Yeah, somehow, I thought that wouldn’t go over well. I also remembered how skittish Josie was around us when she’d first moved in. These omegas might be in worse shape and wouldn’t have the biological reassurance of us being mates. Evacuation would be chaos if they panicked.
I gripped her chin. “You’ll stay behind me and if I tell you to run, you will fucking run.”
She nodded as a broad smile brightened her face and I caught her flashes of happiness and relief through the bond. I looked over her head at Theo and Ben. They both gave me a nod, understanding that we didn’t have a choice. None of us wanted our omega near danger, but if we were going to succeed as a pack, we had to trust her. No more making decisions for her, trying to shield her from everything.
“Alright,” I said, turning back to the table. The other three alphas were looking at us with shocked curiosity. I doubted they’d ever seen an omega challenge her alpha. “Josie will take point in the omega evacuation. Once they’re all out, we’ll load them all into our vans. We can commandeer a facility van if needed.”
I dug deep to stay focused as I answered the other alphas’ questions about the finer details of the plan. But the entire time, I was aware of Josie’s hand tightly holding mine. I glanced down at her, and she leaned into my arm. My heart broke a little, seeing how excited she was to just be included. While a wild fear clawed at my chest at allowing her to enter a dangerous situation, there were few people in the world I would trust more than her to be by my side.
ChapterFifty-Four
Ben
My leg bounced as I monitored the laptops I’d set up on the van’s dashboard. I fiddled with my earpiece and desperately wished I was with my pack. I’d never served in the military like my brothers, and while I was a decent shot, I knew I was most needed on surveillance. Still, it was killing me to sit in this van while my pack prepared to enter the facility without me. I’d felt sick when I realized Lilah and her pack were leading the mission at the Eastern Facility. I had argued with Amirah that I should be allowed to monitor their mission as well, but she had paired me with Poppy’s pack instead. She felt I would be too “emotionally involved” if I monitored my omega and my sister. Knowing that Charlie would be watching over them was the only thing that made me back down in the end.
A thrill went through me as I easily dismantled the communications at the Western and Southern Facilities while Charlie tackled the other two. My computer pinged, signaling that I’d been successful. Now the guards wouldn’t be able to check the video feed from the many security cameras and would find the signals from their phones blocked.
I sat back, waiting for Charlie to finish and feeling a competitive satisfaction that I’d been faster than her.
I heard a yawn through my earpiece.
“Damn, Ben, I could have practically taken a nap with how long that took you,” Charlie said.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, right. I’m always super quick.”
“Josie’s a lucky girl,” Charlie cackled.
I rolled my eyes with a huff and then heard a male voice in the background—one of her alphas, I was guessing.
“I am taking this seriously,” she whined, her voice muffled. “I can’t help it if he doesn’t have stamina in bed.”
“What the hell,” I spluttered.
Amirah cleared her throat before her commanding voice came through the line. “Is everything set?”
I sat up straighter. “All clear on my end.”
“Same,” Charlie confirmed, her voice serious now.
Each team sounded off, confirming their positions.
I squinted at the grainy video surveillance. Cam was crouched next to Josie in the tree line near the side entrance. It felt like my heart was outside of my body. I just wanted them all back in my arms.
“All teams are a go,” Amirah said, her voice ringing out clearly.
The guards only had a few minutes to be confused about communications being down before they were further disoriented by the gas canisters landing inside the front and back entrances. The gas was harmless but would knock out anyone in the near vicinity. We had considered knocking out the omegas, but Josie had been adamantly against it, saying we wouldn’t traumatize them further by moving them without their consent. Luckily, all the other teams had agreed. It meant the teams had to use the gas sparingly to knock out the guards closest to the entrances before moving in with gas masks to take down the rest.
I shifted my gaze to the interior cameras as the mission unfolded, calling out instructions and warnings as needed. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to shift my gaze between all the monitors when all I wanted was to make sure Josie was safe. She looked even more vulnerable than usual, swamped by the bulletproof vest and following Cam closely through the hallways to get to the cells where the omegas were being kept.
Josie and Cam met up with Theo and Grant outside the hallway leading to the cells. Theo signaled that it was safe to remove the gas masks and handed Josie the keys he’d lifted off the guards. I watched as Josie went through the entrance to the omega cells alone. This was the part of the mission we all hated. We’d argued with her, trying to find any other solution. But in the end, we needed the omegas to cooperate quickly, and it would only slow things down if a group of armed alphas burst into the room and caused a panic.
I checked in with the team at the southern facility. Poppy and two of her alphas, Stone and Maximo, were nearing the omega holding cells while the rest of the team easily took down the guards. Everything was going well until a facility guard who’d been lying on the ground, supposedly unconscious, grabbed Poppy’s leg and pulled her to the ground. I flinched as she slammed against the cement floor. Her alphas jumped into action. Stone picked her off the ground, cradling her in his arms, while Maximo lunged at the guard and started beating him.
“Fuck, Maximo, stop!” Poppy’s voice rang out.
A few tense moments passed as Poppy struggled out of Stone’s hold and launched herself at Maximo. At her touch, he stopped, pulling back from the bruised and bloody guard.
“I’m totally fine. I’m just going to have a bruise,” Poppy said, pressing herself against Maximo, who finally seemed to return to his senses.
