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Markus rubbed his beard and grunted, moving aside for me. I neared the bed and carefully sat on the edge of it as she watched me. I didn’t want to startle her. But she still flinched when I came near, and that pained me.

“I’m not angry, Lana,” I said, trying to reassure her. “I just want to know. What happened?”

“She’s tired, Lio,” said Owen sharply. Even though he was a beta, he was a tough one when it came to the comfort of omegas. The vampire baby on the bed started to cry, and Grandma Bianca swiftly picked him up, rocking him as she walked around the room.

Alana sighed, looking up from the baby she was breastfeeding.

“The man who you saw in the surveillance video,” she said. “He’s the father of these babies.”

“An actual vampire?” I said, my voice incredulous. But I had seen the baby with my own eyes, so I knew she wasn’t lying. “Tell me what happened before I hunt him down and kill him.”

“Please don’t,” she said, her voice rising and her chest heaving with panic. Something told me she cared deeply about this person, which didn’t sit well with me.

“Shh, relax. Lio won’t do anything,” said Markus bending down and kissing her head. “Not while I’m here.”

“Tell me what happened,” I said, licking my lips. Prepared for anything.

“Well, it was all my fault when I went looking for him,” she said hesitantly.

“Why in the hell were you looking for him?”

“Do you remember the campfire day when we were in high school?” she asked.

“Yes, I never forgot,” I said. “The first time you broke my heart and disappeared that night.”

“I…,” she started to say but then clammed up. She looked around at everyone in the room nervously.

“You can say whatever is on your mind,” said Owen, wrapping an arm around her.

“When I walked away from the campfire, four boys followed me,” she whispered, and my heart sunk in my chest.

“What did they do to you?”

“One of them, he…raped me,” she said in a low voice. I shut my eyes tight in horror. She had gone through that while I sat angrily in my tent, waiting for her that night. The room was silent as we took in the shocking statement. “Then the vampire showed up and stopped them. If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t know where I would be.”

She only disappeared because she was scared of what I would think.She was attacked.

“I’m so fucking sorry,” I said, my throat catching. I cleared my throat and scooted close to her. Owen moved aside for me, and I hugged her from the side while she silently rested her head on my chest. We both watched the baby girl feeding from her. The baby's eyes were closed and her button nose looking exactly like Alana's. “So that’s why you went looking for the vampire. Did he do the same thing to you then?”

“It wasn’t the same,” she said vehemently, shaking her head. “His people forced him to.”

“So it was the same thing,” I said, my voice rising. “It was force, not love.”

“But I love him,” she said, her voice trembling.

“What?”

I couldn’t believe what she had just said. It was a complete and utter betrayal of our kind. For an omega to fall in love with a different species and not her fated alphas was unheard of.

“You wouldn’t understand,” she said, shaking her head. “His people wanted me dead, but he wouldn’t allow it. I went into heat, and he risked his own life for me. He ran away and brought me to you to save my life.”

Chills went through me.If he betrayed his own people for her…only a fated mate would do that.

“He must have had strong feelings for you,” I said, slightly jealous. “Now you’re in extreme danger if you keep your vampire baby.”

“I know,” she said, sighing. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Give the baby to his father,” I said after a pause. I wasn’t sure how she would take this, but it was best for all of us. “I will raise the baby girl as my own, but her brother is at risk staying here. You know this.”