Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Larissa
Rhett’s in shock. I understand how he feels.
I remember going through the same thing myself.
Only, I was the first of my kind, and when it happened to me, I thought I was losing my mind.
What we don’t yet know is whether Rhett can read everybody’s mind, or only mine.
We’re already connected—bonded. I would sense emotions from him anyway, and he from me.
But this is different. Deeper. He plucked a scene right out of my head, maybe out of Ethan’s.
In that heightened moment, I was in his thoughts as much as my own, reliving the nightmare through a dual perspective.
We’ll have to learn to live with it. Unlike alphas, it’s not natural for an omega to shield. And even if it were, we don’t have time to figure it out when there are much bigger things at stake.
I get dressed in clothes sourced by Lucian with unfathomable speed. New underwear, jeans and sneakers—Rhett’s T-shirt goes back on.
Then we adjourn to Lucian’s other office, which I discover is directly next to Rhett’s in the basement of this tower complex.
A huge conference table fills one side and seated at the head of it is neither Ethan Black nor Lucian, as I might have presumed, but a mature alpha introduced to me as Woodrow Brock.
I thought Ethan was intimidating, but Woodrow Brock takes it to a whole other level. I mean, he looks like he’s a man capable of making hard decisions with people’s lives. Cold. Ruthless. I’ve seen my share of such people, so I recognize the signs even without looking into his mind.
To his right sits Lucian, then Rhett, and then me. On the other side, to Woodrow’s left, are Ethan Black, Jordan, Kade, and a man wearing a baseball cap and casual civilian clothes, who is introduced as Zeb.
Zeb’s dynamic isn’t obvious. He’s important, that much is clear.
“Let’s lay out the facts,” Brock says, taking command of the meeting. “Cohen’s arrival on Chimera poses a significant threat.”
Dread coils in my stomach. It feels like I’m being sucked down into a nightmare again. Rhett, ever sensitive, collects my hand within his. His thumb brushes lightly over the back, and his low purr steadies my nerves.
I’m not alone anymore.
Woodrow turns to Zeb with an expectant air.
“Clearance level?” Zeb asks. He appeared to be on first-name terms with both Ethan and the two deltas when we all entered the room, nodding at Lucian as if he knew him, too.
I don’t mean to snoop, but it just hits me in a sudden burst that Jordan and Kade are not merely Lucian’s enforcers…
“She can read your mind,” Woodrow points out bluntly. “Rhett is her mate, so he is likewise in the loop. Lucian and me go back a way.” His expression turns flinty. “He has a history of pissing me off as much as his gecko-loving brother.”
“You’re the gecko?” Zeb says slowly, casting a speculative look over Rhett.
Rhett shrugs. “I usually have the T-shirt.”
Lucian snorts like he’s amused but the rest of the table stays silent.
Zeb’s gaze slams into me, specifically the bright orange T-shirt bearing a lewd gecko that I’m currently wearing.
“Don’t eyeball my mate,” Rhett grits out. Closing his fingers over the back of my neck, he manhandles me out of my seat and onto his lap.
I squeak, mortified by this development.
Zeb snaps his gaze away.
“Bring Larissa up to speed on everything pertinent to this operation in hand,” Woodrow says, breaking the tension created by Rhett’s posturing. “After ten years with them and, more importantly, connecting directly with Cohen, her insights will be invaluable. Lay out everything.”
“On it,” Zeb says. He yanks the baseball cap off his head and drops it onto the conference table before raking fingers through his hair. You’d think his hair would be messy or squashed underneath the cap, but no, it’s luxuriously thick and curly.
“Cohen docked at 0200 hours this morning. Red lights across the board as he was detected, and then he went dark. Records wiped. Designed to resemble a common bug in the system. We might have counted it as such, were it not for Larissa being here. While he appeared to be alone, and we have a blackout on what happened next, we know he has options. The Uncorrupted have connections, even a presence on this planet. More recently, they’ve begun working in collusion with thetas. ”
“If you’re planning to dangle me as bait, you need to understand Cohen’s psychology. He won’t risk exposure unless he thinks he’s winning. I can help with that.”
“Exactly why you’re in this room,” Woodrow says.
He is putting the ball in my court, presenting an opportunity where I can demonstrate my value… and, more importantly, that they can trust me.
“The thetas envy the alpha stronghold and power,” I say. “They were the masterminds behind the terrorist group, Salvation. Salvation acted as an unofficial go-between for the Uncorrupted and the thetas. But then Salvation grew powerful in its own right, and they declared independence.”
I doubt I’m telling them anything new, but the stillness in the room tells me I have their attention.
“About six months ago, however, Cohen had direct contact with a theta who used the codename Ganon. The Uncorrupted had recently lost a… valuable dynamic captive.” I could feel Ethan’s dark eyes burning into me, but I kept my focus ahead.
“This failure was blamed on the doctor in charge of their viral program.”
“Jenda,” Ethan growls. “The dynamic captive was my fucking mate—”
Ethan’s growl dies in his throat under Woodrow’s flat stare.
“You may continue, Larissa,” Woodrow says. His quiet authority is a little unnerving.
“Ganon wanted access to me. He offered to… reacquire the valuable dynamic in exchange. When the call ended, Cohen ordered me never to speak about it. A secret kept from his superiors. Not the only one I kept. He had complete autonomy over me and who I spoke to, barely let me out of his sight, other than for mandatory appointments with Jenda. And Jenda was a monster worse than Cohen… Situations early on in capture convinced me not to betray or lie to him.”
I feel rage seeping from the men around the table.
“It’s alright, Larissa,” Rhett says. “We won’t let him hurt you again. Will we?”
“We won’t,” Woodrow agrees firmly.
“Little wonder he wants you back,” Zeb says.
“It’s not only Cohen who will be looking for you: likely Salvation and anyone else the thetas have in their pockets.
And if Cohen has made enemies among the Uncorrupted, they would want to get their hands on you, too.
We’re five minutes into the conversation, and it’s clear you know too much about him, probably about everything.
The political leverage you can provide, never mind the impact to the wider war games, is sky high. ”
“That’s not even the most important part of all this,” I say. “Cohen is a very clever man, and he knows how to play political games, whether it is with the theta or his peers. But he has a weakness—he wants to be an alpha. He has taken the virus a dozen times that I know of, but it never latches.”
Zeb shares a look with Woodrow. “These numerous failed attempts are news to me.”
“And me,” Woodrow says. “There were rumors he had already become an alpha. Yet more that their rulers scorned those who turned into alphas. That they were treated like expendable fodder in the field.”
“They were once, at the start. But that has shifted in recent years… Cohen wanted to mate with an omega. He was a little obsessed with it.” My voice trails off.
If the virus had latched onto him, he would have mated me, and I never could have escaped.
“He believed mating an omega could give him her gifts. It had never happened for them before, but he was convinced he’d be different.
Further, that it would give him an edge over his rivals. ”
“The bastard wanted to mate you,” Rhett bristles under me, his arms tightening.
I press my nose to his throat, seeking to soothe him. “Yes. The day Ethan came was the day Cohen took a higher dose. But he remained unchanged.”
“Cohen’s visit might not be only about Larissa,” Lucian says slowly. All eyes shift his way. He shrugs. “The black-market drug stolen from the Empire’s viral program doesn’t only create omegas.”
“And you would know how?” Woodrow asks.
“I stumbled upon a male non-dynamic who’d been given a very high dose.
He turned into an alpha. The transition was dramatic.
” Lucian shrugs again, then side-eyes me and Rhett.
“If Cohen wants to be an alpha this badly, my gut says he’ll want a shot at that drug.
Put Larissa and that drug in the same location, and it might just be a temptation too great to resist.”
“Maybe the drug will be enough,” Rhett says, “and we don’t even need to put Larissa in danger.”
“This won’t be over until the narcissistic bastard is bagged, Rhett.
And you know it,” Lucian says. “He came for her. Or her and the drug. Maybe he’ll suspect a trap.
I still think he’ll be tempted. Maybe he won’t come directly.
” He gestures toward Zeb. “The man clearly has contacts here… contacts who will deliver the goods to him, but that means they will know where he is hiding.”
“I feel I should mention the power plays between Jenda and Cohen,” I say once more gaining the attention of the room.
“Infighting is the norm among the Uncorrupted, but the two of them took that to another level. They often battled over access to me. Cohen made no secret of his desire to be an alpha. Given that Jenda was the lead in their viral program, perhaps she was sabotaging his attempts. I never read this, but both Jenda and Cohen made a game out of making me see things I didn’t want to in their minds.
” —Rhett growls lowly— “I learned to avoid their minds as much as possible. Just because I can read minds, doesn’t mean I do, and they will both have secrets…
All this aside, my disappearance has given Cohen a reason to come here.
He will want the drug. I’m certain of it.
His desire to be virally altered is deeply entrenched and a source of increasing bitterness.
I also think that he will take it here, despite the risk and vulnerability he puts himself in by doing so.
If I’ve concluded that Jenda may have been manipulating his viral doses, you can bet Cohen has, too.
And if he’s planning to take the virus here, he will want me…
Ready for when he is changed. You’re wondering if the drug will be enough. It won’t.”
Woodrow’s stillness and unwavering study is deeply unnerving. His eyes say he’s already calculating. His gaze slides from me to Zeb. “Time to plan. Then we set the bait.”
“This is a bad idea,” Rhett says. “I don’t want you anywhere near that bastard. Not now, not ever, not for a second.”
“He won’t stop looking for me. I’ll never be safe while he’s out there.”
“I agree,” Lucian says. “They figured out she’s on Chimera. How safe do you think we can keep her?”
“Low fucking blow,” Rhett pitches back.
He’s thinking about his failure, about Lucian’s mate being taken, which wasn’t even a failure on his part.
“I’m not pulling punches here, Rhett,” Lucian replies.
“No fucking time for that. We have to make this play and take Cohen off the table. We can’t have him or anyone else snooping around my club, any of my operations, or me.
And it’s not even about me. I could take Madelyn and move.
Don’t want to, but I could. But you’re not someone who can move around.
No shade, just facts. Neither is your mate.
We need to take a chance to shut this down, tie off as many loose ends as possible.
And then we need to make Larissa disappear. ”
“I have thoughts on the last part,” Ethan says.