“Absolutely not,” Anne called after us. “Besides, it’s pretty much all ready.”
Henry pulled out a chair for me in the dining room, and I couldn’t stop from smiling at his chivalrous gesture. I was grateful we’d come over here today. So far, it had been the perfect distraction to get me out of my head. The house itself was gorgeous—the dining room was wrapped in dark wood wainscoting and floral patterned wallpaper—but it was the warmth of the people inside it that eased the pain in my chest. It felt like what family was supposed to be.
My other guys joined us at the table. Gray snagged the seat next to me right before Liam could get there. Liam glared at himand for a horrible moment, I thought they were about to fight. I breathed a sigh of relief when Liam took the seat opposite me. Henry stroked the back of my hand, and I realized I was digging my fingers into his skin. I released my hold, shooting him an apologetic look.
Henry leaned in close, his nose skimming down my face. “Don’t worry, gorgeous. Bear and I have a plan.” He pulled away and I raised my brows. His little smile told me he wasn’t going to say anything more now, but I wanted to know what he and Bear were concocting. I was willing to try anything to improve things between Liam and Gray.
George and Anne carried in several homemade pizzas, placing them on the table in front of us. My mouth watered and I felt hungry for the first time since I got the MRI results.
“You got dad to fire up the pizza oven?” Henry asked.
“Took some bribing,” Anne said, sitting down at the head of the table. “Everyone, please help yourselves.”
Gray leaned in, tucking my hair behind my ear. “What do you want, princess?”
“I’ll try a slice of margherita,” I said.
“Just one?” he asked, disapproval clear in his tone.
“At least to start.”
He nodded, getting the slice for me before serving himself.
I leaned into his arm. “Thank you.” Gray liked taking care of me like this, and I was learning to let him do it.
I glanced over and saw Anne watching me. She quickly smiled and looked away. I wondered if Henry’s parents had ever been around a pack before. Did they think it was weird? Were they upset their son was in a pack? They’d been so kind and welcoming, but my sense was that betas were still pretty segregated from alphas and omegas, even in Sol. I needed to ask Henry about it. I already hated the idea of upsetting Anne in any way.
“Have you all heard the latest update about the mysterious vigilante?” George asked as he grabbed two large slices of pepperoni. “Another exposé came out this morning.”
I’d completely forgotten about the anti-alpha vigilante. I never ended up reading the report on Marshall Whiteburn. “Who was this one about?” I asked.
“Some doctor,” George said. “Dr. Bishop, I think.”
I froze, an icy chill running through me at his name. I could almost feel his hands on me—how cold they were, how happy he was to see me suffer.
“Is he not in prison?” I asked, trying to keep my voice even.
“Unfortunately not,” Gray said. “Although this report might be enough to get them to prosecute.”
I couldn’t believe Dr. Bishop was out in the world after all he’d done to me, to my friends. The thought of it made me sick. I had assumed he was in prison, but now I realized I’d never looked into it. Cat died right after the Alliance overthrew the Designation Government, so I had been in a fog for months after. My determination to block out every bad thing was coming back to bite me now.
Gray flashed me a concerned look and I quickly masked my vortex of feelings, pasting on an unbothered expression.
“I only read half of the report this morning and had to stop because it was so horrific,” Anne said with a shudder.
“Why wasn’t he prosecuted originally?” I asked.
“They burned all the records in the Designation Academy—the entire basement was torched—so it was hard to find proof of what everyone had done,” Henry said.
Tendrils of rage rose in me. “But what aboutourproof? Did they even ask for omega testimonies?”
The look on Henry’s face told me everything I needed to know, and I was overcome by a feeling of deep betrayal at this new government. How could they let all these alphas stay free?
“I know, darling,” Henry said softly.
The table was quiet and I realized everyone was looking at me, brows furrowed with pity.
Shit.
