9. Magnus
Chapter nine
Magnus
F uck Reed.
Who does he think he is now, pack lead? Screw this.
Screw everyone.
I just don’t know what to do anymore. Everything is crashing down around us, and my Omega is beside himself.
I don't think we will survive this.
Reed now has Opal locked away in the basement, and he has forbidden any of us from seeing her.
Well, he isn’t the boss of me. I just want to see her and hear her out. That's all.
It’s obvious she was acting on someone else's orders, but Reed has deemed her too dangerous.
He thinks he's the only one who's fit enough to handle such an oh-so -dangerous Rogue, and this is ridiculous.
Opal is not the enemy. I just know it.
I punch the wall in frustration just as I step off the stairs, and that's when I hear hushed voices outside the door.
Who the hell?
The doorbell rings and rings and rings next, and then a soft, female voice scolds, “Ella, stop!”
Ella?
Shit.
I know why they have come, and this is going to be hard.
Finally, I open the door, and lo and behold… Ella Titan barges in like she owns the place, and I’m just grateful that it was me who answered and not Reed.
However, her friend, Belle Snow, remains at the door, and at least she has more manners. “Ella, what did I just say?”
The little blonde ignores Belle, looking straight at me as she demands, “Where is she?”
Belle gasps. “Ella! You can't talk to him like that. This is not your home!"
I spy Belle's Alpha, Troy, beside her at that moment. Then Alastor from Ella’s pack comes into view, giving me a little wave, and I can't help but notice that he looks rather proud of his Omega’s antics.
I sigh, waving them all inside. “It’s fine. Come on in. All of you.”
Levi is currently out. Zayden is moping upstairs, so I’m the only one here who can attend to them right now.
However, our Acute is downstairs seeing to our prisoner.
Opal is hardly a prisoner. She is still our contracted Omega.
Her assassination attempt on the governor has not become public knowledge, and thank God. It would cause an outcry.
I just hope none of the neighbors saw her arriving home in bonds, though.
Now both packs Titan and Snow enter the house, taking up a seat around our cozy living room, and damn, this place really is the perfect childhood home.
A lump forms in my throat.
Just when I was looking forward to having her babies. Fuck.
Everything is just so fucked.
Ella is the only one who doesn’t sit, and now she stands with her arms crossed, never taking her eyes off me.
“We demand to see her.”
I sigh, moving toward the kitchen. “I will make us some coffee.”
The baby-doll Omega bares her teeth. “No. Not until you let us see her. Opal is innocent.”
Another sigh escapes me as I say, “I know.”
Belle looks up at me wide-eyed. What did they think? That we were going to punish her?
I have no ill feelings toward Opal at all. I know she was the victim in this situation. The real villain is the warden, and my fists curl when I think of that Alpha.
I swear, I will kill that bastard myself.
Forcing a bond. It’s fucking criminal.
No bond can ever be forced. Not a true one anyway, and it still baffles me that she was hiding all that pain.
Opal was just… perfect.
A perfect guise for a broken Omega. Now I resist the urge to storm down the basement stairs, throw her over my shoulder, and then bury her in her nest where she's safe from the world.
But Reed would just get in my way.
“Oh, thank goodness. The poor thing. We… we never knew…” Belle whispers, tears filling her big eyes, and Troy drapes an arm around her.
Ella shrugs. “Oh, I guessed she was Rogue all along.”
Troy rolls his eyes. “No, you didn’t."
Alastor glares at Troy. “Hey, if my Omega says she suspected Opal of being Rogue from the start, then she did, Snow. Shut your trap.”
Troy holds up his palms as a sign of peace.
I fold my arms. “Well, I certainly didn’t suspect as much. She hid it well.”
Ella gets her knife out and starts flipping it around casually. “Be that as it may, Gold, we want to see her. Just Belle and me. That is all. We… just want to tell her that we know …”
They know what she has gone through. Of course they do.
They were Rogue, too. Ella is still pretty much rogue.
Belle rises, stepping up beside her friend, and she's a few inches taller than Ella.
Ella is the smallest, albeit the most vicious Omega I have ever met.
Belle clasps her hands. “Please, Magnus. Let us see her. I can’t imagine what is running through her mind right now. Poor thing must think we hate her.”
My fingers find my hair as I run them through the strands. “Would if I could, Belle, but… I have no authority. Reed…”
“Fuck Reed. Let. Us. See. Her.” Ella’s baby blue eyes glow, and is that a threat?
Belle nudges Ella with her elbow. “What did we discuss before we got here?”
Ella rolls her eyes. “No violence.”
“That's right.” Belle looks at me again. “Please? We won’t be long.”
“I can’t, Belle. Sorry... Your brothers gave Reed full authority here. There is not much more I can do.”
The Omega’s face falls, and she gazes down at her feet. “I see.”
Silence falls over the five of us, and I want so badly to let them down into the basement. I don’t even want Opal down there, but Reed is in charge of her imprisonment.
“Fine. Then let us see Zayden,” Ella demands.
Now that I can allow.
Maybe seeing his friends will help him.
I give them permission, pointing up the stairs. “Go ahead. He's been down in the dumps.”
Ella nods, then makes her way up the stairs with Belle behind her. Their Alphas remain downstairs.
Zayden is that depressed, he may even let them into his sacred nest.
Omegas are weird in that way.
When they disappear, I throw myself down on a chair, running my hand through my hair yet again.
Alastor and Troy don’t speak. They just give me my moment. When I have taken time to breathe, I look up, meeting their eyes.
We’re all squadmates, too. While they're not in my pack, these Alphas still have my back.
“So, any advice?” I ask. “How does an Alpha get through a shitstorm like this?”
I ask the question because neither Alpha is a stranger to such a shitstorm. Troy was even captured and almost killed by Belle, per one of the warden’s devout followers.
Again, another poor Omega who was treated like a worthless puppet.
Damn. No wonder Belle and Troy are attached at the hip. They went through so much.
All of them did.
Troy shrugs. “You just do. It’s not like you have a choice, anyway. The only advice I can give. Do not fall out with your brothers at a time like this. You fuckers are going to need to see eye to eye, trust me.When Alphas collide, it’s not pretty…”
“I second that,” Alastor chimes in. “Perhaps the three of you can head out into the mountains to strengthen your bonds. Helped me, Kellen, and Theo.”
Camping in the mountains? Things are a little too precarious for that right now.
Still, just thinking about Reed makes my blood boil, and I spy the wall where I punched it with my fist.
I had been picturing his face.
“Thanks," I say. "Just promise me one thing. When the time comes, and we find the warden… you will help me kill him.”
Troy’s electric blue eyes glow. “Oh, we will. We all have a score to settle with that bastard,” he whispers, and his tone sends a shudder down my spine.
“Perhaps I can show him my secret basement when we’re through with him,” Alastor sneers, and I shake my head.
What a creep.
Still, it’s good to know they have my back. That we all have each other’s back.
That asshole hurt our Omegas at some time or other.
And we will make him pay.