Page 282 of Caged

I snatch the device and press accept.

“You’re on speaker. Vae’s here.”

“Lovely,” Whitetail replies sardonically.

“Do you hate everyone you work with, or is it just us?” Vae asks, circling the couch to drop back into his seat.

“Oh, I hate everyone.” She replies, making me smirk. “Where did you say this blood came from again?”

I frown. I could swear I already told her.

“Caelan found it. Hidden cryo chamber inside a study⁠—”

”Whose study? At whose house?”

“Jonathan Varenthrall,” I answer. “He’s a human Alpha he discovered working with the Severed.”

“Does he have any family?” Her voice is sharp.

I exchange a confused look with Vae.

“What’s this about?” Vae asks.

“Family. Living family. Who are they?” Whitetail snaps, irritation bubbling to the surface.

“He has a daughter,” Vae answers before I can stop him. “Female. Omega. Her name is Idril.”

There is nothing but silence after that. It lasts so long that I tap the screen to check the connection before her voice explodes through the speakers.

“You fucking morons. You are incompetent, half-feral, testosterone-laden, soup-for-brains fucking turnips.”

I recoil, opening my mouth to reply, but snapping it shut when she keeps going.

“When I told you idiots that the blood was from a female Omega,” she continues, “you didn’t think once—not fucking once—huh, maybe it belongs to his Omega daughter who lived in the same godsdamn house?”

“Her name wasn’t listed on anything.” I shoot back. “We went to Albertson’s house and found a fucking murder board. There wasn’t a mention of her anywhere. All the other subjects had pictures. Initials. We’re still trying to ID them, but none of them were his daughter.”

Whitetail’s reply is scathing and dripping with sarcasm. “Oh, I stand corrected then. Clearly playing gumshoe detective trumps the DNA. Obviously, she’s not involved. If she were, she’d be on the murder board, duh!”

My reply is an irritated grunt. I flick my gaze toward Vae, noticing his face is suddenly pale. His scent is bitter with anxiety.

“Okay, okay.” I raise my hands in supplication like she can see me through the phone. “I’m listening. Just calm down⁠—”

Based on the half shriek/half growl that comes through the speakers, that was the wrong thing to say.

“Calm down?” She echoes, voice syrupy-sweet with an undercurrent of danger. “I’ll tell you what. I’m going to hang up this phone, pour a huge glass of wine, and calm down.”

Vae’s eyes widen and he tries to talk her down.

“Whitetail, hold on⁠— ”

“No, it’s fine, Vaelenor. Just one thing before I go. My sequencing came back. Thought you might want to know. Results show a ninety-nine point nine nine fucking nine percent match to Jonathan Varenthrall.”

Whitetail takes advantage of my shocked silence to add, “That’s a paternity lock. You know… just in case it wasn’t on your super-accurate, not-at-all-fucking-stupid murder board. You gave me his daughter’s blood.”

She hangs up.

I shoot from my seat. Heart racing, blood pumping, I scramble away from the phone like if I get far enough away, I can unhear what she said.