47. Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Seven
Emma
W e stumble out of the room and into a lengthy stretch of tastefully paneled hallway with a velvet runner underfoot and expensive sconces casting soft light along the walls.
Doors line one side, each one closed and giving nothing away.
How will we ever find Leah? The only windows are narrow slits set high near the ceiling, blacked out so no hint of the outside world can reach us.
The air smells antiseptic and stale, as if the space was built for secrets, not comfort.
Ronan, Gabriel and Jax check each door, every slam of boot and shoulder a demand that the walls finally give up their secrets.
Room after room yields horror. Cots with leather straps.
Bowls on the floor. Dirty, scrunched linens and the distant stink of fear.
My breath is loud in my ears, matched by the harsh pants of my alphas.
One door refuses to budge and it takes all the prime alphas to shoulder it open.
A single massive crash splinters the wood, the room beyond revealing a nightmare that will be etched into my mind forever.
The commissioner stands at the far wall, composed and smug despite the sudden invasion.
His eyes flick dismissively to me, then linger on my alphas.
On either side of him are his pack alphas, Logan and Mick, both broad men in dark suits, hands steady on the guns they’ve trained on the kneeling figures in front of them.
To his right stands Senator Evelyn Hardwick, a pearl necklace tight around her neck, her thin mouth twisted with contempt.
If only this was the face she showed the public on news casts and social media posts.
This was the face she showed during her visits at Haven.
Behind her, her pack alphas, Kylie and Sean, loom, unaffected by the suffering at their feet.
They’ve clearly been waiting for this moment—for us.
“Leah,” I breathe. My vision blurs at the sight of Leah kneeling next to two other omegas, one of them Aubrey.
Leah is almost unrecognizable. Her hair is a tangled mess, embedded with blood, grime, grease and gods only know what else. Her dress is torn at the shoulder and is no more than rags. She presses her hands to her knees, head bent and so, so still.
Beside Leah, Aubrey’s frail form is hunched, a dog lead clipped back on his neck.
Aubrey doesn’t look up. He shudders with every small motion anyone makes.
A third omega kneels on Aubrey’s other side.
A tiny, unfamiliar woman, so thin she looks as if a strong wind would shatter her.
A bruise blooms over her temple, and she sways unsteadily.
Only Hardwick’s cruel grip on her arm keeps her from falling.
The omegas’ scents are tainted by pain and illness, made weak through agony and defeat. They don’t stand a chance against the alphas who form a gun-ring around them, a wall of muscle, arrogance, and violence .
A sharp breath gushes from Adrian, “Gods. Skylar…what the fuck have your alphas done to you?”
Hardwick rolls her eyes. “Oh please. Spare me the sanctimonious alpha shit, Adrian. It makes me want to yak.”
“How can you think treating omegas like this is anything but wrong?” Asher’s growl vibrates from deep within his chest.
“You’re such a do-good alpha, doing his best to beat the system. You always were predictable, Asher, and taking care of broken little things is going to be your downfall,” the commissioner says.
My fingers curl with the urge to claw his eyes out. How dare they make fun of alphas who know the true worth of their omegas. Who understand not to take by force things people smaller than them don’t want to give. I can’t stop the tiny growl that unfurls in my chest.
The commissioner’s gaze lands on me, and he smiles, contemptuous. “Move a muscle and they die, Omega. Gods, I can’t wait to give you to alphas who will truly make you understand your place. Pack Carmichael were far too soft on you.”
Rage howls in my chest and Phoenix whispers in my ear, “Don’t move, Tough Girl. We’ll end this. Don’t give them what they want.”
Asher’s voice is cold and hard as a blade. “We’re getting this on camera, Commissioner. Let the omegas go. Or you’ll never walk out of here again.”
The commissioner’s smile doesn’t reach his eyes.
He shrugs off Asher’s threat with a careless lift of his shoulders, as if Asher is an irritating child tugging at his sleeve.
“Whatever you think you have doesn’t matter.
I’ll just say that any footage you have is all faked, doctored nonsense.
Who do you think the world’s going to believe?
” He sweeps his cold gaze over us. “Me? Or some fallen cops playing hero? The golden detective who burnt his badge to the ground for magic omega pussy.”
Senator Hardwick cocks her hip. “Here’s your choice, detectives, and Pinnacle pains in my ass.
Drop your weapons and get on your knees.
We’ll be gracious and let the little fuck toys”—She jerks her chin at the omegas huddled together in front of her—”live.
That’s not to say we won’t paint you as villains.
We need scapegoats, after all. Alphas who are so righteous about omega rights on the outside but have hidden their rotten cores in private.
The world will be up in arms about all these unfortunate events concerning poor omegas sold at horrible auctions run by the very alphas who pretend to protect them. ”
The commissioner glances down at the shuddering omegas at his feet.
“You’ve provided us with the perfect opportunity to get rid of the heat dogging our heels.
It’s the perfect headline. Just what the world needs to tighten the leash on omega rights.
And who else can ensure the rules around omegas are strict enough to keep them safe but the people in power who took down the nasty, mean alphas? Isn’t that right, mongrel?”
Aubrey shakes so hard the chain rattles. His breath whistles from between his teeth. His lips move and I realize he’s speaking, the words no more than impressions on his breath. “One, four, six, five. One, oh, three, seven—”
“Shut the fuck up!” The commissioner pulls the chain on Aubrey’s lead, the collar digging into the black and purple bruises around his neck. The senator sniggers as Aubrey is yanked so hard he tumbles to his back.
“Get up, you worthless piece of shit and fucking present,” Logan barks.
Mick kicks Aubrey as he struggles back to his knees, unable to overcome his alpha’s bark. Aubrey plants his palms on the ground and lowers his head, ass in the air. The omega Adrian called Skylar begins to tremble but Leah…Leah doesn’t react at all.
“Look at that. Begging for it, the slut.” Mick licks his lips as he stares down at the broken omega at his feet.
The commissioner and Hardwick are more than sick. They’re completely insane.
And unstoppable because they’re not wrong. They do have power on their side and enough money to pay off people to look the other way and accept their lies.
Asher’s growl is low and threatening. “You think we’ll just lay down and let you do that?”
For the first time, the commissioner smiles in genuine delight. “You misunderstand, Detective. Surrender, and they live. Refuse and I make sure you’re the last thing these little creatures ever see. Give me my story. Be my monsters.”
“Let’s help them decide, shall we?” The commissioner moves his gun to point it at Leah. “You have five seconds before I put a hole in her skull.”
For a moment, I can’t move, can’t breathe.
“You kill that omega, and it will be the nail in your coffin,” Asher growls.
“See these body cams? The feed is being live streamed to the head of the department’s Legal Affairs Division as we speak.
Everything you’re doing and saying is being witnessed by at least fifty federal agents who, I’m assuming, will be on site soon if they aren’t already here.
There will be no doctoring of videos. No fake news.
No scapegoats. You’ve been made, Axel. There’s nowhere to turn.
Nowhere to run. You know I’m right. We’re the golden boys of the department. You said so yourself.”
The commissioner’s face turns a deep red as he stares at Asher.
My alpha doesn’t give an inch. He stands still, gaze locked on the man I hate more than anything.
Sweat pops out on the commissioner’s brow as he draws his lips into a tight grimace to reveal clenched teeth.
“If I’m going out, then no one in this room gets to live. ”
Molasses coats the wheels of time as he points his gun toward Leah. I draw in a breath and scream, “No! Leah!”
Leah startles, lifting her head. Her eyes are slow to focus and when they find me, they flare wide, as if in disbelief, as though she never expected to see me again, let alone with an army of alphas behind me. Her lips part, working soundlessly before she forces out a trembling whisper, “Emma?”
I nod, my body shuddering, tears cutting warm tracks down my cheeks. I want to run to her, to gather her in my arms and promise her this nightmare is almost over, but all I can do is meet her gaze and pray she sees everything I want to say. Y ou’re not alone. I swore I’d find you. And here I am.
Leah’s scent flares, cutting through the stifling air.
Sickly and thin, but unmistakable: musky rose struggling up through rain-soaked earth, threaded with bitter medicine and the copper tang of open wounds.
Despair weaves through her, but beneath it, something deeper stirs, raw omega courage, fragile and aching for freedom.
Jax inhales, eyes darkening, Gabriel’s jaw tightens, and Ronan goes rigid as her scent hits him. The word rips from his chest, primal and fierce: “ Mate .”