“Because it doesn’t matter.” I fight to keep my voice steady; Zoe is now watching me. “He’s an orphan like Ollie and you are.” I jangle my bracelet. “A Rej the same as I am. It must be hell for him growing up with everyone knowing what happened to his parents. Except, we don’t really, do we? All we know is that they were executed. I don’t think that anyone should be killed and I no longer trust that this government’s laws are fair.”
Icarus gives me a long look. “Did you think that I wouldn’t understand?”
I flush. “I hoped that you would.”
Icarus tightens his hold around Zoe, hugging her; she purrs. “My pack was poor.Addicts.When the debt collectors came breaking into our motel room, my parents ran, abandoning Ollie and me. I was sixteen with a tiny Beta kid brother, for whom I was suddenly responsible. I knocked on the doors of so many businesses in Haven, trying to get work. But my family were also infamous; nobody would hire me. My pack had never gone on vacation or stayed in a hotel, but I’d always thought how glamorous your Omega Hotel looked. Plus, you were my best friend at school. I was so happy when Mrs. Frost remembered me and agreed to meet to discuss a job.”
He glances away.
My throat is tight.
I believed that I was helping my best friend by pleading for Maya to give him a job here in the hotel along with his brother.
Yet now I feel like maybe I only imprisoned my own Alpha.
I startle at how strongly I am thinking of Icarus asmy Alpha, rather than as my friend.
Can I love him, however, while he’s caged here with me? Caged because Maya casually asked whether she should give mypretty Alpha frienda role here since he had the top scores at my high school, and I’d enthusiastically noddedyeslike it was an exciting game?
Icarus is frighteningly smart. Yet as he is not from an elite pack, his life has always been as precarious as any Beta’s.
Icarus gives a crooked smile. “I soon learned the truth of the hotel. Even if I lost one family, however, I made another. I won’t judge someone for their pack. No one chooses who births them. But they can choose their friends.”
Why do I think that he doesn’t want to sayfriendsbut something else?
Icarus taps his fingers thoughtfully on the table, lining up the papers that have been pushed out of order by Zoe. “I’ll find Piper for you. Maybe Ellington has taken him away for training.”
I become ashen.
Shit.
That would be bad.
Icarus catches my eye. “Have you forgotten that Irulethis world beneath the hotel, whatever the Frosts think? I protect my pack, the Sinners, and if I can deal with mafia bosses, then I will deal with Ellington, I swear. Piper will be okay.”
I glance away.
Ellington may be an Omega but he is tougher than any mafia boss.
“Story!” Zoe demands, throwing the crumpled ball of paper at Icarus’ chest. “Story!”
Despite myself, I chuckle. “Go on, Uncle Icarus. The little omega has given you your orders.
“Then I must obey.” Icarus forms his hands into the shape of a bird with flapping wings.
Zoe claps in excitement.
This story is her favorite.
Icarus lowers his voice to a softness that most people wouldn’t believe the stern manager to be capable of, acting out his words with his hands. “Once there was a young Omega called Icarus who was trapped in a cage. His dad made him wings of feather and wax to escape. He warned him not to fly too high and close to the sun or too low and close to the sea. But Icarus didn’t listen to the rules. And when he escaped into the air, he found that he loved flying. It was the best feeling in the world.” Zoe squeals with delight, as Icarus makes his hands into the shape of a bird. Then he flaps the bird all around, dodging as Zoe attempts to catch the imaginary Icarus. “But then, Icarus flew up, and up, andtoo closeto the sun. The wax on his wings melted and…”
He dramatically makes the Hand Icarus crash down into Zoe’s hair.
She giggles and wriggles around.
“Is that why you are so good at following the rules?” I ask. “Afraid to fly too close to the sun?”
“Or fly too close to the sea.” Icarus tilts his head. “I have been taught to be responsible. In public, rules are the way that I don’t crash into the sea. In private, however, I’ve learned that rules change all the time. We can help them change. They’re what the powerful impose on the weak. The rich on the poor. Who has made the rule? Is it really to keep you safe or to keepthemsafe? Wealthy? In power? I spent my childhood living under a Head Alpha who ruled us like a tyrant, before throwing my brother and I away like…”
