Page 9 of I Dated a Holiday Hero
“So, a decoy?”
“Yeah, but they didn’t expect the visitors who arrived at the party. And they were willing and able to let me die. The punctured lung was not getting better any time soon.”
“Punctured...” Her mother looked upset.
“Doc Torenne took care of it and the head wound.” She sighed. “I recognized one of the researchers from the lab, and he said he recognized me.”
“Oh, shit.” Her mother clutched her hand.
“Can we just tell everybody how you found me? Uradda has fallen, and my wings are out there somewhere.” She smiled. “They can’t take me away from you, Mom.”
Her mother smiled and brushed her hair from her forehead. “Okay. We will tell them if they ask, but only if they ask.”
“Okay. Time for secrets is over.” Hever sighed. “I find them exhausting.”
Dr. Torenne came in with a dark scowl. “Auntie, I need to talk to Hever about some things that came up during the scans.”
“I want to hear them.”
Hever looked at her. “Mom. I am closer to thirty than twenty. I can manage a physician consult. If she tells me anything surprising, I will ask her to let you in. Okay? Go get a coffee. Call Auntie Salmet. Anything.”
Her mother got up, kissed her forehead, and left the room with a glare at Torenne.
The good doctor took her seat and said, “She is always slightly hostile.”
“Only when I am in the room. I had the biggest crush on you when I was a teen. You were so pretty, and I didn’t feel like myself, so seeing you gain comfort with your body was super helpful.”
Torenne smiled and blushed a little. “I had no idea.”
“I know. No one did. Well, Mom figured it out.” She shrugged. “So, what did you find?”
“You had plastic surgery.”
“Yes. It was to make my face match Mom’s, so I would blend in a bit better with the family. It was important that no one guessed where I had come from.”
Torenne blinked. “So, what do you look like normally?”
She shrugged. “I can guess, but my face changed when I was a child. I don’t know what the adult version of me should have been.”
“Oh, right. Did you know you have multiple vocal cords?”
“Yup.”
“And that you are an omega?”
“Knew that, too.”
She sat back. “Huh. Here I thought I was going to surprise you.”
Hever shrugged. “Not much surprises me.”
“You are pregnant.”
Hever looked at Torenne, horrified. “That’s impossible.”
“Good. No. Just kidding.” Torenne laughed. “Can you imagine?”
Hever’s heart was thudding in her chest. “I haven’t taken a patron during a heat, so that did give me a shock.”
