Chapter Thirteen #3
Alpha females were as rare as omega males, but that is not the only reason why she stands out. Her presence is confident and commanding and Eden wants to cower before her.
"Remove the cuffs, please, officer. I do not believe my client is a threat to me." Her voice is as rich and smooth as whiskey.
The guard mutters a little but does as she asks. Eden rubs at her wrists as they come off, still feeling the weight of them against her skin, an itch that she can't get off.
"Good, thank you. You may leave." The dismissal in the alpha female's tone is cold and uninterested. The guard leaves without a word, and then it is just Eden and this terrifying, beautiful woman.
"Ms. North, right?" The alpha asks, seemingly as a courtesy. She must already know who Eden is. "Please sit."
Eden does as she's told, numbly taking the seat across the table.
"My name is Catharine Pratchett. I am your legal counsel. I understand at your original 'trial,'" she says the word like it tastes foul in her mouth, "you were not allowed legal counsel?"
Her voice feels like velvet against Eden's skin, like silk sheets, like a raspy cat's tongue lapping at the delicate flesh between her thighs.
"That's correct," Eden says. Her voice cracks on the words, strained from her screaming probably, and she clears her throat, a blush rising up her neck. "Sorry, yes, that's correct."
Catharine hums, jotting something down on a notepad in front of her.
"And what did they say when they sentenced you here, to a male's prison?"
"The judge said... something about needing calming influences here. I think he said something about some sort of special program, but I had no idea what that meant. I had no idea I was going here."
She hums again, scrawling something else out in a loopy elegant hand.
"And they placed you in the general population." She doesn't ask this as a question. Eden nods woodenly, her body feeling strangely out of her control.
"Forgive me for asking this," the alpha says then, her voice carefully polite as she looks at Eden with something like pity. "But have you been abused in any way while you have been here? By the other prisoners or the guards?"
Eden squirms under the woman's questions. They were awful questions. Personal and grating and they brought up memories Eden didn't want to think about.
"I, uh—there's been attempts, yes," she says, her voice hoarse with anxiety.
"My first day here, there were–there were a dozen of them or more that tried.
But a pack saved me. They took care of me and protected me from the rest. There was another attempt before I got put in the shoe, but I-I don't want to talk about that. "
She didn't want to say anything about her mates' involvement in the attack, didn't want to accidentally incriminate them in anything that might have happened.
Catharine nods at that and doesn't press her further, jotting down a few more notes on her paper.
"The pack who you say saved you, what is your relationship with them?"
They're her mates. Could she say that? The information feels personal.
Like it was something private, just for them.
For some reason she doesn't want to put that in the report.
Doesn't want people to think that their relationship had been forced.
Doesn't want to sully what they had with other people's incorrect assumptions. It was too pure for that, too good.
"They haven't hurt me, if that's what you're asking," Eden says.
Another nod and a note, and then the alpha female puts her pen down next to her pad and folds her hands in front of her, giving Eden her full attention.
"Good. I am relieved to hear that. Thank you for your time, Ms. North. Now, I have already arranged to have you transferred to the Administrative Segregation Unit—"
When Eden pales and tears well in her eyes, she sees the first flash of real humanity in the lawyer, and her voice is softer when she continues.
"Don't worry, Ms. North. This is different than the Secure Housing Unit.
The Administrative Segregation Unit will simply ensure that you are not attacked again.
You will still be able to have access to recreational activities, and it will only be for a few days.
I already have an emergency meeting before a judge tomorrow to plead your case. "
Eden pauses, her voice is tentative when she clarifies, not daring to hope. "What do you mean, only a few days?"
"Ms. North," Catharine says, her voice almost pitying.
"The only witness in your case is the police officer who attempted to assault you.
You were not given your due process or even a day in court.
You were denied your right to legal counsel, and then, after all that, they placed you in here, quite off the books, I assure you.
I have never seen such clear grounds for a mistrial.
I will have you out of here the day after tomorrow, or I will personally ensure that your case is taken to the supreme court. "
Her voice is so firm and confident, Eden cannot help but believe her. She's going to get out of here. She feels relief wash through her, and she nearly sags into the floor.
"Please," she says. Despite all of that, the only thing she can think of is getting back to them. "Can you put me back into the general population?"
The alpha female looks flabbergasted, her perfectly shaped eyebrows pulling down in confusion. "Why on earth would you want that?"
"The pack who saved me," she says weakly. "They're-they're important to me. I want to see them. I need to say goodbye."
The alpha eyes her with a calculating glance but says nothing.
After several long moments, she finally responds, her voice full of doubt. "Alright, Ms. North. I will request to have you placed back in the general population, if you're sure that's what you want. I will be back tomorrow to update you on the proceedings."
She presses a button beneath the table and Eden hears a buzz somewhere outside the door. The same guard is back and the alpha female stands up and approaches him, saying something in a low voice.
He says something in response but Eden doesn't hear it. The guard ushers her back out, not replacing the cuffs this time, and then he is escorting her back towards the general part of the prison.
They take multiple winding turns, but they were not going back the way they had come, they were not going back to that hell contained in four tiny concrete walls that were constantly closing in around her.
Heads turn and noses sniff at the air as she walks through the halls, but she ignores them all. There is a magnet inside of her, somewhere behind her navel, and it is dragging her to its other half. Nothing else exists except the pull towards them.
When they step onto their cell block and Eden catches the first whiff of their scents, she cannot stop her feet from running, stumbling over each other in her haste to get to them.
She's in front of their cell, and then they're there, all three of them. She cannot hold herself up any longer, cannot keep her legs beneath her before she collapses to the ground in front of them, shaking and crying. As if she knows she is safe now, and they will protect her.
They're all around her, soothing purrs and comforting touches. She crawls in the nearest lap she can find, twining her limbs around him and holding fast. It's Tenor. She knows just from the scent of him, and she breathes in gasping, sobbing mouthfuls of his woody scent.
It takes ages before she stops shaking, before she can bear to pull her head out of his neck and look at any of them. They stay with her, not asking anything, not demanding anything. Their touches are soothing and familiar and warm.
"Eden," Julius' voice is soft, like he's trying to tame a wild animal. "What happened? Are you hurt? Do you need to go to the infirmary?"
Her whole body aches and she feels as if she is the emotional equivalent of two-day old roadkill, but she isn't hurt. Not in the way they were asking. They were always so worried for her. Always taking care of her. Her heart feels like it might explode.
"I-I'm okay. I'm okay," she repeats, reassuring both them and herself. "A lawyer was there. She says I'm going to get out the day after tomorrow. She's having my case overturned. Did you hire her? You did, right? Thank you."
Her voice breaks as she says the last word, and that's all she can say. She doesn't have any more energy to do anything except hold onto them like they're a life raft.
She probably sounds insane. Is it possible she had hallucinated all of that? She didn't know what was real or not anymore, except them. They were real, and they were here.
They don't respond to what she had said, but she can almost feel heavy wheels turning fast in all of their minds.
She'll be out the day after tomorrow. She wants to cry. She would finally be free of this place. Finally free... of them.
She does cry then.
But they're all there, soothing purrs and warm hands on her, calming her down.
She relaxes into them.
Home. She was home.
Home wasn't a tiny studio apartment with a second-hand overstuffed brocade chair and a tiny nest in the corner anymore. It was them.