Ice. The alpha must have had the power to summon and manipulate ice. I can think of only one person with such power—the ice affinitied omega whose hospital bracelet I found in the clandestine facility in New Jersey.
I understand now. I finally know what my father is doing, and it’s more gruesome than I could have conceived. My father is taking affinities from omegas and giving them to alphas. To the Soldiers of Saint Aldous.
The thought sobers me instantly, and I turn to Simon, tears in my eyes.
“My father is stealing affinities from omegas,” I whisper, afew tears spilling down my cheeks. “And giving them to Soldiers. Saints, even the Prince could have an affinity by now.” How did I not realize this earlier? I was thinking too small when I considered my father removing maginaluses from omegas. I’d assumed what I thought was the worst then, that he was trying a more barbaric method of denying an omega her magic, but I was so very wrong. What he’s doing is far,farworse. Had the goal only been to deprive omegas of their magic by taking their maginaluses, there would have been an attempt at keeping them alive. But if all my father needs are their maginaluses, he’s surely killing all of them, butchering them for their unique magic.
Simon struggles to find the words to respond, but what is there to say?
Baphomet’s Prince had wanted to mobilize his armies by summer, and this is just the start. With my father at his side, giving alphas affinities, the Prince will be unstoppable.
“Pack a bag,”Cassian says, thundering up the stairs to my nest.
“You saw the news,” Simon surmises dully.
“It’s not safe in downtown Fairhaven right now. I need to get you and Junes to my parents’ estate where we’ll all be safer.”
“Cass,” I whisper. “My father is stealing affinities to give them to the Soldiers.”
Cassian jerks back as though he’s been slapped. “That’s what he’s doing?”
I nod, getting up and going to him, slipping into his strong arms. Simon surrounds me from behind, and they hold me between them as I shudder with tears.
“How could he do something so… so evil?” I weep.
“I don’t know, love,” Cassian says quietly. “He’s a bad man. I’ve always known it, but I never once suspected this.”
“We have to stop him,” Simon says, running his hands down my arms until he can take my hands in his. “Wewillstop him, kit-kat.”
“We don’t even know where he’ll pop up next now that the New Jersey facility has been abandoned,” I say, letting Cassian draw me closer. “We have nothing to go on. No way to track him.”
“The collars?” Cass asks, desperate.
“I haven’t been able to break down whatever they’re using to jam the signal, be it magetech or wards,” Simon says, his voice pained. “I don’t even know where to start looking now that they’ve fled New Jersey. I can speculate, but it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
Cassian swallows hard. “We’ll figure it out. My father can help. But you both need to pack. Ian, Marcus and Luca already are. Actually, Junes, stay right here with Simon. I’ll pack for both of you.”
Simon cuddles me deeper into his arms, guiding me down to the floor of my nest. Saints, it still smells like sex and slick and pack. I was going to do the laundry today, but now it seems I won’t be. Simon pulls a blanket around my shoulders before taking me back into his arms while I watch Cassian go through my dresser. I feel a million miles away from the pack house, drowning in my sorrow and fear.
By the time Cassian has packed for me, Ian emerges at the top of the stairs, lingering at the door to my nest. I open my arms for him, and he comes to me immediately, sinking to my cushy nest and accepting me from Simon’s arms.
“He’s stealing omega affinities for alphas,” I say, closing my eyes against further tears. They won’t do anything, won’t change anything, and they won’t help.
“I know, my darling.”
“You figured it out.”
“I thought I had. You confirmed it.”
My brilliant mate, as sharp as ever.
“Come on, Juniper. Let’s get you someplace safer. I think we’ll all feel a bit saner once we do. It’s too dangerous for you to be downtown if there’s an affinitied alpha running loose.”
“He hasn’t been apprehended?”
“He disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The police have swept a ten-block radius and come up empty handed.”
I nod against him and stand, my movements stiff. Somewhere safer, I remind myself. Because downtown Fairhaven, the city I’ve been happy to call home, is no longer safe for me.
