The Omega's Three Mates

Chapter Eleven

I stared at Moira, waiting for the but wait, there's more! moment, because there was always more when it came to cryptic werewolf prophecies and mysterious dead mothers.

Unfortunately, Moira seemed content to let the ominous silence do all the heavy lifting.

"So just to recap," I said, crossing my arms, "my mom put me in supernatural wolf jail with this necklace, which—surprise!—isn't just jewelry, but some kind of magical moon metal. And she did this because... why? To protect me? From my own powers? From something worse?"

Moira studied me, then the pendant. "I dinnae know for certain."

"Of course you don't," I muttered. "That would be too easy."

Caleb shifted beside me, arms crossed, his golden gaze unreadable. "You said the amulet suppresses more than just her wolf. What else could it be hiding?"

Moira exhaled through her nose. "Blood carries power. Some lines more than others." She tapped the rim of the stone bowl, watching the dark mixture swirl. "Vanessa's blood reacted to old magic. And now, so does Savannah’s."

I resisted the urge to slam my head against the nearest wooden surface. "Yes, okay, we get that my blood is special. What I’d really love to know is why."

Moira glanced at the twins, then back at me, like she was deciding whether or not I was ready to hear whatever existential crisis she was about to drop in my lap.

Then, finally—

"Because I think yer mother was never just a rogue, lass. I think she came from a bloodline that was meant to die out. One that someone—or something—tried to erase."

I shivered. "Erase how?"

Moira looked down at the mixture again, her voice quieter this time. "By making sure none of them lived long enough to pass it on."

The words hit like a punch to the ribs.

Kalel's expression darkened. Caleb's jaw clenched.

And me? I just stared, pulse hammering, as the weight of that truth settled over me like a storm cloud.

I had spent my entire life thinking I was just some girl. Just a normal, unlucky kid with a mom who had worked too hard and died too young. But this? This wasn’t bad luck.

This was deliberate.

Someone had tried to wipe my mother’s bloodline off the map. And somehow, she had survived long enough to have me.

I swallowed hard. "And if they find out I exist?"

Moira’s gaze was steady. "They’ll try to finish what they started."

Oh.

Well.

That was just excellent news.

I let out a slow breath, resisting the urge to laugh. Because, really, what else was I supposed to do? Panic? Scream? Flip the table and demand a do-over on my entire life?

Tempting. But not productive.

"You're telling me," I said, rubbing my temples, "that someone out there was so hellbent on wiping out my mother’s entire bloodline that they just... what? Hunted down every last person related to her? Like some kind of supernatural g******e?"

"Aye," Moira said grimly. "And they nearly succeeded."

I clenched my fists. "Nearly."

Moira nodded, eyes sharp. "Ye and yer mother slipped through. Somehow. But I’d wager Vanessa was never meant to survive past childhood. And once she did…" She gestured at me. "You became the next problem to erase."

Cold crawled through my veins. "And she knew."

Moira exhaled. "Aye, lass. She knew."

I swallowed past the tightness in my throat, my fingers curling around the pendant. I had spent my whole life thinking my mother had been overprotective—that the constant moving, the paranoia, the rules—had been about me.

But it had never been just about me.

It had been about who I was. What I was.

I barely noticed that Caleb had moved closer until his warmth was right there, a solid presence at my side. "If someone’s still out there looking for her bloodline," he said, voice low, controlled, "they don’t know Savannah exists."

Kalel’s golden eyes flickered. "Yet."

A lovely reminder. Thank you, Kalel. So reassuring.

I exhaled sharply. "Okay. Cool. So I’m a walking supernatural mistake that someone wants to erase from history. That’s fun. Love that for me."

Moira gave me a look. "Ye are not a mistake, child. Ye are a survivor. And there’s power in that."

"Right, because power has been so helpful so far," I muttered. "Unless it comes with a bulletproof vest and an instruction manual, I’m not sure what good it does me."

Moira tapped a finger against the rim of her bowl, considering. "That’s why we need to find out what’s in yer blood, lass. And why it was meant to disappear."

I glanced at the dark liquid swirling in the bowl. "And how do we do that?"

Moira looked up, and for the first time, I saw hesitation in her gaze. "There’s an old spell. A dangerous one. It could show us what yer amulet has been suppressing all these years."

"Dangerous how?" Caleb asked immediately, his voice edged with alpha protectiveness.

Moira’s gaze didn’t waver. "If there’s something unnatural in her blood, the spell might not just reveal it—it might wake it up."

The pendant at my throat pulsed again, as if it had been waiting for this moment.

And for the first time, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know the truth.

But I had to.

Because if someone out there had tried to erase my mother’s bloodline from existence…

I needed to know why.

Moira listened in silence as I told her about the dream—the way my mother had looked, the strange marks on her skin, the way her voice had echoed in that not-quite-real way.

"The day after tomorrow," I finished. "She said everything would change on my eighteenth birthday. And let me guess—that just happens to fall on a full moon?"

Moira’s expression didn’t shift, but the way she slowly exhaled told me everything I needed to know.

"Aye," she said finally. "It does."

I let my head fall back against the chair. "Of course it does. Because why wouldn’t my supernatural crisis happen on the most dramatic night possible?"

Kalel crossed his arms, looking grim. "Full moons amplify everything. If your wolf has been suppressed this long, your first shift won’t be easy."

"Yeah, yeah, I figured the whole ‘surprise! You’re a werewolf!’ thing would be rough, but this feels like more than that." I looked at Moira. "What are the odds my mom was talking about just my first shift?"

Moira was quiet for a long moment. Then: "Not good, lass."

"Awesome. Fantastic. Just what I wanted to hear." I dragged a hand down my face. "So what? Is this birthday supposed to be my villain origin story? Because that would at least be on-brand for how my life is going."

Moira huffed. "Yer mother would have done anything to keep ye safe. That amulet on yer neck? That wasn’t just for suppressing yer wolf. It was holding something back. Delaying something. And come yer eighteenth year, that magic will run out."

I swallowed. "And then what?"

Moira’s one good eye locked onto mine. "Then, we find out what ye really are."

The words sent a cold shiver down my spine.

Caleb stepped forward slightly, his voice steady. "We won’t let anything happen to you."

Something in my chest tightened at the certainty in his voice. At the way Kalel, for all his unreadable expressions, had shifted just enough to stand slightly between me and Moira, like some instinctive protective reflex.

I should have been annoyed. I should have snapped something about not needing bodyguards.

But I didn’t.

Moira pressed her fingers to the bowl, her voice quiet but firm. "Whatever Vanessa tried to hide… we’ll know soon enough."

I leaned forward, gripping the arms of my chair like they were the only thing keeping me tethered. "Please, Moira. You knew my mother. You were there when she was found, when she grew up. You have to know something—anything—about what happened to her. Why it all went wrong with Richard."

Moira’s expression stayed unreadable, but I caught the subtle way her fingers tightened against the wooden table. Like she was debating how much truth to give me.

Then she sighed, rubbing a hand over her face. "Ach, lass, yer mother deserved better than what she got. That much I know for certain."

I swallowed hard. "Tell me."

Moira's sharp gaze met mine, and for the first time, there was something almost gentle there. "Vanessa was strong, but she was also afraid. I didnae know why, not at first. She was just a rogue pup when we found her—wild, barely speaking, eyes like a cornered animal. We thought she was simply lost. Or abandoned."

She exhaled, glancing at my pendant. "Now, I think she was running."

The weight of that hit me like a punch to the ribs. "Running from what?"

Moira shook her head. "I never knew for sure. And neither did she, not really. Her past was a void, pieces of something broken she could never quite put together. But whatever she was running from? It never stopped chasing her."

The air in the room felt suddenly too heavy, pressing down on me like an unseen weight. I swallowed hard, my fingers curling around the pendant.

"And Richard?" My voice was barely above a whisper.

Something flickered across Moira’s face. Not pity, exactly. Something colder. "Yer father is a fool," she said simply.

That… was not surprising. But still.

"Did he ever love her?" I asked, forcing the words out. "Really love her?"

Moira hesitated. "I think, in his own way, aye. But love is not the same as loyalty. And when he found his true mate, that love was not enough to keep him by Vanessa’s side."

I felt sick. "So he just left?"

"Aye," Moira said, unflinching. "Left her with a child. Left her with a heart that would never heal. And when she died—" She cut herself off, jaw tightening.

I leaned forward. "When she died—what?"

Moira met my gaze, her voice low. "You already ken it's no accident, lass."

The words slammed into me like a physical blow.

Caleb and Kalel went completely still beside me, all traces of their usual teasing gone.

I stared at Moira, my heartbeat a frantic drum in my chest. "The doctors said it was natural causes but her face..." Was frozen in terror.

Moira didn’t blink. "She was murdered."

The room felt too small, the air too thick.

I had almost convinced myself that my mother had just died. For no reason. That it had been some cruel, random tragedy. But now—

"By who?" My voice came out hoarse. "Who killed her?"

Moira exhaled through her nose. "That, I cannae say for certain." She tapped the rim of the bowl again, watching the dark liquid swirl. "But I can tell ye this—whoever it was, they wanted her gone before ye turned eighteen. Before whatever she was hiding could wake up inside ye."

A cold shiver ran through me.

The pendant around my neck pulsed again, like it was listening. Like it had been waiting for this moment.

And deep inside me, something shifted.

Something that wasn’t just my wolf.

The piercing screech was followed by the unmistakable sound of someone stomping through the underbrush like an enraged peacock in designer heels.

"KALEL!"

The front door slammed open so hard I was honestly surprised it didn’t just disintegrate off its hinges. A tall, blonde, perfectly manicured nightmare stood in the doorway, radiating fury like a supervillain monologuing in the third act. She wore a fitted leather jacket that probably cost more than my entire existence, and her eyes locked onto Kalel like she was about two seconds away from launching herself at him.

"You absolute bastard," she hissed. "Do you have any idea how humiliating it was to find out you've brought home an omega from one of your trips?"

Oh. Oh, this was gonna be fun.

Kalel sighed the kind of sigh that said I do not have the patience for this, but I was raised to be polite. "Hello, Cassia."

Cassia. Of course her name was Cassia.

She crossed her arms and tapped a glossy nail against her bicep. "Don’t you ‘hello, Cassia’ me, Kalel. You disappeared without a word."

Caleb, who had been leaning against the wall looking extremely uninterested in the entire situation, lifted a brow. "He is your Alpha. He doesn't answer to you."

Cassia shot him a withering glare before her gaze finally landed on me.

And wow, the instant dismissal in her expression was impressive. Like she’d scanned me, found me lacking, and immediately decided I wasn’t worth her time.

But then she frowned slightly, her nose wrinkling like she was trying to place a smell. "Wait. Who is this?"

I smiled brightly. "Oh, hi! I’m Savannah. You must be Kalel’s ex." I let the word linger in the air, sweet as poisoned honey.

Cassia’s lips twitched. Not in amusement. More in I would love to rip your throat out but I don’t want to break a nail.

"Omega, huh?" she said, tone just condescending enough to make me want to throw something. "Another weak, pathetic broodmare no smarter than a cow."

Kalel shifted slightly, not quite stepping in front of me, but close enough to make it clear he wasn’t in the mood for Cassia’s usual games. "Not now, Cassia."

Cassia ignored him, tilting her head at me like she was looking at some particularly unimpressive roadside attraction. "I mean, no offense, but you? I really thought you had better taste, Kal."

Caleb made an amused sound. "Oh, this is getting interesting."

Cassia rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Kalel. "We need to talk."

"No."

She blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I said no." Kalel crossed his arms, his expression unreadable. "Whatever you came here for, I don’t care."

Cassia’s nostrils flared. "Kal—"

Caleb straightened, stepping between them with the kind of casual ease that somehow made it even more condescending. "Cassia," he said, voice as smooth as ever, "unless you’ve suddenly developed a talent for actual self-reflection, I think we’re done here."

Cassia’s face turned an impressive shade of red. She shot me one last glare—like this was somehow my fault—then flipped her hair over her shoulder and spun on her heel.

"This isn’t over," she snapped over her shoulder as she stormed back into the woods.

The second she was gone, the room felt lighter.

I turned to Kalel, raising an eyebrow. "So that was a thing."

Kalel let out a slow breath. "She’s always been… persistent."

Caleb smirked. "I told you not to stick. your d**k in crazy."

I grinned. "She seemed nice."

Kalel gave me a look.

I held up my hands. "Okay, okay, I’ll behave. But, seriously, if I have to deal with any more of your exes showing up like dramatic movie villains, I’m gonna need a lot more coffee."

Moira, who had been silent through the entire thing, finally spoke. "Ach, if yer done with the dramatics, we’ve got bigger problems than Kalel’s love life."

Right. The actual life-threatening mystery surrounding my entire existence.

Because apparently, that wasn’t dramatic enough.