“I kept saying no. Finally, she got a knife and said she would do it if I didn’t.” Sam took a shaky breath, running his hand over his face. “The device was only about a centimeter wide, but I had to cut quite a bit to have room to get it out. As I stitched her up, she just held the device, staring at it without blinking. It was like she needed to memorize the feeling of it being out of her.”
“What did you do with it?” Ben asked. I could tell his mind was spinning with the need to analyze the implant.
“I gave it to my Alliance contact. Amirah told me the other day that analyzing it helped their team develop the new alpha tabs.”
“Does Josie know that?” Ben asked.
Sam shook his head. “I haven’t had time to tell her, but I was planning to while I was here. It’ll make her feel good to know. Just like you need to let her read those files. That fucker, Glen Jacoby, and those doctors did shit to her body without permission. You can’t give those files to the Alliance without letting her see them first. She’s already been a huge asset to the Alliance without knowing it, and she could do more to take down the government if she wanted.”
“She went through all of that, and you want to put her in harm’s way to work for the Alliance,” Theo growled, his rage dangerously close to the surface. Everyone assumed I was the most aggressive of the three. But I had seen Theo fight when we were younger. He could be a scary fucker when he wanted to be.
Anger flashed in Sam’s eyes. “It’s because she went through all that she needs to do it. They made her feel powerless, helpless, like her life wasn’t worth shit. Fighting back, taking them down, will remind her she’s powerful as fuck. You didn’t know her before the DA. I’ve never known someone as vibrant as Josie. She took risks all the time, fighting back in all these small ways. She forced me to teach her to drive, wore all these outfits that pissed her mom off, and argued with her pack fathers even though she knew they would punish her for it. She was so fucking fearless. Honestly, it scared the shit out of me. But nothing has ever scared me as much as seeing her so broken after what they did to her.”
My inner alpha didn’t want to hear what Sam was saying. He wanted to keep our mate protected and locked away. But part of me recognized the truth in his words. Joining the Alliance and trying to take down the Designation Government had given me a purpose after Ellie’s murder. Were we depriving Josie of the same by sheltering her?
“This is as close as I’ve seen her to the Josie I knew growing up,” Sam added begrudgingly. “You three are good for her, but only if you support her in reclaiming these parts of herself. If you hold her back, you’re doing her a disservice to satisfy your own selfishness.”
Theo growled at Sam, the tension escalating in the room. I caught a faint whiff of burnt vanilla. Someone was eavesdropping. I stepped away from the argument, and sure enough, my little omega was pressed against the wall just around the corner. Her eyes widened when she saw me, and then they narrowed and she set her jaw.
“What are the files you’re hiding from me?”
I closed my eyes for a moment, gathering myself.
“Ben and I found some files from that job we went to. We didn’t know what they were when we first saw them. But we think it’s your medical chart from when they implanted the device.”
“You weren’t going to tell me?” she asked, her voice high-pitched and betrayal clear on her face.
“Fuck. We would have, eventually. I wouldn’t have been able to keep it from you. But I wanted to protect you. Didn’t want you to be in any more pain.”
“That’s not your decision to make,” Josie said fiercely.
I would have been tempted to smile if this wasn’t such a serious conversation. Seeing the fire behind her eyes, even when directed at me, filled me with joy and hope. Hope that she was healing. She was so fucking strong.
“I know. It was wrong,” I said.
“You promise you would have shown me?”
“Yes. I’m sorry we didn’t tell you yesterday.”
She gazed into my eyes for a long moment, and it was as if time stood still.
“Okay,” she said slowly. “But no more hiding things from me.”
I nodded my agreement and opened my arms to her. She threw herself into them, and I easily picked her up, her arms and legs wrapping around me. Relief flooded me at her forgiveness.
Josie snuggled into my chest, pressing her face into my neck.
“Did having my device really help the Alliance?”
“Sounds like it, sweetheart,” I said, my heart clenching with the vulnerability I heard in her voice.
“Maybe that makes it worth it,” she whispered.
I growled, unable to stop myself. “Nothing is fucking worth what you went through. Nothing.” I balanced her weight on one arm so I could cup her face. “But it made a difference.”
Josie’s eyes shone with unshed tears, and her bottom lip trembled.
“Oh, baby girl,” I sighed into her hair as she burst into tears.
