Page 26 of Daisy

The effect is immediate. Every alpha in the crowd turns toward us, shouting and pointing. Some start throwing rocks at the van. Others begin chasing us on foot.

My phone buzzes:Clear. Thank you.

"Time to go," I tell Gunner, and he doesn't need to be told twice.

We tear out of there with half the crowd following us, leading them on a chase through side streets until we lose them in the industrial district. By the time we circle back, Ace's street is empty except for scattered debris and the lingering scent of alpha aggression.

"Think they made it out?" Gunner asks, his voice rough from shouting at the crowd.

"Yeah," I say, checking my phone for updates. "Ace doesn't leave people behind."

We sit in the van for a moment, both of us coming down from the adrenaline high. My hands are shaking slightly—not from fear, but from the rush of doing something that mattered. Of protecting people we care about.

But it's more than that for Gunner. I can see it in the way his jaw is set, the way his scent carries that familiar edge of old pain.

His sister Lily. She'd perfumed as an omega when she was seventeen, and a group of elite alphas cornered her, thinking they could just take what they wanted. Gunner got arrested trying to fight them off. While he was locked up, they told him she'd been taken to the Omega House for her own protection, that she'd have a proper Choosing Day when she turned twenty.

We watched for her name on every broadcast. Every single Choosing Day for three years. She never appeared. Never got her chance to choose.

The system that's supposed to protect omegas made her disappear completely.

"You hear that?" I ask Gunner.

He nods, his face grim. "Explosions."

The sound is coming from the direction of the upscale district. Where the Omega House sits like a fortress, supposedly protecting the city's most valuable omegas.

"Those bastards," I breathe, understanding hitting me like a sledgehammer. "They didn't just want Harley. They're going after all of them."

Gunner's scent spikes with something dark and furious. His sister's face flashes through my mind—young and scared and trusting the system to keep her safe.

The system that failed her. That's failing right now.

"We have to help them," Gunner says quietly, his voice rough with old pain and fresh fury.

"Damn right we do." I'm already reaching for my phone to call for backup, but the screen shows no signal. Either the towers are down or someone's jamming communications. "Those bastards think they can just take whatever they want."

Gunner stares at the glow on the horizon for a long moment. When he looks at me, his green eyes are hard as stone.

"Let's go get them," he says.

He starts the van without another word.

The drive to the upscale district feels like riding into hell. The closer we get, the worse the chaos becomes. More groups of alphas in the streets, more broken windows, more smoke billowing from buildings that were never meant to burn.

But it's the chaos that gets to me. The constant sound of sirens, breaking glass, and shouting that grows louder as we approach the Omega House. Violence so raw and uncontrolled it feels like a physical presence in the air.

"There," Gunner says, voice tight.

The Omega House rises ahead of us like a fortress under siege. White stone walls that usually look elegant and pristine are now lit by the hellish glow of fires burning at the gates. Crowds of alphas press against the iron bars, their voices raised in a cacophony of demands and threats.

But that's not the worst part.

The worst part is the smoke pouring from the back of the building. Dark, thick columns that speak of real fire, real damage. And the screaming I can hear even through the van's windows.

"They're inside," I realize, my stomach dropping to my boots. "Some of them got inside."

This isn't about protests anymore. This isn't about fighting the system or demanding change.