18. Mack
18
MACK
“ H ow was lunch?” I kiss Aerin hello as she enters the house.
She’s getting home much later than I thought she would. Adela said they’d have lunch together, but the sky is deepening into early evening outside.
When she called to let me know, I told her to stay for as long as she wanted, and I did something I haven’t done much lately. I picked up a book and read for a couple of hours.
She winds her arms around me and leans into my caress, her belly pressing on my chest as I tuck her closer. Every day she’s a little fuller, her eyes softer and warmer.
Every day, I struggle to believe this beautiful woman is mine.
“It was fun. We didn’t get any practicing done.” She smiles. “But I have a feeling you knew when you told me not to work too hard.”
I hide my surprise. “Really?”
Adela hinted that she intended to turn their practice into a tea and cake lunch, giving Aerin an opportunity to spend time with her grandparents and just relax.
“Yes, really. You see, you had this sparkle in your eye that made me wonder if something else was going on.”
I kiss her. “Maybe that sparkle was just a figment of your imagination.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Sorry I’m late,” she says, leaning against me.
“No need to apologize. Did you have fun?” I search her expression and can see that she did. She seems more relaxed than before she left.
“My grandparents picked up pie from the diner and we spent the afternoon watching trashy TV and drinking tea. It was very self-indulgent.”
“You deserve it. Did Thumper have fun?”
She grins at me. “She kicked a couple of times and I thought my grandparents were going to fight each other over who got to keep their hand on my belly.”
I laugh. “Really?”
“They’re excited about being grandparents. Did you finish the surprise in the nursery?”
“I did.”
She gives me a searching look. “Adela wanted me to sneak in and take a picture of whatever it is. I refused. That’s why I came back on my own. I think she wants me to distract you, so when she comes to dinner with my grandparents, you won’t hear her sneak up the stairs and discover this secret. I bet she’s going to do it dressed as a ninja in tight black spandex.”
I laugh again. “Who would have thought?”
After Aerin left to have lunch with Adela and her grandparents, I went for a run, found nothing suspicious, and decided to call the pack over for dinner. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision that I now regret because I have Aerin in my arms and I wish we had the night to ourselves.
It’s going to be an hour before the rest of the pack comes over for an early dinner, so I back up, take a seat at the dining table and pull Aerin into my lap.
Long minutes later, I’m considering picking her up and taking her upstairs to bed when Bennett sighs.
I break our kiss to lean around Aerin.
Bennett and Helena, the first to arrive, are standing in the kitchen doorway.
I’d heard his car pull up outside but hoped he’d realize that Aerin and I wouldn’t want to be disturbed for a little while longer.
He looks resigned as he eyes the chair we’re sharing. “Intending to break more furniture?”
“You’re right.” Aerin stands up, blushing. “I’m?—”
“Light as a feather.” I tug her closer to my chest so I can glare at Bennett over her head.
He clears his throat, getting the message. “I was talking about Mack. He has a bulging gut.”
“Mack doesn’t have a bulging gut.” Aerin snorts and kisses my jaw. “You can stop forbidding everyone from saying certain words. It’s making some conversations not make much sense.”
She’s right. When she got to around her fourth month, she went from having a lean, athletic physique to embracing having a new body shape. The changes made her sensitive, and I didn’t want anyone to say anything that would upset her.
“Like?” I slide my palm around the nape of her neck to keep her in my lap for as long as I can.
“Like when we were talking about big servings and no one would say the word big. I’m not sure how many thesauri you’ve eaten, but it was very strange.”
“She’s not wrong,” Bennett mutters as he and Helena take a seat at the dining table.
“At least we’re learning to grow our vocabulary,” Helena says.
I’m leaning toward her to claim another kiss from Aerin when my cell phone vibrates across the table. I sigh mournfully. “Never alone. Endless responsibility and interruptions. What do you say we leave everything behind and live in the forest like real wolves, Aerin?”
Laughing, she picks up my phone and hands it over. “Don’t be silly. I need a toilet and running water. Here.”
As soon as I see who’s calling, my amusement fades and I sit up taller as I stab the answer button. “Da? What is it?”
“You have Aerin close?” are his first words.
Automatically, I wrap my arm around Aerin as if to reassure myself she’s right there. Safe. “As close as she can be. Why?”
“Someone is hunting omegas,” my dad declares.
For several seconds, no one speaks. We just stare at each other, quietly processing four horrifying words.
Outside, cars pull up.
The rest of the pack have arrived for dinner.
I put the phone on loudspeaker and place it on the center so when everyone arrives, they can be part of this conversation. And I can keep my arms around Aerin. After what my dad just said, I’m not sure I want to let her go again.
“What did you say?” Bennett says, taking Helena’s hand. And even though Helena isn’t an omega, he’s probably feeling as protective of her as I am over Aerin right now.
“We’ve had no less than five attempts to snatch omegas,” Ivy, Aerin’s aunt, speaks up. “We dealt with the threats, but?—”
“Why didn’t you mention this before?” Bennett’s tone is hard and accusatory.
His reaction isn’t surprising. I’m battling with myself not to snarl or growl because this is information we should have known as soon as my dad knew it.
Ivy sighs. “That might be my fault. It took us a while to figure out what was going on. When we realized something was happening, we thought it would be enough to warn you to keep Aerin close. That it was just a problem in Virginia, not one that you would ever have to worry about.”
Bennett relaxes a little.
As the rest of the pack enters the kitchen, they glance at the cell phone on the table and, as if they feel the tension in the room, they quietly take their seats.
Aerin is gripping the front of my shirt, her spine vibrating with tension.
I want to tell her that everything is fine, but I’m not so sure that it is.
Aerin told me about her fears of being kidnapped. It was a fear she’s had since childhood, a product of one of the many stories her dad told her about Alphas snatching omegas to breed them.
If her dad hadn’t played such a big part in helping rescue her after Nolan Lonergan kidnapped her, I’d never forgive him for scaring her like that.
“What’s happening, Ivy?” Aerin asks, quietly.
“It started a couple of weeks ago. First, it seemed like they were grabbing women at random. It took a while to realize the men hanging around were looking for omegas in particular,” Ivy says.
“How did they know…” My voice trails off. “The old enforcers you kicked out.”
They had reveled in the power they had over the women in the Lonergan Pack. They were as cruel and mean as the Alpha that Ivy killed, so she forced them out when she took over because the pack would never heal or move on if they stayed.
“We think so,” Ivy says. “No one else would have known that we have so many omegas here unless our old enforcers told them about us.”
“So you didn’t see any of the enforcers?” Bennett asks.
“They know what would have happened to them if they came back here,” my dad bites out. “So it’s no surprise they didn’t want to show their faces.”
“They just pointed an enemy at us and were probably ready and waiting in the wings to take over if we fell apart.” Ivy’s voice is like chips of ice.
“But everything is okay now?” Penny asks, chewing her lip.
“Seems to be,” Ivy confirms. “We’ve forbidden anyone from wandering too far from the house just to ensure we’ll have no more abduction attempts. Finding the time to call when we were under constant attack wasn’t easy. Sleep has been a luxury I miss.”
“It’s okay, Ivy,” Aerin says softly. Because Ivy sounds exhausted. If she’s been getting any sleep lately, it can’t be much. “Do you know who is trying to grab omegas?”
“The two we caught didn’t talk,” my dad’s voice is cold. “And trust me, I did not ask nicely. They knew nothing useful.”
The room falls silent as everyone processes his words.
It’s been a while since I saw this side of my dad. As the former Alpha of the Raleigh Pack, he’s always been a cold man. Ivy softened him up a little, but this… whatever this is hardening him up again.
Neither of them has opened up about their feelings for each other, but it’s clear where things must be headed for my dad to still be in Virginia.
“They don’t look or smell familiar?” Colton asks, and I know he has to be thinking of our mystery shifter and whether they’re connected in some way.
“Just drifters. I know the type. I don’t know if someone paid them to do this, or promised to reward them in other ways, but they were loyal. I’ll give them that,” my dad says.
“But why would they be trying to grab omegas? What is the point?” Tina frowns. “Do they have an end goal we’re just not seeing?”
“They either don’t know or haven’t been told,” my dad says.
Still holding Aerin, I think out loud. “So someone paid or found drifters to snatch omegas, told them just enough to do what they want, but nothing about what their actual purpose is in taking them. That doesn’t make sense.”
“It does,” Aerin says softly. “It makes sense if whoever in charge knew you would recognize them, so they sent someone you wouldn’t recognize. Like drifters.”
“Someone like who?” Bennett asks, though he doesn’t tell her she’s wrong.
“I don’t know. We’ve not had an attack in a while now, and there’s been no sign of them. But if they know about us…” Ivy’s voice trails off.
“They might know about Aerin,” Warren finishes.
“We had a shifter here marking a tree,” Chris says.
“You had what?” my dad repeats.
We fill him and Ivy in on everything that’s been happening in Winter Lake. The tourist wandering into our forest and wandering off it just as suddenly. The territorial shifter from the hotel who marked a tree and disappeared. And the three calls I received.
“Strange,” my dad mutters. “Something is definitely happening there.”
“But what? If they’re linked with what’s going on with you, then why haven’t they tried to grab Aerin or Adela? All they’re doing is making us suspicious. What is their end goal?” I ask, getting frustrated.
“I understand Adela,” Bennett says. “She keeps her powers wrapped down tight. It would be easy to overlook and underestimate her.”
Adela nods. “That’s right. But Aerin?”
Aerin snorts. “Well, they’re going to get a surprise when they try to snatch me and realize I’m broken.”
“You are not broken, love. You’re growing a human. Your powers will sort themselves out,” I tell her.
“ Broken ?” Ivy frowns. “What do you mean?”
Aerin sighs. “My gift—and honestly, there are times I hesitate to call it a gift—is broken. It’s barely even there now. I can’t heal or see auras. Please tell me this is something that happens to pregnant omegas.”
Ivy sighs. “I really wish I could, Aerin, but no. I’ve never heard of an omega losing her powers like that.”
“I had a feeling you were going to say that,” Aerin says, sounding so despondent and more hopeless than I’ve heard her before.
“Have you been worried all this time? Why didn’t you ask me?” Ivy asks.
“You were busy, and I didn’t want to add more to your plate.”
“I’ll ask some of the other women,” Ivy says briskly. “And you are not adding anything to my plate. If there’s ever a problem, tell me, and I’ll do anything I can to help. We’ll get to the bottom of this together, okay?”
“Okay,” Aerin says softly, but I get the sense that she doesn’t really believe it. That she’s already mourning the loss of her powers forever.
“Whatever is happening here cannot be what’s happening there,” Tina says. “I mean, if it was, then someone would have just grabbed Aerin or Adela. Right? They wouldn’t do anything to give us a chance to prepare. This must be something else.”
Warren nods. “This strange behavior is just making us more alert and wary. We’re spending more time together than apart, so how is this helping them?”
“So what the hell is going on, then?” Colton asks.
I look at him, and I don’t have an answer for him. From the silence around the table, neither does anyone else.