“The world needs more mothers like her and more sons like him, then.”
“And far fewer alphas like that prick Andrew Radcliffe,” Bitsy mutters. “I saw his latest interview, Junie. ‘Until death do they part’? I mean, come on! Total serial killer vibes and crazy eyes, for sure.”
“He’s still giving you trouble?” Leigh asks, alarm in her voice.
“He’s going to retaliate,” I sigh. “I’m not sure when—or how—but he will.”
“I hate to say this, but perhaps it’s time that you left Fairhaven Academy,” Leigh says gently. “Let your men take you to one of the sovereign states and lay low for a while.”
“Men?” I echo, trying to sound innocent. “I’m only mated to Cassian.”
Leigh shoots me a sour look. “Juniper, I may not be young and hip anymore, but I’m not stupid. I still ‘get’ things.” She frowns. “I know your education matters to you, and I admire that about you, but at some point, Mr. Radcliffe will do something, and you’ll realize that staying here just isn’t worth it. At least consider it. I know your alpha has the means.”
I wish I could tell her that it’s about so much more than my education. That this fight is so much bigger than just me and Rad. That it’s about bringing Rad down for good, freeing the omegas trapped in his secret facility, then bringing both Radcliffe Industries and Rose Pharmaceuticals to their knees.
But doubt whispers through me.
This doesn’t have to bemyfight. I could flee with my men, and we could have those happy years Luca promised me.
We would live.
Saints, is the fight I’m fighting selfish? Am I delusional to think we could actually win it?
Rad has an army of zealots he’s willing to sacrifice to get what he wants, but I’m only one omega, trying to face him down with a group of men I can’t bear to lose.
In every way, Rad has the advantage.
* * *
I spendmy Friday afternoon logging affinities in a database for Sienna. We’ve uncovered a rash of omegas from the 1800s who may have had affinities, though the language in the old tomes and diaries is frustratingly unspecific.
Since uncovering the identity of the omega who attacked my classroom on All Saints’ Eve, Graeme has pieced together the identities of four more of them by combing through missing persons reports and omega rehabilitation center registers, and after interviewing some eyewitnesses to the attack, we’re able to put affinities and faces to their names.
The omegas have been transferred from police custody, and Graeme assures me they’re safe, but they can’t return to their families until they’re out from under the influence of the collars—and that requires the collars to be removed, which no one can figure out how to do. All ten of the omega attackers have yet to speak, and I can imagine the agony they’re suffering all too well. They’re free, yet still trapped.
It feels strange to see their names and affinities as rows in a database, but anything we can learn about affinities could help us.
I work past the end of my normal assistantship period, only stopping when Sienna kicks me out with a friendly smile, but when Marcus and I leave the headmaster’s mansion, Cassian, Simon, Luca and Ian are waiting for us, grim expressions on their faces.
Alarm makes my adrenaline spike, but no, my men are all here. They’re unharmed, as far as I can tell. “What is it? What’s happened?”
“You know how I was hacking all those police departments waiting for your father to file a missing persons report? Well, I never really stopped. And I found something this afternoon.”
“We think we know more about Luca’s room being broken into,” Cassian says carefully. “There was a rash of attacks on the Feast of Saint Jasper. Fifteen local resistance members were killed in their homes by the Soldiers of Saint Aldous that night. We think someone may have been trying to do the same to Luca.”
I crumble and Marcus catches me, carefully lowering me to the set of stairs that lead up to the headmaster’s mansion.
The Feast of Saint Jasper, the patron saint of lost causes.
While I was enjoying my winter break with my men, shutting out the world at large, the Soldiers were sending us a message, stark in both violence and clarity.
The resistance is a lost cause.
Standing against the Soldiers of Saint Aldous and Project Halcyon is futile.
CHAPTER33
The Saint Jasper slayings never make the news.
