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The beta barman was back at work, no one else, other than the alphas, wise to his other job. As far as they knew, he’d been on leave for a week or so. He’d walked back in, heard the news about Sloane and Jace and their pregnancy, and was able to act surprised along with everyone else, because he was. He’d lain awake at night, wondering if returning Sloane to Jace was the right thing to do, but evidently, he needn’t have bothered. She’d looked positively radiant when they made the announcement, and him? Art had frowned slightly, the transformation of the big man into this hovering thing so dramatic, he half wondered if Alpha Control was playing around with Desparion water supply again. Right now, he nodded to his fellow betas as he walked in the door, then went to grab the keys that led down into the cellar, ready to swap over any beer kegs that needed it. Perhaps that was why his phone rang when it did.

He never knew if his handlers mapped his position on the GPS or had cameras installed in the bar, but they always seemed to know to call when he was alone.

“Any updates?” the crisp voice asked when he answered the call.

“Hard to say,” Art replied, going for vague, always trying to redirect their focus. “I’ve only been back on the job for a day or two.”

“The beta girl, the one that was latent. She’s mated to the alpha now?”

“Ah, yeah.”

“Good, good, we’re facing some opposition, but it looks like we might be able to confiscate her estate. That would be an amazing boost to Alpha Control coffers. So, has she been bred?”

Fuck, direct questions, bolstered by some sort of intel he hadn’t provided, those were the ones he hated the most.

“It appears so,” he replied reluctantly, feeling yet another stab in his gut as a result.

“Well done!” the voice down the other end said, as if he’d had anything to do with it. “We’ll be in touch.”

And with that, the phone line went dead. Art’s heart thundered in his chest, his breathing coming harder and faster as he looked up at the ceiling, hearing the muffled sounds of voices. How much did Alpha Control hear or see? Would they know if he went to the alphas’ office, asking to see them urgently? His heart kept beating on, a death knell, it felt like, for either his honour or his career. He swallowed hard, his mouth bone-dry, his grasp on the keys loosening, but it was her that was the deciding factor. He saw Sloane, the way her eyes had struggled to focus due to the drugs she’d been pumped with, her desperate, desperate need to get back to her alpha.

In his training, this had been used as further evidence of omegas and alphas’ inferiority. They were dismissed as primitive creatures, ruled by instinct, not rational thought, but it was that same rational thought process that had him deconstructing Alpha Control ideology every time he dealt with this kind of case. His hand gripped the keys tighter as he spun on his heel, climbing up the stairs, passing the task and the keys onto a passing beta as he went. He made his way through the back area of the bar, walking past people, so many people, before he reached the office door. His hand hovered. If this was found out, if they knew what he was doing… He frowned and then forced his knuckles to rap on the door.

“Come in,” a deep voice said from within.

He turned the doorknob, opening it to see the three main alphas here, along with several others he didn’t know, their collective gaze boring into him.

“Hello…Art,” Jace said, the alpha’s emphasis making his name sound like a lie.

“I’ve got some news,” he said shortly in reply. “News that affects all of you.” He stepped in, closed the door, and then approached the group of alphas.