31. Nolan
31
Nolan
We make it to Nora's mother's home in record time, breaking more than a few traffic laws on the way.
They took our girl, and we're not going to stand for this.
Screeching in front of the house, we see two cops posted up on the front porch, the lights in the house are all off except for a single room in the back. I storm up to the door, and, predictably, the cops try to body-block me.
"You have no business here," the tall one says gruffly. He smells awful, some sort of sticky, soured aroma that makes my stomach turn. I don't know how I know, but I can just tell he's crooked.
"My Omega is being held there against her will, so I would say I certainly do have business there."
"Your bonded Omega?" the other asks with a bored drawl. He's rounder, with a low brow and a sneer on his face. "Because if she ain't bonded, she ain't yours."
"She's our scent match," I snarl. "You will not keep me from her."
"Sorry, sir," he says, not sounding sorry at all, "but without an official bonding, you have no claims to an Omega. One that I cannot confirm nor deny is inside."
Joey shoves past me, his body bulk taking up an impressive amount of space on the porch. "I'm not an Alpha. I am her friend, and I am concerned for her well-being and request a wellness check."
The cops shoot each other a look, wondering if denying him is worth the hassle, and seem to come to some sort of silent conclusion. The tall one leans back to knock on the door. It opens just a crack. "Yeah, we've got a Beta here requesting a wellness check on the Omega. He claims they're friends."
Nora's mom opens the door with her hands on her hips. "You are no friend of hers. I don't even know where she'd meet someone of your … standing," she sneers. She peers around Joey and locks eyes with me. "And you. Pack Sloane is no longer an appropriate match for Nora, and even if you were, she does not wish to see you anymore. She realizes now that you manipulated and took advantage of her. It's going to take Dr. Greene weeks to undo the damage you all caused." She rubs her fingers between her eyes. "Just leave her alone and let her heal. You've done enough."
The door slams in our faces.
"You heard the lady. Get out of here," the cops bark, though they are not nearly as powerful as any in my pack.
But what choice do we have but to leave?
Back in the car, Chase, a broken man slumped in the passenger seat, buries his face in his hands. "Do you think Nora really doesn't want to see us anymore?"
"I don't believe that for a second," Blaine says, staring out the window. "Our girl loved being with us."
"I agree with Blaine," Levi says, pulling his knees up to his chest. "She really was starting to understand the damage and lies that came from Dr. Greene and her mother. I don't think she would choose to go back to them."
We make the rest of the drive home in silence, but after we park and before we get out, Chase says something that rattles all of us. "Dr. Greene asked her if she took our knots. If she let us ruin her. And then her mother said Dr. Greene was going to undo the damage we caused…" He gets out of the car, and we follow, waiting to see what more he has to say. "How is he going to fix the fact that she was knotted by an unacceptable pack?"
He turns at the door and looks at all of us. "Is he going to find her an acceptable pack?"
The next day, we call a lawyer.
None of us is willing to wait and hope that one day, her mother will change her mind and let us see her. The likelihood of that seems like waiting for snow in hell.
"Look, I have to tell ya," the Beta lawyer, Alicia, says. "It doesn't look good for you."
"Don't tell us that," I say, leaning my elbows onto our dining room table. The entire pack is here, with Alicia in Nora's seat, staring her down as she goes through the research she prepared. This room is normally so lively, with conversation and drinks flowing, but now it feels like a wake. The lawyer is handsome, with a round face and curly brown hair that frizzes around her head in a halo. She's got on a smart grey dress and sensible heels. On the surface, she could seem plain, but her clothes are well-tailored and expensive, her makeup sleek, and her jewelry expensive.
Alicia comes highly recommended, but not cheap, and if anyone can help us, I think it's her.
"The fact that Nora is legally the child of the Design Clinic is strange and maybe something that could be fought in court. However, I have concerns even about that." Alice pulls open a file and passes pages out to each of us. "The Design Clinic retains all rights and ownership to leftover genetic material utilized during designing. So that genetic material is what must have been used to source Nora. Technically speaking, that genetic material was the property of the Design Clinic, making Nora…"
"Property of the Design Clinic," Joey finishes.
Alicia nods grimly. "Or rather, would be. But, I have reason to suspect that Dr. Greene purchased that material himself, I just don't have a record of it yet. I also wasn't able to find a legal filing in which Veronica Summers gave custody of Nora to her father. In fact, I can't even find Nora's birth certificate. It's pretty much a black hole of information here, guys. Whatever happened did not go through the court system and was done privately. The only thing I have here is conjecture and speculation, which doesn't help you get access to your Omega right now. If Veronica Summers and Dr. Albert Greene are saying that the Design Clinic gets to approve her match there should be adoption papers or a birth certificate somewhere. I just have to find it."
"I'm not entirely sure I'm following here," Blaine says, rubbing his temples.
"Do you want to know what I think happened?" Alicia asks, rubbing the back of her neck.
"We'll take anything you have," Levi pleads. "We just need to know how to get her back."
"I don't think there is a birth certificate for Nora Summers. If there was, I would've found it by now. Something shady went on here. There is no record of Veronica Summers ever having a child. All I can find without a subpoena is Veronica's deed to her home, which she purchased in full, in cash. Twenty-six years ago." She takes a deep breath, closing the notebook in front of her. "It is my belief that, in exchange for a comfortable life, Veronica traded Nora to either the Design Clinic or Dr. Albert Greene directly, giving them full control of her."
"But what about Nora's rights?" Chase says from the end of the table. "Why aren't her desires being taken into account?"
"If she's property and not a person," Alicia says, "legally, she has no desires."
"That's bullshit!" Levi says. All of us immediately glance his way. He rarely swears, so I know he's furious. "There is no way that is true. You can't own a person! You're not looking at this from the right angle. Find another explanation and get us our Omega back!"
Alicia stands, holding out her hands, palms down to calm us. "I'm on your side here, guys. I'm just letting you know that right now, there are no legal grounds to get you access to her. I'll keep looking and see how I can fight this, but please don't do anything stupid."
After Alicia leaves, we immediately head to Nora's mother's house. The interaction is almost exactly the same as the night before.
But we're not giving up. We'll be here, every day, raising hell, until they give us a shot at seeing our girl.
We're becoming feral, willing to destroy ourselves out of desperation to see her now that it's been over two weeks since she was taken from Chase's restaurant. We've been taking shifts, each going on different days at different times, so they never find a pattern.
Today is my day, I jump out of my car and tear up the grass to the porch. I'm ready to break windows, kick in doors, fight some fucking cops so I can see my Omega. Before I get the chance, a massive cop with curly red hair grabs me by the shoulders and pushes me away from the door. "You're doing yourself a disfavor here," he barks at me in a sharp accent. "Do you think this makes you look good?"
"Who are you to judge me? They're holding my Omega hostage!" I yell.
"Not according to the law, they're not." He ducks his head, looking side to side to see if anyone is within hearing distance. "I'm Detective Arden Walsh. They put me here because anything to do with the Perfect Omega is high profile, but I looked into your case. Just because what is happening here is legal doesn't mean it's right." Detective Walsh sighs and ruffles his hair. "I have a scent-matched Omega that I haven't bonded with. If someone thought to keep us apart…" he inhales sharply. "Anyways, go into your car, write your Omega a letter, and I'll do my best to get it to her."
I open my mouth to beg him for more help, to thank him for trying, to beg him the change the laws. Nothing comes out. All I can do is nod, head to my car, and write Nora a letter. I hand it to the Detective, and he tucks it into his shirt pocket. "I hope it all works out for you and your Omega."