As Camelia watched, Evan's father pulled James into a hug, and her stomach swooped when James returned the hug after a moment. It was a firm, fatherly embrace, and Camelia swallowed against a lump in her throat when she noticed a lone tear track down James' cheek.That was twice in one hour that she’d seen her Alpha cry.
"I…I didn’t want…” James swallowed, then finally said, quietly, “Thank you, Chris.” He pulled away, then went over to Adriana, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Thanks, mom. I wish…I wish I didn’t have to ask this."
It was an even quieter statement, and Camelia scrubbed her hand across her cheeks to wipe away the tears as Adriana nodded at him, very no-nonsense despite the soft look on her face. "Chris will bring you the paperwork. We still need your social, and I'm sure that Chris can fix whatever your father fucked up with your admission at Ridgeview. We would have done this for you a long time ago, James. All you needed to do was ask."
The fact that she didn't need to ask exactly what had happened to know made a spark of respect kindle in Camelia's stomach for Evan's mom, and Chris turned to face her fully, a warm expression on his face.
"Of course. And now that that's finally out of the way, you must be Camelia." He reached out and grasped Camelia's hand between both of his big ones, warmth seeping from his grip andsettling deep in her belly. "It's lovely to meet you. I hope my son hasn't been giving you too hard of a time."
He winked, and Camelia couldn't stop herself from smiling back at him, glancing first at Evan, and then at James, who were both watching her. "I can handle them, sir, don't you worry about that."
Chris tossed back his head and laughed. "I would expect nothing less." He released her hand, then turned to James with a stern expression. "Come on, James. Let’s get you sorted, hmm?"
James practically crumpled before Camelia's gaze, and he trailed after Chris as he turned and left the kitchen. "Okay," he mumbled.
Camelia watched him go, a spark of something terrifying kindling in her chest: hope. Hope that things were going to work out. Hope that the three of them would be able to make this work.
Hope for the future.
Chapter twenty-six
The rally was more crowded than the last one that Camelia had gone to, but she could feel the warmth of James close against her back, and Evan was right at her side, holding her gloved hand firmly.
The email asking if she would speak at another Omega rights' rally had surprised her, and at first, she had been apprehensive. James had been able to slide back into his classes smoothly with Evan's dad's help, and they were all heavily in the midst of studying for finals, which were coming up in less than a week.
Well, Camelia and James were heavily in the midst of studying for finals. Camelia hadn't seen Evan so much as pick up a book, and when she had asked him about it, he just smiled at her and tapped his head, stating that it was, "All in here, baby."
It was cocky and far too confident, but when you had more money than God, Camelia supposed that you didn't have to worry about such trivial things as passing college finals. Evan was staying around for them and nothing else, she was sure of it.
James had been the one to quietly encourage her to accept the request to speak. "Everyone is scared right now, and you have a voice that will be impactful," he'd told her when she got the email, his gray eyes dark and intense. "You should use what power you have in a world that wants to take it away from you."
It had been the sincerity in his voice that had made Camelia agree with him, less than the content of the words. But now...here they were.
"Camelia Meadows?" A harried-looking man approached the three of them as they approached the stage, and Camelia nodded.
"Yeah, that's me."
He smiled at her, glancing at either of the men beside her before returning his attention to her face. "I'm Harris, I'm the organizer of the event. We have one more speaker before you, and then you'll be heading up. You did this before, so just...do what you did at the last rally. It really resonated with people."
Camelia's stomach swooped a little at the compliment, but she nodded. "Yeah, no problem. I'll do my best."
Harris turned and walked away without saying anything else, hollering for someone on the other side of the stage as they rearranged things for the next speaker, and James leaned down to brush his lips against the shell of her ear. "You're going to be magnificent, love. I'm glad that I get to be here and see it this time."
Camelia suppressed a shiver as she glanced back at him, smiling. "I'm glad you're here, too."
They stood quietly as the next speaker – a tall woman with graying hair and an intense expression on her face – stepped up to the podium and spoke. Her speech was hyperbolic and inflammatory, discussing the attacks against Omegas that had been happening lately. The details that she shared madeCamelia's stomach twist and fire burn in her chest, and when she looked out at the crowd, she wasn’t the only one.
It comforted her. The crowd was large, and there were so many people who were blatantly emotionally affected by this. They could do something about it. Theywoulddo something about it.
Evan squeezed Camelia's hand one more time before releasing her, gently pushing her lower back as Camelia was gestured on the stage after the woman finished talking. Harris smiled reassuringly at her again as she started to walk up the stairs, and then Camelia was in front of that damn microphone again, her palms sweating and snowflakes starting to gently fall from the wintry sky.
She cleared her throat, the weight of the eyes on her making her stomach swoop. The last time that she had spoken, her heat had started; Camelia sent up a silent prayer that this wouldn't trigger another dramatic stress response, and started speaking. "I'm Camelia. I'm an Omega. I'm here because....well, because people don't give a fuck about me, or people like me. Not as a whole. We're seen as breeders, or as possessions. Things that you can just take or consume, simply because of the way that we were born."
Camelia paused, swallowing. She glanced down to where James and Evan were watching her, their eyes unwavering on her as they smiled. As she watched, Evan reached out and squeezed James' hand gently, and Camelia couldn't stop herself from smiling before she returned her attention to the rapt crowd. "The last time I spoke, I said that I was going to do everything in my power to make sure that Congress heard our voices. But with everything that's been happening, that's not enough. It doesn't matter how many laws are passed, or how many rallies we hold. There will always be people who think that they are entitled to Omegas, and more changes need tobe made than simply passing laws that will protect our rights. There needs to be social change, cultural change. It needs to be understood that we are not possessions, and we will fightback."
The crowd reacted almost violently to Camelia's words, the roar of approval swelling fast and loud. The rush of endorphins that hit Camelia as she basked in the approval made a lump rise in her throat. She blinked back the sting of tears, smiling widely at the audience as she stepped away from the microphone. When she had planned her speech back at home, laying on James' bed as he wrote an essay, she had come up with more things to say. The speech that she had prepared was still in her pocket, though, and...it didn't seem like anything more needed to be said.
"Camelia!" Camelia was accosted by a tall, sleazy-looking guy with a microphone the second that she stepped off the stage. The crowd was still in a tizzy over her speech, and Camelia stepped to the side where it was a tiny bit more secluded as she turned to the man.
