Chapter 25 Jo
twenty-five
Jo
“What do you mean he doesn’t exist?” Sam snaps, stabbing the knife he was just using to cut up cucumber for a salad into his cutting board.
“Exactly what I said,” Aidan says flatly, looking bored now that he’s seemingly recovered from his run-in with Mabel.
“He’s erased every trace of himself from the grid—or he hired someone to do it.
The only reason I don’t think your beta got the name wrong is because there is one mention of a ‘Roland Olivier’—and that’s on Adela’s birth certificate.
Whoever did his sweep didn’t do a perfect job. ”
“Why would he want to disappear?” I frown, popping a piece of cucumber from the cutting board into my mouth.
“Well, if his wife left him, and then he sent his own daughter away, that would leave him with nobody, right? Maybe he made some bad decisions, got into a bit of trouble, and just…disappeared.” Nolan speaks from the doorway.
I scowl at him. “Why are you still here? You sated your curiosity, now beat it.”
Nolan chuckles, sauntering to the kitchen island. “I need to talk to Aidan when all this is done, so I figured I’d help out while I wait.”
“You’re not helpin’.”
Before he can retort, Sam cuts me off by popping another piece of cucumber in my mouth. “So why alienate the only family he has left by sending her to Thornfield if him being lonely is what drove him to his bad decisions? Something isn’t adding up.”
I scowl at my alpha, but chew the food anyway. Can't let a good cucumber go to waste. “He could be a self-sabotaging idiot,” I swallow, pointedly glare at Nolan, still annoyed that he snuck into my house to spy on my sister. “He wouldn’t be the first.”
For the first time, my words seem to affect him. He shoots daggers in my direction. “Or maybe, he made rash decisions that he regrets, and doesn’t know how to make up for it.”
I pause, frowning. His words don’t make any sense.
I’m saved from having to answer by West coming into the room, looking freshly showered. “I just got off the phone…” he trails off when he sees the four of us standing around the kitchen. We probably look tense as hell. “What’s going on?”
“Roland Olivier doesn’t exist,” Aidan supplies flatly.
“That’s strange…” West’s brows furrow. “Because I just got off the phone with my parents, and they offered to take us to him.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “They did? Why would they do that?”
“Maybe because I didn’t tell them anything about what’s going on with Thornfield, Xavier Bowen, and their involvement in the Beta Liberation Union?” He gives a sheepish look. “They think I’m just trying to get in touch for billing purposes.”
“Why wouldn’t they just give you an address?” Aidan frowns.
“They say they swore to Roland not to tell anyone, and think that since it’s me, this is an acceptable loophole.”
“So your parents have no idea that you know about…anythin’?” This could work in our favor.
He shakes his head. “No. I didn’t…I didn’t want to risk them being on his side. They love me, but…” He sighs. “I know I said that I know them, but…it’s a risk we can’t take right now.”
“Oh, West.” I walk over to him, rubbing a hand down his arm. “I’m sorry. That must be hard.”
His hand covers mine as his lips lift in a weak smile. “It’s easier with you.”
“Well? When are you supposed to go?” Sam dumps his sliced cucumbers into a salad bowl.
“We,” West corrects. “Well, you, me, and Jo. We need Jo to talk to Roland, seeing as she’s the one closest to Adela, and my parents will be suspicious if I show up with a whole pack, so we’ll have to pretend that Siren here is just…yours.”
My stomach clenches, and my voice comes out small as tears sting my eyes. “You don’t want your parents to know about me?”
Logically, I know why. I understand that if they are an actual part of this Beta Liberation Union, then it will throw up immediate red flags if they find out their son is part of a pack.
I also understand that as a beta raised by two beta parents, it was probably always the expectation that he would find a nice, pretty beta woman to settle down with and pop out more beta babies.
While I’m sure at least one of our kids will be a beta, we’re more likely to have alphas or omegas.
“Of course I do, Siren,” he shushes, wrapping his arms around me. “Just…after we know where they stand and that they won’t immediately turn us in to Xavier.”
Nolan mutters, “Post-heat Jo freaks me out. I liked it better when she was yelling at me.”
I stiffen, and West tightens his grip on me. “If we’re done here, I think I need to help put dinner on the table.”
“Go out the back,” I sniff, glaring at Nolan. “We don’t need another repeat reaction when you pass through the living room.”
Nolan rolls his eyes, but Aidan nods seriously, and they both leave through the back door.
Mabel doesn’t put her sweatshirt back on for the rest of the night. She proudly shows off the artwork that goes up both her arms, beautifully covering the nasty scars her old pack left her with. Swirling vines wrap around her arms, lined with blue and purple morning glory flowers.
“That’s sick as fuck, Mabes!” Hayden grins, leaning forward and holding out his hand for a low high-five. It seems that he learned his lesson from last time, seeing as her smile is so wide I’m sure her lips are hurting as she slaps her hand down on his.
“It will look quite a bit different as an actual tattoo,” Kole comments, twirling his spaghetti noodles on his fork, “but I do think it is decent for the time being.”
“Decent?” Mabel’s eyes widen as she takes a big bite of garlic bread. “Kole, this is amazin’! I can’t stop starin’ at it! I feel…I feel…” She trails off, trying to think of the right words, but something changes in her expression.
The table goes still as she bursts into tears.
“I feel like my old self again.” She then dissolves into laughing sobs, causing the guys to start to panic. I can see it in their faces, all wide-eyed and slack-jawed like they have no idea what to do with a crying omega. Which, I suppose, that’s true when they can’t cuddle and love on her.
“Oh, Mabel-cakes,” I soothe, wrapping an arm around her. She buries her face in my neck, her sobs wracking her body. “It’s alright, you’re gonna be alright.”
Kole looks downright panicked. “I did not mean to—”
“Oh hush, Sugar Bear.” I wave him off. “These are tears of relief. Not tears of sadness.”
Mabel sniffs, lifting her head from my shoulder. “I’m sorry. I was just…overwhelmed. And—”
“And you haven’t been gettin’ much sleep lately?” I arch a brow as she looks at me.
I wasn’t planning on doing this at the dinner table, but it does seem like the perfect segue.
She frowns. “How—”
“I know you. We may not be blood, Mabel, but we’re twins in every way that counts.” She sighs, and I continue with a grin. “Besides, the bags under your eyes are big enough to carry both our baggage from the last fifteen years.”
She lets out a little noise of indignation before swatting my arm with a laugh. “Rude.”
I grin, before I let my expression turn serious. “What’s goin’ on, Mabel-cakes? Why aren’t you rested?”
“I’m sure it’s these damn sleepin’ pills the doctor gave me,” she huffs. “I couldn’t sleep at all before, and now I can, but the sleep is full of nightmares.”
“Have you talked to Doctor McFadden about it?”
“Well, no, because he’ll just take me off of them, and I figure that horrible sleep is better than no sleep at all.
But what I don’t understand is…” she huffs again, leaning back against her chair.
“I was doin’ fine for a little bit. And then one night, the nightmares just started up.
It makes me wonder if they’re related to the sleepin’ pills at all. ”
“Mabel…” I sigh, grabbing a piece of garlic bread for myself. “You’ve got to take better care of yourself. I’m callin’ Doctor McFadden for you first thing in the mornin’. It may take him a few days to get out here, but you’re gonna talk to him.”
She looks like she wants to protest but smartly keeps her mouth shut as she nods, taking another bite of her own bread.
“That was so weird,” Hayden stage-whispers to Kole. “It was like watching the omega whisperer.”
He lets out a laugh of surprise as I pelt my garlic bread at him.
But then he catches it before it hits his face, grinning as he takes a bite. “Aw, thanks, Fireball. How’d you know I wanted more?”
“How did you catch that?” Kole asks, tilting his head.
“I played baseball in high school.” He shrugs once, looking around the table.
I can’t help but mess with him. “Oh? Is that why you’re so good at handlin’ balls?”
Sam barks out a laugh as Mabel turns bright red next to me. Oops.
Instead of getting embarrassed, my pyro just winks at me. “Exactly.”