Page 7 of Dream Mates (Into The Parallel Omegaverse #2)

Chapter Four

Spencer

“ S pencer, have you been here all night?” Mrs. Katsopolis scolded, coming into my office, with a cursory knock on the open door.

Light streamed through the windows of my office, and I lifted my head off my desk. A glance at my phone showed no calls, no texts, no alerts.

At least not the ones that I yearned for.

“Why? I have nowhere else to go.” It came out more bitter than intended. Grace had been taken Friday night, and it was now Tuesday morning. I was losing hope. If she was found innocent, surely she’d have been returned to us by now.

Which meant that like my father and Dr. K, she’d been tried and prosecuted, and I’d never see her again. The prospect broke my already fragile heart.

“Spencer, you’re supposed to be on vacation. I don’t know what happened, but you should go home–or somewhere.” She approached my desk.

My beta assistant looked fresh and crisp in her sensible dress with her understated accessories. Her grey hair was neatly curled.

“I need to wait here.” I promised Riley that I’d stay in town. Otherwise, I’d be far from here, and drunk off my ass.

Mostly likely Grace was dead. Once again, someone I loved had died needlessly.

And I couldn’t stop it.

“In your office? ” She scowled. “Put on a fresh shirt. I’ll get you coffee and some breakfast.”

With that, she left, closing my office door.

I sighed, checking my phone just to make sure. There was no action on the door camera. No texts from the group chat. But there was a picture of Riley and her sisters. I checked for Grace on the location finder app. Location not found.

The pack was up at the cabin, as planned.

Why had I let Riley get my hopes up? I knew that I’d never see Grace again the moment I opened the door and saw him. That suit, which smelled of neutrons, brought everything back from when they’d come for my father and Dr. K.

Still, I pretended to be optimistic for Riley’s sake. As much as I worried for Wes and Evan, they had each other. Riley didn’t.

As for me, maybe I didn’t deserve love after Elaris.

I went to the closet in my office where I kept extra clothes and quickly changed my shirt, using some wipes from my gym bag.

I’d still smell like an angry alpha all day.

Oh well. I was an angry alpha. I should be at the cabin, with the pack, with Grace.

Who I’d hoped to finally get knot-deep in–or at least balls-deep if she wasn’t ready.

Though I had a feeling she was. I could smell her desire, her arousal, see the want in her blue-grey eyes. The only reason why I hadn’t pinned her to the bed sooner was that she seemed to be enjoying the game.

Certainly, I was.

It was enjoyable to woo someone again. Especially someone who clearly had never been courted properly. Delighting her always made my day. I’d even bought some gifts to give her up at the cabin.

And now…

My head bowed in defeat as I buttoned my shirt and changed my tie. The main reason why I’d stayed here in the office was because not only was the house empty, but her peachy scent was everywhere. The couch. My office. The kitchen.

The air purifier wasn’t enough. I’d need to convince Brennan to have the house professionally de-scented.

No. I couldn’t think like that. She’d be back.

No, she wouldn’t.

I’d even combed over every inch of the little I had of my father’s research and all of mine, trying to see if there was anything helpful.

Any hope.

I’d even reached out to a few old contacts.

Nothing.

I’d obsessed over the door camera footage, trying to figure out what had happened, what I could glean from the situation. It was different from what I remembered, with my father. The two officers had identified themselves back then. They arrested my father and Dr. K. Then an entire team arrived.

This man never identified himself, he simply asked for Grace. He never arrested her, just repeatedly told her that they needed to go. That there was no time.

But clearly she hadn’t expected him, not with her cries and pleas. Also, she would have told us.

My shoulders slumped as I checked my emails. What I needed to do was to keep my promise to Brennan and figure out a way to explain Grace’s absence, so another investigation wasn’t opened.

“Spencer?” Mrs. K knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

She came in and set a cup of coffee and a container from the cafeteria on my desk.

“There you go. Is everything okay? Is something wrong with Grace? I noticed that you pushed her start-date a week. Is she in the hospital again? You can go to her. Things will be fine if you leave for a bit. Family is important.”

I wished I could go to Grace. Hold her. Kiss her.

“It doesn’t matter. Thank you for bringing me breakfast.” Usually, I’d go to the cafeteria myself. It was good to be seen, and to talk to my employees. But I’d go down for lunch. Get my mind off everything.

“I… I got what you asked for,” she added. “I’ll bring it to you.”

She disappeared as I took a long drink of strong, black coffee. When she returned to my office she had a large, battered folder–and closed the door.

“Spencer, you know I love you like one of my children. I support you and your research. But what are you doing? You need to be careful, or you’ll end up like them.

I shouldn’t even give this to you. Not that it’s much and probably won’t be helpful.

Selfishly, I hope it’s not helpful.” She clutched the folder to her chest.

Mrs. K sunk into the seat on the other side of my desk, weathered hands still gripping the folder. “You should know the truth before you get too deep like they did. I tried to warn Demitra, but you know her–stubborn to the core. And, well, they were doing something good; illegal, but good.”

My heart thudded at her unexpected words. “What do you know?”

She set the folder on the table, but kept her hands on top of it, as if trying to trap the information inside. “I’m pretty sure the super collider explosion and their deaths were on purpose. You see, they were doing things they shouldn’t.”

Mrs. K knew. I didn’t think she had, since my mother knew little about the specifics of my father’s research.

“What were they doing?” I wasn’t sure I wanted her to know what I’d seen. Especially before discovering what knowledge she possessed.

“Things they weren’t supposed to. Things they were warned not to continue doing.

I understand why they did it. They were helping people, good people, and giving them the life they deserved.

But after that man showed up the first time, they didn’t stop.

Or the second. Or the fourth. They trusted the network who said not to listen to them.

They also took risks they shouldn’t, and then… ” A sob ripped from her throat.

I pushed the tissue box to her. “Oh, Mrs. K. They were involved in something? Moving people from one world to another? I know that they’d actually discovered parallel worlds. I didn’t think they knew how to move through them. That is what you’re saying?”

Network? They were working with other worlds? A shiver went up my spine. This was very bad indeed.

And so different from what I’d thought they’d been doing, what I’d helped with.

“They were approached by a group of scientists from another world. They asked them to be part of a network of worlds that offered sanctuary and new lives for omegas from places where being an omega was illegal or dangerous. It seemed noble, and they were able to tap into the Omega Protection Program that the Omega Center has. They gave them new lives and identities here where they could be happy and safe.” She grabbed a tissue and dabbed her eyes.

“There are worlds where being an omega is illegal? ” The very thought baffled me. Omegas were treasures.

“We were one of many worlds accepting omegas through the network, so that no one was overwhelmed. Mostly we got male omegas, since many worlds in the network didn’t welcome them,” she sniffed.

“I see.” That was a lot to take in. I understood some designations being illegal, but omegas?

And not wanting male omegas? Evan was my packmate, my best friend. While they weren’t as numerous as female omegas, I couldn’t envision a world where male omegas were unwanted.

“It seems like a noble thing, to give shelter to omegas. Did they do the same, send our illegal designations to other places?” Illegal designations had become quite rare, but the fate of those few was unkind, and in my opinion, quite unnecessary.

It’s not as if they chose to be an illegal designation.

Mrs. K opened the folder. “That had been the idea, taking in omegas and sending our illegal designations to safety, but it didn’t work as planned. Still, they made a difference in the lives of those omegas.”

“I’m proud of them for that. They must have saved so many lives.”

“They did. I only met a couple of the omegas, but they were so lovely.” Her hands hesitated on the folder, then she pushed it forward.

“Please, be proud, even though they hid so much from you. The mapping research they were doing was also important. They loved it; it wasn’t just a cover for the other operation.

On that end they were mostly just a receiving depot .

They’d just get omegas and help them. They never went elsewhere or got much knowledge about other worlds or how their technology worked. ”

I took the folder from her. “Thank you, I appreciate you being honest with me.”

She left and returned to her desk. That had been enlightening. My father had been smuggling omegas to safety. Huh.

I ate my breakfast and went on with my day. My mind kept wandering as I wondered who else I could call, what else I could do. But it wasn’t as if the Temporal Police had an office here that I could march into. They had no permanent presence here at all that I had been able to find.

If I wasn’t going to do my work here, I should be working on a cover story regarding Grace’s disappearance, so no one thought that we’d harmed her. The easiest would be to say it didn’t work out with Wes and she went home.

But Mrs. Beekman would want to talk to her.

While I could possibly pull off texts, I didn’t sound anything like Grace.

The integration team from the Center, who was helping Grace assimilate into our pack, would want to know what went wrong and if they could do things differently.

The Center would ask for her new address so that they could put her in touch with her local one so that she could continue to receive healthcare and educational opportunities.

No, it wouldn’t be easy at all.

“Spencer, just go home. Or go to your club and work it out on small balls or something.” Mrs. K came back in, concern etched on her weathered face.

“You’re right. I have no meetings anyway.” I closed my laptop. While I didn’t want to go home, I wasn’t doing anyone any good here.

She was right, I’d go to my club and work it out on the court. Then I’d return home, de-scent an area, and drink myself to sleep, hoping that I didn’t dream of Grace.