Chapter 15
JUDGE
I can’t focus.
I’m in a room surrounded by alphas, and yet my attention is far from here. There’s usually humming engines outside, but once it gets too cold for the bikes, we bring out the refurbished cages. Another sign that winter will soon barricade us here, and so much still needs to be done.
Sitting around a scarred table bolted to the floor are a dozen other alphas, candles fluttering in jars, incense from a suppressant flower curling into elegant coils.
The alphas in this room smell like spent gunpowder and leather; the betas smell like medication.
There are four betas to every alpha tonight, each with tranqs slotted at their belts.
The Iron Maw is our gathering room made of metal—a collection of shipping crates welded into a meeting hall, the exterior shaped like a wolf, the doors in the throat of an open, snarling mouth. Large windows are the eyes, letting in the only natural light.
This conversation is important, but I can’t stop thinking about the omega that’s in the wrong place.
Diana might be safe within my walls, but what are the other omegas doing? What are they telling her? That particular selection of omegas aren’t the best influence for her.
Is Diana scrubbing her skin raw, trying to get rid of me? The instincts of an alpha calling to his omega are louder than I’ve ever felt, telling me that she was taken in heat, used, and now she’s abandoned. What other fucking option did I have, though?
I need to see her. Alone. Somewhere the noise of a dozen alphas won’t draw attention.
Or—no—no, she needs to remain where she is.
It’s imperative she rests her head where I can control the narrative and craft her trust into something that belongs to me, because what I plan to do will ruin everything if she learns of it.
The larger omega group is far too involved. Plus, sending her there would insinuate she’s available.
Nothing about her is. She belongs to me, even if she doesn’t appreciate that yet.
“Titan plans to go west during the winter,” Rook says. His voice is roughened by tobacco, and cuts through my thread of concentration as I lift my gaze to him. “Can’t go past the marsh without running into the Reapers. He’s skirting the mountains.”
I keep my face still, but the words linger in my mind. Refocus.
Aside from fearing a dark bond, Titan is the second largest reason I didn’t bite Diana’s neck when I so easily could have.
Being with me is one of the safest things to happen to her, and also one of the most dangerous with the shitty timing of it all.
There are too many loose ends that need tightening.
“Arkansas is barren,” I say, slowly, holding a chipped cup of torchwater and sipping to buy time.
The taste is hot and thin. “All Titan’s doing is posturing. ”
A younger alpha, Threads—thin, fingers of a mechanic’s—snaps at that. “We can’t let him circle without any repercussions. He’ll pick at our supply lines, take the women and omegas on the margins. We show a weakness, he’ll run with it.”
“I’m aware,” I state, more certain than any of them realize. My mind is already sequencing possibilities—traps, diversions, an alpha-summoned hunt that will permanently remove him. “Project Scarlett Offering is at the forefront more than ever. Doesn’t fucking matter what he does in Arkansas.”
Three of them, including Beast, shift slightly. There’s only a handful of men who know what that project means.
“Still not sharing what that is?” one asks, more curious than angry.
I flash my eyes at him. “Not with a mole burrowing in our walls.”
Whatever good energy we had in this room comes to a halt.
It’s a piece of tension that grows thicker by the week, knowing someone in these walls is a mole.
There are close to eight hundred of us at the castle, with thousands in the surrounding towns.
Sniffing one out is a fucking chore, and we’re not close enough yet.
They all begin to shift, one of the alphas idly toying with a dart, tapping it into the table like a metronome.
We are all a machine tuned to keep Dominion breathing.
The thought of Diana in that nest of omegas gnaws at me, because this machine is currently broken down and needing a major repair.
She should not be among the rejects; she should be behind in my space, guarded by many.
But I can’t.
A mole will let Titan know someone has caught my interest. I drain the rest of the burning liquid in my glass.
“Let’s disperse. Keep an eye out on our territories.
The sled dogs get more rations. Horse stalls kept warm.
Keeping communication lines open during the winter will be paramount to keep ahead of Titan.
” I look around the room with less intensity.
“This will be the last winter that he’s a problem for us, and we’ll have a bountiful Yule this year.
There are things to look forward to, brothers.
Titan is the last fucking thorn, and once he’s removed, we can finally rest our heads and let our families thrive. ”
A few raise their hands in agreement before tapping on the table. Rook rasps out, “Let that mole hang in a metal cage in the square. Let some fires lick his ass, like how he does to Titan.”
Another alpha named Jack sticks his head forward. “Maybe we blood eagle him like the Vikings used to.” He flashes his gaze at me. “You’d be good at that.”
“Oh, we’ll find a way to make him suffer for it,” I reply, narrowing my eyes on Adam for a moment before looking at the rest. “Titan’s my true target. I’m only thinking about ways to make him suffer.”
The energy of the room is beyond tense, although a few try cracking more jokes about what they’d do to him, while the rest seem worried that they’ll be the ones accused of such treason.
But when one mentions finding more hanging lights that work, the lighter comments return.
Yule is always how we get through the winter, and take the time to solidify what we have.
As the meeting thins, Skinner listens to a beta that quietly slipped in, only for the older man to face the rest. “To finish that, tonight is a swelling moon fire. Axel’s getting a third kid. ”
More well wishes and happy sounds. I don’t smile, but I’m pleased.
The more the omegas are bred, the more the alphas will be determined to keep Dominion safe, and not just for Diana’s sake.
I’ve poured everything into this organization, tattooed their symbols into my flesh.
We will need the good nights and celebrations.
This place will become the future, and I’ll ensure the atrocities spawned from the fall of man are purged.
I leave the forge of the meeting and walk through the compound toward the wing where I reside, a space Diana should occupy. The corridor is a spine of stone, its walls lacquered with faded paint, which we plan to continue renovating.
What has Diana thought so far of this refurbished building?
Does she think I won’t come for her? Or is she fearing my return?
Without my scent smothering her senses, with the mark of my mouth being absent from her neck, it will be a fucking nightmare to break through her walls.
I want to know more about my scent match, about what she likes.
What has fate given me, other than a very prickly, unruly omega?
I make a note to learn about what happened to her friend, in case she tries to throw that in my face. I already sent men to collect whatever things she had at both Trinity and the Enclave, as a peace offering that I’ll use when the time is right.
The corridor opens into a foyer of sorts, and I unlock the door to my space.
It’s utterly barren of any omega scent, that reality boiling inside of my chest. I smirk at wondering what she thought when she awoke to my shirt next to her, my fangs itching to mark what’s mine; to lean down and press my mouth to the soft skin under her ear.
But patience is its own brand of brutality.
I will make her need me. I will make her want me. I will orchestrate safety until the safety is a chain, if I must.
The clock is ticking; winter is a long road, and Titan is a man with intentions. To keep Diana safe, my omega, I’ll do whatever’s necessary.