Page 165 of The Other Omega

“Consideration for my family Pack.” I kept my hands together beneath the table. “And, if death is what awaits me… a swift one.”

“It is.”

Although I had expected the answer, my hands shook beneath the table. I concentrated on keeping my breathing steady as he studied me.

“Your cooperation will not purchase your life, Lady Elowen. I will not take your statement while allowing you to believe otherwise.”

“I expected as much. It is my family I hope to help.”

“They will answer for their own involvement and obligations. You cannot bargain away either.”

“My fathers knew nothing of it.”

“That remains to be established. Their liability under the mating contract is a separate matter.”

“Yes, my lord.” I had hoped to obtain some assurance for them, but I dared not press him.

“Duty, honour and loyalty govern this House. You knew the obligations accepted in your name, but instead of seeking an amicable way out, you chose deception. Whatever happened to you afterwards does not remove your responsibility for that choice.”

“No, my lord.”

“You betrayed this House’s principles, but that does not release me from them. You have surrendered to my House, and you will be treated humanely while in its custody. Do not mistake that for forgiveness.”

The food and water Physician Vale had given me lay uneasily in my stomach. “I am aware that House Vaelor remembers,” I said quietly.

“We remember what is owed. That includes our own obligations.”

A signal sounded at the door, and Alaric Stormforge entered the room. His scent brought such a strong ache of recognition that I bent over the table as my perfume filled the room, full of need and mortification. I could barely bear the humiliation.

“Lady Elowen.”

“General.” I could manage little more than a whisper as I drew on every lesson in composure my upbringing had given me. Neither Alpha acknowledged the change in my scent, and by the time I had straightened in my chair, Alaric had taken the place beside Magnus. I raised my eyes to his and found only coldness.

Lucien arrived shortly afterwards, carrying a pad. His scent felt like coming home, and it took all my remaining self-control to resist the urge to throw myself into his arms. He inclined his head to the High Lord, addressed me by my title and sat on Magnus’s other side, leaving me facing all three of them.

“This interview is being recorded,” Lucien said. “Begin with the mating contract.”

I had planned to speak with Magnus alone and to begin with Mireya’s medical experiments, but now the men I had deceived were waiting for an explanation. I adjusted my posture, struggling to find the words.

“Shortly after the mating contract was finalised, I was approached by someone I trusted. A family friend.” I tried to keep my voice steady as I explained my choices and the reasons behind them, though admitting my dislike of them to their faces was more humiliating than anything I had ever done. “She understood I did not want to be mated to your Pack, that I wanted to leave.”

Lucien soon turned to the night of the exchange. “Did you speak to your counterpart?”

“No. She was unconscious, and when she began to stir, she was very disoriented. There was no time to check on her; my escape depended on timing, so I had to hurry.”

The questions about my counterpart were particularly painful; these Alphas were hers, though my Omega instincts understood none of it. I was almost grateful when we moved on to Mireya’s experiments, but Lucien stopped me as soon as I spoke of women who had been killed.

“Did you witness their deaths?”

“No. Mireya told me about them. She said there was no purpose in preserving failed transitions.”

“You heard her account, but did not witness what became of them.”

“No.” I glanced at his pad. “I believed she meant they had been killed.”

“Your belief is not evidence. Be clear about what you witnessed, what you were told and what you concluded.”

I had revisited these memories so often during my time in hiding that Mireya’s words and my conclusions had become hard to separate.