My mind whirred as I tried to make sense of what they were saying.
“You understand I haven’t gotten where I am by relying onalmostcompleted tasks. Once the delivery has gone through, we’ll finalize the paperwork, giving you ownership of little birdy before she flies, flies, flies away,” Glen said, wearing an unsettling, wide grin. The Glen I knew had always been evil, but this new version of him had a volatility I hadn’t seen before.
Pack Madden bristled, their rage-filled scents filtering over to me. I fantasized about them getting up and ripping Glen’s head from his shoulders. My omega clawed inside my chest as if she were trying to break free and unleash her viciousness on the room. But then, Glen was apparently the only one standing between me and being raped in this dining room.
Hale’s eyes flitted to the armed guards lining the walls. He cleared his throat and locked eyes with Duke. For a moment, I thought Duke might fight Glen, but then the tension seeped from his body and a smile spread across his face.
“Of course,” Duke said to Glen, leaning back in his chair. “We understand needing to have concrete assurances. The transport is scheduled and all will go smoothly.”
“When is the new legislation coming through?” Henderson asked.
“Jericho is ready to push through six new bills once we secure the shipments,” Pierce answered.
Glen’s wide smile transformed into a horrifying grimace, but I didn’t understand why. It seemed like Pack Madden didn’t, either.
“One of them is the Alpha Choice bill we discussed,” Pierce said slowly.
“Omegas should never have more power than alphas when it comes to pack selection,” Hale said, his eyes flitting over me.
Glen’s expression morphed back into a smile. “Right you are,” he said, waving his hands in the air as if he were directing a silent symphony.
“Have you found that omega bitch, Amirah?” Pierce asked, his hand clenching around his whiskey glass.
Glen didn’t respond and instead took another long drink of wine. Judging by his pinched expression, Amirah was still in hiding, and I guessed she was doing plenty to wreak havoc from wherever she was.
“It’s unbelievable she was allowed to stay in her position for so long,” Hale muttered, eyeing Glen.
They clearly felt brave enough to critique Glen to his face. Was he losing control over his own party?
The alphas continued talking, but my mind kept tugging at the edges of my memory, trying to piece together what they were talking about. What shipments were they waiting on?
Oh my god.
The realization struck me like lightning. They had to be talking about the kidnapped omegas. If they were waiting for the “shipments” to go through to pass new legislation, it meant senators were being blackmailed.
Something animal and feral gripped me. I clenched my jaw and averted my eyes from the table, needing to get myself under control.
“The Sol expansion is going well,” Duke said, spreading his legs wide.
“The candidate we’re backing for governor has a strong chance of winning,” Pierce added smoothly.
I couldn’t imagine a world in which the Designation Government took over other provinces. Sol had always seemed so untouchable.
The desire to fight warred with my grief. My window for escaping was rapidly closing. And if Pack Madden bonded with me…
I pressed my nails into my palms, trying to stave off my panic attack. While I wasn’t familiar with the layout of Glen’s dungeon, I knew my way around the main floor. I needed to act tonight when the guards took me back to my cell.
I lay curled up in the cage as the evening dragged on, going over my plan in my head. If Mustache and Mullet took me back to the elevator alone, I could use one of the tabs on them, shove them in the elevator, and then make a run for it. My plan—a generous term for it—was idiotic and foolish, and I desperately wished there was a way for me to get more information about these omega facilities to take with me, but I had to prioritize just getting out.
The dinner finally wrapped up and all the alphas stood. Pierce sauntered over to me, leaning over to rattle my cage.
“I hope you enjoy your new bed tonight,” he said, putting a padlock to the front of the cage and slipping the key into his pocket. “We thought it’d be good for you to get used to it. See you tomorrow evening, omega. We just can’t wait for our mating ceremony.”
Ice ran through my veins as the guards approached me and picked up the cage. I cried out as it swung precariously.
“Fucking fat omega,” Mustache grunted.
They hauled me back to the dungeon, taking no care to prevent me from being tossed around and jolting whenever they hit the cage against a corner.
