Page 55 of Dream Mates (Into The Parallel Omegaverse #2)

My gut wrenched. “He ghosted her. He had a live-in girlfriend, found his pack, and just dropped her with nothing but a text . That’s not right. I mean, couldn’t she have been part of it, too?”

“It’s not right and that is not how it’s supposed to go,” Verity interjected.

“This is why the parents tell us this part–so we’re not assholes like they were.

Because it gets worse. When she tried to see Dad, the moms called the police.

When she tried to come on campus they had her dragged off.

They got a restraining order. She did trash Mom’s car, but to be fair, they were so possessive that they wouldn’t even let her talk to Dad.

Other than that single text, they never had a conversation.

He never saw her letters or read her emails and texts or heard her voicemails. ”

“Shit. She just wanted closure,” I whispered. How awful. I was so glad that me appearing hadn’t caused that sort of tragedy with Wes and Evan.

“Yeah. Months later, she found his new phone number and left a frantic message about being in trouble and needing him to keep something for her. But Mom talked him out of calling her back,” Creed said.

“Not long after he found out that his ex-girlfriend died. And… and that she’d been persistent because she’d been trying to tell Dad that she was pregnant. ”

The bottom fell out of my stomach. “What happened?”

The baby.

“I’m not sure,” Creed replied. “But that something she wanted him to keep was the baby. After discovering what had happened, Dad was crushed–and mad at Mom and Mumsy, who realized that they’d fucked up, badly.

Especially Mom, who did most of it, but Mumsy didn’t stop it.

Dad was so upset that he actually went to file to have the mate bonds dissolved.

The Center stepped in, and with some heavy-duty counseling, they eventually made it work. ”

“For years Dad searched for the baby, hoping he could fix their massive fuckup. He never found her.” Verity’s shoulders slumped.

“Wow.” I exhaled heavily. “That is a massive fuckup. Though I’m glad he never stopped looking for her.” More than my dad ever did.

That poor baby. I wished that she had a happy, wonderful life. Hopefully, he never found her, because that story would fuck her up. They were all idiots, and I was surprised that he was able to forgive his mates.

Verity frowned. “He only knew two things about her, her birth date, and that her name was Grace . Dad has a thing for virtue names, and I guess he and his girlfriend had talked about it. They were apparently pretty serious, like wanting to bond, but waiting a little because they were only twenty and her alpha hadn’t awakened yet.

It’s a little late, but it happens sometimes. ”

Shit.

“I… I’m not the girl you’re looking for, Verity. I’m not your missing Grace.” All these emotions whirled inside of me and part of me wanted to run out of the coffee shop.

My phone buzzed.

Evan

Are you okay?

I took a deep breath and replied.

Me

Just hearing a sad story. Love you.

“Okay,” Creed said before Verity could say anything.

“You might be our cousin though. Dad’s from a very omega-heavy family and one of his brothers had an epic slut era.

Given how fertile male omegas are, he has had a few kids pop up from his misspent youth.

If you’re ever ready, we’ll introduce you.

He’s a good guy, and his pack is pretty interesting. ”

Yeah, not the cousin either.

Still, it was eerie, and the parallels brought up emotions I thought I’d worked through.

Verity frowned but nodded slowly. “Given how alike Dad’s brothers look, and how strong omega genes can be, that could be an explanation of why you look like Creed’s identical twin, who just happens to be a woman.”

“Kids tend to look like their omega parent?” My head cocked.

“Not always, but it’s pretty common. It’s a genetic survival instinct.

Once upon a time, when things were more savage, children in packs who looked like their omega parent were more likely to survive, because they were treated better by the others in the pack.

Especially those who weren’t their biological parent, who might otherwise be hardwired to prefer their own offspring,” Verity told me.

“Dad’s kids all look like some variation of Dad. ”

“So, if Evan and I have a baby they’ll look like him.” My hand went to my heart. I possibly wanted a baby Evan one day.

“I don’t know a lot about two-omega children, but I think it might go either way? I do know that the likelihood of that child being an omega is very high,” Verity said. “Especially if the omegas had an omega for a parent themselves.”

I shook my head. “I’m not an omega though.”

“No?” Verity’s eyebrows knitted.

“She’s a gamma,” Creed said softly.

“Well, this is a party. Hey, asshole, didn’t know you were in town. Shouldn’t you be studying for finals?” A guy with long brown hair, lighter than Verity’s, with a wave to it, and eyes as blue as Creed’s, strode over to us. He wore tight jeans, a band T-shirt, and cowboy boots.

“Hale.” Creed stood and hugged him. “I was visiting Ina at PIIP, so I came to harass Verity. Most of my finals are papers and presentations anyway.”

“Right, because you and Ina are not a thing?” Hale smirked. He looked almost exactly like Creed, only with sharper features, and long dark hair. He was also broader, with a more typical alpha body type, and smelled of pluots. Like Creed and Verity, he had a southern drawl.

Creed rolled his eyes. “You know how the parents feel about us dating people.”

Oh. Yeah, I could see how they might after all that.

“Yet you applied to Compass BioTek for a job?” Verity teased. Then she froze. “Oh, I didn't mean to say that out loud. Sorry.”

“You did what?” Hale pulled up a chair. His eyes fell on me. “Holy fuckballs. We found Creed’s double. Told you you’d make a pretty girl.”

Creed play-smacked him. “Shut up. Dr. Ellington, this is my asshole brother Hale. He’s studying o-chem here, which makes him a giant suck-up. Hale, this is Dr. Ellington. She’s a friend of Ina’s and was over at Marquess touring the physics department.”

It was interesting how he kept saying that. But I wouldn’t mind actually being friends with Inara.

“Did you actually apply to Compass BioTek? Mom will shit a pumpkin.” Hale laughed and grabbed Verity’s drink, took a sip, and made a face.

“I’m an adult and I can apply where I want,” Creed retorted.

Hale eyed me. “Friend of Ina’s? Okay, we’ll roll with that. Has she met Dad yet? Fuck, Mom’s going to shit two pumpkins. But Mama and Harry will love you. Mumsy’s British, so you’ll think she hates you, but I think she’ll like you well enough. No idea what Baba will think. Your PhD is in physics?”

“Math. And that’s not why I’m here.” I looked at my phone. “I should probably go. Where’s the car pickup station here? I’ll call a ride to where Spence’s meeting is.”

“This is not the missing sister? She looks like how I’d think the missing sister would.” Hale frowned.

“Nope. Not me. Do you all know about her?” My heart broke a little for them, to be hoping their big sister was out there somewhere. At least they were welcoming.

“Only us three, though Dare and Mercy will be getting the story soon,” Verity said.

Creed stood. “I’ll walk you to the rideshare stop. It’s on the other side of campus. Is he okay with you calling a car? Do you know what service to use?”

“I do.” I stood. There was a special service for omegas that only had beta drivers.

“Maybe you should use my car and take her,” Verity said to Creed.

“I’m fine. Thanks. And good luck on your finals, they’re soon, too?”

“That they are. Though Hale and I aren’t graduating. Oh, I wish we had more time. You could see my greenhouse,” Verity added.

“You’re really small. Wait, you’re here alone? ” Hale frowned.

I rolled my eyes. “Will you pushy alphas stop ?”

It seemed like here in the South they took that whole omegas should stick close to their alphas more seriously than in Rockland.

Hale grinned. “Spoken like someone in desperate need of a whole pile of alpha siblings.”

“If any of the little ones are omegas I feel so sorry for them,” I laughed. Little Hope was going to have a time of it.

Creed tapped on his chin. “None of your brothers are alphas.”

“While they acted like alphaholes, nope. My mom didn’t like alphas.” I don’t know why I said that, though it was part of my backstory and true. She had reacted viscerally to me mentioning that Wes was an alpha.

“Oh. But you do have that small midwestern mostly beta town vibe,” Verity said.

“That’s about right. While it’s been nice meeting everyone, I should go.” I grabbed my phone and purse.

“Oh fuck,” Hale said, looking behind me. “Sorry, I… I didn’t know you were here, or I wouldn’t have told Mom and Dad that Creed was at the coffee shop.”

“Creed, what a nice surprise! Everything’s okay? Shouldn’t you be studying?” a man’s voice said from behind me. He didn’t have the drawl the others did. His accent reminded me a bit of my recent visit to Seaside with Wes.

“Everything's great. I took a study break to visit Ina and thought that I’d pop by,” Creed replied.

“You were visiting Ina?” a woman added, voice dripping with disapproval in a way that reminded me of my mom, and I suppressed a shudder.

“She presented her research at the PIIP symposium. I took the train down to support her because it’s a big deal for her,” Creed explained. “Don’t worry, I’m studying and getting my work done.”

My back was still to those new people, and I didn’t want to turn around. But I couldn’t leave without doing so.

“Who’s your friend?” the man asked. “Are you a student here? I’m Professor Thorne, and this is Dr. Thorne.”

I am so sorry, Creed mouthed. It will be okay.

With a sigh, Creed turned to his dad. “This is Dr. Ellington. She’s friends with Ina and was on a tour of the visualizer over at Marquess. She needs to leave so I’m just going to walk her out.”

He’s not your dad. He’s not your dad. My heart raced and I turned around, even though I didn’t want to for so many reasons.

“It’s so nice to meet you.” My heart lodged in my throat. Professor Thorne looked like Creed, but his features were more angular like Hale’s. He was taller than me, but shorter and slighter than his children–or the woman with a protective arm around his waist.

The man smelled of apricots and custard. His suspenders had chemical symbols on them. His blue eyes–not my eyes but very much Creed and Hale’s–went wide.

“Dr. Ellington, it’s a pleasure to meet you. You… you can’t stay? I’ve got a class soon, but I’d love to… hear your thoughts on the visualizer.” The professor’s voice shook as he gripped his alpha.

Dr. Thorne’s brown eyes narrowed as she turned her sharp gaze on me. She was as tall as Hale, and had his hair, which was up in a sharp knot, which gave her a hawkish look. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing but you need to leave. Now.”

It had that oily tinge. That bitch was trying to alpha bark at me.

I met her gaze even though I wanted to punch her in the tits for her highhandedness. Because she wasn’t my mom.

“Excuse me, but I am leaving now. I need to meet someone else. I was here touring the visualizer with Dr. Mariano and a group of students.” Turning to Creed, I said, “Thanks, but I’ll find my own way.”

Taking a deep breath, I tried to walk past them, ignoring the heartbroken look on their dad’s face. Her hand grabbed my wrist, the one that had previously been injured, yanking me.

“Ow.” Pain shot through me as I lost my balance and fell to my knees.

“Mom, stop, please. It’s not her, just let her go,” Creed pleaded. “You really don’t want to start anything with her pack.”

“Adriana, Honey, I know you’re trying to protect me, but there’s no need to choose violence.” The professor’s face crumpled as he moved toward me.

People were watching and I tried to get up, but it was hard with her still gripping me. Ow. Alphas were generally stronger than everyone else and that was going to bruise.

“Of course it’s not her. I won’t allow some imposter to manipulate my family,” Mom retorted, finally letting go of me with a hard shove.

“Oh, it’s not?” The professor’s voice went soft, his eyes tearing, as he helped me up. “But her eyes, Adriana. She has–”

“Nate, it’s not her,” Adriana snapped.

His shoulders slumped. “I see. Are you okay? Sorry, overzealous, protective alphas and all that.”

Yeah, I lived with three of them, and they weren’t like that.

Before I could answer she scowled at me. “Leave before I have campus security escort you out.” Adriana added that bark again.

But I had no urge to be compelled by the likes of her.

“I told you that I was leaving. Pushing me, then demanding I leave when I can barely get up on my own is unnecessary. So is speaking to me like that.” I gazed at the professor’s heartbroken face, my voice softening.

“Professor, I hope that you find her, and I hope she forgives you.” I looked at Creed, Verity, and Hale, “and I hope she loves you all, and doesn’t resent that you got what she didn’t. ”

“Wait, did she just resist Mom’s bark and tell her off?” Hale hissed. “She has a death wish?”

“Gammas have death wishes, we know this,” Creed whispered back.

Taking a deep breath, I mustered all my strength and self-control and hobbled out of the cafe, people staring. Part of me wanted to talk to him even though he wasn’t my dad. But it would probably end with me slapping his mate and that would not be a good thing.

“Are you looking for my brother, Barrett?” The professor followed me.

“I’m so sorry.” My voice broke, my back to them. “I wasn’t trying to start anything. I didn’t think meeting Creed for coffee would be a big deal.”

But I didn’t turn around. I couldn’t. I wasn’t his daughter–and I was glad for it, since he seemed to be part of a pack of assholes. Something about his mate’s attitude felt a lot like my own mom’s and that rankled.

Still, my heart broke for him.

My voice went soft, “And no, I’m not looking for anyone.”