And then there’s Marcus, who swaps his garlic bread for my side salad when I shoot him a pleading look. He rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling. I’ll have him by my side next year.
And forever, a small voice inside me says.Make it forever.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Ithink we should work on cataloging Aimee’s abilities,” Sienna muses. “To have a record of another storm mage like Guinnette is marvelous. Though I dare not use her name, and I willnotuse a serial number for her.” She sighs. “So, we’ll have to keep the personal details vague. Just focusing on her affinity.”
We’re taking every precaution while cataloging the omegas’ affinities. We work in a quiet corner of the castle’s great hall while the omegas work with Ian. Simon has souped up the encryption and security on Sienna’s laptop so that it can only be accessed in person and only with Sienna’s fingerprint on a reader he installed. The database he created can only be accessed by her; I don’t even have access to it unless she passes me her computer while we work. Still, we’re cautious about how we catalogue the affinities, just in case Sienna’s laptop were to be stolen and hacked into, or she was forced to apply her fingerprint in some dangerous situation we can’t predict. We don’t want the omegas to be easily identifiable, especially if the wrong parties were to get their hands on our data, but like Sienna, my skin crawls at thethought of using serial numbers for them. They’ve been reduced to numbers before, and we refuse to dehumanize them in that way again.
“So far, I’ve seen her call wind, rain, and lightning,” I tell Sienna. “But she could be capable of snow and sunshine. We haven’t uncovered those abilities in her yet, but I believe her affinity is even more powerful than we think it is. Enough to rival Guinnette’s.”
Sienna smiles faintly, her eyes sparkling behind her glasses. “Were the times not so dark, I’d be grateful to live in an age of affinitied omegas. You’re all truly remarkable.”
I glance across the room to where Cora sits against the wall, eyeing Ian and the omega he’s teaching with trepidation. She still hasn’t gotten closer to any of the other omegas, but I’m glad she’s at least opening up to me. When she catches me looking her way, she frowns and turns away, returning her attention to the lesson she isn’t taking part in. But I know Ian makes sure she can hear his every word. I know he leaves stacks of handouts and flashcards for her on the table at the front of the room. I also know she takes them, as intent now in her studies as all the rest of the omegas. She’s still behind because she was afraid of calling her magic and practicing alone, but she’s beginning to catch up to them. We worked on her first spells this morning, simple three-sigil spells and easy shields. Like my early shields, hers are shaky and easily torn down. She won’t be able to stand up to the smallest of attacks with them, but I have faith she’ll learn.
The squeak of sneakers on the polished stone floor makes me jerk my head up as Simon bursts into the castle’s great hall.
“Simon? What is it?” I ask the breathless beta.
He shoves his laptop in front of me. “I got a ping on one of the collars. After you mentioned your father’s movements in New Jersey at the resistance meeting, I broadened mysearch. Today I finally got results.” He shows me a broad radius on the map on his computer.
“We have to investigate this further! Can you get a closer lock on the signal?” I ask. “What does this mean for the rest of the collars?”
“If I can further refine my search, yes. As for the other five thousand, I’ve still had no luck. They must be heavily warded or hidden behind magetech. But we have this one, and it’s active if it’s transmitting a signal. It’s being used right now.”
Excitement bubbles up inside me. “We finally have something to go off of!”
“My search will take time, but we do. We have workable information.”
“This is big! We have to tell the pack and Graeme and Jack.”
“Tell me what?” Jack asks, dropping by our table, a cup of black coffee in his hand.
“We found a collar in New Jersey,” Simon explains. “Here.” He points to the offline map on his computer screen.
“You’ve done it? You’ve gotten us a lead?” the older alpha asks, excitement edging into his voice.
“I have,” Simon confirms.
“We have to go and investigate! I’ve got to share this with Graeme.”
“If we can get a better lock on the collar,” Simon sighs. “I’m still working on that.”
Jack squints at the computer screen. “Can you look into other activity in the area? Recent property rentals or sales? Maybe, shit, I don’t know, power consumption?”
“I absolutely can,” Simon says, shifting from foot to foot quickly, eager to get out of the castle and back to where he can access the satellite he’s been using for internet signal.
“Then go. I know you’re itching to,” I tease him.
“Not before this,” he says, and pulls me into a giant hug. I curl into his warmth, breathing in his clean beta scent.
“You amaze me,” I tell him, whispering the words against his lips.
“I amaze me too,” he says, humor in his voice, before kissing me goodbye.
As we break from our hug, a breeze stirs my hair, and when I look up, Cora is gone.
For how circumspectwe’ve had to be in bringing in supplies, the castle is stocked about as well as it can be. Though the omegas are sleeping on air mattresses and forced to brush their teeth with bottled water, they’ve made the castle somewhat homey. We’ve procured nesting materials for all of them, and their gratitude was effusive when we showed them. Most haven’t had a nest in years, especially if they came through an omega rehabilitation center before being trafficked to Rad’s facility. Watching them nest for the first time in a long time soothed something I didn’t know needed to be soothed, deep in my heart. They don’t have much aside from their new nests, and they’re basically camping out in the castle, but they’re safe and they’re fed, and most importantly, they’re free.
