Page 9 of Found (Mate Rejected #8)

9

AERIN

O n our way back inside the house, we enter through a side door, passing a room with a closed door where I hear low female voices.

I’m instantly curious.

Omegas were being kidnapped across the country, and even though we spent the last few minutes wandering outside, I haven’t caught even a hint of a woman. It’s just been men busy with construction.

Trying not to show too much curiosity, I glance at the closed door. “Is that another living room?”

Shane shrugs. “Probably. Let’s go.”

A brown-haired man in paint splattered overalls approaches us from the hallway. “Have you seen Franklin?”

Shane points the way we came. “Outside. About five or ten minutes ago.”

The man looks at me and he smiles. “Ah, our new arrival.”

“Yes, she is.” Shane steps in front of me. “Aerin, you remember the way to our room, don’t you?”

For a moment, I struggle to summon a response.

I spent nearly a year with Shane in his pack. When he wasn’t pretending I didn’t exist, he loved to rub his relationship with Bree in my face.

This side of him is one I don’t think will ever stop surprising me. He sounds like he’s being genuine, but after seeing so much of his bad side, I can’t accept this version of him. It doesn’t feel real.

“Sure.”

I skirt around the men and walk down the hallway.

When I look back, they’re both watching me.

I twist back around and keep walking.

When I reach a bend in the hallway, I stop and wait.

Shane doesn’t catch me up. I’m in no hurry to rush back to the room we’re supposed to share. Soon it will be dark and I’ll have to face up to that one bed situation I would rather pretend doesn’t exist.

I wait for about a minute, then I peek around the corner. There’s no sign of Shane or the man who was staring at me, though a door further down, the backyard door, I think, is open.

They must have gone to find Franklin. Or maybe there is something Shane wants to talk to Franklin about that he doesn’t want me to know.

I hesitate, my gaze lingering on that closed door where I heard female voices.

It’s probably not a good idea to linger like this after Franklin’s threats, but this might be the only chance I’m alone.

I hurry toward the closed door, grip the handle, twist, and come face to face with a room full of women. I count fifteen of them.

All are young. In their late teens, twenties, and maybe even early thirties.

None of them look bruised or hurt. If anything, they seem comfortable spread around the room with bunk beds set up on one side, and a dining area with chairs and tables on the other side.

On the back wall are two closed doors I assume lead to the bathrooms or closets.

“Who are you?” a woman frowns at me as another gets to her feet.

“I know you. You’re Aerin. Aerin Boone. I saw you once when my dad took me to an alpha event your dad was hosting,” another woman responds before I can.

After giving the hallway another fleeting glance, I step into the room and pull the door closed behind me, hoping that wherever Shane is, he will be gone awhile and I’ll have a chance to talk to these women.

My powers have gone. I’m reaching the point where I’ve accepted they might be gone forever, but I don’t need my powers to know who they are.

“You’re all omegas.” And it takes no stretch of the imagination to know who they must be and where they came from. “The Raleighs kidnapped you.”

They nod.

I’d known they must be here somewhere, but to have proof is both shocking and rage inducing.

“Do you know why?” a redheaded woman asks me.

She’s sitting cross-legged on top of a bunk bed, arms wrapped around her raised legs, looking anxious.

“I don’t know. But Shane Dacre was involved.” I cast a glance at the closed door.

There’s no sign of Shane, but I don’t have long before he comes looking for me.

“ Shane ? Why is he involved in this?” Another woman frowns. “And what is he even doing here?”

“I don’t know that either.” But whatever is going on, things can’t be good with the Dacres. I spoke with Moses a few days ago and he said there was a lot of fighting going on.

If Shane is here and Bree is dead, I can’t imagine things are good in Minnesota.

A creak of a door opening makes me back up. It wasn’t this door, but it might be Shane walking back inside from the backyard. Time to get out of here.

“I have to go before Shane finds me gone and I get in trouble.” But I stop and look around. “Leah?”

A petite blonde woman stands up. “Yeah?”

“I just wanted to say I spoke to your mate, Clary. He’s looking for you.”

Tears instantly fill her eyes. “He is?”

I nod, smiling at her. “He never stopped. He will find you and we’ll all get out of here.”

Then I rush out, closing the door behind me.

I walk quickly away from the omegas, toward our room. I could not have timed things any better because Shane pops into view just ahead, scaring the shit out of me.

“Aerin?”

I jump and try not to look guilty. “Yeah?”

Shane walks toward me, frowning. “Where were you?”

Thinking fast, I say in a rush. “Uh, I got a little lost looking for a bathroom. I walked into a room and walked in on someone instead.”

Still frowning, though I don’t think he looks suspicious, he continues toward me. “There’s one in our room. You shouldn’t go opening doors or wandering off. It isn’t safe.”

It’s like dealing with invasion of the body snatchers seeing that look of concern on Shane’s face. It’s Shane all right, but this personality is decidedly not the Shane I know.

“Because we’re not Raleighs, therefore we are expendable, and could be killed at any moment?” I ask.

He doesn’t respond as he leads the way back to our room and pushes the door open.

Since there’s nothing else I can do, I walk inside. “Where did you go?”

“I had to speak to Franklin about something.” He closes the door.

We’re back in a room together with a queen size bed. My untouched meal is right where I left it on the bedside table, and the smell of it now fills the room, making my stomach grumble since it’s been a while since I last ate.

“About?” I turn my back to the bed, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Just something,” he says evasively.

“But—”

“We’re eating in the dining room tonight. Franklin invited us both.”

He says it so blankly that I can’t imagine he had a choice in the matter. My dad was like that sometimes. Very good at making it clear what was happening, whether you liked it or not. And Shane looks very much like he has just been told what to do.

What must that be like? To go from leading your own pack to being someone who does what they’re told.

“Who else will be there?”

He eyes me for two beats, and the same hint of suspicion from the hallway returns. “Who do you mean?”

I mean the kidnapped omegas. But if I mention them, he might wonder where I had wandered to, and that might lead to consequences I don’t want to deal with: like being locked in this room 24/7 with Shane.

“I mean, is this meal with the rest of the pack? Or is it just with Franklin?”

His expression relaxes, and he shrugs as he walks to the bathroom. “The rest of the pack. You need the bathroom?”

I shake my head.

“I need a quick shower.” He pauses in the doorway and gives me a long look. “If I were you, I wouldn’t go wandering around out there. You don’t want Franklin to be the one to find you.”

He waits until I nod, then he walks into the bathroom and closes the door behind him.

I sink onto the edge of the bed, twisting my fingers together and woefully unsure about what to do.

Escaping isn’t going to be easy. We drove through a pretty long drive to get to this house, and with all the Raleigh contractors outside, someone would hear me, see me, or both.

And I can’t just leave the other omegas behind.

I chew my lip as I consider my options.

Will Mack and the others know I’m here? Or are they still in Winter Lake, dealing with the fire a Raleigh pack member must have set, or trying to save Chris’s life because he has to be alive? I refuse to believe he’s dead.

Although the scent of the chicken meal tempts me, I spend the next several minutes chewing my lip, then my nail, as I stare out through the balcony and struggle to come up with a way I can rescue myself and the omegas.

I’m still no closer to deciding what to do when the bathroom door swings open and Shane steps out. He has a towel wrapped around his waist and water slides down his bare chest.

I immediately get to my feet and walk over to the corner of the room, training my sight outside. Shane knew I was in this room, and could have dressed in the bathroom instead of leaving it still dripping.

Is this his attempt to seduce me?

“You can look,” Shane says.

Yep. Seduction it is.

“I’m not interested in looking,” I say.

I tense at the sound of his footsteps, only relaxing when they move further away from me instead of closer. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot him standing in front of the dresser and sliding one drawer open.

He pulls out a top, and it must be one of his to fit him so well.

Which means he’s had time to settle in here and unpack. Maybe this was even his room before he came to Winter Lake to kidnap me.

So he packed up his stuff and left Minnesota to join the Raleighs.

Why?

With Bree dead, he could have still stayed and had a home and a family around him. Surely that would have been better than being an outsider here?

Or did the Raleighs hear about what happened with him and Bree and go to him, offering him more than he’s told me so far?

“You’re my mate,” he says as he dresses.

“I was your mate,” I correct him. “You destroyed us so badly there’s no recovering from it.”

“You haven’t given me a chance to make amends.”

“There are no amends you can make.”

In the silence that falls, I try to tune out the sound of him dressing.

“I’ll change your mind, Aerin.”

I risk looking at him, and I’m relieved to find he’s finished dressing in a pair of blue jeans and a white T-shirt. I try not to think about how I smell after being on the road for so many hours.

“No. You won’t.” Before we can continue a conversation that has already gone on long enough, I glance at the bathroom door. “Are we going to dinner soon, or do I have time to use the bathroom first?”

He gives me a long look. “You have time.”

I walk past him and into the bathroom, closing the door and mentally cursing when I look for a lock on the door and can’t find one. There’s a towel hanging on the back of the door, but I wish there was something more. Something like a big, industrial size lock.

It wouldn’t keep Shane out for long, but it would make me feel a hell of a lot better using the bathroom, knowing I’d done something to make myself feel more secure.

I’m washing my face when there’s a soft knock on the door.

I freeze, relieved I hadn’t undressed to use the shower. “Yes?”

The door opens and Shane is standing there, holding a small bundle of clothes. “These are for you. They may be a little small in the chest because I didn’t remember you being…” His voice trails off.

“So big?” I finish tightly.

He darts a rapid glance at my belly and nods.

I walk over to him, taking the bundle of clothes so he will go away. “Thanks.”

He lingers for a beat then, when I say nothing else, he retreats, closing the door after him.

I look at the clothes in my arms.

They don’t smell of anything and the labels make it clear these are new. More signs he was preparing to bring me here if he thought to fill a dresser with clothes for him and me.

I’d love nothing more than to toss the clothes to the floor, or, better yet, out the window, but my current clothes smell from smoke, stale sweat, and are just plain unpleasant.

After having the quickest shower I’ve ever had in my life, I dress, brush my teeth, use the toilet—again—and walk outside in my slightly too small blouse and knee length black skirt.

Shane, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, gets to his feet with a smile. “Are you ready?”

“Sure.”

Dinner, held in a dining room further down a long hallway, is intimidating.

I thought there would be maybe twenty or thirty Raleigh pack members.

I vastly under-estimated how many Raleighs were still alive.

There must be nearly a hundred. They range in ages from older, gray-haired, and maybe late fifties, down to older teens.

There are no women in the room. Just me. That’s part of why it’s so intimidating to walk into the room beside Shane and to a beaming Franklin, who motions us over to a long wooden table where he’s sitting with four others.

Two plates filled with thick slices of chicken pie and potatoes are waiting for us as we take our seats opposite him.

I can’t imagine why Franklin even invited us here for dinner because he spends almost all the time we sit eating our meal talking to others.

But I never stop feeling the lingering stares on me as I clear my plate. I’m hungry and the meal is good, so I don’t have to force it down.

It’s only when Shane and I leave after the meal that I understand why.

Intimidation.

He wanted us to know how many Raleighs there are and to know just how outnumbered we are.