Chapter 41 #2
A round of cheers goes up from the crowd of reporters, and it’s nice to know there are people on our side, that all of our work in dismantling a corrupt, hateful organization won’t be without supporters.
Maybe the conservative tide of anti-omega sentiments isn’t as strong or debilitating as I had believed.
Maybe there are still those who will rally around our cause.
I sag in relief the moment my father is cuffed and forced into a police prison transport vehicle.
It’s done. It’s finally done.
Today we dealt a decisive blow to Baphomet’s Prince.
It won’t go unpunished—that much I know. Our future is uncertain, and I’ve managed to draw a spotlight to myself, but I’ll rest easily tonight knowing we managed to deal this blow. That my father won’t be able to steal anymore affinities to give to the leaders of the Prince’s armies.
We’ve just taken untold numbers of potentially affinitied alphas out of the game. Because of our actions tonight, more than thirty omegas are free from the Soldiers’ clutches. In every way, tonight was a success.
I don’t know if we’ll see all-out war in the streets of Fairhaven, if my visions will come to pass, but I’m filled with more hope now than I have been in months. Together with the resistance and the affinitied omegas, we’re capable of great things. We’re capable of seeing justice meted out.
Maybe the future can be changed, and maybe I can be the one to do it, as Sienna said.
I won’t stop this fight, not until the world is safe for omegas. Not until Baphomet’s Prince and his Soldiers of Saint Aldous are vanquished for good.
Graeme stops me the moment I enter the castle at dawn and pulls me into a hug.
“How many Soldiers did we strike down?” I murmur.
“Seventy-eight.”
“Omegas?” I venture to ask.
“A few injuries, which your Doctor Huong will attend to.”
“And the resistance?”
“A single casualty,” Graeme says. “A very brave army defector.”
“And the affinitied alphas? Did you encounter them?”
“The ones we did were counted among the casualties,” he says, grim pride in his voice. “At least five of them. The rest disappeared in clouds of smoke, clearly seeing the writing on the wall.”
Saints, that means that a significant number of Soldiers were taken down, and alphas with affinities were removed from the fight to come.
I thought their deaths would make me uneasy, would make me look at the resistance members and omegas differently, but all I feel is relief.
Relief that we’ve diminished their numbers.
The newly freed omegas from Saint Galen’s are covertly taken to the castle and admitted within its chaotic magic.
Many are frightened of alphas pointing scribes at them, so I cast the spell on each of them myself, introducing myself as I go.
They marvel at their new home. Mai and I work through the day healing them and talking with them.
Many chafe at the confinement of the castle but know the real dangers that exist outside of its magical borders.
When we’ve tended to each, I assemble them together and tell them what my father’s intentions were for them.
Some gasp; many cry. The omegas who freed them are quick to take them into their arms. They swap horror stories and sob together: a catharsis I alone wouldn’t have been able to grant them.
Ian offers to teach them magic, and while some are wary, most are interested in learning to defend themselves, in learning how to fight back.
The omegas who freed them are quick to reassure them, singing my mate’s praises.
I look out over the crowd of omegas and catch Ian’s eye with a tired smile.
His answering smile is just as weary, but no less beautiful for it.
Aimee insists that I help these newly freed omegas with their affinities, and I immediately agree.
I’ll work with any omega who wants to learn from me.
Our army grows with every omega’s pledge, every omega’s desire to fight back and take back what was stolen from them: their lives, their spirits, their bodies.
They may be broken, but they’re strong.
Together, we’re all strong.
It takes more time to return the hostages to their homes.
Due to the sheer volume of them, it takes a while to transport them, and many of the packs of parents don’t live in Canada.
Without passports and identification, they’re temporarily stranded in Fairhaven.
Gerard’s office staff are instrumental in housing them and working with the embassies to see them safely returned home.
The hostages are weak, malnourished and frail, but we didn’t lose a single one. We got to them all in time.
As for Gerard, he appoints a new member to take the seat of Annette Claude, the councilor killed by the alpha with the ice affinity.
They win back their control of the Council, but the margin is narrow still, the threat of Baphomet’s Prince lingering over all of them.
He clearly has no compunctions about having councilors killed by his alpha Soldier lackeys.
It takes a brave man to replace Annette.
Gerard sees to it that security is more than doubled.
Every sympathetic councilor now has a tactical team guarding them in their homes and in the Council chambers.
Still, we wait for the other shoe to drop. Baphomet’s Prince successfully got the army to stand down, a show of power that chills me to the bone. While many defected from the army and joined the resistance, many remained, taking orders from a monster.
As for the Prince, he’s in the wind. No one saw him at Saint Galen’s during the battle.
It’s possible he was holed up somewhere within the consortium and disappeared in a cloud of smoke when the tide of the battle turned.
Regardless, after talking to the resistance and the omegas, it’s clear that he wasn’t part of the fight.
A wave of fear licks through me at the thought of the Prince, rebuilding, just waiting to strike again, but I save that fear for another day.
Saint Galen’s has vowed to rebuild. With Pack Leclerc, we attend a press conference on the consortium’s steps where the headmaster speaks to students and reporters. We’re heavily guarded, Alpha and Bravo Teams stepping in to keep us safe as we attend the conference.
Fear bombards my affinity from Pack Leclerc and many of the assembled guests, some of whom were held hostage within the very walls the headmaster speaks of rebuilding. But there’s an undercurrent of strength among them, too.
While Cass won’t be able to start classes until the spring term, he is commended by the headmaster for his bravery in helping to secure the school from the Soldiers’ hands. He speaks of Cassian’s courage, of my courage and my pack’s courage.
We still bear the scars of our time as hostages, etched forever on our hearts and souls. But we’re healing.
Day by day, we’re healing.