Page 65 of The Alpha’s Unclaimed Mate

He drops into the chair Jessa left. “What happened?”

“We took the girls to the spring festival. Turned our backs one minute, and the two of them went off for peanuts.” I feel restless, angry. “A man gave them cotton candy. Bella’s got more sense than to take from a stranger. Mia took it. She ate some. It was spiked with wolfsbane.”

“Both of them were targeted, then.” His expression changes to one of anger, and then he scrubs a hand over his scalp. “But why Mia? She’s a—”

“Because Mia’s mine.” I hold his eyes. “She’s a hybrid, Adrian.”

He goes still in the chair. For a second he doesn’t even breathe. “You’re certain. No more maybe.”

“The healer confirmed it. My blood pulled the poison out of her.” I lean against the rail.

He sits back hard, the wood creaking under him, and drags both hands down his face. “But you don’t remember Jessa. You need to find out what happened then.”

“I’m getting to that.” I pull my phone out. “Voss won’t answer me. I’ve been calling him, but it keeps going straight to voicemail every time.”

Adrian digs into his pocket for his own phone. “He’ll answer me. Nobody ducks a call from the alpha’s second.” There’s a grim set to his mouth as he says it. He thumbs Voss’s contact and puts it on speaker, and the line picks up on the second ring.

“Adrian.” Voss sounds relaxed. “What’s the occasion?”

“You’ve been dodging Marcus all night.”

A pause. “I’ve been busy.”

“Not that busy.” Adrian’s voice flattens. “What is it you don’t want to say to him?”

“Nothing. Tryouts, paperwork, the usual grind.” A shorter pause. “What do you want, Adrian?”

“He’s standing right here. Talk to him.”

“No.” Fast, that one. “I’ve got to go.”

“Don’t you fucking dare, you coward,” Adrian snarls.

I lean toward the phone. “Voss. You hang up that phone, and I will drive to wherever you are tonight and beat the truth out of you on your own doorstep. Try me.”

The line goes quiet for a long stretch. Then, carefully, he says, “Hey, Marcus.”

“Ten years back. The stretch I was playing out of that last city.” I keep my voice level, which takes everything. “Did a woman ever come around looking for me? Saying she was pregnant with my child?”

Silence. Dead, total silence.

“I don’t know what you’re—”

“Don’t.” It comes out hard enough that Adrian glances up. “The truth. Now.”

A long breath crackles down the line. “Somebody came,” Voss admits. “Once. Had a test with her, the drugstore kind.”

My jaw clenches, and my voice is low. “And what did you do?”

“I turned her away. I was your manager, Marcus. I looked out for your career, your image, your whole shot at the top.” There’s no apology in his words. “A pregnant woman at the worst possible moment wasn’t part of that picture. It would have ruined you.”

My hand closes around the rail until the wood bites. “What did you do, Voss?”

He’s silent.

“Answer the fucking question!” I roar, and Adrian freezes as my alpha voice leaks out. It can’t impact Voss, who isn’t here, but it is a terrifying sound.

“I threw her out and told her to get an abortion,” Voss says quietly.