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Whatever happened with him had to be a misunderstanding. It had to. Full. Stop.
Upon my return to the Asilo Pride center where our homes were located, a medi-van was parked just outside my home, unloading a stretcher. My heart skipped a beat, and for a split second I assumed it was my mate. Safe to say, he was occupying most all of my thoughts.
“What’s going on?” I asked Morgan, who had his youngest strapped to his back.
“An omega arrived from the Dara pride.” His words were solemn, and I knew instantly that whatever had happened was one of the worst cases we’d seen in a while.
“I’ve never heard of them,” I said, trying to fill the space between us as I took in what was happening around us.
“They’re small.” He twisted from side to side, his little one nodding off to sleep, oblivious to what was happening around him. As he should be. “They recently got a new Alpha. I don’t know a lot about him.”
“What happened to the omega?” I asked.
“Somebody beat him bad enough that he hasn’t regained consciousness.”
My stomach fell. It never hurt less, seeing omegas being treated like this. Never.
Beckett, a cougar shifter and investigator from Steelwick, walked over from where he had been taking notes. His brow was furrowed, his eyes sad.
“He’s with the healers now,” he said. “Only the goddess can save him.” His voice cracked.
“It’s that bad?” I asked, already knowing the answer but wanting to be wrong so badly.
Beckett nodded, his face grim. He pulled his baseball cap off his head and scrunched it in his hands. “It’s a miracle he’s alive right now.”
“Did his Alpha call it in? Do you know who did this?” I inquired.
He shook his head. “One of the Betas called it in ‘anonymously.’ But the Alpha from the pride claims that his accountant, an alpha lion named Silas, went rogue. Apparently he had been panting after this omega, Nathan, for weeks and finally lost his mind. He beat Nathan when the omega refused his advances.”
Nathan.
The omega in there was Nathan, and that meant my mate was Silas.
It took everything in me not to react to those words. A reaction would only lead them to my mate. He wasn’t strong enough for the consequences an accusation like this would carry.
Beckett might’ve believed the story, but I saw them for the lies they were. You didn’t have someone call in anonymously when you knew who did the crime and were willing to share that information readily enough as he had as they were getting the hurt omega ready for transport. That wasn’t how people in power worked, not honest people, anyway.
“And where’s he now?” I asked, ready to take action.
“On the run, but we’ll find him.” He said it like a vow, and I nearly puked. I didn’t blame Beckett. He wasn’t an asshole. But also, how could he not see through a story like that?
“How do you know it’s him?” I asked.
“How can it not be?”
I bristled, but Morgan intervened. I wasn’t sure if he was reading me or just doing what he always did well. In any case, I was grateful.
“You need to complete an investigation,” he said firmly. “You can’t just take the Alpha’s word for it. Why wasn’t it the Alpha that called in the help when he saw Nathan in that state? Why hadn’t Nathan had any other medical attention before getting here? How did this alpha Silas get away? There is a lot not adding up.”
“I don’t know. It’s a bit of a mess,” Beckett admitted. “Everything happened so quickly. You’re right.”
Because Beckett was good people, he’d just seen the horror of Nathan’s injuries and wanted to get justice. It was easy to do. If I examined my own reactions to all of this, I’d probably see that I’d done the same thing, only in the opposite direction.
“Straighten it out,” Morgan said firmly. “That’s your job. We’ll let you know when… if Nathan is able to talk.”
Beckett nodded and walked away.
“You don’t think he’ll wake?” I asked once Beckett was out of earshot.
