20. No One Else Matters
No One Else Matters
Cassius
“What makes you think Eva will complete the six months?”
“Because.”
Because I know that look in her eyes. I see it in the mirror. Because I’ve felt that confinement, the isolating all consuming darkness and, I know exactly how to feed it.
Reluctantly Alpha August shook my hand, and together we went back to the Council with a plan. Six months until she graduates and then we can mate.
I wasn’t entirely convinced that they would go for it.
They seem to like having my mate under their thumb.
They can sense the strength inside her, and they don’t know what to do with it.
They held her life in their hands. While they knew about her…
night time activities, they would never be convinced to let her go.
Though I wish to believe that they would never lock up an Omega, I cannot be convinced.
I know too much about the corruption that makes feral Alphas, and power breeds corruption.
The Council works in a perfect society. When people follow the rules and everyone stays in their lane. My Omega, though, she is an anomaly, a complication that they don’t know what to do with.
The evidence was easy to manipulate. Not that I had anything to do with it.
Apparently, Harry erased it all, keeping the original video for herself, which I will be talking to her about later.
All that remained were the events leading up to the killing and the Council’s arrival.
Leaving my Little Killer free and in the clear.
During the ‘meeting’ the Council revealed that the footage they were so sure would implicate my Omega showed nothing but a scared mother and child fleeing the house.
They had to relent. I wasn’t going to let my Omega be punished for something I should have done.
I wouldn’t let her be punished full stop.
Most of the Council left. Unfortunately, that did not include Browen. The conversation should have been simple after that. They explained their concerns. We ‘compromise’ by suggesting a long courtship, delaying the inevitable until after graduation. That is not how it transpired.
I wasn’t surprised at Browen’s outburst, ever the saviour.
But he’s not saving anyone by keeping me from my mate.
He was the loudest voice in the room and protested at every step of the way.
I might be his younger brother, but he is not in charge of me, and I can be a hell of a lot louder than him when I want to be.
But Alpha August was right. By remaining calm and collected, most of Browen’s accusations and dismissals were ignored.
Not that I didn’t want to rip his head off.
Reluctantly, they agreed to release my Angel from their custody in six months, when she graduates and if she attends school full time.
Thankfully, they allowed her to remain at home.
Though I could scent that her distress wasn’t entirely genuine, the fear peeking through mixed with tears rushing over her cheeks was enough to make me closer to losing it than ever before.
After that, it was mostly all logistic talks, and my Angel promptly fell asleep.
This is what I hate about the Council. Why are they spending hours, wasting hours on what is inevitable?
I don’t need their permission to mate my scent match, no one could stop us, yet here we are discussing like they have the authority.
The worst part was saying goodbye. Though at least this time I had the comfort of knowing I would see her again.
And now that I have her name, there’s nowhere she could hide from me.
I promised a date for us, not at the coffee shop, and forced myself to step away.
I was tempted to say fuck it to the rules.
Grab her, kiss her, fuck her and bite her right there and then, but even on my side of the law I know you have to put up a front so people don’t question the back.
Plus, I have business to attend to.
I stalk into Browen’s office. Slamming the door and making myself known. He matches my aggression, growling low and flashing his canines.
“The FUCK was that about.” I shove him hard, letting all the aggression that has been building up inside me out.
He flies back but catches himself, stumbling.
“Fuck you. I don’t want you to die.”
Dramatic knotthead. When is he going to get it through his thick skull that not everyone needs to fit into his definition of perfect, though my mate is without a doubt, and that I don’t need saving?
He can’t be this dense. I know, I know she killed that Alpha last night, and the only reason I’m mad about it is because I was there first.
“She’s my scent match. My mate. Not everyone has a sparkling past, Browen. You mated a pack that kidnapped your Omega and children.”
See how I wait until we’re alone to throw dirt at you. Learn from me. Bringing up her breaking into my place was uncalled for, and before he knew who it was, he thought it was cute and was happy for me.
He scoffs and shakes his head.
“It’s not the fucking same. She killed her own parents, Cas.”
“So?”
“If you aren’t going to talk about this rationally, then I have nothing to say.”
Inside, all I see is red. Blood pours from his neck. The wound large and fatal. He would fight at first, but it wouldn’t help.
I pull myself away before I actually kill him.
He’s my brother. I love him.
I say over and over in my head until my canines stop aching for his blood.
I spin away, giving him my back. My mouth drops open, letting my ragged breath escape and my chest heave.
“Oh, and Cas.”
I freeze at the door, hand resting on the handle.
“If you bring that psycho anywhere near my children again. I will fucking kill you.”
I clench my fist and the door groans under my fingers. I bite my tongue hard, and the copper tang of blood fills my mouth. I refuse to look at him. This is not my brother.
“Remind me, when all of this is over and I have a mate, and you regret the way you treated her, to tell Omega Anna about this. That way you won’t be the only one who feels sick at the sight of you.”
I let the door slam behind me.
* * *
“Come on.” I groan, but my annoyance doesn’t stop my phone from ringing.
I haven’t even made it through my front door yet.
“What?” I grunt.
“What the fuck is going on?”
Dain. Just perfect.
“I’m assuming Browen called?”
Perfect Browen can’t get his hands dirty so he gets Dain to do it for him.
“And Mum and Dad.”
And now my whole family knows.
“Great.” I grumble.
My mother has been overjoyed since Omega Anna joined the family, and I was hoping she would be equally enthusiastic about my mate. But who knows what bullshit Browen has been saying.
She’s a worrier. It was a known fact that we all accepted when we were deployed that we wouldn’t call unless it was a calm, relaxing day. Any suggestion of gunfire or even high wind would set her off.
“You have a mate?”
A smile stretches across my lips.
“Yeah. Omega Evangeline. She’s amazing.” More than amazing.
And just like that, I regret letting her leave my side. I want nothing more than to be with her right now. I can only hope she feels the same way.
“She killed her fucking parents, Cas.”
There it is.
It’s not that I was expecting Dain to be supportive. Ever since Browen found his mate, he’s been a grumpy Alphahole. I was hoping he would get over it sooner rather than later and finally admit to himself that he’s jealous.
“If you start with that shit too, I will hang up on you.”
“So, it’s true?”
True to my word. I hang up.
I push the door and am immediately greeted by an oversized, overenthusiastic dog.
Apollo whines, rubbing his head into my thigh and demanding cuddles.
He used to be well trained, but ever since my Omega started visiting, he’s got soft.
He’s needier now. Then again, if Omega Evangeline spent hours scratching my head, I would be too.
I give in, rubbing his head and letting the tension from the day roll off my body. Bypassing the living room entirely, I head to bed. This is definitely not a couch kind of evening.
My phone buzzes, and I am tempted to ignore it. It’s probably my brothers again, or worse, my mother. I cannot have the same conversation again. First the Council and now my family, when will the world understand that nothing and nobody will keep me from my mate.
I risk a glance and see that it’s Harry calling.
“Hey,” I say, with as much enthusiasm as I can muster.
“Your girl is the fucking boss.”
Now, this is more like it.
I laugh, but it encourages her further.
“No, seriously. I want the footage of her slicing off that bastard’s ear as my screensaver. Badass!”
Flopping back into the pile of pillows that have been steadily accumulating, Apollo crawls up next to me, resting his head on my stomach. He sniffs and lets out a small whine.
I miss her too, buddy.
“You took care of the cameras then?”
“Oh yeah. They’re never finding it. It didn’t take much.
I deleted the ones from the office and made it look like they glitched and broke a couple of weeks back.
The front gates and interiors were easier.
I put them on a loop until she was out of frame and left everything else in.
As far as the Council should be aware, all they saw was a terrified Omega, her child and staff escaping. ”
I need to buy her a present. She likes expensive bags. I wonder if I can subtly find out what she’s got her eye on and get it for her, or if it would be easier if I told her to buy it for herself. I have no doubt in my mind that she knows my bank information.
“I was thinking of bringing her in?” I ask cautiously.
I might head the company, but Harry is the heart and I respect the fuck out of her. I wouldn’t make decisions that could impact her without her input.
“Fuck yes!”
This is why I chose these people, and why I prefer to live in their world rather than in Browen’s. Not everything is as black and white as they see it.
“You know about her past?”
I don’t expect it to be an issue. Hell, we do worse on a daily basis than my mate has done in her life. But I won’t let it become one either. It’s better to be upfront about these things.
“—I’m not going to lie. I did look into her. Did you know her last name is made up? She goes by Ward because she wouldn’t respond to anything else they tried to give her.”
I’m not surprised, and the only thing I’m angry about is that my best friend knows more about my mate than I do.
“I don’t actually know much about her. But I’ll change that soon. Don’t tell me anything else. I want her to tell me. I only want to make sure you’re okay with her being around. You know, because she—”
“Kills Alphas? Sounds like she’ll fit right in. I’m going to dig a little deeper. Some stuff about her past doesn’t line up.”
“Anything I should worry about?”
“No. No. It’s nothing like that. Her records start with that incident with her parents. It could be nothing, but my instincts are screaming at me that there’s more to it, you know, and I do love a puzzle. If that’s okay with you?”
“If you want to.” I say to appease her.
Even if I objected, she would do it anyway. Better, I’m at least aware of what is going on.
“You do know that your brother has been blowing up my phone for the past hour?”
Fuck’s sake.
“Which one?”
“Dain,” she says with disgust.
Dain and Harry have a complicated relationship.
She hates him. Not so complicated. I won’t say who started it, mostly because I like my balls attached.
But she does have a habit of riling him up.
Dain isn’t one for jokes or pranks, and every time they happen to be in the same room, she finds a new way to poke at him.
“Is he going to be a problem?” She asks.
“Probably. Though currently it’s a toss up between him and Browen.”
“Dain being a dick doesn’t surprise me. He doesn’t like anything he can’t control, but Browen? With everything that happened with his mate?”
I sigh, running a hand through my hair.
I can’t believe it either. Hopefully, they will have time to calm down, or Henri will talk some sense into Browen at the least.
When Browen lost Omega Anna, I did everything I could to find her.
Harry worked on it behind the scenes, but still, we came up empty.
Reuben is a master at hiding his identity, and to this day Harry bothers him about how he did it.
Even when it looked like all hope was lost and her own family had given up on finding her, I didn’t stop.
Because I knew my brother needed her and, likely, she needed him.
I wasn’t going to stand by, do nothing, and tell my brother to give up. It hurts knowing he is willing to put me through the same pain.
Right now, my focus is on my Omega.
No one else matters.