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Pol
I hated leaving my mate, but I needed to know where things stood with the investigation into the attack on Nathan. Staying there past when I said I’d be back would only lead to more questions from Morgan, anyway. They would be worried about me and then stumble upon my mate. Not to mention all of the work that needed doing.
Once out of his view, I ran as quickly as I could back to Asilo. Since I knew I’d be coming back to my cave soon, I left a lot of my supplies and was able to carry the rest on my back in my cougar form.
As soon as I arrived back at my house, I slipped into the shower to wash Silas’s scent off me. It felt like a betrayal. I didn’t like it, but it was necessary. If I ran into someone before I bathed, they would scent that I was mated. No big deal after things with Silas were taken care of. But before then, I had to be careful not to draw attention to us. Once I was clean, I got out and made my way to the Forerunner’s home.
Morgan was just walking out the door.
“Hey, you’re back early,” he said.
“Yeah, I was just curious how our new resident was doing,” I replied, sending a prayer up to the goddess that it was good news, great news even.
Morgan grimaced, and my stomach lurched. He hadn’t died, had he? Not while we were away. Fuck. That was going to crush Silas.
“He still hasn’t woken up, but he has remained stable. So that is good.” Morgan’s reply was measured. There was something else there, but what? He wasn’t sharing.
I let out a ragged breath. Thank the goddess. Going back with that news would crush Silas. Nathan mattered to him so deeply, that he now mattered to me too, in more of a way than simply as one of our guests.
“What about the investigation into who did that to him?” I asked.
Morgan’s face twisted, and his nose wrinkled. “Something’s not adding up.” He was telling me that entire story was fabricated bullshit. And Steelwick not instantly seeing through it made no sense. Maybe they did see it for what it was and they were keeping us in the dark so as not to ruin things? They were usually transparent with us, but nothing said they had to be.
“I haven’t gotten a lot of details because it’s really not my business.” Except it was. And as a member of this pride, I should have told him as soon as Beckett left that day. I was a thousand percent the problem in this situation.
“But something about it all seems odd. All of Nathan’s wounds were at least a day old. They had partially healed. If his Alpha found him in that state, why not call sooner? And if they knew for sure that this Silas person did this to Nathan, why weren’t they hunting him down?”
Those were all good points, and I was glad that Morgan saw it that way.
“Would you like to see him?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yes, please.” Having better information to bring back to my mate would be helpful. But it was more than that. So much about the way he came in reminded me of my brother.
Morgan led the way. It was nice to be back in my community. I’d still rather be back with Silas, but that didn’t take away from the connection I had to this land and these people.
Once we were in Nathan’s room, I sat at his bedside. Morgan looked at me and must’ve approved of what he saw because he nodded and then left the room, leaving only Nathan and me there.
It was not looking good for my mate’s friend. He was in far worse shape than my mate had been when I found him. Rage was simmering inside me. How could anyone do this to him? How?
“Hey, Nathan. My name is Pol.”
We always spoke to the omegas that were in our care, no matter their state of consciousness, on the off chance that they could hear someone while they were unconscious. It was best to give them a friendly voice and encourage them to wake if they were ready. But with Nathan, it was more than all of that. I wanted to give him a reason to fight.
“I recently found my fated mate. You know him. His name is Silas, and he is so worried about you. He was really hurt when I found him, almost as badly as you are, but he’s doing a lot better now.”
I watched his face, hoping for a sign, no matter how small, that he understood me.
“He told me about that night, about what that Alpha did. I promise you, I’m going to make sure he pays.” I wasn’t sure of any of the details of how that was going down, but the end result was going to be the same. He would pay.
“I—Silas and I—we need you to be strong, to fight and come out of this. You mean so much to my mate.” I reached over and gave his shoulder a squeeze. “Please fight.”
I sat with him a bit longer and then got up, promising him I’d be back as soon as I could, possibly with his friend in tow. I hated to leave him alone, but I needed to find Morgan and tell him everything.
Morgan was on the porch waiting for me. “Did you find what you were looking for?”
It was a weird way to word it. “Yeah. Thanks. Sometimes… sometimes people come in and I think about when I came in, you know?”
Nathan didn’t look as hurt as my brother had been, but there were parallels for sure. I hated it, hated that my brother wasn’t a one-off, that things like this happened to omegas daily across the world, that there were multiple prides like mine because there was so much work.
