Chapter 30 Omega Trafficking pt 2
Kayla
“And we won’t. You’re right, Lucian. We don’t know how deep this goes, and digging into that is going to be the first order of business once Seren wakes,” Prince Gideon told him.
“Louise, do you know how Seren came to be in your pack? Did you know who she was all this time?” Queen Gwen asked my mother.
“She got there right around the time that we had the rogue attack that killed my mate,” Mom responded. “Alpha James and Luna Tonya said that they found her on the pack border and took her to the orphanage. I was almost certain that she was the missing princess, based on her age and the circumstances of her mysterious arrival at the pack. But it wasn’t until she moved into the pack house and started working under me that I knew for sure. She managed to keep her baby blanket with her all these years, and I recognized it as my mother’s work. I know she made the blankets for the prince and princess when they were born. She was so proud of her work, so happy to be trusted by the pack to be the one to make that gift for them. Kayla had already become friends with Seren at that point, so we did our best to take care of her when we could.”
“You knew, and you didn’t send word to us?” King Cian roared out. Queen Gwen put a hand on his arm as he started to stand, keeping him from rising.
“I tried, King Cian. When Alpha James put new orphans under my care, he always alpha commanded me not to speak of them to anyone outside of the pack. My belief is that he wanted to ensure that no one outside the pack would notice if one of our orphan omegas went missing. Since Seren fell under that umbrella, I couldn’t say anything to any visitors. Also, Alpha James was extremely strict about our communications outside of the pack. We, as omegas, had no access to any phones, and they reviewed all of our mail before we sent or received it. I took the first opportunity I could with the short note I sent to Queen Gwen, and even that was sent at significant risk. The warrior who slipped it out for me was only willing to do so because he was mated with one of the omegas who went missing last quarter. He didn’t want to reject the bond, but Alpha James commanded him to, and within a week, the omega was no longer in our pack. He decided he was going to go rogue and try to find her and took the letter out for me because I was able to tell him to look at Silver Rain for her.” Mom was crying fully now. “If I could have gotten word to you sooner, I would have, I promise you that. I did the best that I could for Seren while she was there, and despite that, she still had to live through hell.”
I wrapped my arms around my mom then. “It’s true, King Cian. We are less than the dirt under his shoe to Alpha James. Privileges like phone contact and letters just weren’t allowed there. And I remember Walter coming in and looking for Sophia. I didn’t realize that’s what happened with them, but I heard the muttering in the warrior ranks as I was cleaning their floor. They all called Walter a traitor for going rogue for ‘some omega trash,’ among other things. Mom never told me who Seren really was, but I didn’t need to know that she was a princess to look out for her. She is my friend. She didn’t deserve to be treated the way the pack treated her.”
King Cian took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was clearly struggling with the entire situation. Queen Gwen spoke up. “I’m sure you did everything you could, Louise. We both thank you for your efforts.”
Alpha Duncan stood then. “This has been a lot to take in, and everyone is emotional. For good reason, but still—let’s table this for the time being. I’d like to get back to Seren. I don’t want her to wake up alone, and if the mate bond can help her heal quicker, then I really need to be close to her. She’s the priority right now.” He looked down, clearly doing his best to regain composure. “Once she wakes up and can tell us what she remembers and anything else we may need to know from her perspective, we can get together a plan to take action.”
“I agree, Duncan. In the meantime, though, I’m going to reach out to some of our other trusted packs and see if they’ve heard any rumblings about packs losing omegas or gaining a group out of nowhere. We need to start somewhere to figure out how deep this trafficking operation goes. I don’t want to go after Blood Moon and end up scaring the rest of the operation underground for them to surface later, in some other pack. I want to rip it out at its root,” King Cian stated.
We all stood, stretching a bit. Queen Gwen came over to my mother and wrapped her up in a hug, murmuring in her ear. Mom was crying again, but she looked happier this time. I really hope that they’re able to rebuild their friendship after all these years.
I turned to Julian, who put both arms around me and squeezed tight. He leaned down to kiss me, and I felt butterflies in my stomach. I still couldn’t believe that Julian was my mate, and even better, he actually wanted me! “Come on, kitten. I know you want to go check on Seren, too. How about we head over to the hospital for a while, then we can come back here and I can show you where you’ll be living from here on out,” he said, winking at me.
I felt the blood rush to my cheeks and knew I was blushing. I nodded. “I’d like that very much, Julian.”
He took my hand and led me out of the room, then out of the packhouse. The man was sexy as sin, over six feet tall, with short black hair and dark brown eyes. I couldn’t keep my eyes off him, and the more I thought about going home with him later, the more flustered I got. I stumbled a little as we were walking, tripping on a spot in the sidewalk, and he caught me just as I fell against him.
He just looked down at me with a grin. “I got you, kitten. From here on out, I’ve got you,” he winked again, put his arm around my waist, and matched his steps to mine.
If this is how it feels to be loved and cherished, then I can’t wait to spend my life with my mate!