Page 18

CHAPTER 18

If he wasn’t so damn happy to have Leandro by his side, leaning against Weston, he was fairly certain he would have had it with the ridiculous meeting to discuss both defenses and the ability to watch for potential invaders. Each idea was more ridiculous than the previous one. Although he had to admit, one of the first suggestions for defenses had been to get rid of all Alphas, since they posed the biggest threat.

The Alphas in the room had taken offense since they’d been working tirelessly helping to shore up buildings, help plant and harvest crops at Lowen’s farm, as well as teach the Omegas to defend themselves if they had come under attack. Of course, when that was mentioned, several of the Omegas claimed the Alphas only brought that up in order to threaten the Omegas of Sanctuary to keep them in line.

From there, it went downhill, especially when Coleson insisted they move on to ideas for watching for the Alphas headed their way. One Omega said every single person should spend eight hours a day with the eyesight of another person and surround the town. When Weston brought up that it wasn’t workable if they planned on continuing to keep the buildings of Sanctuary intact, he was told his opinion shouldn’t matter since he was an Alpha and the town was built for Omegas.

Arguments broke out mostly between Omegas as the Alphas, mostly, decided it would be better to stay out of it. Finally, Coleson gave a shrill whistle and ended the meeting, since it was obvious nothing would come of it. The following day, Coleson called another meeting, but this time with just those who started Sanctuary: Lowen, who had lived there his whole life, Weston, Oxley, and Renzo.

“It is obvious something has to be done to change things,” Coleson announced after they’d arrived and the doors were shut and locked.

“And not just about defending Sanctuary, either,” Ford muttered.

Coleson and the group who turned Sanctuary into a refuge all nodded their agreement. “It’s obvious there are quite a few Omegas who don’t trust the Alphas who live here.”

Weston opened his mouth to object, but Leandro, who was standing up front with Coleson and Ford, lifted his hand to stop him. “We know it has nothing to do with any of you. You’ve proven yourselves and we appreciate the sacrifices you’ve made to do it. But it doesn’t change the fact that we have to get the others onboard or we’re going to have a mutiny on our hands.”

“What exactly do you propose we do?” Oxley asked. “We’ve busted our asses every single day to keep this town not only running and safe but to keep rebuilding to provide anyone else who comes here for protection.”

It wasn’t as if they could magically wave a wand to get everyone to like them. Weston had assumed if they helped around town and worked just as hard, if not at times harder, as everyone else, the Omegas would realize they could be trusted. Clearly, he’d been wrong.

“We think we should have a celebration of sorts,” Coleson suggested. “It has been some time since we’ve had one, and it is time we honor everything you’ve done to help, including making that long trek for supplies and saving and bringing back those Omegas who had been imprisoned.”

As great as that sounded, Weston doubted it would work. Too many Omegas only thought the worst of them, and he doubted that would change with a party to celebrate them. If anything, he was fairly certain, it would only make things worse.

But none of the Alphas spoke up, so it was decided that in two weeks, they would do their best to come together and unify as a community.

“As for securing the perimeter,” Ford announced. “I may have come up with a solution, but I’m going to need every mechanically inclined person to help.”

“What exactly would it entail?” Weston asked, especially since he wasn’t exactly great in that area. Brute strength, certainly. Even building and welding, he knew enough to get by. But putting together machines? Yeah, nope. Not happening. The most he had offered was to help Ford move some of the larger metal pieces when he was working to fix another generator at the hydroelectric dam.

Ford pressed his lips together as if trying to hold back a laugh. “Let’s just say you are definitely not the right fit for the job. Since there are still cells in the jail that need locks put on them, I suggest you work on that. Although, eventually, we’ll need to dig ditches to run electric lines, but that won’t be until I can see if we can get everything else in working order.”

Relieved as he’d gotten used to welding the metal together to make the doors of the cells strong enough to keep all prisoners in. Nodding, he listened as Ford told him his plan to gather all the electronic field cameras and something called a GoPro and get them working. He found it fascinating that before the world changed, people used small cameras for security. He had to admit if Ford could get them to work, it would drastically help them know if the enemy was coming.

“That leaves defenses,” Coleson reminded them. “We still don’t have a solid solution, so I want everyone to think about what we can do to stop anyone from getting too close to town easily.”

That would be harder than it seemed. Weston had been traveling for years and seen everything from brick walls, timber walls and fences, but when people were desperate, they were far easier to either climb or destroy than one might think.

Plus, none of them were quick to build. The chain fence was likely the quickest, but that required finding enough fencing to make it happen. In their travels to find other supplies, Weston had seen little of the material.

They would have to come up with another way if they had any hope of at least slowing the enemy down if they came for Sanctuary.

“You ready?” Leandro said as he sat right on Weston’s lap like he’d always belonged there. As far as he was concerned, it was exactly where his Omega was meant to be.

“Where are we going? I thought Coleson wanted me to work on the jail doors today.” It had been what he’d been told that morning when assignments were being handed out before the meeting had been called.

His entire world lit up when Leandro gave him a dazzling smile. “You are, but I thought we could take a break for lunch.”

Weston frowned as he glanced over at the few sandwiches that were still left from the lunch Coleson had brought it. “But we already ate.”

Leandro shrugged. “Yeah, but that was a working lunch. Don’t you think we deserve a little downtime before we get back to work?” Then he leaned in and kissed Weston. “I wonder how we should spend our time?” he asked as he nibbled on Weston’s jaw and made his way to bite down lightly on his earlobe.

Not one to give up the chance for some alone time with his Omega, Weston stood up with his arms around Leandro, who wrapped his legs around Weston’s waist while he continued to kiss, lick and nibble down his neck.

“You know we have little time.” Weston was working hard to get a lock on each jail door in case they ever needed all of them. He feared it wouldn’t be long before the Alphas came for them. Whether it was the ones from Sandpoint, or others from the ports along one of the rivers who’d heard about them, he did not know, but he wanted to be ready for when they came because he damn well knew they would.

“Leandro leaned back enough to look at Weston. Those blue eyes sparkled with mischief. “Since I’m horny as fuck, I don’t think we’ll need much time, Alpha.”

Refusing to disappoint his Omega, Weston picked up his pace, not stopping until he kicked his bedroom door shut behind them and tossed Leandro onto the mattress. “Get undressed,” he demanded, even as he quickly stripped his own clothes off.

It was crazy to him that ever since Leandro went through his heat, it was as if he just accepted that they were meant to be together and jumped into a relationship with both feet. Weston had to admit, he was one lucky Alpha.