Page 97 of Want It All

I’d only come outside to get Sebastian more lemon myrtle leaves, planning to be no more than half a minute before heading back upstairs to my omegas and to find out what had made Rose leave class. I cursed myself for not going with her, but Rose wasn’t shy about asking for what she needed, and I’d assumed that if she wanted my company she would have said so.I’d barely had the chance to grab a handful of leaves before I’d felt the prick on the side of my neck.

‘We were impressed with the way you handled our directive.’

The female voice was the same as last time, imbued with quiet authority.

‘You need to let me go,’ I repeated. ‘I need to get to my omega.’

‘To Sebastian?’ she said evenly.

I froze. ‘To Rose,’ I answered, a beat too late.

‘We know, Mr. Grace,’ she went on, not unkindly. ‘You did well to hide it all these years, but we know. And we know why you wanted to join the Revels, why you completed our challenge. We won’t help you withthat, but wecanhelp you with something else.’

‘I don’t need your help,’ I snarled. ‘I need to get to –’

‘We can get Sebastian added to the official OSA database with a backdated reveal.’

I snapped my mouth shut.

It was something I couldn’t do, because the official Omega Support Agency database wasn’t online. It was a literal office full of honest-to-fuckpaper, with a security team that made prison look like a farce, and staff so loyal that bribes were impossible. The database information shared with government systems was for medical and legal reference only and couldn’t be amended or added to. It was insane, but unfortunately – barring an actual physical heist – it was also entirely secure.

‘No more hiding,’ she continued softly. ‘No more black-market suppressants or buying the silence of doctors. Sebastian wouldn’t need to hide his designation. He could be himself, wholly, always.’

I hated the woman – hated theRevels– in that moment, because I knew just how valuable that was; a life lived free was worth more than almost anything. ‘And what would you wantfrom me in return?’ I said coldly, unable to stop myself flexing against my bonds. ‘Money?’

She snorted in what seemed like genuine amusement. ‘Of course not.’

I went still.

‘We know you accessed Banksia’s systems before you arrived.’

I frowned, wishing I could see her and read her expression.

‘And we know you’ve accessed APF databases and secure medical records – records that are, I might add, supposed to be hidden behind the best defences money can buy.That’swhat we want from you, Mr. Grace.’

‘I’m not a hacker,’ I said, shaking my head. ‘I have no training, no –’

‘No training, no background in computer science or cybersecurity – and yet you’ve always gotten what you’ve needed, haven’t you?’ She paused. ‘And it’s more than that – youenjoyit. You like the puzzle of it. You like knowing things that others don’t. We believe in leveraging people’s strengths, Mr. Grace, no matter how they come by them.’

I chewed my lip, uncomfortable that she had me pegged so easily. ‘What information would you need? And what would you do with it?’

She laughed. ‘Nothing nefarious,’ she said, assuring, though I wasn’t sure I believed her. ‘We want you to help rebuild Banksia’s systems, that’s all.’

Oh.

I’d thought that they needed it, back when we first arrived and I was able to access Rose’s personal information so easily, literally over dinner. For a place that housed so many students from well-known families, their system protections were incredibly lax.

‘You’ll work with an existing team,’ she went on, as if sensing my hesitation. ‘Your job will be to find the holes. They’ll buildthe walls, and you’ll try to tear them down. That’s what we want from you.’

‘And in exchange, Sebastian’s designation would be official?’

‘Official and backdated, as if he’d registered the moment he revealed. No furore over the discovery, no OSA officials arriving on your doorstep, no media. What do you say?’

The offer was too good, and she knew it. ‘I’m not sure I have a choice.’

‘Of course you do. We’re not monsters. Walk away and continue living as you always have, or use your skills to help your omega and your school. It’s your choice.’

‘I’ll think about it,’ I said, then decided to voice something I’d been wondering for a while. ‘Why did you want me tocompromise the omega?What did it tell you about me?’