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Please don’t be lying. It would kill me if you were.
All trace of amusement in his eyes dies. “Don’t lose hope, Everleigh. She was at the house until a year ago. It took a while, but I found out she picked up a part-time job as a cleaner.”
“Acleaner?” I wrinkle my brow as I try to imagine Della cleaning and can’t. She’s even messier than I am.
Cian nods. “She didn’t stay in that job long. But she’s alive, so she can’t have been tied up with the Wentworths if she left to find a job to support herself.”
“And she isn’t a late-blooming omega like me, either,” I say, relieved.
Cian shakes his head. “It doesn’t seem that she is. I’ll keep on searching for Della, and I’ll track her down. Your real mom, on the other hand, is—”
I smile faintly. “Dead. If the Wentworths had their hooks in her, she died a long time ago.”
She would have to be dead for Anna Jackson to have been the one to raise me.
I’ve given up all hope of finding my omega mom, but she was never real to me until I learned the Wentworths had Anna raise me.
Della is real. I’ve hugged her, I’ve breathed in the scent of her skin. People say betas don’t smell of anything. They don’t smell sweet and luxurious like omegas, or rich and addictive like alphas. But Della had a scent, a powerful one.
She smelled like home. Like family. She had a scent I will always miss and want, even if the world views it as too boring to compare to alpha and omega pheromones. I blink, and a tear tracks down my face at the thought I might see Della again.
“Then we get the next best thing.” Cian thumbs away the tear from my cheek and lowers his head over mine.
“What’s that?” I whisper.
“Revenge.” His lips brush my cheek in a feather-soft kiss.
His lazy, khaki-green eyes meet mine as if he’s waiting to see what I intend to do about it.
I raise my head. He lifts his until I grip the front of his shirt with both hands and hold on, stopping him.
His eyes search mine. What does he see? He’s observant. Everyone in the city knows how observant he is. But does he see how much I want him to kiss me?
My gaze dips to his mouth. The hand he’s cradling the back of my head with spasms, and then he’s leaning toward me.
Chapter25
Everleigh
Cian’s lips touch mine. They’re softer than I thought they would be. His kiss is firm, but I’d expected that.
He pulls away, leaving my mouth tingling from that brief second of contact.
“Terrible?” he breathes, his voice husky. “Don’t be afraid to tell me if my scent is unbearable.”
“Awful,” I whisper.
He’s smiling as I stretch up on my toes toward him.
Our lips meet, and he slants his head, finding the right angle for a longer, sweeter kiss. “You’re sure about that?”
I smile against his lips as I stroke my arms up over his chest and loop them around his shoulders. “Filthy.”
He clasps my hips and lifts me suddenly, whirling me in a tight circle. I giggle, holding on.
“I’m not convinced.” He gives me another one of those crooked smiles that has me convinced he doesn’t do it nearly enough, and he should. “I think you might be lying.”
I’m not sure at what point this became a game, but it’s a surprisingly fun one. “You should know, I just threw up a little bit in my mouth. You smell really bad.”
