Chapter one
Genesis
Genesis could see that the battle was already lost from the set of her editor’s mouth. Everett’s lips were pressed together in a hard line, and his jaw was clenched tight, but what else was new? He always looked at Genesis like that these days and she hadn’t backed down yet. She dug her heels in and readied herself for battle.
“Are we going to have this fight every week?” Everett asked wearily, removing his glasses and sitting back in his chair.
Genesis shut his office door behind her. “We are if you keep giving me these bullshit assignments.”
Everett sighed heavily. “You’ve been getting plenty of views. Readers ate up your coverage of Destiny Duvalle’s royal wedding. Nobody expected that match. Your story got more views than any feature in the last five years.”
Genesis put her hands on her hips and fixed the editor with a glare. “I don’t want to tell fluffy celebrity stories, Everett, andyou know it. I want to tell stories that matter—I want my work to make a difference.”
“You had an opportunity with the Pack Rhodes assignment,” Everett replied dismissively, rearranging a stack of papers on his messy desk. “If you’d taken it seriously, you might’ve been the one to uncover Serenity Rhodes’s back story and brought attention to the omega trafficking issue in Smyrna City. But because you thought the piece was beneath you, you phoned it in.”
Genesis bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from blowing up at her boss, knowing that behavior would get her nowhere. His assessment wasn’t entirely unfair. She’d been pissed that Everett had asked her to use her name to get an invitation to the Rhodes Pack’s first mating party. Sebastián Rivera St. James had agreed to put her on their shortlist as a favor, in exchange for some positive coverage.
It'd been obvious she was never a contender for Pack Rhodes’s omega, but she’d gotten some big-name interviews out of the event. Plus, attending that mating party had gotten her dads off her back for a while—although now they were back to pressing her about finding a pack of her own. Genesis had gone through the motions, throwing together a puff piece on the lavish event and beautiful guests. There was no way anyone could’ve known that the pack would eventually choose the unknown omega who’d been introduced to the world as Remy Rhodes’s cousin, let alone that she’d have a powerful story of survival hiding beneath her sweet façade.
She didn’t mention to her boss that she’d made a connection that might still get her an exclusive with Serenity Rose Rhodes. The idea was still new, and she didn’t want to bring it to Everett until she had it airtight. She planned on it being the start of something big—her pièce de resistance.
Rather than argue about her attitude, Genesis decided to fight facts with facts. “Thatphonedinpiece had the most views in features that year. That’s three years in a row that I’ve been your top performer, and every year since you made me a columnist, I’ve been top three. I do the highest numbers in views, shares, and sheer production. You’re doing the org a disservice by underutilizing me. You know I’m right, Everett.”
Genesis knew she sounded cocky, but she also knew she was telling the truth. She was the best damn journalist working forNewsFeed. If Everett would just take off her training wheels, she’d really have a shot at covering news that mattered and making a name for herself as a real investigative journalist.
Everett sighed heavily. “Genesis, you know why I can’t put you on the kinds of stories you want to cover. It’s just too dangerous.”
“That’s bullshit!” Genesis exploded, unable to contain her frustration. “You would never say that to a man.”
Her editor reddened, slamming his palm against his desk in an uncharacteristic show of temper. “I would if he was an unbonded omega! Luckily for me, none of the other omegas of any gender I’ve worked with during my career have been as suicidal as you seem to be. I can’t have you out in the field chasing omega traffickers while you smell like the exact prey they’re after.”
Despite knowing the truth of Everett’s words, Genesis stubbornly crossed her arms. “That could work to my advantage. I could go undercover.”
Everett threw up his hands, then dragged them down his face in exasperation. “Either you’re out of your rabbit ass mind or you just want to give me a heart attack! Do you know what they could do to you? Genesis…don’t even joke about that kind of thing.”
Genesis sighed, relenting a little at the note of real concern in his voice. She decided to change tactics. “There are seriousstories that don’t involve omega traffickers. You’ve got to give me something that isn’t celebrity parties and fashion shows, Ev.”
Everett’s shoulders sagged. He looked so tired that Genesis almost felt guilty for pushing him. Almost.
“There’s always the risk of some unethical alpha catching your scent and doing you harm, Gen.” He shook his head, his dark locs falling into his eyes. “We can’t risk it. Iwon’trisk it.”
Genesis sighed. She liked her editor. She really did. The shrewd beta had taken a chance on her when she was fresh out of academy. He’d helped her build quite the portfolio over the past almost-decade. But her career had been stagnant for years and Genesis couldn’t just let her dreams die so easily.
“I love it here, Everett, but if I can’t advance, I’ll have to look for other career opportunities,” she said firmly, holding his gaze. She didn’t want to give him an ultimatum, but she needed him to know she was serious.
Everett steepled his fingers, returning her gaze unflinchingly. “Genesis, you’re an unbonded omega nearing thirty. What reputable news outlet would take on the liability?”
Genesis’s mouth popped open in dismay. “That is an incredibly sexist thing to say-”
“It’s a realistic thing to say,” Everett interrupted, cutting her off. “The insurance alone would be a dealbreaker for most companies. Look, I’m not knocking your age in a misogynistic way. But I sign your timesheets. I know your heats are growing more frequent and lengthier, and I’d wager they’re growing more intense. If you continue suppressing them much longer, the drugs will continue losing their potency until they stop working altogether. You need to let a pack help you.”
Genesis stiffened. This was her least favorite topic. She’d made it no secret that she wasn’t interested in mating. Her fathers had been pushing her on the matter since she’d graduated from the prestigious omega academy where she’d grown up. Genesisdidn’t know why they cared. She hadn’t asked them for much since her mother died, they remarried, and shipped Genesis off to boarding school at just six years old.
Despite her family’s wealth and notoriety, Genesis had earned her spot atNewsFeedon her own. She’d refused to lean on her family name, writing under the pen name ‘Gen V’ instead. She prided herself on forging her own way, which was why Genesis had been furious to learn that Everett had “accidentally” let her surname slip to Pack Rhodes’s publicist to get her into that mating party.
Despite Everett’s encouragement, she hadn’t even used her familial connection to get the Destiny Duvalle piece. Her brother, chief advisor and packmate to Prince Alexander Stepanov, hadn’t known her pseudonym and was completely surprised when she showed up to cover Duvalle’s private performance for the princess of Avondale. And she’d been equally shocked when he’d offered her exclusive coverage of Pack Stepanov’s mating ceremony. She’d been so thrilled that her brother had found his mate; the exclusive had been an unexpected bonus.
Thinking about Greyson softened her a little. It had been nice reconnecting with him over the holidays. He and his pack were pretty cool. It was hard to believe the same fathers who’d screwed up so spectacularly with her, had done a great job raising their kid with their second mate. Greyson was a genuinely nice guy, and the rest of his pack had impressed her as kindhearted, if a little immature.
