Hatton was always the favored son, born to Ellington and Maya.
Yet that doesn’t mean he’s safe.
Hatton appears to read the warning in my eyes because he gives me a shaky smile, before trudging back to stand next to his dad.
Ellington wraps his arms around Hatton, nuzzling him. “Good boy. I just worry, okay? Let me protect you. Things will be better after the matching ball. You should be honored that your mom is matching you early to an elite pack. So, stop thinkingabout these people who are now beneath you. Soon, your mom will have found you a bonded pack of your own.”
I stare at my younger brother in shock.
It’s all happening again, just as it did with me three years ago.
I hoped that my brother would have the freedom and choice that I was denied.
Rich or poor, however, Omegas are caged in this hotel.
How the hell am I going to save my younger brother?
CHAPTER FIVE
Staff Roof, Omega Hotel
Iwander along the corner of the hotel’s copper roof with decorative parapets. It is strictly forbidden to guests. It is one of the safe places that HOs are allowed to hang out during their breaks.
I tip back my head, enjoying the rare feel of the warmth of the sun on my face. I close my eyes to savor the moment of peace.
The one thing about living in a hotel is that it is never quiet.
For once, I allow the fear and anxiety to bleed out of me. I haven’t been able to quieten my worry about Hatton, Icarus, Bird, or my own precarious position all morning.
Or my thoughts of my brothers’ plans.
The dream of a takeover.
An Omega uprising.
I want it so much that my teeth ache.
It’s the type of daring scheme, stealing this hotel from underneath the greedy Alpha rich, which Robin Hood would jump at.
But am I still that young naïve Omega who played at outlaw?
I know the truth of hardship now.
The truth of how much we all have to lose.
The truth that my own daughter could lose even more.
Yet do I want to be like my dad, accepting living in misery out of fear of whatmayhappen to my child?
Or do I want to be brave for both our futures?
I snap my eyes open in frustration, conflicted.
I stare up at the sky that is sharply blue in the way that it only is in winter.
My lungs burn with how fresh the air is up here.
I shiver in the cold without a coat.
