Ian,Marcus, and I are going to check on the omegas, Graeme and Jack, when I get a call from a burner. I answer it tentatively, knowing Simon has encrypted the line and made it impossible for anyone but him to track it.
“Juniper?” Hawthorn’s voice comes through the line, and I immediately put the phone on speaker.
“Hawthorn!” It’s so good to hear my brother’s voice. “I’m here with Ian. You’re on speaker.”
“Hawthorn, good to hear from you,” Ian says.
“And you, man. You taking good care of my sister?”
“The best,” I cut in.
“You’d better be,” Hawthorn says, but there’s no tease in his voice. If anything, he sounds exhausted.
“Hawth, what is it?”
“It’s our father. He’s completely bugged out of his duties as CEO, and Aspen hasn’t been around either. I’m holding the company together on my own, while still trying to figure out what the hell is going on with Father and our dear brother. Something’s going on, Juniper. I can tell, but I can’t investigate. My hands are tied. I can’t get caught doing anything suspicious right now, or I’ll be ousted and lose my ability to work this thing from the inside. All I know is that Father has been traveling between Fairhaven and New York a lot, and neither he nor Aspen have been at headquarters in months. I’ve gleaned what I can from his flight records, but that’s all I’ve got to go on right now.”
“Father’s experimenting again,” I say softly, fear lancing through me. “In New Jersey. He must be flying into New York and then driving to wherever it is he’s going.”
“I hate to ask this, but I need your connections to find out exactly where he’s going. And to take him down. You said he’s experimenting again? Fuck, that can’t be good at all.”
“On omegas, we think,” I say, my voice low. “I’ve seen it.”
Hawthorn curses. “But can you help? I really hate to put this on you. I’m supposed to be your older brother, taking care of shit like this, but I can’t act. I wouldn’t be calling if I had any other option.”
“It’s too risky,” Ian protests.
I shoot Ian a quelling glare. “We’re already on it, Hawth. We believe he’s experimenting on omegas again in a facility in New Jersey. We’ve tracked him there, but our search radius is still too big to act. But as to what he’s doing andwhy? We have scraps of information, nothing more. I don’t know how he’s experimenting on them and to what end.”
“Despite what you did in freeing those omegas from the collar facility, I don’t think he’s running short on test subjects,” Hawthorn says, his voice tired. “I’m sure there are more of them, but I haven’t been able to track where he’s getting them from, and I can’t investigate any more than I already have. Willow was trying to free test subjects from Rose Pharmaceuticals facilities, but she’s in the wind now that she’s been fired. And she couldn’t free all of them.”
Saints, how many more omegas could my father have imprisoned? I have to free them, to give them a fighting chance before the worst happens.
“I truly hate having to ask this of you, Juniper. Saints know I wouldn’t if I had any other choice. I’m the one meant to be protecting you, keeping you safe,” Hawthorn says in a tight voice, and I realize Hawthorn has no onebutme. Not with Willow powerless to help the omegas now. I have my pack, Graeme, Jack, and the resistance. My brother, wearing himself out to fight the good fight, has no one. I have to help him.
“I swear I’ll protect her,” Ian promises. “You have my word.”
“Juniper, you’re the bravest woman I know.”
If only I could feel as brave as my older brother thinks I am. If only I could overcome my fear of my father and his dastardly schemes. He must be working for Baphomet’s Prince, which only frightens me more.
“She is,” Ian adds quietly. “The bravest.”
“I have to go. I’ve got a board meeting in an hour, no doubt about our father’s whereabouts. Please, both of you, stay safe?”
“We will,” I tell him. “Stay safe, Hawth. I miss you.”
I’m workingwith the omegas when I get a future sight of Jack taking a call. I narrow my eyes and shake it off, thinking nothing of it. Then I remember Cora has Graeme’s phone. She could be calling to check in, though she hasn’t before.
I catch Jack in the kitchen and tell him to head out of the castle’s protective magic, letting him know he’ll be getting a call.
We rush out of the castle, Marcus and Graeme following behind us. We dash down the hill to where cellphone signal isn’t affected by the strange magic around the castle, and Jack’s phone rings just as we hit the bottom of the hill.
“Cora?” he answers breathlessly. He puts the phone on speaker so we can all hear what the omega has to say. “Cora, are you all right?”
“I went to New Jersey,” she admits, her voice gritted with pain or exhaustion. “And I found it. I found the facility.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
