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I release a heavy breath as I rap my knuckles against the door. I hear rustling inside for several moments, but the door remains shut.
"Dad, let me in. I'll get the manager to open it up if I need to."
I finally hear the chain release on the door, and it opens to reveal my father more bruised than I've ever seen him. I can't help the pained gasp. "Oh, Dad."
He winces. “Hey there. I'm sorry I haven't come to see you and check on you."
I’m afraid to touch him, worried it’ll only hurt him. “It looks like you had a perfectly good excuse. I've been surrounded by support. Why the hell didn't you send for me?"
"You had enough going on with the shit your mother caused. I found out it was her." I walk carefully back inside his room, the rest of us following.
"What was her?" I ask.
Dad curls in on himself in the center of the shitty room. “She hired the hacker who released all that information about you. She wanted you back under her thumb, where she feels you and all other omegas belong. When she found out you were a part of the OFF, she completely lost it."
I frown, confused. “How'd she find out?"
I’ve always been so careful to hide my tracks.
A broken sob comes from my father. “It's my fault. It's all my fault. I'd printed out one of your articles because what you wrote was so beautiful and wonderful and I was so proud. I had it tucked away in your baby book and she found it and figured it out. I'm so sorry, bug. I've never been able to protect you from her. You were always so much stronger than I was."
I shake my head. “You did protect me from her. You took the brunt of her hate so I didn't have to. You did everything you could with the options you had. What else could you do? If we ran, she'd just chase. You would've ended up dead or in jail for kidnapping. Or sent to the breeders."
Typically, they didn't waste omegas in jail, they were punished with the breeding program. So fucked up.
He sniffs. “I still should've done more."
I growl. “The society we live in is wrong and broken. Not you."
He gives a listless shrug. “I guess."
I sigh and rub my face. “So, what are you going to do now that she's headed to jail? If you go back home, the pack may claim you as their own. And if she gets out, she'll blame you for it."
"I don't know. The mayor has offered to help me break the bonds with your mother, and with her in jail, it should be allowed. But she'll still come for me when she gets out. And the pack could petition to keep me and who's to say they wouldn't win?"
"You could always get the hell out of this country. Papers are almost ready and you could take mine. It would only take a couple tweaks to get a few things changed. You could pass better as a widower than I can anyway."
He blinks. “What? I thought.... What about you?"
I chuckle awkwardly. “Well, I decided to stay here and join their pack. Rose and Tris are joining with me."
He leans against the chair. ”Are you sure? You've always sworn up and down you'd never join one, never let an alpha's teeth anywhere near you."
"I know. But this pack has proven itself to be something special. I don't fear them and they'll never try to control me."
"I'm glad you found them. And maybe it is time for me to leave. Though I hate to leave you behind." He doesn’t look quite so convinced, but he’s not turning me down.
Callan steps forward, charm out in full force. ”We'll bring her to see you as much as we can, sir. We're all pretty interested in seeing that book town anyway."
“I already bought plane tickets when we still thought she was leaving,” Oliver says. “I can easily add a few more instead of canceling them."
Grey shakes his head with a huff. ”Of course you did."
"Why don't you come stay at our home with us while you heal?” Callan offers. “We have plenty of room for you and it'll give you and your daughter time to reconnect."
My father swallows, eyeing him nervously. ”Oh, that's so kind of you."
"He's a doctor too, so he can make sure you're healing correctly,” I try to reassure him.
