The Alpha's Omega Mate-Chapter 139: A lot to take in.

~Dahlia’s POV~

For a good five minutes after the door was shut behind Alpha Kai and Alpha Zarek, plunging the room into a scary kind of silence, I stood there in shock, my jaws dropping, my eyes wide as I clutched Amara to my side desperately.

I couldn’t believe the things I’d just heard; or rather, I couldn’t make sense of them.

The unconscious woman on the bed was Lady Elodie, Alpha Kai’s sister.

...who coincidentally has— or had some sort of relationship with Beta Orion.

And besides the fact that I now know that Alpha Kai and Alpha Zarek were close friends... or acquaintances as the case may be, I also now know that they had too many connecting ties between them.

One of which was the lady on the bed.

At the thought of the woman, I spun around just then to look at her... like really look at her, and it wasn’t until that moment that I finally realized something eerie about her, something that immediately made my blood run cold.

She looked familiar... too familiar. I gasped.

As if suddenly seeing through my thoughts, Amara gently nudged my side and when I glanced down at her, she was already watching me, her weirdly glowing eyes fixated on my face.

She asked; "Is that Tiffany’s mommy?"

I froze. Speechless, I could only shrug because I had no idea either. But now that I think of it, Alpha Kai and Alpha Zarek had associated her with Beta Orion, and from how the little information I’d managed to gather sounded, I wanted to believe that she was indeed Beta Orion’s wife. Or a woman he knew intimately.

But I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t simply jump to conclusions.

So with this thought, I shook my head at Amara, and whispered; "I have no idea. But I’ll ask Alpha Kai, okay?" I cooed softly, but she didn’t respond. Instead, she stole one more glance at the unconscious beauty and muttered;

"Why did you lie?"

At her harsh words, I froze again, shocked by how annoyed she’d sounded. My eyes roved her face carefully, tracing the frown lines etched on her forehead. I had no idea what she meant by that but at the same time, I wasn’t even sure I was in the mood to deal with it either.

So I asked derivatively; "Lie about what?"

"Lie that it wasn’t my Zareeeq."

My Zareeeq.

My...

...Zareeq?

The word repeated itself over and over in my head like images from a horror movie, and with each passing second that it continued to scrape against my brain, the more my rage intensified. Her Zareeq? I scoffed; "Do you want to return to that pack? Do you want to return to Lady Jennifer and those bad Elders that treat me like I am a thief? Do you want us to live in constant fear for the rest of our liv—"

"I want to tell Tiffany that I saw a woman that looks like her. I want to tell her her mommy may not be dead."

Amara’s strangely stubborn words hit me like a freight train; and it wasn’t until that moment that I realized why this woman looked so familiar earlier... why it seemed as though I’ve seen her somewhere before even though I haven’t. It was because of Tiffany.

She looked too much like Beta Orion’s child!

As the realization of what all of these things may imply struck me, I staggered backward, my eyes widening slowly as it all finally began to make some semblance of sense to me.

"She’s Tiffany’s mom?!" I gasped in askance— a question that had been directed at me.

However, I wasn’t aware that Alpha Kai had returned back to the room; Hell, I’d been so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t even notice when he waltzed back inside with both of his hands buried inside his pants pockets and his eyes boring into my skin like sharp blades.

He drawled; "Yes, she is. And Orion, the Beta, was her husband."

My jaws dropped. "No... no. That cannot be true." Beta Orion told me she was dead. She wanted to marry me to help him out with Tiffany. He...

"Elodie here is my sister, so if anyone should have to tell you the truth, then it has to be me." He drawled, his eyes still fixated on my face, "She was married to Beta Orion. He was her fated mate and they had a child... a daughter. Tiffany."

"But Beta Orion said... but she’s supposed—"

"She’s not dead." He snapped as if sensing the words I was about to say next. "Fine, she’s been in that state for two years now, and when you think about it, it’s as good as someone who is dead. But she isn’t."

Goddess, I was curious. I had several questions to ask him, several words I wanted to say but couldn’t bring myself to, so instead I shook my head, chewing on my bottom lip.

"Dahlia—"

"I know, I know... you’re not lying. I don’t know how but I can feel it. However, I’m just mad that I was never told the truth. Maybe not mad but confused, and I want to—" I began to say, but upon remembering that Alpha Zarek may still be in the house, I turned to Alpha Kai and asked;

"Is Alpha Zarek gone?"

"Yes."

At the sound of those words, Amara stiffened beside me, making my already aching heart feel even heavier. I sighed;

"I want to return to my room now. Can I?"

"Oh, of course, Dahlia! You can!" He dismissed me with a small wave of his hands, but despite his overly carefree attitude, I didn’t miss the way the light in his eyes dimmed infinitesimally.

He turned to the still woman, his eyes looking the softest than I’ve ever seen it. And then he sighed; "We will talk later about your father, okay?"

My heart skipped a beat. "Okay." I said, turning away with Amara’s hands so clutched within mine. I had just arrived by the door when I suddenly stopped and turned around to face him. I whispered; "And Alpha Kai?"

"Huh?" He murmured, his glazed eyes drawn to something in the distance.

I didn’t miss the way he never noticed that I’d called him ’Alpha Kai’ and not ’Kai.’

Ignoring it, I continued; "I am sorry for coming here. I didn’t know anything like this would happ—"

"You had no idea." He supplied, turning to face me. "I cannot even be mad because it’s not your fault."

I nodded.

"Also I’m sorry about her." I mused, gesturing to the bed, but this time, he didn’t respond. He simply turned back to her and smiled, his usual red eyes glowing with a glint I’ve never seen in them before.

A weird chill ran up my spine at the thought, and with panic clawing through my veins, I turned away, stumbling out of the room like the devil was hot on my tails.

...And maybe he is.

—

For the rest of the day, I remained locked up in my temporary room with thoughts of the events that had led to this moment fleeting past my mind like some video on loop.

Night came quickly, and so did morning, but I still couldn’t bring myself to sleep. I still couldn’t help but overthink about the weird situation I’d now found myself in.

It was still the early hours of the morning when I finally decided that maybe a walk wasn’t so bad, but as soon as I snuck my way downstairs, to the main door, I instantly regretted my actions because standing there in all his naked glory was Alpha Kai who looked as though he’d just shifted.

I gasped, immediately turning my back to him. "Alpha Kai!" I snapped exasperatedly, more out of embarrassment than rage. "I didn’t know you’d be there!"

His rich laughter caressed my skin way before my ears picked up the sound, and a sudden warmth coursed through my veins at the sound, instantly sending watts of electricity running across the surface of my skin.

My face heated up in embarrassment when he wouldn’t stop laughing. I snapped; "It isn’t funny!"

"Oh, but it is!" He replied, a tinge of amusement lining his words. "You’ve seen me like this before, Dahlia. You’ve seen everything, so why are you still so flustered about it?"

However, I was just about to respond, to tell him off, when a soldier suddenly rushed into the house with excitement radiating off of him in waves, but as soon as he saw Alpha Kai and I, he snorted—more like trying to hold in his laughter— and then dropped his head in respect.

"Good day Alpha Kai... my lady, I’m sorry for walking in on you like—"

"This better be important!" Kai snapped in annoyance, immediately interrupting him. "What is it?"

"It’s Alpha Kael’vorn, the Alpha you asked us to investigate." The young soldier rushed out, his head still bowed.

"And?" Kai snapped, and I swear I could hear the desperation in his voice. I also felt a strange kind of chill rush through my veins at the name mentioned.

It was familiar... It was old.

My heart leapt with excitement.

"He’s alive!" The soldier continued, "...and our sources tell us that he’s been residing in a human village for the past seven years, desperately searching for his daughter."

And as soon as those words slipped past his lips, the wheels in my head began turning. My palms, once dry, suddenly became clammy as a strange sweat drenched through my blouse despite the chilly atmosphere.

"My father?" I whispered, turning around slowly to look at Kai, and blissfully ignoring the fact that he was still naked.

Alpha Kai smiled softly at me, and then nodded.

And frankly, that was all the answer I needed. I fell to the floor, sobbing as an array of strange emotions gradually overcame me.