"Ha. Ha. You are so funny," I say dryly. "But seriously, I woke up this morning after last night. I drank way too much, and when I came to, Salt was gone from our unit."
Silence settles over the room. Bram studies me closely, the way the other betas do.
"And what do you expect us to do about that?"
This answer takes me by surprise. I suddenly feel stupid, standing there under their stares.
"I don’t think you understand how this island works," Bram continues. "If someone escapes, they fall under police jurisdiction. They get tracked down, detained, locked up. End of story. Their contract with the program is terminated. Not our problem."
An idea comes to me.
"Listen. Just listen to me," I say, forcing myself to stay focused. "Salt ran because…" My thoughts are racing, my head still foggy, but I push through it. "After what happened yesterday, he panicked. He’s terrified he’ll get raped here. He freaked out. Let me go with you to the coast. I’ll talk to him. I can calm him down." Yeah, I make this story up on the spot, hoping it sounds convincing.
Bram lets out a short laugh.
"We don’t even have a speedboat. The ferry left at 5:30. Drax, Miller, and Sidorov were on it. There is no warden on the island right now."
"Perfect," I say. "Then no one needs to know. Nothing official. Nothing on paper. We find him, we bring him back."
"And how exactly do you plan to do that, considering we don’t have a way to reach the mainland?"
"You call the harbor master and have the ferry sent back. Say it’s urgent. Say a family member of one of the residents is critically ill and needs to be taken to the mainland to say goodbye."
Bram narrows his eyes.
"And why would I do that for you? You’re directly responsible for the chaos on this island right now."
"What chaos?" I snap. "You mean it would’ve been better if everyone had just kept quiet and the betas kept getting raped?"
For a split second, his expression falters.
"I didn’t say that," he says carefully. "But they agreed to it. They had a choice. They could’ve gone back to prison."
"Choice?! Do you even hear yourself?"
He snorts. "You don’t get it. Our facility was leading in the stats!"
"Yeah! You convinced me. That makes it okay to threaten people and to shove a purple alpha’s twelve-incher into a young, scared beta’s ass. For the stats!"
Bram curses and closes his eyes for a brief second.
"Again. I’m not saying this. But at least they left pregnant. Just like Shane. He got through a brutal month, but now he’s happy, living with Jeff, expecting a child. It was a hard price, but it was his choice."
"You really don’t see the problem?" I growl. "They didn’t really have a choice. They were threatened with being kicked off the island."
Bram takes a slow breath.
"I do see a problem. To an extent, I agree with you. Sidorov went too far with the blackmail. He lied to them. That part didn’t sit right with me either. He should’ve made it clear it was optional. That if they refused, they could stay on the island and continue the program as before."
I exhale, some of the tension draining from me.
"I’m glad you still have enough of a moral compass to understand that coercion and rape aren’t tools a government program should be using," I say coldly.
He frowns. "I already said that. Three times. Let’s get to the point."
"Fine! The point is this. Salt panicked and ran last night while we were drinking. He wasn’t thinking straight. No one has to know. It doesn’t need to end up in a report. We can still find him."
"And how exactly?"
