Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
When he’s not in the library or my nest, it’s not uncommon to find Simon at the kitchen table, a coffee in front of him, typing frantically on his computer.
He’s been slowly hacking the Saint Galen Consortium in between surfacing missing persons reports.
While he can’t lock in on the signal for the collars due to the wards, he does sneak into their network and gets an idea of their power consumption by parts of their building.
It’s allowed him to narrow down which operating theater he believes my father is using for his experiments and determine where the test subjects might be being held.
Working with Cassian, who knows the campus, and Ian, Luca and Marcus, all of whom got to see part of the consortium when rescuing me, we start to piece together locations on a giant map of Saint Galen’s hanging on the library wall.
We get more information every day, but every day brings with it new horrors.
More omegas are grabbed off the street, filling the already at-capacity omega rehabilitation centers.
The Soldiers have yet to release the mated omegas whose packs have been pursuing their release through legal means, just as the Soldiers have yet to release any hostages from the consortium.
I’m vision casting in Marcus’ lap, letting my affinity flow through me, when I’m struck with a vision.
It comes with no pain this time, and it’s like I’m seeing through my own eyes once again, though when I look down at my hands, it’s not my hands I see, but two masculine hands clad in black leather gloves, gripping the handle of a cart.
I try to look around, but the body—a Soldier—continues onward to the rooms where hostages are being kept.
He trades words with a Soldier standing guard at one of the rooms and is let inside.
I miss the complex warding the guard undoes because the Soldier whose body I’m in looks away.
I let out a growl of annoyance and feel Marcus hold me tighter.
The vision continues. I’m let into the room where hostages are gathered against the back wall, huddled together.
And that’s when I see them: worse for wear, emaciated, but live in the flesh. All of Bethany’s alphas. Pack Leclerc has survived.
The Soldier sets a stack of rations at the front of the room, then backs out into the hallway, carrying on to five more rooms. I note the classroom number of each one of them, and the moment my vision clears, I leap up from Marcus’ lap and dash to the giant map of Saint Galen’s we’ve been annotating.
I quickly mark down the rooms where the hostages are being held, stop to give Marcus a quick kiss, and then run through the halls of the Leclerc estate until I find Cassian in the kitchen with Simon.
“Cass,” I say breathlessly. “I’ve seen them. Your parents are still alive, and I know where they are.”
“The government troops are still at a standstill,” Graeme says at the next resistance meeting. “The Soldiers are threatening to kill hostages if any of the troops engage. We don’t know if the hostages are still alive, and we don’t know where they’re being held.”
I raise my hand slowly, and Graeme nods for me to go ahead.
“Simon and I have found out where at least some of the hostages are being held. Simon was able to track power utilization to a block of specific rooms. We believe that’s where they’re being held.
” I bite at the inside of my cheek, hoping Graeme understands the part unspoken: that I’ve seen the hostages with my affinity.
“My pack is in a unique position following our time as hostages at Saint Galen’s.
Though my men were limited in what they were able to see—trying to get to me as quickly and quietly as possible—they were still able to get a fundamental layout of some of the campus.
That, and we know an unguarded entrance to the consortium.
There are secret tunnels running beneath the campus, one of which opens about half a mile from the school. ”
Gasps go up through the room.
“The secret tunnels are real?” Sienna asks, her eyes wide. “I’ve heard tale, but not that anyone had ever found them.”
“The headmaster guided us through the tunnel Juniper mentioned when we freed her,” Ian adds in. “It’s a solid way in that won’t be guarded. It will still be warded, but I’ve already broken the wards once. I’m more than confident that I can do it again.”
I unroll the map we’ve been annotating and use magic to stick it to the lodge’s wall, briefly explaining where we believe the hostages are being held as well as the position of the hidden tunnel.
I then swallow hard, bracing myself to relive some of my own experience. “I was held in a treatment room near one of the operating theaters. I witnessed my father experiment on an omega firsthand.”
“That’s appalling,” Mai gasps, coming up to look at the map and our markings on it.
Of any of the resistance members in the lodge with us, she’s the most likely to know the medical school within the consortium’s campus.
“I think Pack Rose is correct. From my time at Saint Galen’s, I would agree that the test subjects are being held right here.
” She gestures to one of the areas we’d marked off. “How many did you see?”
“I estimate there were thirty in confinement, though I didn’t see them all for myself.”
“That would track,” Mai agrees. “And Simon has noticed a higher draw of power here?” she asks, pointing to one of the three operating theaters.
I nod. “That has to be where he carries out his experiments, though I hesitate to call them experiments any longer. My father has succeeded. Though his success rate isn’t one hundred percent yet, he has given at least twenty-one alphas omega affinities.
That could mean as many as fifty dead omega test subjects. We’ve got to act quickly.”
“So, the ice attacker had an affinity? Do you know any others?”
“The omega he was attempting to operate on when I was held hostage had a fire affinity. I don’t imagine she’s still alive.
My father will be giving that affinity to an alpha, if he hasn’t already.
I’m not sure how he transfers the affinity, but I don’t believe any alphas have died while receiving an affinity.
We have to act quickly, if not for the hostages, then for the test subjects.
My heart bleeds for them, but they all also pose an inherent risk: my father’s success in removing their maginaluses means more alphas getting affinities.
We’ve already seen the damage one was capable of.
I learned from my father that Baphomet’s Prince will begin mobilizing troops once he has fifty affinitied alphas.
With these alphas leading his armies, Baphomet’s Prince will surely reign.
If his plans proceed much further, it’ll be a question of when, not if. ”
Jack paces the front of the room. “We still don’t have all the data we need.
There are guards to contend with, and we only know the extent that you’ve seen.
If there are ten rooms of hostages, that’s two guards a piece.
You saw another three in the operating theater, but that can’t account for all of them.
You said about a hundred were part of the attack? ”
“It was pandemonium, but that’s my best estimate.”
“I back her up on that,” Marcus says. “I was on the periphery when it happened.”
“So where are the rest of them, Juniper?” Jack asks, looking as weary as he does wired.
“I don’t know,” I admit.
“Then this would be a suicide mission,” Graeme surmises. “We don’t have the numbers.”
“We don’t,” I hedge. “But we have forty omegas who want to help fight back against the Soldiers. It doesn’t even the odds, but it closes them significantly.”
“But they’re untrained,” a resistance member I’m not familiar with says from the gathered group.
“Ah,” Ian says. “That’s where you’re wrong.
Juniper, Cassian and I have been training them in magic for months now.
They’re strong in their affinities, sufficiently capable at casting, and Cassian has been teaching them the basics of combat magic.
They’re not an army by any stretch, but they’re impassioned and willing to give their lives to free the test subjects. ”
“He’s right,” Graeme sighs. “Despite my reservations, we do have a fighting force of omegas who are willing and able to fight. I worry for their safety in an engagement like this, but they’ve spent too long being controlled by others. It’s ultimately their decision to fight.”
“We still need more information if this operation is to be successful,” Jack says. “Even with the help of the omegas.”
I ball my hands in frustration, but I know he’s right.
Graeme calls the meeting to a close and asks me to hang back. When it’s just him, Jack and my pack, Graeme approaches me. “I want to take the fight to the Soldiers of Saint Aldous, Juniper. I truly do. But we need more information. Can you glean any more from your father?”
I nod. “I believe so. I’ve been training in my affinity. The next time I’m in class with him, I’ll do some deeper digging than I’ve been able to so far.”
“Good,” Jack says. “Hopefully that gives us more to work from.”
“A lot of what I know comes from visions and my father. I wouldn’t know about the number of affinitied alphas if not for my digging, but I’ll do more. I swear it.”
“Don’t put yourself in too much danger.”
“Danger?” I laugh. “I’ve got three of my mates attending every class I have with my father with me.”
“Ah, that’s right,” Graeme says, smiling now. “I believe congratulations are in order once more. Is Pack Rose complete?”
I return his smile. “It is.”
“One of these days, we must celebrate,” he says as we head toward the door to leave.
I feel a niggling presence just beyond the doorway to the room. Cora. She’s gone just as fast as I felt her, racing away from the lodge.
My phone rings just as I’m getting ready for bed, and I look at the screen with a frown.
I pick up the call quickly. “Jack? What is it?”
“Actually, it’s Cora,” the omega says. “But I didn’t steal his phone.”
“I let her use it,” Jack says with a sigh. “You’re on speaker, but it’s just us.”
“I followed Graeme and Jack to the resistance meeting,” Cora says in a rush, as if admitting it out loud for the first time.
“I know. I felt you there,” I tell her. “You heard everything?”
“All of it,” she confirms, voice resolute.
“And I want to help, but carefully this time. You mentioned wards. I’m getting better at casting, but there’s no way I can take down wards yet.
I wouldn’t even know where to start. But if you can get me in, I think I can get counts of the Soldiers, see their rotations and find out where we need to focus our fights.
I can run around and hide as necessary,” she goes on quickly.
“I won’t engage the hostages so as not to tip anyone off.
This is the information you need, isn’t it? To stage the attack.”
“It is,” I allow. “But Cora, this will be dangerous. We think there could be a hundred Soldiers holed up in the consortium.”
“So you said. Look, a million things could go wrong. There could be internal warding in parts of the consortium we’re not aware of.
Try as I might, I could be captured. But Juniper, it’s worth it.
We have to free those omegas before your father can operate on them.
I can’t stand by while more omegas are tortured and killed.
If I can infiltrate Saint Galen’s, then we can attack. ”
“She’s right,” Jack says reluctantly. “I don’t like this at all, but Cora is right. She’s capable of getting the exact information we need.”
“Cora, are you sure?” I ask, hoping she is and hoping she isn’t. We need this information, but I’d never forgive myself if something happened to the omega I’ve befriended. “We can find another way.”
“I’m the way. I can do this if you’ll help me.”
I bite my lower lip. “Let me talk to Ian about the wards. If he can get you in, I can’t stop you. I won’t stop you. You have every right to want to fight.”
“Damn right I do,” Cora mutters. “I’ll be careful. I promise.”
I sigh. “I’ll call you back after I’ve talked to Ian tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you, Juniper. Really, thank you. “
“I need to do this,” Cora says in earnest. “Surely, you must know how that feels.”
Surely, I do.
I feel a spike of fear in my bond with Cassian and run to the family room where he has the TV on.
Once again, Baphomet’s Prince has stolen the airwaves.
I shudder as I take my mate’s side, Simon joining us just seconds later.
Slowly, the rest of my pack filters into the room, feeling my anxiety flood through our bonds.
I swallow hard as I take in the infamous Prince. His mask looks no less vicious than it does in my visions, more refined than the other Soldiers wear, but terrifying nevertheless.
“We have taken control of the Council of Nine,” the Prince intones.
“Through murder and hostage taking,” Ian says with a scowl.
“With our control of the government complete, troops have been commanded to stand down. The siege of the Saint Galen Consortium is over, and the hostages will be dealt with. I have your hero, your beloved councilor Gerard Leclerc, in the palm of my hand, and I intend to squeeze.”
Cassian’s fear is like a bottomless pit, but he doesn’t try to block it from me.
He lets it wash through his bond with me, letting me shoulder some of the burden.
In truth, I’m just as worried for his parents; they’ve been the loving family I’ve always wanted, and I don’t know what I would do without them.
I squeeze my mate’s hand, just as Simon does the same.
I feel him, just a gentle brush through my bond with Cassian, and he’s troubled, his worry for Cassian so sharp, so savage that he’s barely holding it together.
“We have taken out those who would stand against us, dismantled the institutions in the way of our new world order. My master race rises by the day, built on the spilled blood of our fallen foes.”
The test subjects. It’s their spilled blood that’s allowed him to build this horrific master race of affinitied alphas.
“Do not resist,” the Prince says, and the airwaves return to the news broadcast Cassian had been watching before Baphomet’s Prince stole the airwaves.
My summer-sunshine alpha bows his head as Simon and I surround him. My pack mates set hands on his shoulders, murmuring their support, their own fears.
Pack Leclerc has become a family to all of us, taking us all in without hesitation. They can’t die. They can’t.
Saints, we have to act quickly. We need to get Cora into Saint Galen’s.