“Liza?” My parents’ cautious voices appeared behind me. “Is everything all right?”
“Everything’s fine,” I said, not taking my gaze off the mirror.
“Fine?” Ty scoffed. “Liza, you’re a danger to yourself when you don’t have control. You have so much going on, and it’s making it harder for you.”
My parents stood behind me, mirroring my worried expression. The truth was, I looked exhausted and downright scary. But more than that, I felt betrayed and vulnerable.
“Ty’s right,” Mom said softly. “We’ve never seen you like this.”
“Look at the state you’re in, Liza,” Ty continued. “I didn’t tell you about Maximus because I was trying to protect you.”
And as much as I hated to admit it, he had a point. My anger simmered down slightly, replaced by a bone-deep weariness. I stared at my reflection, red eyes glaring back at me. How had everything spiraled so far out of control? Losing control was terrifying, and now there were these voices in my head. It couldn’t be normal.
“Why is this happening? You claimed me, and things were supposed to get better, not worse.” My frustration built witheach word until I could no longer contain it. “I never showed signs of being an alpha before. Why now?” The question tore from my throat as a desperate scream, rattling the room around us.
I watched Ty’s face closely for some fucking semblance of understanding, but all I saw was concern. We stood there, suspended in time, waiting for answers that refused to come.
The silence that followed my outburst was deafening. I cautiously looked around the room, my heart pounding like a damn drum. Books lay scattered on the floor, their pages splayed open. A lamp had tipped over, its base cracked and the lightbulb shattered.
“Wh-what just happened?” I stammered as tremors coursed through my body. My eyes flicked to Ty, searching for an answer. All I found was fear. “Ty... what’s wrong with me?” I said, my voice cracking.
His eyes softened, and he stepped forward, pulling me into his strong, protective embrace. “There’s nothing wrong with you. Nothing. We just need to get control of these surges,” he said into my hair. “We’ll figure it out, I promise.”
I clung to him, allowing myself to be consumed by his warmth, but the fear still gnawed away at me like a ravenous beast. How much more of this could I take? Everything in my life was spiraling out of control, and I didn’t know how to make it stop.
As if drawn by some invisible force, my gaze wandered to the window, where the moon hung heavy in the sky, almost full and shining with a silvery glow. For a moment, I was eight years old again, staring out at that same celestial orb and desperately asking it why I couldn’t just be normal.
87
TY
The soft glow of the moonlight filtered through the curtains, casting a gentle radiance over Liza’s face. She’d been sleeping fitfully, but for the first time in hours, she looked peaceful. Carefully, I covered her with a warm, plush blanket, hoping not to wake her. I’d been by her side for a solid hour, rubbing her back and trying to calm her down.
She hadn’t wanted to leave after her meltdown, and it didn’t felt right to return to the estate against her wishes—not when she was in such a vulnerable state—so we stayed, and the comfort and familiarity of her childhood home seemed to have helped.
I pressed a tender kiss to her forehead. Everything in me wanted to protect her, to keep her from these external threats as well as the ones inside her, but I was failing.
Turning away, I closed the door behind me with a soft click and walked down the dimly lit hallway toward the living room where Liza’s parents were waiting. They turned their worried gazes at me.
“Thank you, Ty,” Liza’s mom said softly as I took a seat across from them on an old, worn armchair. “You’ve been so gentlewith her. It’s astonishing how you were able to approach her when she was in that trance-like state and bring her out of it.”
I sighed, rubbing my temples. “I’m glad I can help her in any way, but I wish it wouldn’t happen at all. Unfortunately, no one seems to understand what’s going on with her. We went to see a therapist who’s working with her on controlling her triggers, but I’m not sure if it’s making any difference. It all seems to be escalating.”
Scott, Liza’s dad, leaned forward and narrowed his eyes on me. “There has to be someone out there who knows about omegas. It can’t all be myth and legend. There must be people from other packs who have some experience, even if it’s secondhand. We need to find them so they can help our girl.”
“I guess it’s possible.” I nestled into the plush armchair, letting my own body relax after helping Liza recover from her latest flare. “You would think with all the media attention, someone with sound knowledge about their existence and capabilities would have reached out to us by now.”
Rory spoke up. “I’m not sure that’s necessarily true, Ty. The elders, the old ones in the packs may have heard stories firsthand from their parents or grandparents about the powers of the omega. We know they existed, but can you imagine what it would have been like? Just look at all the attention Liza got. Granted, things are different today with the internet and social media, reports spread so much faster, but if even half the legends are accurate, omegas would have been prized, and a pack would have been made to swear secrecy. If someone wants to buy Liza now in some black-market deal, why not in history, too? It’s possible they wouldn’t want to come forward for fear of reprisals from the packs they were sworn to.”
That was a good point. We spent the next hour discussing potential leads, keeping our voices down so we didn’t wake Liza. She needed the sleep more than any of us.
When each idea became more outlandish than the last, I stood and stretched. Exhaustion seeped into my bones, and I excused myself to join Liza in the small bed that had once belonged to her.
Spooning her, I hoped my warmth would provide the comfort she needed to sleep soundly, free from the dreams that haunted her. Somehow, she hardly moved all night, probably from the sheer exhaustion of her powers.
I lay in the dark, with my mate’s warm, soft body nestled against me, replaying the events. I’d never seen Liza so pissed. The memory of her standing in the doorway of her parents’ living room was frightening—her eyes flashing red, her hair lifting in a white-blonde halo around her, while any object not nailed down hovered three feet in the air. Then the guttural scream ripped through her, and the ground beneath our feet had quaked.
The shock on her parents’ faces would remain with me for a long time. I was only grateful Liza couldn’t remember the fear on her mom’s face. But it was taking longer and longer to bring her out of these episodes. The anger management didn’t seem to be working, but then I’d already acknowledged I’d failed my mate there. Anna Anderson had told me to monitor Liza’s stressors and keep her calm. More proof, if I needed it, that I was letting her down. Yes, I had been keeping stuff from her, but I truly believed I’d been doing the right thing by not telling her about Maximus’s threat to sell her. I had him handled, and we were already dealing with so much.
