Chapter 1 #2
“Saints preserve me,” I whisper, forcing myself to calm down. “I’m so confused.”
“Tell me who it is so I can help explain things,” Lars says, twisting in his seat to face me.
The words sound like both a promise and a threat, making me shift uncomfortably in my seat. I’m not sure how I feel about this.
“Whatever this is doesn’t fully mean anything until both sides recognize the scent match. Correct?” I ask, side stepping what Lars wants to know.
“If we’re splitting hairs, this is true. However, we’re going to be spending a lot of time with you, Princess,” he says. “Whatever is going on with your sinuses will clear at some point. You tend to cry a lot around us.”
“I don’t like it,” Caleb grumbles. “You didn’t smell us at the hospital either and walked right past us.”
“The chemicals at the hospital mess with my sense of smell,” I mumble. “I’ve never gotten used to it since I tend to deliver babies at home.”
“And this other scent match? Where did you meet him?” Lars asks.
“At the hospital too,” I sigh. “I’m fully planning to ignore that it happened. I delivered a baby alone with Katee at the hospital. The nurses knew I was a midwife, they agreed to give us the space so she could labor. The end result is obviously a baby. Hopefully alive if we’re lucky.”
Lars’ nose flares as if he can smell the truth of that before he glares.
“The alive part concerns me,” he mutters. “It makes me want to ask how many of your deliveries have been still births, but that’ll derail the conversation. What happened at your other scent match that makes him an asshole?”
“He’s a doctor, and he swaggered in and found me covered in blood with a baby happily in a mother’s arms. He acted as if I’d committed a crime,” I explain. “Katee threw him out and said that I was the best qualified person to take care of her and that she trusted me.”
“Now that I’ve seen your van, I think we actually met Katee in the elevator of the hospital,” Caleb says. “We helped hold her things so she could wrap her baby. Cute kid. So what’s this doctor’s name?”
Word sandwiches. I have a feeling that he’s very adept at interrogation techniques because of how he constructs his sentences. Drops of information that I’ll think are interesting and focus on before he veers into another direction.
Unfortunately, I recognize the tactic.
“Dr. Tyde Stewart,” I mutter, not wanting to participate in this word dance. “I also think that he thought that I was Katee’s partner and not a midwife. He never asked and I never gave the information.”
Lars snorts as he shakes his head. “Idiot. I’ll make a point to go meet him. It won’t break the scent match unless you choose to reject him, but I can make sure he doesn’t act like a fool again.”
“I’m not sure if I should be thankful or reminding you that violence is never the answer,” I say, my fingers moving to my head to rub it. My face hurts, but I haven’t done anything to it.
“Violence is the answer to a lot of things, Nova,” Caleb chuckles, pulling into a house.
Glancing behind me, I see that Malcolm is tailing us closely, his lips pulled into a snarl.
“We’re about to be surrounded by a lot of very blood thirsty people.
You’re a mafia daughter, even if you didn’t know it until today. Act like it.”
“Cute,” I seethe, watching as the gorgeous home comes into view. There are quite a few cars in the driveway, and my stomach hurts as I gaze at the scene.
My sister is important. She won’t stay lost, and I’ll get to meet her. Those are the promises I tie to those in the house as I get out. I don’t have a problem with the mafia world, as that’s a large number of who I tend to midwife for in this city.
They’ve shown me how much they care for others, even as criminals. So no, violence doesn’t bother me at all, not when it’s not focused on me.
“Let’s go,” Lars barks, though there’s no power in his words. It makes sense now that Hollis would kill him for using his alpha bark on someone who doesn’t deserve it, especially her sister.
I feel unnaturally warm at how much she cares about someone she doesn’t know. We’ve never met, and yet she’s mourned the twin that she shared a womb with.
My long legs cross over the snowy pavement as I ignore Lars, his annoyance clear as he walks beside me. I may be overwhelmed, but I won’t cower. I want to know what the plans are to get Hollis back.
It should have been me . The words bounce in my mind as I step inside, following the flow of people into the living room, a powerful alpha with dark auburn hair and cruel lips pressed together sitting in wait.
“Report,” he grunts, his eyes on Caleb and Shaw as they step forward.
They give the rundown of information that they know, and ice claws through my body with guilt. I should wish that it was me that was taken, but if I had been, no one would come for me. Not like this.
I’m a no one, and it’s much easier to kidnap and steal an omega with few ties to the world.
“We also found Hollis’ twin,” Shaw says, the words making me flinch as I force a breath through my lungs. I stupidly stopped breathing, and the black spots in my vision came for a visit.
“What?” the alpha named Mr. Sullivan asks.
“Nova, come here,” Caleb says, turning to find me.
I’d found a corner in the room to observe everything, even though others might say that I’m hiding. My footsteps are heavy as I push through the crowd to stand beside him, and Mr. Sullivan gazes down at me. Regardless of my height, there are still too many people who tower over me.
“Where have you been?” he asks.
My bottom lip trembles as I stare up at him, and I blink quickly to clear my eyes. It’s such an unbearably simple question.
“Lost,” I whisper. “I don’t understand how or why, but the people who have called themselves my parents my entire life aren’t good people.”
“There are people who have never stopped looking for you,” Mr. Sullivan says. “I met you when you were a baby and knew you as Maree. We’ll call you whatever you want to be called, but please know that regardless of who took Hollis, that’s not your fault. Knowing her, she’d prefer it.”
“That’s what I keep being told, but I don’t understand why,” I say, shaking my head.
“She’s the older sister,” he chuckles. “It’s her lot in life to always worry about you. She’s a fighter, and looking at you here, I can tell there’s a quiet strength inside of you. Fuck, you’ve been in Minneapolis all this time?”
“Just a few months?—”
“Nova?” a familiar voice asks, pulling my attention away.
Quinn and Adira both walk into the room, and I smile weakly.
“Hi,” I say.
“Why are you interrogating our midwife, Cian?” Adira asks archly, surrounded by her men.
Kane is wearing his new buckle carrier proudly, a baby doll’s head barely visible in it.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Mr. Sullivan grunts. “I would never interrogate her. I’m simply trying to figure out how a lost mafia daughter has been hiding in plain sight for months.”
The two packs at the doorway blink slowly, and yes it’s exactly as creepy as it sounds.
“A what?” Jed asks. “Nova, is this true?”
“Apparently,” I say, shrugging. “Do you think we can really find her, Mr. Sullivan?”
“I’m already on it,” an alpha says with a computer on his lap.
“Need help and have an extra laptop?” Quinn asks, hustling over to him. The alpha simply hands her a computer without a word, and I shake my head.
“What’s happening?” I ask.
“Hacker shit,” Kane says, grabbing a chair to put behind me. “Please sit before you fall down. You’re white as a sheet.”
People will tell you that Adira’s pack doesn't have feelings, and that would be a lie. They simply express it differently, and sometimes that means if they don’t care about the situation, they’ll tune out the noise. I’ve seen Kane do it when he’s bored.
“There are cameras everywhere in this city,” Mr. Sullivan says, sitting down to gaze at me. “On the street where Hollis was taken as well as the path that they are driving. They’re trying to find her.”
“The van snuck up on her,” the alpha with the computer says. “As soon as Hollis saw it she started to run, but she was too far away.”
“She fought hard though,” Adira says, impressed. “Her knife skills are impressive.”
“She had a good teacher,” Lars says smugly.
“I can tell,” Quinn murmurs. “Fuck, they put a cloth over her face. That’s how they got her.”
“She still tried to fight, boss,” the alpha grunts. “They got her into the van and raced her away. It looks like they threw her purse out as an afterthought. I’m watching the cameras to show me where they’re headed.”
Everyone that was at the doorway finds places to sit, watching things unfold, and it feels as if this has become a command center.
“I can see a face through the windshield,” Quinn says. “I’m going to begin to ping this through past places he’s been to triangulate where he is most often.”
“Do we have a name?” Another alpha comes barreling into the room, winking at Adira. Callum Kelly has officially arrived, a laptop under his arm as he plops down beside her. “Sorry I’m a little late. I was in a meeting. Hey, missing princess.”
My lips part as I realize that he’s talking to me, and I glance back at Mr. Sullivan.
“Gossip moves quickly through the families,” he breathes. “No one tell her parents, please. Let’s contain this for now. Something tells me that Nova needs some time to process this.”
Everything gets really dark as my eyes roll back and I pass the fuck out.
Parents. Real ones. Holy shit.