9. Opal
Chapter nine
Opal
I watch on the bleachers as Zayden runs around the track.
He’s almost in the lead, beaten only by a small blonde female who moves like a flash.
Oliver and Mila Hart time the Omegas with a stopwatch, and Rian Snow keeps watch by a scoreboard.
Behind Zayden is a strawberry-blond male with glasses, and when he calls out to the blonde female, I almost doubletake.
“At least give the rest of us a chance, Ella!”
Ella?
As in Ella Titan.
Number 22.
A shudder works its way down my spine, but as always, I school my thoughts and then my features, leaning back on the bench as I soak up the sun with my trusty sunglasses.
The sunglasses help hide my eyes since they are the windows to the soul.
And I can’t risk anyone getting a glimpse into mine.
Ella makes it around the track, and then she cheers, raising her arms high in the air when she’s at the finish line.
There comes a whoop behind me, and I peer up the bleachers, spying an erratic blond Alpha with ice-blue eyes.
Beside him is a brunet palming his face.
“Shut up, Lachlan. You’re distracting my soldiers!” Oliver shouts across the track and then the crazy blond stops.
I know who they are.
They're Governor Gryphon’s pack.
My heart shudders.
An Alpha I have been assigned to kill, and his very own brothers are mere feet above me.
Magnus left to find us some refreshments, and Levi had to go to the governor's office.
So, I kind of look like a loner sitting here, but so long as Zayden has someone to cheer him on, too.
Though Ella isn’t even in Lachlan’s pack, and it seems he’s cheering for all the other pack’s Omegas as well as his own.
I spot a male redhead snarling at the right of Lachlan across the bleachers, and another brunet beside him wears a shit-eating smirk on his face.
“Hey, only I get to cheer for my Omega!” the redhead growls.
“Yeah, you tell him, Kelly.” His pack brother chuckles, and he's rather evil, isn’t he?
“Lachlan, get the fuck down.”
Now the blond’s own pack brother drags him down into the seat, glancing across at the other Alphas. “Sorry about him. He’s crazy.”
The other brunet sniggers, green eyes flashing. “Oh, we know.”
So, this is what Alphas in the city are generally like?
Interesting.
Voices catch my attention, and I spy another two Alphas with a small brunette female as they take the bench across from me.
Just as Ella runs another lap around the track, beating Zayden only by a few seconds, the brunette jumps to her feet.
“Go, Ella!”
The redheaded Alpha, Kelly, or whatever his name was again, has no qualms about her cheering his Omega on, and it appears he's only biased toward Alphas.
The brunette catches my gaze next, and then she blinks, doing a double take. She whispers something to her Alphas, and they both glance across at me.
I meet the electric blue eyes of a dirty blond Alpha, and the dark brown of the other, and they nod at her as she gets up, coming my way.
Holy shit.
I act nonchalantly as she sits on my left. “Opal, right?”
Of course she knows my name.
After all, we’re the talk of the town.
Pack Gold was the first pack to willingly take on a second Omega. The other three got their second Omegas by mere chance, of course.
Or in a weird twist of fate.
And seeing them all now, I can't help but notice how happy they look.
That could be me.
But it never will be.
“Yes,” I reply, meeting her beautiful ocean-blue eyes.
Wow. What a sweetheart.
Nothing at all like Ella Titan as she teases Zayden and the others.
The Omega is a show-off. There's no two ways about it.
But it makes sense.
She’s Rogue, just like me. An Omega with a special kind of skill set indeed.
And she looks so healthy.
I’m glad that some of us got away from the warden. Ella may have been his prodigy, but I’m his puppet.
The brunette beside me smiles. “It’s so nice to finally meet you. I’m Belle.”
Belle reaches her hand out, and I spy the tattoo on her wrist.
Number 23.
The Rogue who precedes me.
My hair rises on end. This was to be expected, I suppose. So, I don’t know why I'm so surprised to meet another Rogue.
Yet unlike me, both she and Ella escaped.
They’re safe.
Or so they believe.
Belle was Francis’s prodigy, and I’m glad that prick is finally dead. Always trying to prove himself to the warden, a pathetic waste of oxygen.
Schooling myself, I take her hand and shake.
I hope she doesn’t see through the facade.
From now on, I will try to avoid her and Ella. Just in case they spy the fellow Rogue in me.
One thing I know about Rogues. We’re cunning. And sharp.
“You're so beautiful. Zayden is one lucky Omega,” Belle gushes.
My heart sinks. She really is nice.
She didn't deserve the hand that fate dealt her.
None of us did.
Still do.
“No. I’m the lucky one,” I reply.
My eyes find Zayden as he finally catches up with Ella, and it’s just not fair.
I want him so badly.
But I can’t have him.
“Yeah, Rian makes me feel that way, too. He’s the hottie keeping score.”
We glance up at the same time, and Rian is looking right at us.
Well, he's looking at Belle, to be precise. They must be communicating via bond, and I wonder what it must be like to hear the intimate thoughts of your nearest and dearest.
Of your scent match and mate.
Zayden and I could have that, too.
But we never will.
Oliver calls everyone to attention, and now all the Omegas on the track stand in formation as he goes over their scores for the day.
Belle smiles at him. “That’s my brother. I’m so proud of him. His dream was to build a future in which Omegas could train to be soldiers, and now look at him.”
I glance at Belle then, wondering why she isn’t training on the track with them.
She meets my gaze through the dark sunglasses. “It wasn’t really my calling in the end.”
I can see that. Even though she’s Rogue, I can tell she’s more of a lover than a fighter.
I bet she’s through with knives and weapons after everything she's endured and wants to settle for a more conventional life.
Still, if she did want to join her brother's squad, then at least she would be fighting for herself now.
Francis isn’t around anymore to control her with that horrible bell.
May he rest in pieces.
Belle was part of a preliminary training program at the Facility that has been discontinued. After Francis failed to control her, even dying as a result of his failings, the warden put a stop to it.
So, I hope Belle can sleep easier at night knowing that the warden gave up on auditory signal training.
Now, he has turned to more nefarious methods.
Magnus arrives, handing me my water, and that's when Belle returns to her own Alphas.
“If you ever need anything, Opal, just call me.”
She hands me a slip of paper, then returns to the dirty blond Alpha. He drags her onto his lap, and I ignore the sadness that eats away at my soul as I tuck her number away.
Magnus watches me carefully. “You all right?”
I meet his light green eyes. “Yeah. It seems I made a new friend.”
Magnus glances at Belle and her pack, nodding with a smile. “Yeah. Poor thing had it rough. And Ella, too. Glad they're both settled and happy.”
Me too.
At least some Rogues could find some happiness in this dark, cruel world.
Even if I will never be one of them.