Chapter 19 #2
“Of the fourteen children that Pleasant gave birth to, all were alphas except for one, and that was the omega child who supposedly died at birth, which, oddly, was on the same date that a fight broke out in the colony, causing many colonists to leave for the Delta region.”
“I remember reading that the omega died in childbirth, but not that his child did, too. But I guess that happened a lot?” David asked.
“Infant fatalities were high back then, yes,” Laura answered.
“The alpha father also died at this time. It’s unknown what became of their thirteen alpha children,” Vaughn said. “Somebody in the colony probably took them in and raised them.”
“What? The father died, too?” Maddox asked. “And thirteen alphas? No betas?”
“How did the father die?” Jackson wanted to know.
“His name is listed with the dead several days after the altercation in the colony, so it seems plausible that he died then,” Vaughn said.
“A little too plausible, if you ask me,” I said.
Colt leaned back in his chair. “I’m still stuck on the thirteen alphas. What are the odds that someone would have thirteen alpha children and an omega? No betas in fourteen births? Not even one?”
“It is odd,” Laura said, writing in her notebook again. “Vaughn, are you sure? Were there any children listed who died young?”
“No. I searched. He had fourteen, and they all lived except for the last one. The omega.”
“And no one knows what the altercation was about?” Trey asked.
Vaughn shook his head. “No. But it certainly makes you wonder.”
“So, we’re all on the same page that this altercation seemed to be about the omega family,” I said.
“It certainly seems so,” Laura replied.
“I’ve got to call my sister and stop her from letting Dawson go with those government liars when they come for him,” Nova said, standing up. “What can she do? Is there a place to hide omegas? They’re going to want to know where he is. The kid’s only thirteen!”
Laura stood up, too. Resting her hand on Nova’s arm, she said, “It’s going to be all right. I’ll help you think of something.”
The intensity with which Nova looked back at her sent the temperature in the room rising.
Clearing my throat, I said, “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to put Ben in bed.
Fill me in when I get back.” I gave a look to Colt that I hoped translated into we need to get information from Trey before crossing over to the couch and picking up Ben.
Once in our bedroom, I took off his shoes, shirt, and pants, and got him under the covers. His head didn’t feel hot, which reassured me a little. When I returned to the living room, Trey was talking, and Nova and Laura were back in their seats.
“We were just a regular family, except my dad was a senator and Mom worked in the Pentagon. I had to keep hidden because I was an omega, but some people around us knew about me. My parents always told me I’d have to mate with an alpha and go live with him, so I was prepared for that.”
“And you still speak to your parents?” Maddox asked.
“Yeah, a lot. Do you think maybe you guys have bad information?” he asked hopefully.
“You’ve heard our stories,” Jackson said. “Think of Ben’s. That alpha tricked him.”
“He said he suspected the woman in the hotel was lying when she said his alpha was sick,” Trey said. “Maybe she wasn’t lying.”
“He heard her on the phone talking about taking him to the capital, Trey,” David said. “I get that you don’t want this to be true, but it’s not like your dad is necessarily complicit. He might not know anything about it, just like those senators who asked for an FBI inquiry into the matter.”
I wanted to point out that they all might very well know and were just pretending not to, but I held my tongue. I didn’t want to upset Trey any more than he already was.
Looking at his hands in his lap, Trey said, “What do you want to know?”
“Do you ever remember hearing your father or any of his colleagues talking about omegas?” Elise asked.
“No. They didn’t talk about omegas. I had to hide when people came over. Even the ones who probably knew about me. My dad said so.”
“Okay, well, did you ever wonder where other omegas were being kept?” Laura asked gently.
“Since we never talked about them, no, not often. I just knew about them from occasional things I’d hear on the news.
I knew they were young when they left home, and that they couldn’t immediately go to an alpha mate.
When I asked once, Dad told me there was a nice place where they were schooled and their heats were taken care of, and then, when the right time came, they matched them with an alpha and they went to be a family wherever the alpha lived.
Just like I got to come and live with Bertram.
” He smiled at his alpha. “The only difference was, I got to live at home and they didn’t.
But my dad said it was because I already lived in the capital and he was a senator and got special treatment.
That’s why he liked to keep it on the downlow.
He didn’t want anyone raising a stink. If they did, I might have to go to the omega house where the others were. ”
“Is that what he called it? The omega house?” Maddox asked.
Trey nodded. “My parents are probably going to visit soon. They want to see Bertie. Maybe you can meet them then.”
“I think we’re going to head home,” Bertram said, standing and lending Trey a hand up. “This has been…a lot.”
Bertram went to get the baby.
“Please let us know when your parents come to see you,” I said to Trey.
“I will,” he promised.
Bertram returned and I walked them to their car.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I know it sounded like an inquisition there at the end, but we really just need information.”
“Do you really think they’re hurting the omegas?” Trey asked. “Couldn’t they have a different reason for not giving the parents contact information?”
I was not going to look this sweet young man in the face and tell him that the more I learned about all this, the more I was of the opinion the omegas were being killed, so I just said, “I don’t know, Trey.
But they have parents who really miss them.
They should be able to talk to them, don’t you think? ”
Trey nodded. “I’ll ask my dad more about it.”
“That would be good, but be casual about it, like you saw on the news about the parents and were wondering. Okay?”
“Okay,” Trey said.
“See you, Angus,” Bertram said.
I watched them drive away and then walked back into the house. The video call had ended, Carter and Jackson had gone to their room, and David and Maddox were shutting off lights and checking doors.
“Please let me know if you have any answers,” Nova said to me and Colt before heading out.
Laura followed her.
“What do you think?” I asked Colt.
“The whole thing stinks to high heaven,” he said. “People want omegas gone. And by people, I mean betas. At least it seems that way.”
“Well, we’re too tired to hash it out tonight. Let’s go to bed,” I said.
“Sounds good.” Colt covered a yawn with his hand.
I don’t think two minutes went by after I crawled into the warm bed with my mates before I was sawing logs.