It made me sick to my stomach. You didn't justchoosea mate like you were picking one off the shelf at the damn grocery store. It was supposed to be a mutual partnership. Not whatever the hell the Society was peddling.
But I wasn't special. I'd fallen for the same shit everyone else did. My blood boiled when I thought of that bastard Santino, the alpha who founded the Society and roped me into it two years ago. He was all smooth talk and promises of a better life. Back then, I was naive and believed every word of it. It sounded perfect. A place just for finch shifters. Wasn't that why I'd left the human city?
But I didn't know it was likethis. The place that Santino sold to me as paradise turned out to be hell.
I swear, if I ever get my hands on him—
"Oh, darn it!"
The guard, David, fumbled with his book and dropped it face down. He sighed and leaned down to pick it up.
My gaze snapped to the keyring on his belt. He was distracted. It wouldn't take much to swoop in and grab the key. Thanks to being stuck in this form, the key would be heavy, but I wasn't about to blow this opportunity. I'd make it work.
I swooped in. With the alpha's back to me, I manoeuvred around him, silently surveying the keyring. With all the chatter and flapping wings in the flight run, he wouldn't notice me right behind him.
But I quickly realized I had another problem. Not only was the keyring going to be difficult to carry, but I had no idea which key was the one I needed. There were multiple on the ring. Which one was my ticket to freedom?
"What are you doing, Farley?" Emory asked casually as he flew up beside me.
This was not the time to spell out my entire escape plan to Emory, but I didn't want to ignore him. He deserved freedom just as much as I did. All of the omegas did.
"Emory, I need you to do something for me," I said in a low, rushed voice. Even though we were in finch form, the guard could still understand us so I had to stay quiet. "Get in front of this guy and distract him."
"What for?"
"Just do it, okay?"
Emory shrugged his tiny shoulders and, thank the fucking gods, actually did what I asked. He flitted in front of the guard.
"Hey, David," he said. "Nice weather we’re having, huh?"
David shook out the pages of his book, more invested in it than Emory's small talk. "Uh huh."
Emory glanced at me, still confused about what I was doing. "Hey, what book are you reading? Is it good?"
I snuck closer as they chatted. The keyring was right in front of me. Aside from the keys, a random plastic charm of a character hung on it. Dead weight. I scanned each key. I recognized the one for the flight run, since I saw it every day, but there were a couple others. One had a square head, shaped like the key to my old mailbox when I lived in the city. The other was large and sturdy, its polished steel glinting. That had to be it.
"Yeah, it is actually," David replied, perking up. He sounded pleased that somebody was interested in him. "It's about this guy who..."
He prattled on about his book. I couldn't tell if Emory's interest was genuine or faked very well. Either way, it was helpful for me. With the guard distracted, I dove in and snatched the carabiner that held his keyring. But the carabiner, keyring, and all the keys combined were heavier than expected. They slipped out of my grasp and fell on the ground.
"Shit," I muttered.
I cast a glance at the guard. He was gesturing with his hands, still going on about the plot of his book while Emory smiled, nodded and made the occasional comment.
I flew to the ground. As quickly as possible, I used my deft talons to detach the carabiner from the keyring and left it behind. But I didn't have time to get rid of the charm or the extra keys. By now, Emory's curiosity about my task was building. He tilted his head and looked at me.
Please go back to talking about the alpha's crappy book,I pleaded silently.
"And then the guy has to go into the castle and fight all these vampires!" David cried, throwing his hands in the air. "Can you believe that? As if he hasn't been through enough in his life."
Emory was dragged back into the conversation. Or maybe he went willingly. It sounded more like the latter. "Totally! Didn't he already have to fight a bunch of werewolves?" The quality of his voice changed, turning almost demure. "This book sounds really interesting. Maybe you could come to the aviary and read it to me sometime?"
"I'd love to!" David's enthusiasm fizzled out and he rubbed his arm. "But, Santino doesn't really like it when we spend more time here than we're supposed to…"
Emory sounded genuinely crestfallen. "Oh."
I felt bad for Emory. Did he actually think this alpha was his friend? Or worse, a potential partner? That wasn't possible. We held no value to the Society alphas. And if the ones here could be so foul, I doubted other alphas were any different.
