“Valak, no offence but keep your comments to yourself about how I speak withLen. As a group, sure you can comment if I am out of line, but between me and her, no chance. IfLendoesn’t want me calling herLen, I’d put money on her letting me know.”
Valak doesn’t say anything, but he does glare at his brother, making Gabe kind of smirk in return. I jump in before we all get side-tracked by a sibling punch up.
“Len works fine. First up, thank you all for helping me,” I take the time to look at each of them, “and please don’t tell me I don’t need to apologise, because I do. I need to say thank you before I say anything else.”
Four horrified or mortified guilt-ridden faces stare back at me. I get it, I’ve seen all the television shows about how bad alphas feel about what happened, but I don’t need it.
“I called the Alliance because of the situation I was in. If I wasn’t injured or if Ares hadn’t been tranquilised, I wouldn’t have.”
“Why?” Valak asks, half miffed, half frustrated. “Everything the Alliance set up is done to protect you. Why wouldn’t you use those resources?”
“I have my reasons. And besides, look what happened, Gabriel got a tip off the centre was going to be raided. Don’t forget that one of the people who tried to attack or abduct me was a government official. Can you see why I probably never would have reached out?”
“But you didn’t know that would happen.”
“True, but I know what motivates people,” I reply, and no one can argue that.
Valak is insistent though. “What about the threat we received that the Regalo project is open again?”
“Well, that’s another reason. You shouldn’t be surprised when I say there is no way I’d go back to being a part of something like that.” I take a moment to look at them each again individually so they understand my sincerity and ensure they listen to the next part. “And, yeah, that means I’d do whatever it takes, even if it meant I wouldn’t see another day.”
Lincoln physically recoils like I slapped him, but he doesn’t say a word. Noah’s eyes drop from mine, Valak’s jaw clenches, and Gabe, like I suspected he would, whispers frantically over the table. “Jesus, Len, please don’t say things like that.”
I huff a sad laugh at him. “Gabe…”
“I get it, okay. The four of us here,” he points to himself and then the others, “have seen the impact of what happened, and fuck, I can’t even comprehend properly what you went through. Even now after helping all these omegas and their families. But I want you to know, I’d feel differently if we failed you.”
“Thank you,” I offer, tempted to lean over the table and grab his hand.
“Does that mean you are a survivor of the Regalo lab? That you’re an omega?” Valak asks.
I kind of forget that he’s the only one to not know.
“Yeah,” I offer him, holding his eye so I can see his reaction.
There’s a small nod which lets me know he heard me, but besides that his face is blank, his jaw locked tight.
“That would put you up as being one of the youngest.”
“Quite possibly,” I answer Noah.
“How do you know her age?” Gabriel bristles in an instant.
Noah’s eyes fly to mine, with Gabriel’s following soon after.
“My full name is Lennon Vale, Gabe.”
“And that means?”
But it’s his brother that takes over. “It means that you’re sitting across the table from one of the country’s most successful talent agents. There’s been quite a few business articles done on the success of her business too, because it’s all done remote. And whoever does the articles always quotes the same line from one of the clients of A Ra Wn ‘Lennon Vale is a faceless warrior who has focused on my success. I don’t need to see her face, to know she can do her job, better than most of the other people in this business too’.”
“And how the fuck do you know that? You don’t even watch television.” Gabe growls at Valak before looking at me. “Is that true?”
“I think Valak is being generous in his assumption that my agency A Ra Wn is the best. I mean, that’s my end game. So, it’s probably more accurate to say I’m one of the top tier agents in the country.”
“Are you fucking serious?” Gabe stutters for a moment as he makes sense of it before he starts clapping his hands and laughing. “That’s why Lincoln got pissy before?”
I tip a smile at him, but it also is clear I’m telling him to be a little more sensitive. “With reason. I knew who he was, same with Noah, and I said nothing. But my name was a revelation.”
