Page 3

It’s only a day after the horror of registration when my Bureau nightmare gets a thousand times worse. I’m even in the same place. The same time. The same irritating buzz as the notification comes through. It’s late afternoon at the squat and I’m lying on my mattress reading through case law on my laptop trying to find a way out of the registration mess when the message comes through.

Nash. Fucking. Thorndike.

At first, I think it’s some kind of sick joke. Someone in my contacts knows about the registration and they’re messing with me. Because that is the worst name in the world.

Nash. Fucking. Thorndike.

I sit bolt upright, pulse hammering against my ribs as I scan the message again. Maybe I’m dreaming. Too little sleep. Too many energy drinks. It feels like a weird fever dream.

I’ve been officially registered for twenty-four hours thanks to the blood drive scam, and they’ve already matched me with Nash fucking Thorndike.

I laugh out loud for a moment. The same three words keep swimming through my head.

Nash. Fucking. Thorndike. I have no idea what Thorndike’s middle name is but right now I can’t think of his name without putting a ‘fucking’ in the middle of it.

Do you Torres take Nash Fucking Thorndike to be your lawful wedded husband?

Fuck no.

The universe has a twisted sense of humor. Or more likely, it’s someone at the Bureau who saw my name come up and thought this would be hilarious.

Thanks anonymous Bureaucrat bastard.

My phone buzzes with another notification, and for a wild second, I think it’s Thorndike himself. But it’s from my mother, the last person I expect to hear from.

, I just saw your match notification.

I blink at the screen. How the hell did she know already? I only just got the damn thing.

The Bureau must be working overtime. I knew they tried to smooth the way for difficult matches. This is so smooth, I already feel like I’m slipping. They’ve recruited my mother to try to persuade me. These people are evil.

Then I realize. Yes, they’re evil but they’re not that organized. Mom will have got the notification at the same time that I did. I might be twenty-seven but I’m an omega. Under the eyes of the law, she still has parental control. Now that is a joke.

I know you’ll be upset, but please consider giving this a chance. 98% compatibility is rare, sweetheart. Maybe this is meant to be.

I feel a flash of anger. I might have detested my father but my parents were a love match for some reason. Mom doesn’t know what it’s like to be matched with the worst person in the world. My thumb hovers over the delete button. She’s asking me to surrender my whole damn life. I take a couple of deep breaths. She wants the best for me. I know that. Besides, if I respond with anger then I’m just being a hysterical omega in her eyes. It’s not going to help.

It isn’t meant to be anything, Mom, I type back. I doubt it’s really even a prime match. They want to keep me quiet.

Her response comes immediately: Just meet him once. That’s all I ask.

My phone buzzes again as she sends another message straight after.

He’s an alpha from a good family, . Think about what this could mean for your future.

I toss my phone onto the mattress like it’s suddenly burning my hand. Meet him? The man who believes omegas should be grateful for forced marriages?

No. Way.

I scrub my hands over my face, trying to think. My brain is foggy. This isn’t random. It can’t be. The Bureau matched me with Thorndike deliberately. It’s a tailor-made punishment for my activism. They want to make an example of me. If they can take me down, it’ll be a nice little PR exercise for them.

I grab my phone again, ignoring my mother’s message to dial Meg instead. Forget marriage. Friendship is where its at and she has been there for me for better and for worse, as I have been for her. This definitely comes under ‘worse’.

It rings five times before she answers with a groggy, “Hmmm?”

“I got matched already,”

I tell her without preamble.

“Prime Match. With Nash Thorndike.”

The silence on the other end lasts three full seconds before Meg says softly.

“Are you kidding me? Thorndick? Are you okay?”

“Not really,”

I confirm.

“It’s not happening, obviously, but my head is a mess.”

I hear a soft sigh from the other end of the line.

“I know you, . You already know how you deal with this. It’s just one more piece of shit that life is trying to send your way. Emphasis on trying. We both know you’re not going to take this.”

“I am certainly not.”

“Then we need a battle plan. This isn’t just a match,”

she says.

“If it’s Thorndick, it’s news and we need to get the upper hand before they do. Time to rally the troops. I’ll start calling round.”

“Meet you at Halley Hall?”

I say, grabbing a semi-clean t-shirt from my laundry pile.

“Ten minutes,”

she confirms, and I can hear her moving, getting her things together.

“We’ll figure this out, . I promise.”

I end the call and pull on my boots, moving on autopilot. That’s when it hits me. The first minute was disbelief. Then anger. Now it’s shock.

I look down to see that my hands are shaking. My heart is thundering against my ribs. But beneath the panic, something else is building, a familiar, clarifying rage.

I take a deep breath and try to focus on the fire that is raging inside me.

I can see Thorndike’s smug face now. He’ll have been notified too. I bet he’s loving it.

I walk faster than I need to towards Halley Hall, trying to release all the nervous energy buzzing through my body.

Halley Hall is humming with chatter by the time I arrive. The basement room we use for activist meetings is packed - Meg, Jules, and half a dozen others, all looking as fiercely determined as I feel.

The whiteboard is already covered with hastily scrawled notes.

“!”

Meg calls when I walk in, rushing over to pull me into a tight hug. When she pulls back, her eyes are blazing and that’s all I need.

When I left home, I was completely alone. I slept on the street for a long time. I didn’t trust anyone. Some of that was my history making me a little paranoid but a lot was for good reason. Everyone knows what happens to young omegas without protectors. I learned to keep my distance.

But then I came here and I found my family in Meg and Jules and all the people who have stood with me while I’ve found my feet. I’m not alone anymore. I’ve been fighting the system from a distance. Yes, I’ve been involved in direct initiatives like volunteering at the university’s omega crisis center, but this has been the first time that I am fighting directly for myself. I’m the person we will be campaigning for.

It’s an odd feeling, but it’s also obvious why I was chosen. I’m a threat.

I drop my messenger bag onto the center table.

“They’re trying to shut us up,”

I say, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Using me to send a message to every omega who dares to challenge the system.”

Meg nods, pacing the length of the room.

“It has to be. No way a legitimate algorithm paired you with Thorndike of all people.”

“Ninety-eight percent,”

Jules says. I met Jules in second year. He’s a beta but he has four omega siblings. That’s who he’s fighting for today.

“That’s Prime Match territory. They’ve never been successfully challenged.”

“Until now,”

I counter. I look around the room at these people who’ve become my true family over the past few years.

“Thank you all for coming,”

I manage, my voice rougher than I’d like.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you guys.”

“Probably get yourself arrested less often,”

Jules jokes, breaking the tension. A ripple of laughter goes through the room.

“Hey, I’ve only been arrested twice,”

I protest, feeling a smile tug at my lips despite everything.

“And the charges were dropped both times.”

“Only because I’m a brilliant lawyer,”

Jules points out, adjusting his glasses with exaggerated importance.

I laugh, feeling better. Jules is brilliant. So is Meg. And yes, so am I. There’s a reason that the Bureau feels threatened by me.

For the next hour, we build our battle plan, legal challenges, media statements, protest schedules. My hands are no longer shaking. I’m still worried. This is going to be a hard fight, but I find myself almost looking forward to it. I am so angry that they think they can do this, that it feels like my skin is on fire.

“Have there ever been any successfully rejected prime matches?”

Jules asks, already pulling up legal databases on his laptop.

“The Ramirez case got closest,”

I recall and I watch Jules type the case details into his system.

“The judge acknowledged coercive elements but still upheld the match based on ‘public health interests.’”

“That’s because Ramirez argued biological incompatibility,”

Meg counters, leaning over Jules’s shoulder to study the case details.

“There’s no way I’m compatible with that creep,” I state.

Jules shrugs.

“We can ask for the blood work markers. Get the tests done independently, but I don’t think we can rely on that,”

My phone buzzes again - another message from my mother.

Remember I love you. I know you’ll make the right choice. Something twists in my chest. I know she loves me. I know she wants me to be happy but this is not it.

My future is mine, I type back. Not the Bureau’s. Not Thorndike’s. Mine.

I silence my phone and turn back to the group, now clustered around the whiteboard where Meg is outlining our media strategy.

“We need to frame this perfectly,”

she’s saying.

“This isn’t just about refusing a match. They’ve overplayed their hand. No one is going to believe that Torres matched with Nash Thorndike of all people by pure coincidence. And we need to prepare for Thorndick’s response,”

Meg adds.

“He’s not just going to walk away from this. He’s built his whole career on defending the matching system.”

The thought of Nash Thorndike makes my hands clench into fists. I’ve watched him on talk shows, calmly explaining why omegas like me should be grateful for being matched off to alphas we never asked for.

“Let him try,”

I growl.

“I’ve been taking down his arguments for years.”

“We need to be careful. This’ll be personal for him now,”

Jules warns.

“He’s got a lot riding on this.

“Good,”

I say, feeling the fire rise in my belly.

“It’s personal for me too. And this is perfect. We don’t just take down the system. We take down Nash Thorndike. They keep saying prime matches don’t say no. They’re about to find an omega who will. They won’t know what to do. All I have to do is keep saying no. “

By midnight, we have the bones of a plan.

“We’ve got your back,”

Meg tells me as people start to disperse, each with assignments and action items.

“Every step of the way.”

I nod, throat tight with unexpected emotion. “I know.”

Jules is taking point on the legal side of it. Meg is my media guru.

But firstly, I need to draft the formal challenge and prepare for whatever Thorndike’s response will be. I sling my bag over my shoulder, squaring my stance like I’m heading into battle.

Meg reaches over and gives me a hug, followed by Jules.

Meg pulls back and surveys me.

“We have to move fast. Your first meeting with him is supposed to be tomorrow. You sure you don’t want help writing the challenge?”

I shake my head.

“I’ll write it tonight and submit it right there. He’ll think I’ll fold the moment I see him.”

“Then he’s in for one hell of a surprise,”

Meg says with a grim smile.

“Damn right he is,”

I agree, feeling something like a smile pull at my lips for the first time since that notification hit my phone.

“They picked the wrong damn omega to try this on. Nash Thorndike has no idea what’s coming for him.”