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The Beta's arms were around both of the women like they were the most precious things in the world, and maybe they were.

It hit me then.

This was her life now. The one she built after us. After running from us.

I cleared my throat. Not to get their attention, but to push away the sudden onset of fear.

Fear that wewerethe monsters after all.

Wouldn't we be exactly that if we expected her to just pack up her life and come with us?

Christa looked up when she heard me, regardless, and her eyes widened, panic rippling across her expression like a struck chord. That abject fear made me feel even more like a monster.

The older man also pulled back, fixing me with a narrowed glare. "You lost, son?" he asked.

"No," I said flatly, refusing to show any weakness. All those lessonsTracytaught us were impossible to shake. "I'm here to speak with Christa. Alone."

Honey bristled immediately, the angry emotion looking out of place on the small Omega's face.

"It's okay," Christa said, voice quiet but firm.

I felt my chest warm with pride for her.

"Just give us a minute, please?" she asked both the Omega and older Beta male.

The older man looked like he wanted to argue, but with a grunt and a muttered curse, he gave a nod and led Honey away.

I waited until they were gone before I spoke again.

"You don't have to talk if you don't want to," I said. "But I needed to see you."

She crossed her arms, protecting herself and breaking my heart just a bit more. "You're seeing me now."

I winced, because now that we were alone, her tone was... off. Cold somehow.

Silence stretched between us, taut and fragile. I needed to move past this, past the fear, past the conditioning that my damn mother fostered in me.

Drew had always done so much better with emotion than I did.

"I..." I took a deep, steadying breath. "I just wanted to see you, and tell you... Well, tell you I'm glad we found you again, I guess. And—" I started pacing the small open space in the cramped kitchen while running my hands through my carefully styled hair, completely messing it up and, for once, not giving a fuck. "Fuck. Shit. Okay, Christa, I'm sorry. So incredibly sorry that we never went back home to meet you and protect you fromher."

Christa's eyes grew large at my outburst. Not scared, just shocked.

The silence was so incrediblyloudafter that, I had to force myself to remain where I was and not run away from all the word vomit I'd just spilt.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" she finally asked incredulously. "You... you're sorry you didn't come back home, so you could what? Stop your mom from abusing me?"

I shrugged.

"You're kidding, right? In what world would you have known?"

Unable to control myself, I started pacing again. The Alpha in me wanted—no,needed—to go to her, hold her, feel her against me, to soothe myself, and that was a purely selfish action. One I could not allow myself.

"We grew up with her, little Omega. I know exactly the horrors you were subjected to under her thumb."

"Oh."

That's it. That's all she had to say.