencer. “I never lied to you. The day we proved it, and I shared it with you, the excitement was genuine. But I kept things from you, and if you saw us taken, I hope you understand why?”
“I do, Baba. Also, I’m pretty sure that the paper that Dr. K wrote isn’t around anymore.
After the explosion, research in your field was discouraged.
Especially given that you weren’t the first or last project in your field that went awry.
Though once a month Mrs. K thinks I’m starting it back up again. ” Spencer shook his head.
“Perhaps it’s time for me to start at the beginning.” Nick took a sip of his coffee.
“Please?” Grace asked.
“It was perhaps three years before we were taken that they first appeared. We made some very significant progress in our qubit research. They said they’d noticed us and pitched the opportunity to help.
At first, we thought that they’d help us with our research and share their science.
Who wouldn’t want that? Quickly, we realized that we were just a drop off point, and they didn’t want to keep their promises to share their knowledge.
That led to us pushing ourselves with our other research.
We knew it was possible, so we proved it,” he stated.