Christian moves forward and I back away. Sighing, he steps further away from me and points to the two-seater against the wall.
“Put her down there,” he murmurs. “She needs to rest, and we need to discuss what happens now.”
I move over to the leather seat but rather than placing her down, I turn and sink into the cushions, keeping hold of her and raising my brow in silent challenge. Christian huffs at me but leaves it there, settling back into his chair as Rogue takes a seat beside me.
Rogue doesn’t waste any time in getting to the point.
“You owe us an explanation,” he challenges. He keeps his voice low as he flicks a glance at the sleeping girl in my arms.
Wincing, Christian looks penitent. “I apologize. I wanted to discuss this with you before he brought Harper in.”
“You’retorturingthem.” Christian flinches at my blunt accusation, but he doesn’t deny it. Blowing out a breath, he squares himself and meets my eye. “Yes.”
Growls echo as Rogue and I both respond to his words.
“Why?” Rogue barks, and Christian curls his lip at the inherent demand. Normally, an alpha using a bark on another alpha outside of the pack leader relationship causes issues, but as Rogue’s father, Christian manages to resist snarling back.
“I want to explain now, but I can’t.” He cuts our protests off, holding up his hand.
“You deserve answers, but we don’t have time. I’m sure that Jason is already contacting his father and Harper needs to be away from here before there can be any further developments.”
The thought of that idiot getting his hands on the omega again makes my hands clench around her instinctively, and she lets out a plaintive mewl of protest in her sleep. Stilling, we all look down, and I loosen my hands, flexing my fingers against the bruising on her soft skin. Rogue reaches out and strokes some hair away from her face, watching me carefully. The pack bond recognizes that he’s not a threat to her now things have settled down, though, and I nod.
“Fine.” Rogue says the word through gritted teeth, but Christian obviously isn’t going to give us anything else right now. “But youwillexplain.”
Christian nods, relieved. “Our priority now is to get you both out of here with Harper. Unfortunately, there are normally a number of steps involved in an alpha-omega pairing. I can bypass some, but others will be noticed if we skip them. You’ll need to attend the pairing induction, at least.”
Pressing a button, he barks into a receiver. “Induction needed in room four. Send a matron over. I also need Hunt here in the next five minutes, have him wait outside my office.”
A tinny voice confirms, and he sits back in his chair. For the first time, I realise how much he’s aged since I last saw him. His salt and pepper hair is more salt than pepper now, and lines mark his face that weren’t there a few months ago.
“Something’s going on here,” I watch his face twitch and know it’s true. “Something you can’t talk about.” Christian jerks his head in agreement, but we’re interrupted by a knock on the door.
“That’ll be Hunt,” he says, standing. “Leave Harper here. I won’t let her out of my sight,” he promises, clearly scenting the aggression from both of us at the idea leaving her in this room unprotected.
Too much, too soon.
I need to clear my head of her fucking scent. Cinnamon and oranges twist around me like a drug. My head spins and I force myself to stand and settle Harper back on the seat. She curls into the warmth I’ve left behind, shivering slightly as we step away. I flex my fingers, fighting the urge to go back to her. Determinedly, I push myself towards the door, every step a battle not to turn back.
“I’ll make the arrangements whilst you’re gone and you can head off as soon as you’re finished with the induction and paperwork,” Christian motions for us to head out.
With one last look at the flame-haired girl that’s flipped my world upside down in the space of an hour, I follow Rogue out.
We silently follow the guard down the corridor to an unmarked door, where he shows us into a bland room filled with chairs, a large projector screen aimed against the wall. When the door closes behind him, I round on my alpha, nostrils flaring.
“What,” I hiss, careful to keep my voice down, “thefucking hellwas that?”
Rogue looks strained, running a hand through his hair. “I honestly don’t know. I had no idea that the compound ran like this. My dad…” shaking his head, he tails off. My heart tugs at the look of betrayal on his face. What’s Christian playing at?
Moving away from Rogue, I start to pace up and down the space between a row of chairs.
“There’s clearly something up. He wanted you in here today and he wanted you to see… her.” My voice stutters over the words.
792.Harper.
I might hate omegas, but I’m not sure I can hate this one. She’s clearly been through hell, and although the voice at the back of my head is shouting that this could be manipulation, I’m sure enough of my own instincts to realize when someone’s been a victim of severe abuse.
“What about those girls we brought here?” I growl at Rogue. “What’s happened to them? They’re barely adults.” Just thinking of what we might have handed them over to draws a red haze over my eyes. If anyone’s touched them, I’ll rip them apart.
