44. Talya
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
TALYA
I was sitting on Ronan’s lap as we watched television and munched on takeout. Nearly three days later, we were still sitting around the hospital room. The nurses had moved cots in at this point. I wasn’t sure if that meant we’d be here for a while longer or they just wanted to make us comfortable.
A smile touched my lips every time I glanced over at Colby. Kasen had climbed into his bed with him, and they were wrapped around each other. I’d felt Kasen watching me for a while, but I wasn’t sure why. Was he waiting for me to be upset? Jealous?
They were the furthest things from my mind. I was happy. Thankful. Every single day I knew I was lucky. We were alive. We were together. I could feel every single one of these men inside me as a piece of my soul.
More than anything, I loved to see Colby happy. I loved to see that there were alphas who doted on him and took care of him in the way he’d spent years doing for me. He was always the caretaker. Always . All on his own. With no one to return that.
Sometimes I’d tried even though our personalities hadn’t made it natural. I washed his hair in the shower, and I rubbed his shoulders when he came home from a long day at work. I tried to cook a few times, but when I set the smoke alarm off in our apartment, we decided that was far too dangerous a job for me.
But now, Colby had all of that and more. Moreover, it came more naturally.
Maybe Kasen thought I’d be upset because Colby treated him much like he treated me. In another life, maybe I would be. Maybe if it was far earlier in our relationship, I might have been.
Not now. It made my heart warm when I saw Colby with anyone in our new pack, but even more so when he was with one of his alphas or beta. I knew that we all belonged to each other, but in some ways, we didn’t. I was so incredibly happy that Colby had his own relationships. He shouldn’t have to share everything with me.
I gave Kasen a smile, making sure he knew that I liked him there. I liked to see them together.
He sighed, chewed on his lip, then turned to Colby. Colby’s face was tucked into Kasen’s chest, the two of them lying on their sides. It almost looked like Kasen was holding Colby with the way Kasen was wrapped around him.
“Alpha?” Kasen asked, his voice soft.
“Mm?” Colby answered.
Kasen’s eyes met mine again, and I finally figured out what he wanted to ask. I nodded, this time enthusiastically. He gave me a shy smile and pressed his face into Colby’s hair.
“Will you bite me, alpha?”
He definitely garnered the attention of the entire room. A second passed before Colby pulled back a bit so he could look at Kasen. “Is that what you want?”
Kasen nodded. “If that’s okay?”
Colby sighed. He tangled his fingers into Kasen’s hair and pulled his mouth down in a hot kiss. “Yes.” Their kiss continued, and I looked away. There was no privacy in this room.
Thankfully, my letdown spikes were suspiciously absent. The one-room thing might have become awkward otherwise. Although I suspected that I’d end up with another heat rather quickly. This entire ordeal had probably fucked with my biology quite a bit.
I turned back when Kasen gasped. At first, I wasn’t sure why, but then I realized that Colby had Kasen’s bottom lip between his teeth and there was definitely a hint of blood.
I grinned hugely when I felt a new quiet wave of Kasen bleed through my bond with Colby. It was bubbly and excited and… aroused. That didn’t surprise me in the least.
Lohtus chuckled.
There was a knock on the door, and when it didn’t open right away, I knew that it wasn’t a nurse or doctor. Everyone else appeared to know that too because the entire room seemed to adjust in their seats. Colby even let go of Kasen’s lip in favor of staring at the door.
After another knock, Lohtus got to his feet to answer.
The agents from the night of the fire were back. Actually… not the same agents. I didn’t recognize either of them. This time, one was an alpha.
Lohtus shut the door behind them and retook his seat on Blakely’s bed. The alpha agent remained by the door, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets while the beta moved a few feet further into the room. He looked at us all, giving us a friendly smile.
“How’re you feeling, Reagan?” the beta asked.
Only because he was looking at Colby did we know that’s who he was talking to. I thought it had been Sharon and… huh. I didn’t remember the other name.
“I’m fine,” Colby answered.
The beta inclined his head and turned to Blakely. “And you, Blakely?”
Blakely raised one shoulder. “I’ll live.”
“Good to hear.” He flashed Blakely a good-natured smile before turning to the room as a whole. “My name is Lester. This is my partner Victor. We’re with the protection agency.”
I found it amusing that they never gave us the actual name of their agency either. Hell, they could very well not be with the government, but we wouldn’t know it.
“I think we deserve some answers,” Colby said before licking Kasen’s lip again. Kasen flushed. “What the hell happened?”
“Let’s exchange some information,” Lester said. “Tell us what you can remember, and we’ll tell you what we’re able.”
“That sounds like it’s going to be a one-sided exchange,” Ainsley said.
Lester shook his head. “I understand you’ve been let down, and I am deeply sorry for that. We misjudged the entire situation, and it won’t happen again. I do have some things I can tell you, but I don’t want to influence what you remember which is why I’m asking that you go first.”
Colby stared at Lester for a minute before looking at the rest of us. Eventually, he sighed and leaned his head back on the bed.
“You want T—” Kasen cut himself off as he reconsidered. “Your omega?” he finished. Probably because he couldn’t remember my assigned name either. I almost laughed.
Colby met my eyes, and we shared the same thought. Or maybe it was a feeling. Maybe we could share thoughts after having a bond for so long.
“No, love. I want my beta,” Colby answered.
Kasen inhaled before his eyes flicked to mine, then he tucked himself into Colby’s arms and squeezed his eyes closed.
Colby and I shared another smile before he went back to addressing the agents. “I don’t remember a lot. I was no more than a step away from my pack when someone put what I assume was a bag over my head and injected me with something that made me pass out shortly after. I awoke in a van, unable to feel my bond with my omega. I lost my mind and nearly caused an accident. They pulled over, and because there was one on either side of me, one of them managed to inject me with something else. Something that made me… reflexively do as they were telling me to. I kept breaking through the urge, partly because I was indignant that they thought I should fucking do as they said and also because I was still livid about my broken bond. Another car came, and I wrongly assumed that they were there to help me. Instead, I was knocked out. After that, I floated just this side of consciousness. I remember snippets of conversation about obedience, something not working, and killing my bond. At that point, though, I could feel a flicker of my omega. There was something about a different drug, theta, that they wished would hurry up and get produced so… they could choose their designation? Does that sound right?”
Lester tilted his head thoughtfully but didn’t answer.
Colby shook his head and continued. “Then all I heard was a roar that rattled the walls. Screams. Violence.” He glanced at Ronan with a smirk. “When I finally regained full consciousness, Ronan nearly had us home.”
Lester nodded, while the alpha agent remained stoic and impassive.
“Thank you,” Lester said. “I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that those who are experimenting on you are one of the organizations that abduct and sell omegas.”
Colby and I nodded. The rest of our pack stared, and Ronan’s arms tightened around me.
“I’m glad to learn that their attempt at severing a bond has failed, though I’m concerned that they succeeded in blocking it. I’m not sure if that means they’re making headway or not. Thankfully, we were able to extract enough of the drug’s components from your blood to learn about it. The second drug, the one that Ronan produced a vial of, is one we’ve known about for a while. They’re calling it Obey.”
Colby’s shoulders tensed. “Given the events that I experienced, I can imagine what it does. But what’s the point?”
Lester inclined his head again. “You’re overthinking it. We know why omegas are hunted. Right?”
The room nodded with different levels of disgust.
“Why do you suppose they’d hunt alphas and drug them with something to make them obey a command?” Lester asked. “What could a group of betas demand from a drugged alpha who cannot refuse?”
“A bite,” Kasen said.
“Correct. Obey isn’t exactly new, but we haven’t seen or heard many cases when it’s been used yet. From what we understand, the goal with Obey is that it doesn’t need to last forever or even for as long as an hour. It takes seconds to bite and create a bond, so that’s all they need.”
Dread curled in my stomach.
“I almost don’t want to ask this,” Ainsley said, “but an alpha doesn’t need to be without a bond for them to create a new one. So why try to sever his bond with T—our omega?”
“I think it’s the same reason that an alpha doesn’t want to purchase an omega who’s already bonded. It creates complications. To some extent, you can feel each other through every bond you share. Correct?” We nodded. “I imagine that would be very uncomfortable for a pack who purchased an omega. Thus, they want unbonded omegas. As for this particular case?” Lester shook his head. “I think they’re hoping that they can broaden their hunting pool. If they can sever a bond, that means they can hunt omegas and alphas without having to be selective.”
“Why are they hunting betas?” I asked. The entire room looked at me. “There were betas in the rooms where we were held, and I know they weren’t there for vacation.”
Lester shrugged. “We don’t know. I’m not involved with that particular case, but from the reports I’ve heard, the betas were also being experimented on, though they weren’t able to give us an idea as to why like Reagan was. We can make sense from his experience, and we know what and why they were trying on him. The betas… We’re completely at a loss, unfortunately. Their reports don’t make sense as of yet.”
“That’s frustrating,” Emerald said.
Lester glanced at Emerald then did a double take. I could almost see him debating whether he wanted to say something, though I was surprised when he did. “There’s a hypothesis. Many of the betas we’ve managed to recover are designation fluid. Not all, but I would say the majority. Others have presented as very omega-like or very alpha-like. I would guess that they’re trying to ‘turn on’ genetic markers to see if they can change one’s designation through genetic manipulation. Designation-fluid betas already have the ability to float between the designations to some extent. Anyway, this is only a working hypothesis based on the betas we’ve been able to rescue and speak to. We truly don’t know.”
Emerald frowned. “Is it possible to… ‘turn on’ a genetic marker or whatever?”
Lester gave him a bemused smile. “Science says no, but they’re trying to prove science wrong.”
Ainsley shook his head.
“Now, let’s talk about relocation,” Lester said.
Ronan stiffened. “I’m going to repeat?—”
Lester held up his hand. “There’s no need to. I’m not going to suggest you part ways. We are very sorry. We made mistakes. We thought we understood your surroundings, and we got complacent. That won’t happen again. And we will not be breaking up your pack. It shouldn’t have been suggested or even alluded to.”
I wasn’t sure Ronan was reassured, but he didn’t argue.
“Where are we going?” Kasen asked.
“For now, we’re going to take you off the island and relocate you to a temporary shelter while Blakely heals. It’ll be easier to get around when he’s able to walk normally, and we want all of you to have time to heal before we send you away.” He looked at Emerald. “You understand that you will not be going home again, correct? You will not be able to contact your family or friends from this moment on. That life is no more.”
Emerald looked pained, but he closed his eyes and nodded. Ainsley hugged him tightly, kissing his jaw and purring quietly.
“No goodbyes,” Lester said quietly. “I understand how hard that must be, and I’m not going to pretend I’ve experienced it, but we need to erase you completely. We will keep you safe.”
Emerald took a deep breath and nodded again. My heart broke for him because I understood his pain. I knew the questions he’d be plagued with for the next several months. Maybe forever.
“When do we leave?” Lohtus asked.
“Couple hours.” Lester looked at Emerald. “The phones are monitored, but if you want to tell someone you love them, now might be a good time. No goodbyes. No alluding to anything. Just maybe a quick call to tell them that you’re alright. You made it out of the fire without injury. You’re alive and you love them. That’s all.”
“Thank you,” he whispered.
“Your circumstances are a little different though… Your safety isn’t only a priority just because of your ties to your pack. I would guess that if our hypotheses are correct, you’re now a target because of your fluidity.”
“I understand,” he said.
“Good.” Lester turned for the door. “I’ll be in touch over the next twenty-four hours to get you out of here.”
We watched them walk out of the room, closing the door behind them.
“This is it,” Kasen said quietly. “We’re really leaving.”
His lip was swollen from his new bite, but I didn’t think the tears in his eyes had anything to do with that. They’d been making a life here for a long time, and that life was now over.
“We’re together,” Lohtus said. “I know walking away from another life sucks, but as long as we’re together, we’ll be okay.”
Kasen nodded, and I rested my head on Ronan’s. There was no telling what we’d face next, where we’d be, or what our lives would consist of, but we’d be together as a pack.
That was all that mattered.