“We don't have to do anything.” Adrian straightens his cuffs. “Consider this your latest experiment. All in the name of science.”
“Let's go,” I say.
Wallace is still talking as I reach the door.
“Please.” His voice has lost everything it walked in with. “Please, I'll tell you whatever you need, I'll give you everything, just — alpha, please. Please. I need — alpha—”
“You'll tell us everything when someone comes back here, I have no doubt. When that will be, I can't say.” I pull the door shut. The latch catches. Silence.
The corridor is quiet and smells of industrial cleaning fluid.
Levi puts his head back against the wall and closes his eyes.
“How long does it last,” I say.
“As long as he keeps drinking the water,” Adrian says. “Which he will, because he's in heat and will need his fluids. He should also be aware that he won't be able to relieve himself either. Not until it passes.”
Levi opens his eyes. “When does it pass.”
Adrian looks at him. “When we decide it does.”
Levi nods once. That's enough.
“We'll get answers about her, Levi,” Adrian says and clasps Levi's shoulder.
“I have everyone on it already, but now we have a name and a county, we have a direction.” Levi speaks like he's convincing himself the search will be straightforward. “That's more than we had this morning.”
“Go,” I say. “If you need anything, call me. Whatever you need.”
“Anything at all,” Adrian says. “Every resource I have is yours. I'll fill you in with more details as we get them.”
Levi nods before he walks away.
“He'll find her,” Adrian says.
“He has to,” I say.
Neither of us fills in what comes after that.
Adrian turns to me. “I wanted to talk to you about the space Evelyn Hardwick left. Have you considered running for office?”
I blink at him. “What?”
“You’ve spent years working omega cases. You know the system. You know where it fails.” His mouth curves slightly. “And with my funding behind you, I think you’d win.”
I stare at him for a long moment.
Me.
Running for office.
The idea should feel ridiculous. Instead, something shifts quietly into place.
Research that matters. Policy that actually protects people. Omegas who don’t get abandoned the second the paperwork clears.
Real change.
“That would change things,” I say quietly.
“It would,” Adrian agrees.
He says it like the decision’s already been made.
Like he’s just been waiting for me to catch up to it.
