“I’m sorry,” he says sincerely. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I thought you knew.”
I shake my head. “It’s fine.”
Taking a seat, I direct a wobbly smile to Luc, who’s watching me with concern. His fingers brush over my knuckles questioningly, and I nod, letting him know I’m okay.
“So,” I begin. “Why are you here?”
He jerks a little, and his lip twists up at the corner. “Very direct,” he comments, and I lift my shoulder. “The whole world seems to be looking for me right now. I don’t have time to waste if I want to keep my pack safe.”
Both Max and Luc shift. I can sense the protest forming on their tongues, and I squeeze their hands. This isn’t something they can protect me from.
Rather than answer, Christian looks to Harper. She nods, and crosses over to me, kneeling and pulling my hands away from my alphas, folding them into hers as she looks at me, her amber eyes intent.
“Ava,” she murmurs. “I think the Omega Creed needs to go. And I think that we might be the ones who can bring it down.”
I glance around at the alphas watching us closely.
“Not them.Us.”
I blink, waiting for the punchline. “Harper, we’re two omegas. We have no legal rights.None.What can we do?”
She takes a deep breath. “We can speak up. Tell our stories. Make people hear us. Maybe if they realized how bad things are… most betas just go about their lives unless they’re involved in the adoption process. If people knew…,”
I scoff. “They wouldn’t care, Harper. They didn’t care then, when the laws were passed. Why would they care now?”
“A lot of time has passed. We won’t know unless we try.”
“How would we even go about it?” I ask, my brow furrowed. “Shout it from a loudspeaker? Nobody is going to interview us on the main news, Harper. We’d be locked up as soon as we tried.”
“They won’t interview you,” says Christian. His green eyes watch me carefully, gauging my response. “But they will interview me.”
My stomach twists, and I think I might be sick. “You’re serious?”
Harper nods determinedly. “I want a life, Ava. A real life. One where I don’t have to crawl when we’re in public, or wear a chain around my neck. We deserve tolive. And so do our children.”
She points at my stomach. “What if your daughter awakens as an omega? What then?”
I flinch. It’s a thought that I return to often.
I promised to do my best for them. Maybe… maybe this is what that looks like.
Harper shifts. “What is it?” I ask.
Wetting her lips, she glances back at Ace, who gives her an encouraging nod and a sad smile. “Go on, little omega,” he encourages.
Harper turns back to me, her shoulders tense. “There are… videos.”
I recoil, bile burning the back of my throat. “What videos?”
Christian leans forward. “There are many, many cameras at the compound. I have collected a lot of footage that we can use, hard evidence that people won’t be able to hide behind with twisted words or lies.”
Harper closes her eyes. “There are also videos from Jason. We found them when… when my pack came for me. My attack, and others.”
I take a deep breath, bracing myself. I can see the answer to my unspoken question in her eyes, but I ask anyway. “Am I on there?”
When she nods, the nausea becomes too much to bear, and I bolt for the bathroom. Luc follows me, pulling my hair back as I retch into the porcelain bowl.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” he says, rinsing off a cloth and pressing it against my face.
