{Rylee’s P.O.V.}
“Rylee, what do you mean that they weren’t the only ones?”
“Did I stutter, Wyatt?” I responded acrimoniously before checking my attitude that always got the best of me. I adjusted my tone of voice before continuing on. “They’re not the only ones. They’re also not the only werewolves apparently.”
“If that’s the case, then how did they not know that they’re werewolves?” he asked, pulling his shirt over his head and settling over his washboard abs. Wyatt had just come home from work and before he could even change out of his work clothes, I bombarded him with everything I learned about the twins.
“They knew they weren’t human, but they’ve never shifted before. They knew that there was at least one other wolf who was a few years older than them, but they only recently figured out she was a wolf. They said that her eyes would shift to black in anger the way your's and Owen’s did, so they made the connection in hindsight,” I told him.
“Rylee, are you sure that they’re telling the truth?”
“Are you really going to stand there and ask me that, knowing full well that I’m a walking lie detector?” I said crossing my arms. He pursed his lips together and nodded.
“You have a point there,” he admitted and changed into his sweats. Normally I would have loved to catch Wyatt in a situation with his pants down, but there were more pressing matters at hand.
“Did they tell you what other kinds of supernatural beings were being held?” he asked calmly while holding my shoulders.
“An angel by the name of Anna, a gypsy, a dragon, and I think Lexie said a tiger as well.”
“A weretiger? They’re supposed to be extinct,” Wyatt said with his eyes wide. I shrugged since I was just relaying what I was told.
“They also said that whoever held them called everyone ‘precious cargo’ and that they’re all individually special. All of them are supposedly very rare, and whoever is in charge of this operation only sells when absolutely necessary. He won’t sell to just anyone.”
“So, the girls must have been sold recently if they were being moved,” Wyatt realized and I nodded my head. “This isn’t good. If the girls were already sold, then whoever is in charge may not have gotten paid or would have to give a r****d to the buyer. This will make him desperate to get the girls back.”
“What are we going to do?” I asked softly.
“For now, we wait,” he said. I looked up at him and furrowed my brows. “I know what you’re thinking, but we know absolutely nothing about these traffickers. We don’t even know if they’re all human.”
“Wait, what do you mean by 'all human'?”
“Rylee, it’s possible that whoever is in charge is supernatural as well.”
“What?” I asked, visibly disturbed. “Are you telling me that someone like us could be profiting from the selling of other supernaturals?”
“Yes, and it’s not all that uncommon.” My mouth dropped. “I know you grew up secluded and practically in a prison yourself dearest, but you need to know that there are many other evils in the world, not just vampires wanting to make you their bride or packs participating in child slavery.”
“I know that there are evils in the world, but to think a supernatural would harm another supernatural for money makes me want to vomit. That and using humans on top of it.”
“It’s a cold world out there, and it’s something we have to fight every day.” I nodded my head and let out a sigh, feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders at that moment. “However, I did reach out to a contact who works in supernatural security and surveillance, and he has ties all over the world to look into this trafficking group.”
“Who?” I asked and looked at him puzzled.
“He’s a distant cousin, twice removed.”
“What does that even mean?”
“Don’t ask,” he said, and I lifted my brow at him. “The point is, he’s family, in a sense, and he’s going to do the research since something like this is way out of my element.”
“Why not just ask Felix? I mean, he does security and tracking too,” I replied. “Felix is retired after what happened last year, and he’s too busy prepping to be a grandfather. Plus, Tasha is coming back from Europe next month.”
“Tasha?”
“Jason’s sister.”
“Ohhh … I forgot she even existed. No one really talks about her.”
“Well, she went back to fashion school in London after working things out with Justin. She's been traveling all over Europe for work the last year. She’s coming back to the U.S. now that her internship is over. Not to mention when Zoe told her about Milan’s pregnancy, she dropped everything to come back.”
“Wow, and here I thought she was coming back for Justin. I guess she and Jason must be closer than I thought.”
“They’re very close,” he answered. “Don’t worry about Lexie and Lanie. We will give them a safe haven like we did for Victor and see what my distant cousin comes up with.”
“How long before he gets back to you?”
“I have no idea, but hopefully it will be soon,” he said, and I nodded my head. “We stick to the plan, and we take everything one day at a time.”
“Okay.”
“Now, let’s go find Sam and go eat dinner.” I smiled, and Wyatt led us out of our room to find Samson. As always, he was with Grace on the second floor and she walked him down to the dining room with us following behind.
Dinner was just like any other night, and we all enjoyed each other's company. I made sure that plates were sent to Lexie and Lanie in the hospital as well. I didn’t want them to suffer eating the frozen hospital meals, even if it wasn’t the same as a home-cooked meal like everyone else was enjoying at home or in the castle.
Although I trusted Wyatt and believed that he would do anything within his power to help Lexie and Lanie, I knew he was still very skeptical of them. Wyatt was usually more trusting of lone wolves, giving them the benefit of the doubt in most cases. It was different now since the girls escaped custody from human traffickers which made him nervous and I couldn’t blame him for it. I just hoped that this whole situation didn’t blow up in our faces.
The next morning, Irene, Dianna, and I went down to the hospital to hang out with Lexie and Lanie after breakfast. Irene somehow managed to get small bits and pieces from them, but they had never met Dianna so they were a little wary of her presence initially. Once they got acclimated to her after about an hour of us messing around, they definitely warmed up to her.
We had spent a few hours together when Dr. Andrews appeared into the room suddenly while Dianna was poking fun at Irene and me. “Well now, it’s good to hear some laughter coming out of this room,” he said as he entered.
“Good afternoon Dr. Andrews,” I said whilst trying to contain my laughter.
“Luna,” he said and bowed his head. “Irene, there’s a pack warrior in room 210 who has a dislocated patella that needs to be repositioned back in place,” Dr. Andrews said to her.
“Yes Dr. Andrews, I will tend to the patient right away,” she responded. “Sorry girls, but I got to get to work. We’ll talk more later,” she waved at us and left the room.
“Now, what was so funny earlier?” Dr. Andrews asked with a smile.
“f*****g Rylee,” Dianna said as she snorted in laughter. “This girl didn’t know the difference between Kristen and Christian.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Doc, we were talking about the actress that voices Anna in the movie Frozen, and I was telling everyone that her name is Kristen Bell, but Rylee kept saying her name was Christian and when I corrected her, she asked if there was a difference. I looked at this b***h to see if she was serious, and she dead ass was. She had no idea that they aren’t the same name.”
“Oh, Luna…” Dr. Andrews tried not to break his composure and shook his head.
“Tell the whole the f*****g world why don’t you!?” I yelled and smacked Dianna’s shoulder.
“Ow!” she slapped me back and I gasped.
“How dare you smack your Luna!?”
“Oh please b***h, you know you can’t pull that s**t on me,” she said and shoved me this time. I growled at her and she reciprocated by growling back. We were seriously about to fight when Dr. Andrews intervened.
“My, you two can never be in the same room together,” he said, stepping between us as we both laughed. Lexie and Lanie were also laughing at us. “It’s still bizarre seeing you two in the same room, given that at one point you two looked identical.”
“Hey doc, get it right, she looked like me. She practically stole my identity,” Dianna countered.
“Hey, it’s not stealing if it was done unintentionally. I had no idea you even existed,” I defended myself. Lexie and Lanie gave us weird looks. “Long story, I will have to tell you another time.” They both nodded.
“Well, since it appears that Lexie and Lanie are fully healed and able to walk around on their own without any assistance, I think we can go ahead and release them to the castle, Luna,” Dr. Andrews told me.
“Wow, did you guys hear that?” I exclaimed.
“So, where do we go from here?” Lexie asked.
“Wyatt had two spare rooms on the second floor in the guest wing cleared out for you two. You can either use one room each for privacy or if you want a room together, we can make that happen,” I told them with a smile. “It’s totally up to you girls.”
They both looked at each other, and I saw their eyes glaze over as they mind link about what they wanted to do. After a few minutes of their mental debating, their eyes returned to normal and they looked at me.
“We’re going to use one room, for now, please,” Lexie said.
“Okay, that’s fine. The room we’re going to put you in has a private bathroom connected to it so you two can shower in peace,” I responded, and their eyes lit up like kids opening presents on Christmas morning. “By the looks on your faces, I doubt you’ve ever had a warm shower.”
“No, we only got cold buckets of water to rinse off,” Lanie said shyly.
“Well, how about this. You can use one room together, but how about you two shower at the same time in separate bathrooms.”
“Rylee, we don’t have any clothes,” Lexie said.
“Don’t worry about that. You two are roughly the same size as Melody, our Beta female, and I’m sure she can give up some of her clothes for you two.”
“Knowing her, she’ll do it because it will give her an excuse to go shopping,” Dianna chimed in, and I nodded my head in agreement.
“Very well then. Let me get their release papers in order, and I will return in about an hour,” Dr. Andrews said. As he walked out, I quickly ran after him and asked Dianna to stay with the girls while I planned out their new living arrangements with the Omegas.
“Dr. Andrews!”
“Yes, Luna?”
“Have you looked into their lineage more yet?” I asked in a very soft whisper.
“Come with me, Luna,” he said and led me straight to his office. He closed the door and locked it. “I did additional tests on their blood, but I wasn’t able to find any additional markers that would indicate where they came from. I’ve also scheduled the teeth extractions for next week so we can run the isotope testing.” I nodded my head and frowned. “Hold on, Luna, don’t be discouraged just yet.” I looked at him and furrowed my brows. “Although I wasn’t able to determine anything else from the blood itself, I did send a sample to the doctor that did Keaton’s paternity test, Dr. Marsh.”
“Was she able to determine anything?” I asked enthusiastically.
“Yes, and it’s quite a shock actually.”
“Well, what is it?”
“Luna, not only do these girls come from Alpha blood, but Dr. Marsh believes that these girls may be direct descendants of the moon goddess.”
Did he just say, moon goddess?