Page 28 of Follow Your Instincts (Fairview City Omegaverse)

Maggie

S ergeant Broad arrived about an hour after Soren’s call warning me he was coming.

“Fucking worm,” Soren had said. “He’s looking for any reason to discredit you. Captain says IA does this all the time; tries to minimize incidents between officers to keep their misconduct numbers low.”

“Great,” I said flatly.

“Tell the truth, and don’t let him rile you up,” Soren said.

I was happy for the warning, but I was already riled up before he arrived and itching for a fight.

Steffi showed him into the meeting room off the lobby where I was waiting. Dread and anger pooled in my stomach. The last thing I wanted to do was talk about Phillips attacking me, let alone to someone who didn’t believe me.

“Miss Carter,” he said, shaking my hand. “How wonderful to meet you.” He was tall and handsome, but too polished for me to find him attractive. His leather and musk scent was also overpowering in the extreme.

“You too,” I said politely.

Steffi settled in the opposite corner, and Broad cleared his throat. “Would you mind giving us some privacy?”

“Oh, dear, I’m sorry, but no. I can’t allow you to be alone with an Omega here in the Center,” Steffi said. “But I’m sure you won’t even notice me.”

“I am a Sergeant with the FPD. I assure you, Miss Carter is perfectly safe,” he said, sneering a little.

“And I am the director of this Center, empowered by the National Omega Network to uphold their guidelines to protect any Omegas in my care on these premises,” Steffi said with more steel in her voice.

Broad scoffed, and turned his back on her. He took out his phone and started recording - Soren has prepared me for this too.

“Do you mind if I record the session?” he asked, then barreled on without waiting for an answer.

“Sergeant Broad interviewing Officer Margaret Carter regarding case number 04746. Miss Carter, can you please explain the events of the evening you allege an attack took place on the premises of Precinct 81?”

“Gladly,” I said, gritting my teeth. “I was showering in the precinct locker room after working out in the gym. I had been feeling strange all day, and while I was showering, I guess I started to perfume -”

“You guess?” Broad interrupted.

I took a deep breath before I launched into the story, trying to calm my racing pulse. I wasn’t sure how to convey how terrifying the encounter had been without sounding weak. They always told us to stick to the facts, so I did

“Doesn’t an Omega need to be sexually stimulated to perfume?” Sergeant Broad asked with a malicious glint in his eye.

“You’d have to talk to a doctor about that,” I said blandly, trying not to blush. No way in hell was I going to admit to getting myself off thinking about Soren in the precinct locker room.

“You said you’d been feeling strange all day - why didn’t you go home?”

“I had been first on the scene at a robbery, and I wanted to speak with Detective Murray about my first impressions,” I said.

“It’s very interesting that Detective Murray is so prominent in this story. I understand you are now courting his pack?” Broad asked.

“Yeah, but I didn’t know that Detective Murray was a member. He’s a Beta, so his scent card wasn’t part of the matching process. It was a coincidence,” I said defensively.

“I can confirm that was indeed the case. We do not keep Beta scent cards on file since they tend to degrade more quickly,” Steffi said.

Broad didn’t bother responding to her.

“I’ve spoken with Officer Phillips, and he tells me you did not have a good working relationship,” Broad said.

“No, he’s always been a sexist asshole,” I said bluntly.

“But you never reported him?”

“Based on how this conversation is going, do you blame me?” I asked. “It’s such a pleasant process, being questioned like I’m lying about being sexually assaulted. No one would have cared if I said Phillips was a misogynistic prick.”

“I assure you, Miss Carter, I’m asking these questions to determine the whole truth so I can make a sound judgment. But you agree you had a grudge against him?”

“No, I don’t agree. He was an asshole that tried to make me miserable, but I ignored him most of the time.

But that doesn’t matter; he attacked me that day, and I’m sure you have photos of the throttle marks around my neck to prove it,” I said, my voice rising a bit.

I took a couple of deep breaths to calm down.

“As you and Officer Phillips were, unfortunately, the only witnesses to the alleged attack, we are proceeding with an abundance of caution. Officer Phillips also sustained injuries during the incident, as I’m sure you know.

I hope you can understand that every officer of the FPD deserves the same level of careful consideration,” Broad said, and switched off the recording before I could respond.

“Thanks so much for offering me that ‘careful consideration’ too,” I said sarcastically.

I stood up, and Steffi led the way to the door. As we were walking, I heard Broad say, just loud enough for me to hear it: “I don’t understand all the fuss over an Omega past her prime, but to each his own.”

I didn’t respond, but my cheeks blazed, and Broad smiled at me.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Carter,” he said.

“Go fuck yourself,” I said, and turned to leave before he could respond. So much for keeping your cool , I thought.

I was still seething that evening, and restless with pent-up rage.

I didn’t have plans with any of the guys, so I decided to just go for a run on my own.

The thought of circling the Center’s walking track like a rat in a cage made me even angrier.

The neighborhood around the Center was quiet, though, and I felt comfortable doing the loop Ben and I ran together on my own.

“Be careful,” Bridget said as I got dressed in layers of running gear.

“I’ll be back in like 40 minutes tops,” I said, and gave her a quick hug before making my way out the front door and through the secured gate.

I put on a metal playlist and took off, running faster than I usually did.

Speaking with Broad had stirred up all the anger I thought I’d worked through.

But I wasn’t surprised. Alphas got away with bullshit like that everyday, protected by the other Alphas that wanted to keep themselves in power.

Todd Phillips wasn’t special, and neither was I.

There had to be countless other Omegas with stories like mine.

I powered through the first mile in under 9 minutes, a personal best, and that small win dulled a bit of my anger. Now that’s how you channel your rage , I thought, and slowed down slightly, not wanting to gas myself out too fast.

What I really wanted was to be with… the pack.

I wouldn’t allow myself to think of them as my pack, but I missed them.

Even if Lucas was still a little distant, and Lachlan would have preferred to have me as far away as possible, they were mine.

The only good thing about being an Omega was the connection I was building with them, and I wasn’t going to waste that.

Lachlan was just going to have to deal with it.

I turned the last corner that would bring me back to the Center. My legs were a little shaky from the exertion, but I felt much better than I had before. Fucking Freddie Broad could kiss my ass, and so could Todd Phillips.

There was a stretch of darkness before the bright pools of light that illuminated the sidewalk outside the Center’s privacy fences.

A shape lunged out and hit me in the side, knocking the wind out of me and pushing me down into the street.

I scraped my hands as I tried to catch myself, and the road tore up the skin on my left knee.

A car coming up the street slammed on its brakes, narrowly avoiding hitting me in the head.

I turned, wheezing and gasping, to fend off another attack, but it never came.

The shadow was already running up the street away from me and the Center.

Under the chemical smell of descenter, I caught a hint of sweet orange and clove.