Page 36 of Betrayed Kidnapped Mate

“…what?”

“It was in the window of a human who went missing,” Bigby says, clearing his throat.

“Was Percy—I mean, why would he do something like that? According to Linnea, he was a huge softy.”

“Yes. He was—is. But Percy was poisoned with the serum. That’s why he took his own life. Because we had heard about what it did to other shifters, how it drove them out of their minds.”

“So, you think the serum is driving him to abduction?”

“Hopefully, abduction is the least of our worries.”

I move my queen, chewing on my lip as I ponder the implications.

“That’s what upset you? Earlier?”

“That and everything else. I knew one of the humans who went missing—and that’s not to say that’s what makes it important; it just hit me a little closer to home.”

“Understandable. I—I want you to know that I’m working on the antidote, and I think I may actually be successful. I have a prototype almost ready.”

Bigby looks up from the board, meeting my eyes squarely. What I see there almost makes me falter, but I hold steady.

It’s love. Just pure, stable, consistent love. In this moment, I realize that Bigby has always believed in me. This is a perfect moment to bring it up, to ask him, for once and all, why he ran the night he found out I was pregnant.

I stare at him. I take a deep breath. I open my mouth.

“Your go,” I say.

Chapter 19 - Bigby

Silence falls as Rosa and I trade pieces back and forth. This game is much more tense than the last one, and I’m starting to think I might win. She keeps putting her hand on a piece, then changing her mind. She hardly ever changes her mind, and it tells me she’s not thinking as far ahead as she should.

Rosa looks like there’s something on her mind, and I’m willing her to say it. More than anything, I just want her to open up to me. Since I took her from California, I wanted to return to how things were before the night I left. Rosa and I are a team, effortlessly.

“So, other than surfing, what does Kaila like?” I say, clearing my throat and looking up at Rosa. She looks so gorgeous, her hair falling into her face as she stares down at the chess board, her palm against her cheek.

“I think you already know,” Rosa laughs, shaking her head as she picks up a piece, then changes her mind and puts it back where it was. Her hand flutters over the board like she’s not sure what her next move should be. “I’m pretty sure she’s been talking your ear off about marine life. I think she’s already determined she will be a marine biologist.”

“She’s very smart,” I say, unable to contain the pride I feel at that fact. Rosa and I are very smart. It only makes sense that our daughter would be, too.

“Yeah,” Rosa says, clearing her throat as she glances at me. “Genetics will do that. Mother like daughter, and everything.”

Another moment of silence passes as I take one of her pawns. She still doesn’t want to acknowledge out loud that I’m Kaila’s father. It’s okay—I’m willing to wait.

The silence stretches between us. I wait for her to speak.

“It’s—” Rosa starts after a moment. Then she stops, taking a shaky breath. “It’s been difficult. Raising her. I owe Olivia the world for being there with us, part of our family, but it’s not the same as Kaila having two loving parents.”

I can feel my heart start to beat faster, the guilt over leaving them resurfacing like it has so many times. But Rosa continues before I can say anything.

“With the threat of my dad hanging in the air, I couldn’t send Kaila to school. She hasn’t had any of the experiences she should. Like school, friends, field trips, plays—any of it. She deserves that. I know that, but there’s nothing I can do about my dad. Over the years, my mom has hinted that there’s a chance Hector might go against our dad, but I just—”

She puts a hand to her mouth, stifling a sob, and I know what she’s thinking. I met Hector once, and based on that one meeting, there’s no way he could take on Amon.

Rosa and I had gone bowling with Hector and some of his friends. He was a total goofball, pretty scrawny, making jokes and charming the group. He and Rosa had the same fine features and blond hair, and I liked him, but it didn’t feel like a single alpha bone in his body.

Especially not if he had to go up against his dad to get that position.

According to Rosa, Hector was always a softer child, avoiding violence and urging people to be kind. He played with dolls. Amon was not kind to him.

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