Lucas shook his head. “That’s a whole different mess to unpack. All right. I’m sure you already know that omega females are very rare… usually, it’s males who are omegas.”
I nodded, even though I didn’t know much about omegas other than myself. I had never met another omega female. All I knew was that Kane went to an astronomical amount of effort to find and change and imprison me.
“The last omega was a member of Kane’s pack over two centuries ago.”
“Her name was Agatha. Kane killed her and all of her children,” I nodded, because I knew the story very well. Kane hadn’t told me it as a threat. He’d told me with regret, but it had been engraved in my mind. I had always known that I would rather die than have Kane’s children, but that was the day I decided to put the dream of having children with anyone else away for good. The first time I escaped Kane, I went to a women’s clinic and got an IUD. I would have had my tubes tied, instead, but more than likely, my werewolf nature would heal an injury like that. “Kane told me that he discovered Agatha having an affair with his brother, and he killed them both out of rage and jealousy, then he went on a rampage.”
“He went on a rampage when he killed Agatha…,” Lucas sighed and brushed a finger over his beard, “But, Agatha didn’t have an affair with Kane’s brother, Henry. Agatha left Kane when she discovered that she was Henry’s true mate, and Agatha wasn’t just Henry’s true mate, she was mated to every member of Henry’s pack. Agatha had left Kane decades ago, and everyone believed that he accepted Agatha’s choice until Kane and his pack killed every member of Henry and Agatha’s pack and all their children. There were seven mates and twenty-two children, and only one child escaped into the forest.”
I held a hand out to Lucas. “I don’t want to pressure you into talking about something—”
“Teagan, I’m not quite that old,” he said through a grin, but his mirth faded fast. “This is just hearsay, but it was the belief then that what Agatha had with her pack was the nature of omegas. When Kane bit you, Jasper sensed you as his mate…”
Lucas said this part cautiously, and I nodded. “Jasper told me something like that.”
“Okay.” Lucas nodded. “Well, Jasper challenged Kane, and Kane pointed out that if Jasper won the challenge, it wouldn’t just be taking you from one of your mates, it would be taking you from your pack. Jasper was also concerned that it would be pressuring you into a mating situation with several werewolves you didn’t know.”
“You mean you guys,” I said, twirling a finger in the air.
Lucas held his hands up like I was holding him at gunpoint. “I’m not saying that we would ever think that was going to happen. No one is going to pressure you into anything. All I’m saying is that Jasper would never have left you with Kane under any circumstance, but he believed that you had ten mates. Each swore to fight him to the death rather than give you up, and he wouldn’t do that to you. So, he left. I’m guessing that the reason he was so enraged was in finding out that your ten lovers were just another one of Kane’s lies.”
“Okay.” I leaned into the metal sink. “Now, that’s a lot to digest.”
Declan stepped into the doorway and leaned into the sill. “Did you guys forget to invite me to your shower party?”
I glanced back at the open shower and felt heat flushing up my cheeks.
“Declan, great sense of timing as always.” Lucas cleared his throat. “Like I said, Teagan, no one here expects that from you.”
I looked between Declan’s confused expression and Lucas’ nervous one. “You all know about this mate thing?”
“Lucas,” Declan growled, “Are you daft? You told her?”
Holy fuck. They all knew.
“Look…” I shook my head because I had no response to this ludicrous development. So far, Declan, Lucas, and Jasper had been very careful not to give me a single nonconsensual order, even when I was in danger. I didn’t feel like these men were going to hurt me, but I hoped they didn’t expect me to be their collective true mate. The room spun, and my stomach flipped. “I think I need to sit down… preferably not on something that was recently used in an orgy. And, maybe some food if you have it?”
Declan threw a thumb over his shoulder. “I’ve got steaks on the counter along with the cake.”
“Thank you.” I took one step, and the floor slipped out from under me. The whole room spun, and I grabbed onto the sink with my injured hand and sucked in a breath as pain radiated up my arm.
“Are you okay?” Lucas grabbed my shoulders. “Did you eat anything? You look like you’re about to collapse. Did you take anything?” He leaned in close, looking into my eyes, doing a quick assessment.
“That demon touched her.” Declan’s arms went around my legs and back, and suddenly I was hoisted up into his arms like I weighed nothing at all.
“Whoa, guys. I’m okay. I just haven’t been eating much in the past week—maybe three hundred calories a day, and even though I ate a lot yesterday, I don’t think my body was ready to change into a werewolf and back in a couple of hours.” I patted Declan’s shoulder and opened my mouth to tell him that he could set me down when my vision tunneled, and heat rose in my face.
Fuck.
I was about to pass out.
“I need to lie down,” I muttered before the whole world faded away.
Chapter Nine
I opened my eyes, looking into the exposed
