Page 38 of Captive Omega
“And when were we supposed to do that?” Nate shot back. “Ivy didn’t exactly take the time to have a proper conversation with Luna.”
“You people are insane,” I added. “Luna is a recently mated female. What did you think was going to happen?”
Andrea didn’t answer. She just kept looking at me, as if she’d only now understood I was serious about mating Luna.
Maybe that was the whole problem. Maybe they’d all been so wrapped up in their disregard for Luna’s Omega nature that they hadn’t understood she could genuinely have a mate. At this point, I didn’t care anymore about their reasons, and neither did the twins.
“You know what?” Sam said. “I don’t even care about what you have to say. Now that we’ve punished Ivy, it’s your turn.”
I didn’t expect Andrea to display fear, and she didn’t. Instead, she gestured for us to come closer. Nate settled Luna down on the bed, and we all fell silent as Andrea bent over her, checking her over.
Things didn’t look good. We’d come here as quickly as possible, but the poison had already done damage. Luna was unconscious, sweating and shivering. I prayed Andrea would at least be able to save my mate, if not our pup. Luna would undoubtedly be crushed if that happened, but it was better than the alternative. And of course, once she was better, we’d take our revenge. But for that to happen, she needed to be safe first.
I should have known better than to think Luna’s father would allow Andrea to do her job unhindered. Just as Andrea produced a vial with a clear liquid inside and poured it down Luna’s throat, Alpha Clayton showed up.
We sensed him coming, but we made no attempt to leave. After all, this was presumably the deal and the reason why Ivy had come after Luna—the fact that Alpha Clayton wanted revenge for his dead son.
When he finally walked into the hut, Nate and Sam took a step forward, blocking Alpha Clayton’s view of Luna and Andrea. I stood right behind them, but I was tall enough that, despite their efforts, he could still see me.
Our eyes met, and in his gaze, I saw a glint of feral insanity. “You. Why am I not surprised to see you here?”
“I suppose it must be because you know I belong by your daughter’s side. Not that you respect that. You’ve all lost your mind.”
“Maybe we have. Or maybe we weren’t all that sane to begin with.” Alpha Clayton smirked. “It doesn’t matter all that much. After today, you’ll have to surrender to your pack’s justice too.”
It occurred to me, at that moment, that Alpha Clayton didn’t really look like a man in the middle of a pack war. Something wasn’t right here. Ivy had made it sound like the Firewolves had utterly destroyed the Wolfsbanes, and she hadn’t lied—or at least, it hadn’t seemed like it to me. What was going on?
“Surrender?” I asked, doing my best to hide any sign of my natural restlessness. “And who is going to make me do that? My brother, maybe? It’s interesting to see you’re acting like his little messenger. Are you his Beta now, Alpha Clayton?”
Alpha Clayton’s eyes flashed with poorly concealed fury. For a few seconds, I thought he’d lunge at me to make me pay for that comment. But he didn’t. Instead, he crossed his arms over his chest and straightened his back. “You’ll find that your brother isn’t the only one with a vested interest in this matter. You and my daughter betrayed your family and your packs. This is a situation we’ve all decided to remedy.”
I didn’t understand what that meant until I sensed her. Alpha Clayton’s distinctive presence had been hiding someone else’s, that of a person I should have immediately noticed.
My mother entered the hut, looking much calmer than she had been when we’d gone our separate ways. “I know you’re upset about this, Rowan, but really, this is for the best. You won’t need to mate anyone now. You’ll be free from that deceitful Omega, and you’ll be able to make your peace with your brother.”
Oh. Oh.
Of course my mother had decided to take steps to ensure my safety and return to the Firewolves. Just like I’d guessed, she hadn’t accepted that Luna was my true mate, too fixated on Luna’s Omega nature to care about my opinion. Distantly, I wondered when our perceptions of what strength meant had become more important than the connection between fated mates. Maybe in the years since the chaos had last come to us, we’d forgotten more than we’d realized.
I was sick and tired of this interference and nonsense. I’d given my mother a chance when she’d first come after us. Not anymore.
“Mother, was it your idea to attack Luna like this?” I asked, my voice like ice.
My mother couldn’t have missed the danger to her life, but she shrugged. “It was a joint endeavor. You have to understand, Rowan, our packs need to survive this too.”
“Oh, I understand perfectly. I’ll happily speak to Rufus. In fact, I insist on it.”
My mother’s eyes widened, and she went pale. For the first time, she seemed to realize just how much she’d risked by taunting me like this. “Rowan…”
“No. You’re the one who started this. We would have left if you’d just let it go. We would have found our way out of the valley, eventually. But you just had to attack my mate.
“Unless something drastically changes about the situation—and I very much doubt that will happen—I think you people just killed our unborn pup. I will have blood for that. And we will start with Rufus.”
My Alpha brother might have almost beaten me once, but the bitter anger bubbling through my gut was beyond everything and anything he could hope to experience. Sam and Nate were shaking with the effort to not do something violent that would jeopardize Luna’s recovery, but I didn’t have such issues. My bloodthirsty fury had reached such levels that it had almost gained a life of its own. And there was only one way to satisfy it.
I wanted to hurt this woman like she’d hurt me—like she’d hurt Luna. And to do that, I would take her son from her. I would rip my brother apart in front of her, tear his heart out and feed it to my mate while it was still beating. It was paltry comfort and it wouldn’t mend Luna’s broken heart, but it was better than nothing.
Silence fell over the hut. Even in his madness, Alpha Clayton understood the mistake he’d made by condoning an attack on a pregnant female. My mother took a step back, suddenly very pale. “She… She’s with pup?”
