Page 27

Miranda

The reconstituted soup lunch was...different. Dry powder in a sealed cup turned into a creamy broth by adding boiling water.

One thing I had to give the academy was that they fed us well. Although I suppose that was like preparing livestock for slaughter, keeping us complacent until we’re sold for as much money as they can get.

Aubrey sat beside me at the table, which was odd for him. Nice, but odd.

When we finished, Caius said he had work to do, and Willow told us she wanted to show us something.

I had no idea it would be so...beautiful.

In a large room off to the side of the living quarters were sculptures of all sizes, marble, bronze, and everything in between. Statues of people, of animals, and even trees and plants. Speaking of which, living plants also filled the room, vines creeping along the walls and ceiling, hugging the sculptures, huge leaves bowing from tall stalks, flowers forming a rainbow all around us.

It takes my breath away, and I can feel the awe of my Alphas.

Willow approaches the wall near me, and the vines there reach for her extended arm and wrap loosely around it. She smiles and hums a little song, then turns to look at us all. “My power started as a simple ability, allowing me to help plant life grow. When I got a little older, I found I could bring plants back from the brink of death.” She strokes the vine’s leaves like it’s a pet, and it draws back to the wall. “I’m going to do my best to educate you all, but know that there are a lot of knowledge gaps.” She gestures around her. “This city was a treasure trove of lost history, and many who came before us squirreled away information from all over the world to protect it.”

She moves along the wall, the vines and leaves all reaching for her as she moves, her love for them apparent in her delicate touches and whispered musings. Then she addresses us again. “More often than not, packs are made up of four members. The literature and artwork in this old city depict groups of all different mixtures, many of them including Betas.”

I blink in surprise, but it’s Colt that speaks, voice tapering off. “That’s…”

“Difficult to believe?” She gives a sad smile. “Given current circumstances, absolutely. But things weren’t always this way.” She gestures for us to follow her to a wall with an impossibly thick layering of vines. Willow raises her palm, and the vines slowly retreat, slithering like snakes and parting like a curtain to reveal a wooden door, which she opens and beckons us through.

The floor beyond is carpeted, couches and plush chairs ready for social gatherings, a desk in the corner, and paintings covering nearly every inch of the wood-paneled walls. I gape, perusing the images. Ancient paintings, much like the ones in the city hall, groups of four, five, even six, some armor-clad and battle-ready, some lounging in gardens and interior settings, some nude and in various phases of mating, many depicting group sex.

My face flames. Would my Alphas want that?

Colt laces our fingers together, squeezing my hand tightly, and my embarrassment rises.

Rai and Aubrey split up to investigate the artwork as well.

Willow looks at me. “Cursed Omegas are very different from those without power, as I’m sure you know. We have our own specialists within the rebellion who have studied our physiology and behaviors.” She gestures with her chin to a small painting.

Colt and I look at the depiction of a young man in a large bed, completely covered in pillows, cloth, and other plush items, draped with more cloth and sheets like a big tent. Around the bed are two females and one male, smiling with obvious adoration.

“For instance, Cursed Omegas don’t feel the overwhelming urge to nest.”

I stiffen, my lips pursing as I bite the inside of my cheek and my free hand absently travels to my jeans pocket, the lump there giving me comfort.

Colt’s face swings into view in front of me, a smirk playing on those gorgeous lips, and I know I’ve been discovered.

“ Socks?” he says inside my mind with a small laugh.

I pout, my face heating. They’re small and I can keep them with me...

His hand clasps the back of my head, bringing my forehead to his lips for a light kiss.

“We believe that the stress of being Cursed, always pursued, always at risk, lowers the instinct to create a stable home environment. And what’s more…” Willow hesitates, gestures to another painting a little further away.

Rai and Aubrey join us to view a nude female Omega in a state of bliss, receiving the bites of her three Alphas at once. “Omegas were never supposed to be born having spontaneous heats.”

My gaze snaps to her. “What...what do you mean?”

She sighs, head shaking. “Omegas are supposed to be able to control their heats. We were never meant to be slaves to them. Research has shown that heats had always been ‘off’ by default. Going into heat was how we used to find our mates.” She gestures at the painting. “We would have huge gatherings every year, Omegas, Alphas, and Betas from all over the world would meet in hopes of finding their destined packs.”

Willow moves down the wall and gestures at another painting, this one far larger than the last. A vast gathering of males and females, all in beautiful ball gowns and tailored suits, mingling and drinking, laughing and dancing to live music being played on a raised platform in the back. To one side, a group of four exits through a door, smiling and laughing with joy. In another corner, a group of five are fornicating, a female Omega’s dress hiked up to her waist, a male Alpha on his knees pulls at her panties, slick visible on her thighs. One of her hands is under the skirt of a female Alpha standing beside her, who grips the Omega’s blond hair at the back of her head, lips parted. The Omega kisses a male, bent over, pants at his knees, ready to receive one of the other male Alphas lining up behind him. Something tells me this male is a Beta.

The imagery doesn’t embarrass me now. These were fated mates, fated packs. They were meant to be together and allowed to be, openly and freely. Accepted.

“Omegas were only unable to control their heats in the presence of their fated mates,” Willow continues. “It was how we knew who we were destined for. It’s why we would all gather like this and give everyone who was of age a chance to find their packs. To live happily. Forever.”

Aubrey stares at the painting with a pained expression, and the compulsion to embrace him is strong. But I refuse. He never wanted comfort from me, and I won’t be rejected.

Colt squeezes my hand again, and Rai turns to me, love in his impossibly dark eyes as he sweeps hair from the side of my face and smiles down at me.

Anger boils up inside my chest, though. “How does nobody know about this?” I demand.

Willow looks at me with sorrowful eyes. “The victors write the histories.”

How dare these Betas take away our history. Take away our freedom.

There’s a twitch behind my ribs. They must pay.

I couldn’t agree more.

She moves down the wall again, a frown on her face as she points to the painting now in front of her.

People in suits shout angrily in a courtroom, a female on the stand, a varied group sits in judgment.

“Omegas could turn their heats on whenever they wanted. It was meant to be a way to better ensure mating led to pregnancy, but some Omegas turned their heats into weapons. Formed false packs out of infatuation or a desire for power. When that started happening more, the oppression began. The culling.”

She takes a couple of steps down the wall and hangs her head, eyes closed.

When I look at the painting in front of her, the sound of dismay that tries to escape me can’t. I can barely breathe. Colt releases my hand to hug my body to his, Rai’s hand rubs my back tenderly. Aubrey stands like a statue beside us.

Gaping, severed heads, male and female, sit atop a line of pikes in the background of the image, piles of bodies in various states of decay in the foreground. I lean in to get a closer look when I notice something etched onto the foreheads, then choke when I realize they’re omega symbols, seared into the flesh there.

Willow’s voice is quiet. “The most elite and powerful packs and bloodlines were falling victim to false pack formations the most. So they pushed back the hardest. Death.” She swallows hard enough I can hear it. “They’d come for the Omega children and execute them, too. Decimate the bloodlines. They thought back then that the control was a mutation. But they were wrong. We were always able to control them, we just never abused the power, until temptation was too much for some.”

She turns to me, eyes swimming. “For any Omegas discovered to be hiding their control, death would have been a kindness.”

Her head tilts, and I don’t want to see what she’s gesturing at. I know I don’t. Yet my feet drag me to look, my stomach rewarding me with the threat of upheaval.

Males and females, all Omegas given the symbols burned and carved into their skin, nude and tortured, taken by force in front of confined, screaming mates.

My mouth opens and closes, trying to voice either a question or a scream, but I’m mute.

“It’s important you know,” Willow whispers, her eyes searching all of us. “We all need to know the truth. It’s what we’re fighting for.” Her voice gains strength. “We will make the academy a real place of learning, teaching the truth to everyone. We’ll fight to stop the Council from creating new establishments to sell us off into a life as indentured soldiers.”

Her hand gently rests on my shoulder. “One last thing.” Her other arm gestures down to the adjacent wall.

The painting here isn’t filled with gore or outward violence, but oppression. Omegas bound and in cages, vacant looks on their faces as if their spirits had been broken.

“As Omega populations declined, it affected Alpha birth rates as well. A Beta scientist approached the most powerful family line and informed them that he had the means to repopulate, promising to revitalize their bloodline in return for funding. They began a generations-long program of systematically drugging Omegas to reduce their inhibitions, culling those who wouldn’t submit, and only breeding those receptive to spontaneous heats. But while this worked to keep Omegas under control, the effect on Alphas and many Betas was unforeseen.”

We walk together further along the wall to a more modern painting of males and females depicted like feral animals, tearing into one another with tooth and claw, blood painting their flesh.

“Blocking the natural formation of packs turned so many of us feral that they began killing indiscriminately. This was the start of the true Alpha Wars. The Betas' meddling in genetics caused all of it. Alphas and Betas who were destined for packs but had no Omegas to claim began slaughtering one another in a blind rage, until Betas became the most numerous population.”

“And then they took control.” My voice is distant and comes on a breath.

“Yes.” Willow leads the way to a group of plush chairs in the center of the room before walking over to a bar near the desk. We all sit, except for Aubrey, and she returns to us with an amber liquid in some glasses, handing one to each of us before sitting in the empty chair beside mine. “Our magic was always a part of us,” she says. “But when packs stopped forming, the magic began to either go wild or die, and was mostly bred out of us. Another Beta design. But when some of us started being born with the old magic still in our veins again, the Betas got new ideas. And that’s how we became cattle to them, weapons to fight their wars for power and wealth.”

My head spins, ears ringing.

Rai shifts in his seat. “You’re saying this curse—”

“Not a curse,” she says with force. “It’s pure magic. It’s what we were meant to be.”

Her visceral reaction startles me, but Rai continues, “This magic was something everyone once had?”

She gives an affirmative nod as she sips her drink, while mine sits heavy in my hand, untouched.

“Even Betas that were destined to be in packs would have some level of magic in them. The records say their magic and pack-prone traits were likely carried over from Alpha and Omega bloodlines in their families.” She frowns on another sip. “It all just means that the powerless oppressed those with magic, including their own designations.” Her blue gaze zeroes in on us, fierce. “We’re going to tell the world. Taking the academy and saving the children at the other campus is the first step, but we are going to orchestrate an information dump as soon as we win the fight there. Then the academy will be our new base of operations, open to anyone who wants to end the Beta Council and GBE’s tyranny.”

“I think there are some Beta sympathizers in the academy already,” Colt offers, and I nod in agreement.

She smiles for the first time since we left the topiary next door. “I believe I know some of them.”

My eyes blink rapidly as I realize she probably does. She’d mentioned rebellion infiltrators.

“Tell me, what are your plans after you save Mira’s father?”

I look at each of my Alphas, Rai and Colt’s gazes fierce. “We haven’t discussed it as a...pack..yet,” Colt says, “but I want to help bring down these assholes and free our people.”

“I do as well,” Rai agrees firmly.

I already know what I want. “I don’t want anyone else to have to live this way. I want to help however I can.”

We all turn to Aubrey, who relents and joins us in one of the remaining chairs. When he sits, his arms cross, jaw sets, but he gives an affirmative nod.

Willow smiles at us, her eyes watery. “I was hoping you’d say that.” She stands and gestures to the door. “Let’s join Caius and solidify our plan. Save Mira’s father, take the campuses.”

“Tenebrosa is here in Iceland. It’s only a few hundred miles from here.”

“What?” I nearly screech at Caius’ words. “How do we get there?”

His hand raises, an indication for me to calm down, but I can’t. My father could still be in there. I have to get him out.

“We’ll provide you with directions and a vehicle. But what’s your plan?”

“Wipe them all out,” I seethe, my fists clenching, the beast in my chest chomping. “Those monsters experiment on Cursed; they torture and murder us. Even one of my mates was sent there—as a child!”

Willow waves her palm toward me and pulls back, like a calming wave. “We understand that, but you can’t go in there without a real plan of action.” She turns, and Caius pulls up a map and some aerial photos on the large screen. “Tenebrosa was next on our list after the academy, but I think now we can hit Tenebrosa first. I’ll send word to my people on the inside.”

Anger flares in me, hot and raging. “You have people inside Tenebrosa working with those monsters?” My voice is a growling hiss, my head throbs.

Colt gives me a concerned look, but I ignore him.

Willow eyes me silently for a moment. When she leans her palms on the desk in front of her, there is a new energy around her, commanding and controlling. “Listen very carefully, little girl.” Her tone is eerily calm. “I have given my life to this cause. I have given up more than you will ever understand to free our people and topple this undeserving regime.” Her jaw squares, voice lowering to a near menace. “My people risk their lives every day, living undercover, doing what they must while also doing whatever they can.”

“Our people will help you free your father,” Caius interjects. “If he was sent there in the last year, he’s still there now. No prisoner has been transferred in that time, but there was a transfer of power recently.”

So, Major Tomlin made good on part of his promise. “Do you have news from inside?”

“Things have been very quiet since Dr. Vera Song took over the facility,” Willow tells us.

“Do you know anything about this doctor?” Rai asks.

Willow's eyes sparkle. “Oh, yes. She’s one of mine.”

My brows draw tight, Tomlin’s voice whispering in my mind. “ If I did it, my authority would be questioned. I wouldn’t be able to put someone I trust in charge of the facility.”

“We’ll discuss the rest of the plan at first light.” Fury turns my vision red, and I open my mouth to argue, but Willow interrupts me with a stern voice. “You are growing impatient, and I do understand. But this rage is not all you. You’re growing feral, Miranda.”

I scoff, humorless laughter bubbling. “What?”

My Alphas stiffen around me, like they know something. In my peripheral, Aubrey backs into a corner across the room, as far away as he can get without leaving.

“The pack bond is very tenuous at the start,” she says. “What makes it stronger is the connection between each member being solidified. The longer you go without a full bond, you put yourself and your mates in danger. Especially you. As the only Omega in your pack, you’re a central piece—the keystone, so to speak. You need your Alphas’ bonds to reach your optimal strength, and they need yours as well. The balance will bring control over your magic, making it as easy as breathing. Believe me, I know.”

Willow takes a deep breath and holds my gaze. “For your sake and the sake of our missions, I can’t allow you to leave here until you’ve mated with all your Alphas.”