Page 208 of The Other Omega

“Once the agreement is signed and certified. She will be escorted directly to Hart Manor.”

Samir looked at his daughter with tears in his eyes.

“We agree,” Cedric said.

I reviewed the final wording before Cedric, Samir and Matthias added their biological marks to the agreement. I added my own beside theirs, and counsel certified it.

“Know this, Cedric. I was eager to execute your daughter myself. Only my mate’s forgiving nature persuaded me to offer you a choice. She wanted Lady Elowen to live and return to your care, if only so she could repay the love and protection your Pack gave her.”

I touched the control beside my hand, and the two guards entered. One carried an iron box, which he placed on the table before Lady Elowen. She watched him release its catches, then began to shake as he lifted the lid.

Inside lay a heavy metal collar, an infinity crystal set into its front. Her gaze moved towards her fathers, and a sob escaped her. Cedric remained seated, his hands clasped on the table.

I rose.

“Lady Elowen Marie Hart, by the authority granted to me by Magnus, High Lord of House Vaelor, and Octavian, High Lord of House Valenne and Supreme Law Master of High Mountain, I sentence you to lifelong confinement at Hart Manor for high treason and the abduction of Elowen C-17.”

She bowed her head, her restrained hands pressed against her mouth.

“You will not be permitted to leave the manor or enter a mating. You will remain under House Vaelor’s supervision for the rest of your life.”

At my nod, one guard lifted the collar from its box while the other moved behind her and drew her hair away from her neck. She sat rigid as they fitted the metal around her throat, sobbing openly when it closed. The guard checked the fastening before stepping aside, leaving the crystal resting at the base of her neck.

Only then did they unlock the chain securing her to the table and remove the restraints from her wrists and waist.

She stared at her hands, then raised them to the collar. Her fingers followed its edge, searching for a fastening she would never find.

“Your escort will take you directly to Hart Manor,” I said.

A sob escaped her as she pushed herself unsteadily from the chair and approached her fathers.

“Bringing you home does not mean we have forgiven you, Elowen,” Cedric told her.

“I understand.”

Her voice was barely audible. Cedric watched her, then rose and turned towards the door.

“Come.”

She wiped her face and followed her fathers towards the doors, their counsel walking behind her. The guards escorted them out, and the doors closed behind them.

I placed the agreement inside my case and closed it. My Omega was not Lady Elowen Hart and never had been. Now the law would remember it.

Whatever our scent match, I would have seen her clearly in time. I could not have loved a woman I did not trust, and neither could my mates. I had been taught since childhood to master instinct. Biology would never have been enough.

Yet her attempt to escape us had brought Elowen into our lives, and with her, the family I could no longer imagine living without.

I would never tell my mate that part of me was grateful to the woman who had stolen her.

But gratitude was not forgiveness, and she would spend the rest of her life paying for what she had done to my mate.

Epilogue

Iwalked into the nursery before dawn and found Seren babbling in her cot.

Vaela slept in the cot beside hers, one hand tucked beneath her cheek. Seren was wide awake, her dark curls spread across the mattress as she watched me. When I leaned over her, she smiled, showing the two tiny teeth on her bottom gum.

“You’re far too pleased with yourself,” I whispered.