Page 21 of Dream Mates (Into The Parallel Omegaverse #2)

“From what Agent Weigmier told me, your dad is still alive, just in prison. But Dr. K died a few years ago. They wouldn’t let me see your dad or write him a letter. But they said he might be released for old age, and I said I’d take him. I don’t know if that was overstepping but–”

Spencer dragged me into his lap and pressed me to him. “Thank you.”

I nuzzled his neck. I’d tell him the part about the smuggling ring later.

“You volunteered to do what ?” Brennan scowled.

“If my father, by some miracle, gets returned to us, I’ll figure it out. Most likely he’ll want to return to Greece and my mother,” Spencer said. “Hopefully he’ll remember something. How common is it to not remember anything, like when you first arrived?”

“I’m small. The dosage was off.” I shrugged. “But I’d expect your father to have a very long memory gap. Oh. I wonder if that’s why some people go missing and then turn up years later with no memories of the time that passed?”

Jett rubbed his chin. “Quite possibly.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know why I was here. Certainly, I didn’t know Agent Weigmier was coming for me. I didn’t mean to upset you. My phone didn’t work there so I couldn’t text you. He wouldn’t let me get a message to you.” Tears streamed down my face.

“We know, Grace, we know,” Spencer said softly. “It was just frightening.”

“Especially since Spencer didn’t think you were coming back,” Jett added. “Ri was adamant that you would.”

“Anything else?” Brennan asked.

“There are some things that I need to remember that didn’t get written down. Probably because I never let anyone see my phone. But I do remember an agreement to not research parallel worlds and travel. So–” I shrugged.

“Sorry, Peaches.” Wes squeezed my shoulder.

“The whole point was to find you. Now I have you.” I leaned in and kissed him.

“I’ll make sure you don’t take on illegal projects. I want to keep you here.” Spencer kissed the top of my head.

I looked at Brennan. His opinion as head alpha was important.

“Can I stay? Please?” My heart squeezed a little. What if he said no?

“You can stay. But I’m still confused about the dream traveling.” His brows furrowed.

Relief flooded me. I could stay!

“Thank you. And I don’t understand the dream traveling, I never have.” I mean, that whole thing about putting the wedding cake under your pillow to dream of your future husband was just an old wives’ tale. Right? None of my friends had dreamt of anyone.

“We’ll go with the fact that you’re scent matches and that’s why you dreamt of each other. Your love is so strong that it spans the universe. It’s romantic,” Evan stated.

“Also, I’m not twenty-nine, I’m twenty-eight. Evan fucked with my birthdate. We should change that back at some point.” I grinned at him. Might as well lay down the secrets.

“Why?” Brennan made a face.

Evan grinned back. “Wes is a perv.”

Wes play-smacked Evan. “She was an older seventeen when I bonded with her. Also, it was extenuating. I wouldn’t have bit her then if I hadn’t been worried about her life.”

A pang of regret zinged through the bond, and I crawled back onto his lap.

“It’s okay that you didn’t find me. I still love you to the end of the universe.” I gave Wes a kiss.

“Why don’t we clean up and go roast some marshmallows around the fire pit,” Jett said, getting up off the floor. “If you’re up for it, I do have some questions, especially about your interdimensional mate bond.”

It was late. Jett put out the fire in the fire pit down by the dock.

Brennan and I folded up and carried the chairs back to the cabin.

Spencer had already headed up because he couldn’t remember if he’d put all the food away.

Evan, Jett, and Wes were cleaning up around the fire pit.

Brennan and I walked in the dark, the sound of the lake lapping on the shore filled the cool night air.

“Bren?” My heart beat hard in my chest. “I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to break pack rules. I don’t even know what they are and–”

“Relax before Wes and Evan crash our conversation. I understand. It’s my fault, too. We don’t have that trust between us that you do with the others. I’ll keep your secrets; we all will. We just don’t keep them from each other. That is very important,” Brennan explained.

I tried to gulp the lump out of my throat. “I get that. I’ll try not to keep secrets.”

“Good.”

For a moment we walked in silence, and I shivered a little.

“Also…” I didn’t even know how to broach what happened in the nest. Things between Jett and I seemed fine. But I felt like maybe Brenn and I should talk about it?

“Grace?” He stopped, facing me, body close but not touching. “You confuse the shit out of me.”

“I’m not that different from other girls.” I snorted.

“No. You’re not. You’re just not like the kind of woman I’m used to being in my life. Take this–you broke a pack rule. You should get punished. But I can’t punish you like I’d punish anyone else in the pack.”

“Punish? I’m not sixteen.” I looked up at him, way up, eyebrows rising. “You ground Spencer, right?”

The idea of punishing Spencer, or anyone, except possibly grounding Riley, seemed funny. But I also understood that breaking rules had consequences. Especially ones about trust.

He laughed. “Yeah, no. We have an understanding. And well, he might just make donations to my family’s foundation to support all the scholarships Evan gives away.”

“Who punishes you?” I blinked.

“Spencer and Wes.”

“Oh. They ground you?” My head cocked as I smirked.

He laughed. “Only Riley actually gets grounded.”

“Well, you can make me eat plain vanilla ice cream for a week instead of cookie dough? I don’t like punishments.” I shrugged.

“I’m sure you don’t.” Brennan snorted. “But you have to follow the same rules as everyone else. Understood?”

“Okay.” I closed my eyes. A little sound rumbled through my chest, greater than a hum.

“Oh.” His head leaned down to touch mine, our bodies very close. “That’s it, you’ve almost got it. You should work on that with Evan. blowjobs, too,” Brennan teased.

I play-punched him in the chest. He grinned and grabbed my wrists.

Panic filled me and I froze. Immediately, he let go and pulled me into his arms. His chest rumbled in a very soft purr, and I relaxed.

“Sorry,” he whispered in my ear. “I wasn’t trying to trigger you. They tied your wrists in that bad place, didn’t they?”

“It’s okay. Sometimes I don’t know what’s going to affect me.” I closed my eyes and leaned into him, letting his pine scent comfort me.

“You’ve been through a lot. All this is probably dredging things up. We’ll find someone safe for you to talk to, okay,” he assured.

I nodded, knowing I really needed that if I was to move forward.

“Is everything okay?” Evan joined us.

“We’re okay,” I said quietly, letting go of Brennan.

Evan put his arms around us as we continued walking. “Okay.”

“I was teasing her that she needs purring and blowjob lessons,” Brennan said, as we reached the edge of the back downstairs yard.

We could either go inside to the bottom floor, or up the stairs to the gazebo or the porch.

“You can purr?” Evan kissed my temple. “Aww, you tried to comfort Bren. So cute.”

“Is that what I did? We need to practice blowjobs on actual alpha dicks.” Even though I’d play smacked Brennan for his tease, I wasn’t going to deny the need for more blowjob lessons. Usually, I practiced on Evan.

Evan nodded. “We can do that.”

“We’re okay, Grace?” Brennan asked.

“Yeah.” I could purr? Well, I could growl.

“Everything okay?” Wes asked as he and Jett joined us.

“We’re okay,” I confirmed.

The five of us went upstairs, and I entered the kitchen to do the dishes. Spence was there, washing large pans.

“Hey, I can do that.” I put my arms around his waist. It was my turn to clean up.

He gave me a fond look. “I’ll finish the special pans, and you do the rest?”

“Spence?” I needed to tell him the rest of what I learned about his dad.

“Yes, Darling?”

“Your dad didn’t go to jail just for discovering things.

He was part of some sort of really big people-smuggling ring.

But the good kind. Agent Weigmier wouldn’t give me details.

He said that even though they were helping people, you couldn’t just send people from one world to another without consequence, and that they were still cleaning up the mess, years later–though he didn’t elaborate.

I hope they didn’t send people back when it would endanger their lives. ” I rested my head on his back.

Putting down the pan he turned and enveloped me with his arms. “Thank you. And I know a little of this. I was trying to figure out if there was anything I could do to get you back and stumbled upon the information that my father and Dr. K were part of a group of people smuggling omegas. My father and Dr. K would take omegas from worlds where they were illegal and set them up here with new identities. A lovely and worthy cause. But considering they’d done it for years, I could see how people might get upset.

I do hope that no one sent those omegas back.

It means the world to me that you asked about my father. ”

“I hope they let him come home. I’d love to meet him.” Saving omegas? That sounded extraordinary.

Spencer tipped his head to mine. “I’d love for nothing more.”