“Yes.”
As Casey clambered onto the bench-style table, Jericho smiled at her. “And this little pup was… Casey, if Irecall?”
“Yep!” she said. “But I don’t knowyou!”
Jericho chuckled and outstretched a hand. “Name’sJericho.”
Casey frowned. “I’m not supposed to talk tostrangers.”
I was embarrassed, but Flint, Jericho, and the other alphas at the table justlaughed.
“He’s not a stranger, honey. You met him last night, remember? He was just in his wolf form then,” I explained toher.
“Ohh,” Casey said, nodding. “Okay.”
“No worries, pretty omega,” Jericho said with a lopsided grin. “You’ve got a smart pupthere.”
I blushed at being called a pretty omega. From the corner of my eye, I didn’t miss the glare Flint shot at him either. Jericho just held up his handssheepishly.
“Anyway,” Flint said firmly. I noticed that the other alphas around the table paid attention when he spoke. He had an authoritative tone to his voice without being rude or condescending. “I want to discuss a couple things with you all. First, for anyone who wasn’t part of the hunt last night, or wasn’t paying attention, we have a couple newcomers to Indigo Mountainpack.”
Flint gestured to Casey andI.
“This is Charlie, an omega who escaped from Scarlet Ridgepack.”
Murmurs spread instantly among the few alphas I didn’t recognize. There were four of them in total sprawled around the long table. Aside from Flint, I only knew Jericho and David by name. I tried not to notice the way David’s mouth was set tightly as he listened to Flint’sspeech.
“It was brave and risky of him to escape. I know none of us are fond of Scarlet Ridge as neighbors, but from what Charlie’s told me as an insider, it’s much worse than we thought,” Flint continued with a frown. “Omegas are treated like inferior citizens and only as breeding stock. They don’t even have a right to choose their own mate - the pack has something called atop alpha, who oversees all thedecisions.”
Angry growls rose among the alphas. As an omega, I was more passive about taking orders; but to an alpha, it was innately wrong. I can’t imagine how much this information must be making their bloodboil.
“That brings me to my other point,” Flint said, turning to glance at me. “Charlie also told me about something their so-called top alpha is planning - an alphaarmy.”
“That sounds stupid,” David muttered. “If its an army, of course its going to be alphas. Omegas don’t join thearmy.”
I wasn’t exactly shocked that he said it; only that he said it out loud. But Flint wasn’t having any of it. His face twisted into a snarl and he snapped at David, “Keep your stupid comments to yourself. Do you really think that’s the issuehere?”
As other alphas turned to look at David, he sank back with a furrowed brow and a frown. He probably wasn’t happy about being shut down like that; I hope he didn’t have any hard feelings towards Flint. But the vibe I got from the lodge was that this hunting party of alphas was a tight-knit group, like a band of brothers. I didn’t think they wouldn’t be torn apart soeasily.
“What’s this alpha army all about?” asked a man with brownhair.
“Sounds like a load of crap to me, Ken,” Jerichomuttered.
“I don’t know,” Flint admitted. He turned to me. “Let’s ask theexpert.”
Suddenly the gaze of every alpha in the room was on me. In any other situation I would have been intensely uncomfortable; but I didn’t feel anything like that here. I trusted Flint, and that meant I trusted his hunting guild. Besides, these alphas weren’t anything like the ones in Scarlet Ridge; the fact that they already listened to what I had to say put them on an entirely differentlevel.
“I want to tell you all I know, but this isn’t a conversation I want my daughter to hear,” I saidquietly.
The brown-haired alpha from earlier - Ken, I heard Jericho call him - stood up with a gentle smile. “I’ll take her upstairs to the loft, if that’s okay with you, Charlie. We have some old video games upthere.”
I saw Flint nod at me from the corner of my eye. “It’s okay. He’s a doctor, and afriend.”
If Flint trusted him, I wouldtoo.
“Sure - um, Ken, isit?”
“Yes,” he said, bowing his head slightly as a submissive gesture. I was shocked; an alpha had never done that to mebefore.
