Chapter 13
Balcony, Devil Estate
Lucifer!
Isn’t that the leader of the Devil pack who Fletcher’s hunting?
The Omega resistance who’ve been attacking the Institute?
Shouldn’t that make them my enemies?
Yet they’re protecting me.
It must be putting them in huge danger. But Kai hasn’t even blinked.
That takes courage.
The Devils are infamous.
When Thomas spoke about them, however, I could tell that he admired them.
I fucking do as well.
To my surprise, I find myself eagerly awaiting the arrival of this Lucifer.
Finally, I’ll get some answers about this mysterious pack.
Perhaps, this new Alpha is the devil but what if he’s actually my fallen angel?
I push closer against Kai’s side with a grin because after my own failed mission, I’m practically a secret resistance member myself.
I’m no longer a good Omega.
I’m a proud rebel.
An outlaw.
I’m ready for my villain era.
I try to subtly gesture across the table at Lark to explain why I’m grinning, but his gaze is fixed intently on the open doorway through to the kitchen.
Excitement thrums through me now in anticipation of seeing the final Alpha and leader of this resistance pack.
No wonder they’ve been acting like liberals.
They’re even allowing the Second Alpha to be the leader on missions, while the Chief Alpha remains back on base and cooks.
This is the future that the Omega Society have been fighting for, which I thought was impossible.
Is this equality between dynamics truly possible?
The wailing siren cuts off.
“What the hell have you done this time, Toni?” A cold, deep voice demands from the kitchen. “Did you think that our Kai wouldn’t send me an encoded message to inform me that you’d snatched some random Omegas and ruined everything? You’re in deep shit.”
I’d recognize those firm tones anywhere, even though they’re colder than they used to be.
My face drains of color, and I stumble to my feet.
I’m shaking.
It can’t be.
Can it?
“Please…” I whisper.
Antonio gives a nervous laugh. “Maybe the kissing of his life may have to wait.”
To my shock, Lark pushes his way in front of Antonio and prowls across the balcony, shoving the new Alpha back.
The man is so startled that he allows himself to be knocked to the floor.
Lark straddles him. His hair falls over the man’s face.
“Leave your Beta alone,” Lark snarls.
The Second Alpha is dressed in a black polo neck, tight jeans, and a sleek leather jacket. He’s in his mid-twenties with a soldier’s build. He’s impossibly handsome with tanned skin, a chiseled jaw, and neat, honey blond hair.
It’s Gabriel.
Am I dreaming?
My pulse is roaring in my ears. I’m frozen to the spot with shock.
I’ve been so frightened about what had happened to Gabriel ever since he was sent to the military academy and after, when I discovered that he was marked for execution.
But here he is, being straddled by Lark.
I didn’t know how I’d feel when I saw him again.
Would I feel the same intense love that I used to, every time that he walked into a room?
And I do.
I fucking do.
Seeing him now is like part of my missing Soul being returned to me.
You never forget your first love.
Gabriel and I didn’t choose to separate. We were cruelly parted. Our potential bond was torn away from us.
Now, he’s one of my Devils.
Tears are chasing down my cheeks, and I don’t even reach to wipe them away.
“Whoever you are,” Gabriel says curtly but without making a move to push Lark off him, “know that you’re lucky I’ve sworn to never fight an Omega.”
“Well, thanks for the condescension.” Lark bares his teeth.
“Calm down, my solider,” Kai warns with a dominant edge that sends a delicious shiver through me. “This is one of the Broks who we saved. He has a right to be wary.”
“How many are there?” Gabriel demands.
I force myself to walk closer on shaky legs.
I’ve imagined meeting Gabriel again many times.
Often in my fantasies, while I’ve been touching myself and driving myself to shuddering orgasms.
Imagining that I was with Gabriel, rather than Fletcher, was the only way that I survived my first bonding.
But standing looking a hot mess in nothing but another Alpha’s shirt was never part of it.
“My brave Omega.” Antonio hurries forward to drag Lark off Gabriel by the back of his collar. Then he turns him and kisses him, hard. “Everything that happens in this pack is consensual. Lucifer is fierce, and I fucking love that. Rag doll, remember? But so you know, what you just did…? So fucking hot.”
He kisses Lark again.
“I need to keep you safe.” There’s a brittleness in Lark’s eyes that’s painful to witness.
Because I couldn’t protect my daughterhangs in the air unsaid but heard nonetheless.
Antonio’s expression gentles. “How many years have you been on the alert, fighting to keep other people safe and taking punishments to protect everyone else? Your daughter? Mercy? Well, you’re pack now. I’m yours, and you’re mine. We look out for each other, which means that you can relax. You don’t need that burden on your shoulders anymore. Every person here will care for Millie. You’re not alone. You’ll never be alone again.”
Lark melts against Antonio, as if he’s finally allowing himself to relax. Antonio pulls Lark to his neck, and Lark licks him in what looks to be partly a self-soothing gesture and a way of thanking him.
It makes Antonio glow with happiness.
I take the final step toward Gabriel, who clenches his jaw and leaps to his feet. His muscles bunch, as he dusts off his clothes, before returning to a military stance.
Then his gaze zeros in on me.
My breath catches because for the first time in years, I’m looking into the most beautiful eyes that I’ve ever seen.
Lavender ones.
Gabriel freezes.
I think that he’s stopped breathing.
“Mercy,” he breathes like a prayer.
I nod, blinking the tears from my eyes.
Gabriel takes a shuddering breath, dragging his gaze over me like I’m a vision that could fade at any moment and he needs to memorize me.
“Are you real? How…?”
“Just hold me,” I beg.
Gabriel marches the final few paces toward me.
Then I’m wrapped in his strong arms. He pulls me against his neck. I whine, hugging him tightly.
I’m terrified of letting him go.
What if he vanishes again?
My hands bunch in his jacket.
I nuzzle against his neck, taking deep drags of his scent.
I feel drunk on his sweet, warm cinnamon scent. It flies me back to a time, when he meant love and safety.
He’s always been my home just like Thomas and I were the only one that he ever knew.
Held like this, the world falls away.
This is right.
There are no doubts or fears.
With Gabriel there never were.
He’s my Alpha.
I know it deep in my bones. And at last, I’ve found him again.
Gabriel’s kissing the top of my head, and I sink into his firm touch.
“I’m sorry, Mer,” Gabriel whispers, desperately. “I’m so damn sorry. I didn’t know that they were going to bond you to that knothead. I was locked away in the academy and then later, in my unit in the Alpha SEALS. They threatened Tom and you, if I didn’t obey. But when I heard about who they’d matched you with and knew that it couldn’t have been willing, I stopped marching to their drum. But I’ll never stop being sorry—”
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for.” I stare up at him. I’m trembling with happiness. I won’t let him blame himself for this. “We were young, when you were sent away. You had no more power than I did. Do you still want to match with me, Gabe? Do you love me?”
I hold my breath.
Please, please, please…
It’s been years. It’s understandable if he’s moved on.
But how could I ever forget an Alpha like Gabriel?
Gabriel’s luminous eyes meet mine. “I fucking love you, Mer. I never stopped. Not for one moment in my miserable life.”
“So, you two know each other then?” Lark’s dry voice breaks into our cocoon.
Reluctantly, I break off nuzzling Gabriel to glance over my shoulder. “This is Gabriel, the kind Alpha who I told you about, when we were in the Brok Cell.”
“Perhaps, I should have mentioned it.” Antonio rubs the back of his neck. “But the name of our leader is meant to be a secret, hence the codename. Never mind, we’ve fucked up pretty much everything else. Hmm, this secret resistance thing is still pretty new to us as a pack. Do you think that we suck at it?”
“A little bit.” Lark’s lips quirk. “Don’t worry, you have two smart Omegas on your side now. How can I be enemies with Mercy’s best friend?”
“You talked about me?” Gabriel pushes me back slightly.
How can he doubt that?
Did he think that I’d forgotten about him?
“Is that a surprise, solider?” Kai glances between us, smiling widely. “If this is the female Omega who you’ve been pining after all these years in the vague, tortured way of yours, then you’ve barely gone a week without moodily rhapsodizing about her beautiful aquamarine eyes, how she made you feel wanted and like family, or how much fun you had with her on Fortnight, although she always kicked your behind.”
“Shut up.” The tips of Gabriel’s ears redden.
I try not to laugh.
“And it’s not been every week. Sometimes, I’ve been forced to go incommunicado for a fortnight on certain missions.” Gabriel runs his hand through his honey blond hair. “Look, she’s an incredible gamer. I’m allowed to boast about that. I was upfront, before we bonded, about not being able to take an Omega into our pack if it wasn’t her. I couldn’t have that daily reminder of having lost her. I’m sorry but I never wanted to be unfair to another Omega, knowing that I was pining for someone else in my heart.”
Lark’s expression clouds. “Thanks. That makes me feel welcome.”
“The Omegas choose whether they join or not,” Kai quickly says. “We’re courting them, and they haven’t agreed yet.”
Gabriel arches his brow, taking in the way that Antonio’s arm tightens possessively around Lark. “I’ve missed a lot and need a debrief, don’t I? I don’t mean that I can’t love more than one Omega. I admire your bravery. But my focus has been hundred percent on my missions. I’d sacrifice everything for them; we all would. We live here in the mountains with everything dedicated to the pursuit of dynamic equality. There was no place in that for some pampered, elite Omega. I don’t have time to—”
“Coddle them?” Lark’s eyes narrow. “I’ve just been freed from a cell where the five star facilities included a bucket to piss into, I think you’ll find that I don’t need pampering. Also, if you truly mean what you say, you’ll practice what you preach. Dynamic equality will mean trusting an Omega in this mission of yours.”
Gabriel looks thoughtful. “I feel called out. I like you even more. What I truly meant, but find hard to admit, is that the reason we don’t have an Omega is because I was torn away from my true bond. But she’s here now. If you want to become a working member of this pack, then I’ll train you up.”
Lark’s eyes widen with shock.
He was bluffing.
Lark hadn’t believed that Gabriel would take him up on the offer.
Is Gabriel truly going to let an Omega work alongside him?
After a long moment, Lark puffs up his chest with pride.
He bites hard on his lip to stop it quivering. “I hope that the pay and conditions are good.”
“Terrible. There isn’t even any danger money,” Gabriel curtly replies. “But I happen to think that the quality of the team you’ll be working with makes up for that.” His gaze slides to Antonio. “Toni, you’re forgiven everything because you found and saved my Mer.”
Antonio looks delighted. “Everything? Wow, awesome. I’ll make a list of all my broken rules and fuck-ups later to get them forgiven in one go. I’m not passing up a clean slate. We can go back to the day we met, right? Because I may have been responsible for the two…three…okay, four but who’s counting…of the accidents that happened to your balls over the weekend that my parents matched us. I call it karma, but still, everything forgiven.”
I laugh.
Lark looks like he wants to as well.
Unexpectedly, Gabriel appears to process something, and his gaze becomes thunderous. “The Sheriff broke your bond, Mer. He could have left you with permanent damage. He could have murdered you.”
“He still could in our heats,” Lark says, quietly. “They’ll be dangerous when they hit.”
“I’m going to kill him.” Gabriel’s eyes are deadly and cold.
It’s not a warning or a threat.
He means it.
This is a trained soldier speaking.
I remember Gabriel smiling more.
Now, he has a serious, vigilante vibe, which makes him seem more dangerous than Antonio in a controlled way.
I get what Antonio means about the tragic hero type with the tortured backstory. I’d never have guessed that he meant my Gabriel but somehow, my angel has fallen from heaven to hell.
Has it broken his wings too?
“You won’t, lad.” Kai catches Gabriel’s gaze and holds it. “We have a bigger picture to look at here. By the time that we’re finished, Fletcher will be ruined and he’ll have to live with that. It’s a much worse revenge.”
My eyes light up. “I want to be part of that. I deserve to be.”
“It’s dangerous.” Gabriel clasps my hand, rubbing his thumb across my knuckles.
“You may be a trained soldier, and we’re only Omegas,” Lark says with mocking emphasis. “Yet we’re the ones who were locked inside the Institute. If this revenge includes taking down that terrible place (and I truly hope that it does), then we’re the ones with the knowledge. We’re your secret weapon.”
“Plus, I know Fletcher better than anyone.” Excitedly, I squeeze Gabriel’s hand. “Everyone underestimates an Omega. That’s going to be their fatal error.”
Almost no one respects my input or opinion
Thomas and Gabriel were different.
We lay together dreaming of a future, when we could be in a pack of equals.
Please let him want that still, now that he’s a man.
I bite my lip, looking at him expectantly.
Gabriel’s lavender eyes brighten. “Smart thinking.”
I let out a breath of relief.
Gabriel hasn’t changed. He still respects me.
“You’ve seen the Sheriff in a way that not even a spy could have,” Gabriel continues. “The authorities don’t know that Antonio is part of the Devils. Even if they guess that he is, they’ll imagine that you’re shattered by the broken bond. They won’t know that we have inside knowledge. But you’re still the strong woman who dreamed of being an astronaut. We’re going to fly to a new world together. Because you can tell us about the Sheriff and your dad, the Mayor. They think that they’re hunting us, but we’re going to hunt them.”
“I may have a new kink for military men.” Lark smirks.
Gabriel’s eyes blaze with fire, as he lets go of my hand and turns to Kai. “I’ll check the security systems, while you finish breakfast.”
Then a thought strikes me, and I become ashen.
When I snatch at Gabriel’s sleeve, he turns back to me. “Wait! They are hunting you. Toni said that your name’s meant to be a secret, right?”
Gabriel’s brow furrows. “I deserted. I’m in deep shit with the military. If they also knew that I was the leader of the Devils, then I’d be on FBI’s most wanted list. Plus, using the mysterious Lucifer as a cover works well on social media because it stirs up theories on either side, and that gets everyone debating about who I am and why we’re doing this. It’s a culture war. Young people are arguing all over the country that we’re justified to fight back. Some of them think that I’m a secret rock star, politician, or even Anonymous.”
“But you’re going to be executed,” I burst out.
“Wow, I didn’t have you pegged as a pessimist,” Antonio says.
I stroke Gabriel’s sleeve, trying not to lose myself in his warm cinnamon scent that’s like life. “It’s why Fletcher broke the bond. He was talking cruelly every day about the Brok, and I just snapped. I knew that I had to do something. So, I looked in his classified files, which he keeps on his bedside table. He thinks that I’m a stupid, pretty Omega. He never dreamed that I’d try to help the resistance. He spent a long time conditioning obedience into me, but I stood up to him.”
Gabriel cards his fingers through my hair, before tightening his hold. “It seems that you’re already a resistance member. We should have secret handshakes or something. I’m so fucking proud of you. But I’m not surprised. You were always the strongest out of Tom, me, and you. I don’t know if you realize it, but you could lead armies.”
Me?
I flush because Gabriel has no idea about my panic attacks or how close my legs are to buckling just from standing here.
He doesn’t know the damage that Fletcher and Broken Bond Syndrome have done to me.
Can I be the woman that he used to know?
I can try.
I will be.
Because all my childhood, I wanted to protect Gabriel and my brother.
All my childhood, I wanted to prove that Omegas could achieve anything that they set their mind to.
They could even fight dragons.
And now’s my chance.
“Fletcher had a photograph of you in one of those confidential files,” I say, as steadily as I can. “The FBI must have worked out that you’re Lucifer. It didn’t name you as that. But why else would Fletcher talk obsessively about the Devils and then be reading a file on you? You’re already on the FBI’s most wanted list. I was desperate to find a way to warn you because there was an order signed underneath by the President himself to execute you.”