I sat down next to Lilah, and Gerald took the seat next to mine. For a moment, I was overwhelmed by the scents in the room—there were so many omegas and alphas together, and no one was using de-scenter. I pressed my face into my sweatshirt, trying to ground myself.
Sam came and stood behind my chair, and being surrounded by his and Gerald’s familiar scents helped.
Amirah’s alphas stood in a line around her at the head of the table. They introduced themselves—Gabriel, Adam, Jacob, and Elias—and I guessed they were all in their fifties, like Amirah. I tried to get a read on their pack dynamics, but they were all so serious it was hard to get a sense of how they acted together. The news constantly mocked them and called them weak for allowing Amirah to be the Assistant Director at the DC all these years, but the alphas in front of me exuded power.
“Welcome, everyone,” Amirah said, and a hush fell across the room. “The purpose of this meeting is to continue building our plan to end this tyrannical Designation Government once and for all. Thanks to Josie and Genevieve, we have the intel we’ve been waiting for. As we suspected, the government has been blackmailing dissenting senators and other officials by kidnapping their omegas. We believe Jericho Porter is heading this scheme.”
I shifted in my seat, suddenly worried I would be judged for Jericho’s actions. But no one looked at me with judgment. Sam rested a firm hand on my shoulder, and Gerald took my hand in his with a comforting squeeze.
“This map shows four omega facilities, all at least an hour outside town in remote areas. Based on the conversation Josie overheard, this fourth facility is new,” she said, pointing at a spot on the map to the south of town.
Amirah’s alpha, Elias, stepped forward. “We’ve been able to discreetly talk to most of those senators and have their written agreement that if we can get their omegas to safety, they’ll move swiftly to indict the governor, along with Jericho, Richard, Marshall, and a whole host of other party leaders who have supported Glen and Jericho these past years.”
“I can’t fucking believe those senators,” Lilah muttered. I raised my eyebrow and Grayson tugged her close to his side, clearly sensing her distress.
She continued, her voice louder now and indignant. “They didn’t fight back. They just went along with what Jericho and Glen said so they could protect their own omegas while all the omegas in the province suffered in the meantime.”
I felt the same way. Those alphas were cowards. They could have found a way to fight back a long time ago and prevented so much suffering.
All the alphas in the room shifted uncomfortably.
“Alphas will do pretty much anything to protect their bonded,” Grayson said, cupping the back of Lilah’s neck.
“You better never sacrifice the lives of hundreds of omegas just for mine,” she said fiercely. Grayson nodded, but I could tell if it ever came down to it, he wouldn’t be able to keep that promise.
Amirah cleared her throat, getting us back on track. “We need to keep the element of surprise by freeing all the omegas at once. This poses a logistical challenge because we need enough teams in place at the four facilities simultaneously, and we can only use teams we can trust completely. If any part of this plan gets out, it will be over.”
Gabriel stepped forward. “Our current teams are Grayson, Matteo, and Raph from Pack Wild, who will be joined by three other alphas at the eastern facility,” he said, gesturing at Lilah’s pack. “Two members of Pack Jang will join us at the northern facility, and Pack Roan will handle the southern facility.”
“Is that Poppy’s pack?” I asked. The surname sounded familiar.
“It is,” Amirah confirmed.
Donovan blushed, and Jackson smirked at him.
“What?” I asked, my curiosity piqued as I looked between them.
“Nothing,” Donovan blurted out. Nico chuckled, pulling his omega close.
“We had the pleasure of meeting Poppy a couple of weeks ago,” Jackson said, his voice shaking with laughter. “I believe her exact words to Donovan were, ‘Wow, you’re such a daddy. I wonder what it would be like to have sex with another omega.’”
I snorted, imagining Poppy’s alphas’ exasperated and loving expressions.
“Oh my god,” Lilah said, turning towards me. “Is this that friend of yours? Because I have to meet her.”
Grayson grunted, tightening his hold on her shoulder.
“Yeah, she is. She’s the best.”
“She’s a character,” Terrance said, grinning. “Reminds me of Donovan when he was that age.”
“I was never that bad,” Donovan protested.
“Oh? So you didn’t drunkenly proposition a female alpha in that college dive bar?” Jackson said.
“What was the pickup line? Something about comparing knots with a female alpha’s lock?” Terrance asked.
“I think I found the key to your lock,” Jackson burst out, tears rolling down his face. “But the kicker was, he pulled out his house key as a prop.”
