Tilly
“Whatareyouthinking?” I asked, chewing on my lip as I waited for Isla to give me a verbal bashing or her words of wisdom.
Isla shook her head and sighed at me. Her eyes following my every movement. She didn’t need to say anything. I could almost hear her thoughts without her mouth opening.
Because when Isla had turned up just before Jackson left, she gave him a smile and I almost launched myself at her.
Yes, I felt threatened. After all, Isla was ready to find her pack, ready for them to find her. But Jackson was mine, not hers.
The omega in me was jealous of other omegas, anyone looking at my alpha. Not sure if having no suppressants did that. Normally Isla and I didn’t want what the other had.
“He is very nice looking,” she said.
I gritted my teeth as I scrubbed the countertops in the already clean kitchen.
“And he was the man in the club that night,” she said and I turned to view her reaction to that realisation. “Have you been dating him for a few weeks?”
“It’s complicated.”
Isla arched an eyebrow as she stood and walked to my painting. “Okay, tell me why.”
“He is my boss, at least one of them. Remember I told you,” I said and hesitated. “And I’m thinking of letting nature do its job.” My voice was almost a whisper.
She arched an eyebrow as she turned to me and slowly looked back at my picture. “Is that what’s happening in your painting?”
I shook my head.
“Your clouds aren’t as dark,” she said. “Maybe he is brightening your world.”
I turned to view the picture as Isla sat on the sofa, waiting and watching me. I couldn’t see her, but her stare burned into my back. And as I turned, I knew she waited for my reaction.
“I want him,” I whispered. “But I’m scared.”
“What are you scared of?” Isla said as she walked to me, her hand stroked my back. “That he’s an alpha?” She bit her lip as she stared at me. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything, you know that?”
“Do you feel him? Do you know he’s yours?” she said, an expectant look on her face and it was almost pleading, begging me for a positive answer.
Isla believed in fairy tales, finding her Prince Charming or a pack of them. She believed an omega could pick any pack because they were rare, but she wanted a pack to be looking for her because she was theirs.
And as much as I wanted a perfect life. One where I would go on dates with my alphas or chatting around the table as we enjoyed a meal. Feel like I was part of a family again. Then I thought of my sister and how much she wanted her perfect life for it to be taken away from her.
I didn’t want to believe she or my mother were dead—I couldn’t. I had to believe they were out there. Hopefully, both were now happy. Hopefully, Georgie had a little family. It was her dream. And she thought she lived her dream until that night. Now I didn’t know if my sister was dead or alive.
It was all my father’s fault, flaunting her status as he did.
I touched my chest. Georgie and I were close enough to have a bond, and I didn’t feel her death, but if that was true. Why didn’t she come and find me? I hid in plain sight. Or was she locked away, still in the kidnapper’s lair?
“Are you okay?” Isla asked, sliding her fingertip over my sodden cheek.
I nodded. It was a lie.
“Tilly, talk to me. You bottle too much inside that head of yours. You need to trust others.”
I chewed on my bottom lip and gazed at her, shaking my head.
“No... no, stop. You need to let me inside your head. One minute you are staying on suppressants for life and the next you’re not.” She held one finger in the air, strode to the refrigerator, and took out two bottles of water. When she got back to me, she handed me a bottle and plonked herself on the sofa. “Now talk.”
I sighed and then sighed again. “I think one of my new bosses had something to do with Georgie and my mum disappearing.”
Good, I said it. But could I tell her what Jackson told me?
“Come again,” Isla whispered.
I tapped the side of my drink bottle, staring at Isla for a moment. “At least one of them knows what happened to my mum and sister.” I tilted my head as I looked at her and smiled.
“But you saw none of them.”
“The eyes, the smell, Isla. It was the man in my bedroom.”
“You’re imagining it, wanting to believe something because his eyes are probably similar to what you remember. That’s what grief does Tilly. It makes us question everything.”
I shook my head slightly. “It was him, he admitted it. And I shouldn’t have been able to smell him because I was taking suppressants, so Dad didn’t know I’d presented as an omega.”
“You hid from your father?” Isla said, her voice a low hum.
I nodded. “My father wasn’t a good man. People think I had this perfect life, but I didn’t. Yes, compared to yours I did, but my father...” I paused, not wanting to divulge who my father was to Isla. I had definitely said enough.
Her hand rubbed up and down my back as she waited for more information. I couldn’t give her more than I had. I couldn’t because I couldn’t take the chance people would want to know who I really was.
“It gets worse.”
“It’s bad enough.”
“Georgie had a boyfriend when she went missing, called Saint, and he is Cruz’s brother. One of my bosses.”
“Oh shit,” she whispered. “That muddies everything.”
“I’m trying to work out if Jackson and Luca were involved. Cruz claims he was protecting me. But Cruz was there, and he dressed the same as the gang.”
“Okay, so you remember four men that night,” Isla said. “One was called Tez, one Ryker, one said nothing and stood at the front door and the other had a smooth voice and pale grey eyes.”
I nodded.
My eyes widened. “Ryker, he was outside my work and I forgot the Irish sounding guy was in the nightclub.”
“And Tez and Ryker argued over the names being said out loud. They wouldn’t be worried about that if they were fake,” Isla said.
I blew out a breath. “But one of them may be the man that didn’t speak.”
She nodded. “And Cruz would never tell you the truth if there was something sinister to hide. He would deny it.” She grinned, her eyebrows doing a merry dance. “It’s romantic. Three hunky alphas were waiting for you. Wanting you all this time. You’ve found your pack.”