Page 2 of Dream Mates (Into The Parallel Omegaverse #2)

“Short version. Grace dreamt of Wes for her whole life. They got married. Her shitty mom made her forget him by hurting her. After that, Grace no longer dream-traveled and thought Wes wasn't real. Wes couldn’t find her because she existed in another world which he couldn’t get to.

One day she woke up on a bench and poof , she’s in this world and Wes is real, and they are reunited in person, and fall back in love.

There, told it,” Riley retorted, still typing.

Brennan poured himself another drink, brows furrowing. “What?”

“While we were going to tell you, we hadn’t gotten there yet.

Grace was terrified that she’d say the wrong thing and be put on a psych hold–which happened when she was in high school.

” I continued to hold Evan to me. “That’s why she wasn’t doing individual therapy with the Center even though she desperately needs to deal with her abandonment issues.

She was afraid that she’d let it slip that she’s from a parallel world and things would go sideways. ”

“Even now, she’s afraid. Going to work terrifies her because of all the tiny differences between our worlds,” Evan added.

“When she says weird things or doesn’t get into specifics, it’s because she truly grew up elsewhere.

When she doesn’t get a reference, it’s because her world has different things. ”

“Grace is what now?” Jett stared at us, brown eyes full of questions. With a sigh the beta police officer poured himself a glass of bourbon.

“Many, many worlds exist. Some quite similar from ours, some vastly different,” Spencer explained. “Grace is from a world that, from what I understand, is not dissimilar from ours, though with one main difference–and many, many smaller ones.”

“When Grace was a kid, she decided that she was going to use string theory to figure out how to get here, to our world, to me, so that we could be together in real life and not just in our dreams,” I added.

“But it sort of became just a side project after her mom made her forget me. It wasn’t what she was doing for work, and her research wasn’t anywhere near actually being able to travel to another world.

She’s pretty sure that’s not how she got here.

Not that she remembers how she got here or the events leading up to it. ”

“Which is why they’re going to let her come back to us. She didn’t break interdimensional law, it was just an accident or something,” Riley insisted.

Spence put his head in his hands. “Oh, how I hope they will. But travel between worlds is illegal. At least from this one. I hope that it’s different where she’s from.

But we’re going to have to come to terms with the fact that we’ll probably never see her again.

She’s gone. There’s nothing we could have done to stop them.

We’re lucky that they let us live. I half-expected him to explode the house on the way out since we shouldn’t know about them or other worlds. ”

He what?

Brennan rubbed his chin, his look somewhere between apprehension and disbelief. “You’re trying to tell me that Grace is from another universe? That man dragged her back to where she came from?”

“Not where she came from. She’s probably in interdimensional prison for breaking the law, if she’s not already dead. I don’t know much about the Temporal Police. But their rules are very strict.” Spencer didn’t look up, his scent salty. After all, he loved her, too.

“She’s not dead. Don’t you dare say that,” Riley spat. “She’s going to be questioned and brought back.”

“I hope you’re right.” Spencer’s voice broke.

I nodded, heart thumping. “You’re right. Grace didn’t do anything wrong. She probably got caught in an experiment at work and was brought here by accident. They found her, she’ll give her statement, and then, you know her, she’ll convince them to let her return here and stay with us.”

It was ridiculous. But I had to cling to something.

“I’m really confused. Grace is from another world? But she’s also your mate, right? What?” Jett took a swig of his drink and squeezed Brennan’s hand.

“Scent matches can see their mates in dreams, you fuckhead. Sometimes even before they get their designation. Have you not seen those movies?” Riley was still on her computer.

Jett’s eyebrows rose. “Through dimensions? That seems really mean, for you to find your mate but not be able to get to them, if parallel world travel isn’t normal wherever you are.”

“That’s what Grace said. But like I said, when we were kids, she was going to become a string theorist and figure it out so that we could be together.” I raked my dark blond hair with my hand.

Brennan gave me a hard look. “Start at the beginning. Because I still don’t know what the fuck is going on.”

I grabbed the bottle and refilled my glass, sitting down in a chair, pulling Evan to my lap.

“It wasn’t my whole life. Just seven years.

I was twelve–it wasn’t that long after we’d moved to Rockland.

I had a dream where I was sitting on a bench, drawing, in the park near my house on the Eastside–the same park that she was found at.

Anyway, I went there a lot, so it wasn’t that weird to dream of it.

There was this blond girl on the swings.

She walked up to me and told me that she was going to marry me.

” I closed my eyes, remembering. Her pink dress, her smile, her audacity.

Slowly, I told them everything. How night after night she came back.

The adventures we had. How we confided in each other.

How we slowly realized that we were both real, just in other worlds–and that we were in love.

About the helplessness I felt when the trouble started and that bonding with her was one last act of desperation to keep her safe.

That failing as an alpha to protect my mate had broken me so badly that I left my university and enlisted in the Army because I was afraid that if I didn’t do something drastic temporarily, that I would do something drastic permanently.

“So, you can imagine my thoughts, when years later, I walk into my living room, and see her sitting on the couch with Jett and Evan.” My hands fisted as I struggled to keep it together.

“That is really romantic, and sad.” Riley closed her laptop.

“How do you know that this is your Grace? I remember the pictures you drew of her, but how do we know that she’s yours if there are other worlds?” Brennan poured himself another drink.

“Unless there’s another Grace Ellington with my bite under her boob, I’m sure she’s mine. I just got her back and now she’s gone. She’s probably so scared. I’m a shitty alpha.” My head rested on Evan’s shoulder, and I tried to ground myself in his lemonade scent.

“You’re not a shitty alpha. You did everything you could. This is extenuating and all we can do is hope that they realize she’s not some world-hopping evil genius and let her come home to us.” Evan started to purr to calm me down.

Brennan shook his head and looked at Spencer. “You all believe this?”

“I knew from the moment I smelled her that she wasn’t from here,” Spencer replied.

“Fuck, that conversation in the kitchen.” Brennan rubbed his temples.

“Yeah, we didn’t tell Spence. He figured it out,” Evan said.

“She told me. Out of all of you she loves me best.” Riley checked her phone and stood just as there was a knock on the door.

We all froze.

“It’s just pizza. I’m still hungry. Evan, I got you garlic twists because you’re weird and don’t like pizza.” Riley got the pizza and put it on the coffee table, moving her laptop.

“Why didn’t you tell me where she was from? We’re not supposed to have secrets from each other. Especially one that can bring danger to the pack.” Hurt dripped from Brennan’s voice.

I leaned over and grabbed a slice of pizza, mostly because I needed something to do.

“We were planning on it. We just hadn’t yet.

Mostly because the trust between you and Grace isn’t there.

You called a thug to scare her. You yelled at her over playing the piano.

Also, you’re not familiar with the scientific theories behind parallel world travel like we are. ”

“You put the pack in danger.” His voice rose. Jett put a hand on his arm, and he sighed. “But I understand her fear.”

“Her world is enough like ours that basic things are the same. Food, languages, motorcycles, math. But what’s that big difference you said?” Jett asked. “Because I can understand her when she speaks Mandarin even if the dialect is a little strange.”

“Her world lacks magic dicks.” Evan grabbed a garlic twist.

“What?” Jett laughed.

“Knots. That’s what she calls alpha knots,” Evan explained.

“Her world doesn’t have designations. At least not like ours–and no bonds,” I added.

“Also, polyamory isn’t accepted as widely as it is here.

Heterosexuality, not bi- and pansexuality, is the norm, and packs are a completely unfamiliar concept.

Most families in her world have one or two parents.

But yeah, that would be why she can ride a motorcycle and recite Pi to a million places but knows no popular songs or movies. ”

Brennan’s brow furrowed as he took a piece of pizza. “She’s not even a gamma? What else did she lie about?”

“She is a gamma. She also bonded with us. I don’t know how it all works in her world, but you can check her medical record and see for yourself,” Evan explained as he grabbed a garlic twist.

“Grace really didn’t lie about anything.

She doesn’t like lying. She was scant on details, but I think you can understand why.

Bren, she was scared. I was just so fucking happy to have her back that I didn’t always pay attention to how weird everything must be for her and how afraid she was.

” I should have. We were supposed to take care of each other.

“How do you know about this anyway, Spencer? The laws and Temporal Police?” Brennan asked.