Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
ABO Facility
Bird whimpers, huddling against me.
Trembling, he attempts to hide against my shoulder as we step through the steel security door together into the warden’s study in the ABO Facility.
“Quiet.” Joker shoves Bird hard in the middle of his back.
Bird stumbles forward.
He cries out, landing painfully on his knees on the concrete floor.
I wince, growling.
When I twirl on Joker, raising my hands, which are bound with thick rope, it is Phantom who grabs me by the scruff of my neck and shoves me down next to Bird.
We are all dressed in matching black trousers and pants, along with long, woolen coats.
Phantom and Joker appear to be the typical professional bounty hunters returning to collect their pay.
Cold. Callous. Uncaring.
As a pack, we choreographed this scene to ensure that the pair looked this way because we worked out that acting like Phantom and Joker had fulfilled the contract was our best way into the heart of the Facility.
Bird was nervous about how he’d deal with his pack treating him roughly, until Joker winked at him and told him to imagine that it was roleplay.
Our plan is working.
Both Phantom and Joker refused to hand over their weapons to the guards when they entered the Facility.
Who would challenge a contract killer?
Bird and I have no weapons on us.
For now.
This is Joker’s chance to showcase his magician’s apprentice skills at drawing the audience’s attention.
I can sense the excitement through the bond from both Bird and Joker.
We are wearing masks, and for once, it’s fucking thrilling.
This is our joint revenge. We’ll free the Rogues today and through doing that, set us all free.
Mr. Baskerville is seated behind his intimidating desk, which dominates the windowless study.
The shelves that line the walls behind him look at first glance like books but are in fact casefiles. The spines are stamped with the Rogues’ numbers, rather than names, some of them in black to indicate those who have died.
A disturbing number are black.
Underneath the glow of the green banker’s lamp on the desk, lies a metal tray of needles.
I stiffen.
Is that the toxin, which they intend to use to wipe out the Rogues? Have they developed it already?
Have we got here just in time?
My Powers attempt to rise, but the warden has learned from last time. He has flooded the Facility with both scent and pheromone blockers.
The ventilators whir above us.
Neither Joker nor I can surprise Mr. Baskerville or his guards with our Rogue Powers.
Unluckily for the warden, we have other talents.
Mr. Baskerville’s watery gaze scans just once over Bird and me, kneeling and bound, before he dismisses us as caught and harmless.
Big mistake.
The warden chuckles. “Seventy, you can’t say I didn’t warn you that if you escaped, then you’d be hunted. Although, the bounty set was dead or alive. I expected these two mutants would be returned in body bags. You won’t be paid more, Mr. Hunter, for returning these demonic aberrations alive.”
Phantom’s eyes narrow.
Joker smiles charmingly, however, as he perches on the edge of the desk. “Aren’t they more valuable alive?”
“Don’t try and renegotiate the payment. I am already meeting with you, which is a courtesy that I don’t normally extend.
When I believed that I could breed them and then experiment on their child, I would have kept them alive briefly.
But now that I have this…” Mr. Baskerville waves his hand at the white liquid, which looks innocent in the needle, and his face lights up with a ghoulish glee.
“…I am close to fulfilling my pack’s sacred duty to scourge these rats from the—”
Unexpectedly, a gunshot cracks through the air.
Bird violently flinches.
The bullet hits Mr. Baskerville in the forehead, breaking off his words mid-sentence.
A dark bloom appears in the center of his forehead. Then his body sags forward over the desk. Blood spills in a pool on the polished surface.
I sigh, jumping to my feet and pulling myself free from the ropes that I could have escaped at any time. “So much for sticking to the plan.”
Phantom glares at the warden’s corpse.
The Chief Alpha is still holding the gun in his hand. Then he slips his sidearm back into his holster.
He signals: Dick.
Fair point.
I help Bird to stand. Then I unwind the ropes from his wrists.
Joker reaches over Mr. Baskerville’s slumped body to gingerly pick up the needle, before slipping it into his pocket. “I was a second from shooting him myself. I couldn’t listen to anymore bullshit either. Okay, we have the evidence. What now?”
The Omega resistance agreed to back our attack on the Facility, as long as we searched for real evidence of the experiments.
They intend to leak what we find to the press and online to the public.
The politicians in the Knight and the Saint packs in tandem will make sure that no one can look away from a fourth dynamic existing.
A dynamic that can switch between dynamics.
Because if you can be both Alpha and Omega, then how can our society continue to deny Omegas entry to college?
If an Omega can become a Beta, who decides whether they are allowed to work?
The argument against equality crumbles.
Rogues aren’t something to be feared. We are the hope of this world.
It will still take time for people to argue and fight over what this all means, but still, nothing will be the same again.
Plus, with Joker’s invention of the watch to help Rogues control their powers, which a wealthy resistance pack called the Kings have agreed to fund, then if the government comes for us, we’ll be ready to fight.
Rogues will never be the prey again.
Suddenly, alarms start to blare and the room drops to the scarlet of emergency lighting.
“Well, we’ve lost the element of surprise.” My eyes spark with vicious delight. “How about instead we fucking tear this place apart?”
“Works for me.” Joker reaches into one of his many concealed pockets and pulls out a packet of small metal gadgets, which I remember seeing him tinkering on in his workshop.
Back then, however, he was too scared to allow any of us to touch them.
Joker hesitates. Then he steels himself, before he tosses them to Bird.
“Press one of these over each cell lock, Cookie. Make sure that you step back though because after three seconds exactly, they’ll go kaboom. Then the Rogues will be freed.”
My eyes widen in surprise.
Bird appears just as shocked as I am that Joker is trusting him with this job, but also, the first time that he has faced this fear.
I can sense the glowing joy from Bird and how much it means to him.
Bird knows that he doesn’t have the same hand-to-hand combat skills as the rest of us. He isn’t a gun, weapon, or tech expert. He’s not the fastest, strongest, or smartest. He’s not the jock or the most experienced about the world or sex.
Yet he’s the heart of our pack.
The sunshine.
He’s not worthless, simply a pretty ornament like his mom treated him or simply there to be fucked like he was as a Hotel Omega.
I love that Joker and Phantom understand how important respecting Bird is to him.
Bird gives a determined nod. “What will you three be doing?”
Joker slips my courting dagger out of a compartment in his coat and throws it to me.
I catch the knife with a grin. “We’ll be doing what we do best. Killing.”
“Also, finding my sister.” Joker exchanges a glance with Phantom.
The first tendrils of fear curl through me.
I hope that Colette is still alive.
What if Dr. Gill — the Operator — has killed Joker’s sister in the experiments? My gaze flicks to the black case files on the shelves.
Then my expression darkens.
Time to burn down this fucking Facility.
I turn on my heel, before I lead my way to the music of the alarms out into the corridor.
Phantom, Joker, and Bird prowl at my shoulder. Our coats swirl behind us, as like dark vengeance, we stalk down the pulsing scarlet corridor.
When guards yell and barrel toward us, Phantom and Joker raise their guns and shoot.
I don’t even slow.
I am done being controlled.
I am done being a prisoner.
I am done being hunted.
I tip my head back and howl.
The Rogues are clanking at the bars of their cells on either side of the corridor. They are yelling in excitement, rioting.
Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpse Bird darting between the cells, pressing the gadgets to the locks.
The small explosions send smoke and orange sparks like fireworks pluming through the small space.
Devils, reveling in escaping hell, we swagger through the center of it all.
Bird encourages the Rogues free of their cells.
“Find somewhere safe,” I hear Bird say, “and wait for us. Please, trust us, we’re here to save every Rogue.”
I bare my teeth.
I swore that I would free these Rogues.
I’ve fucking done it.
When a muscled Alpha with a shaved head and tiny eyes, which are so dark that they look like they are black, hurls himself out of a cell and into me, he knocks me to the floor.
I glare into Greco’s enraged face.
He must have been disciplining a Rogue.
I’ve never been happy to see him before.
“I’ll fucking kill you.” Greco punches me across the jaw.
I don’t flinch.
Instead, I knee him in the balls and then the guts.
When he curls over to his knees, I straighten, gesturing at Greco to stand and fight me.
I wave at Phantom and Joker to stay back.
I need this fight.
Greco staggers to his feet. “Psycho, do you think that you can take me without your powers?”
“Obviously you don’t know my full reputation in the Adonis pack.”
He pales.
Maybe he does.
I launch myself on Greco with a flurry of hits and kicks.
He stumbles back, knocked against the wall.
I’m breathing hard but vibrating with exhilaration.
I don’t even need to break a sweat to take down someone like him.
Without his Discipline Strap, electricity, and threats to someone I love, men like him are nothing.
I grab Greco by the neck, slamming him against the wall, once and then twice.
He howls, scrabbling at my hand. “P-p-please…”
“You must mistake me for someone who has mercy.” My voice is cold.
“Someone like the kind Omegas who you torture and abuse. But I am Rogue Hunter. This is my vengeance. And my Omega once told me that I am better than this, but do you want to know a secret?” I lower my mouth to his ear to whisper, “I’m not. ”
I stab my dagger with a vicious twist into Greco’s stomach.
He gurgles, and blood flecks his lips.
A calm satisfaction washes over me.
I step back, dragging the knife out of the brutal guard who has hurt Colette, Bird, me, and many more Rogues — people he reduced to no more than numbers.
Greco clutches at his stomach, before collapsing to the floor.
I turn away from him.
Joker looks up from helping a Rogue out of the cell opposite me, when he feels the calmness through the bond.
It’s not happiness. Nothing can take back the hurt I have suffered.
But it’s enough.
Joker nods in understanding.
Then suddenly, he lets out a shocked exhale.
He has become pale, staring at something…someone…over my shoulder like he has seen a ghost.
I twirl around.
Dr. Gill is creeping along the side of the corridor, as if she can remain invisible that way. She is holding Colette in front of her like a human shield with a needle of toxin pressed to her neck in threat.
“Colette,” Joker whispers.
I nod.
Joker doesn’t hesitate.
He runs toward Colette, shooting at the same time.
The bullet hits Dr. Gill between the eyes on the first shot.
Dr. Gill’s hand instantly drops, and the needle falls to the floor from her lax fingers. The needle rolls away.
Dr. Gill is slammed backwards away from Colette.
Joker grabs Colette, snatching her into his arms. “Sis…”
Shaking, Colette slowly raises her arms to hold him. “Armand?”
Armand…?
His real name.
Joker flinches but holds onto Colette tighter. “I’ve found you.”
He’s crying.
My eyes are stinging, as I watch the brother and sister finally reunited through the smoke.
“I knew that you’d come for me when you could. I never gave up on you.” Colette’s voice is tear tinged. “You got tall.”
“So did you. I used to change your diapers.”
“Hey, don’t talk about that. Brothers are so embarrassing. When did you learn to shoot a gun?”
“Let’s talk about that when I’m not taking down a secret government facility, huh? Come home with me.” Joker grabs his sister’s hand.
His cheeks are wet.
He tugs Colette toward me.
“Home?” Colette whispers like she never imagined that she would again.
“My pack’s home,” Joker repeats proudly like it’s still an incredible thought to him as well.
Dazed, her gaze finally settles on me.
She waves. “Am I dreaming? Or is Sev here as well?”
“I said that I would be back to free you, Col.” I arch my brow. “Your brother is my bonded Beta.”
“Hmm, now we have a best friend’s brother dilemma. Luckily, I give my blessing.” Colette rallies. “And your Omega is setting the other Rogues free. I should never have doubted you. The other Rogues are living with us too, right? They’ll be our pack…?”
For the first time, I don’t know what to say.
I glance at Joker, helplessly.
I haven’t thought that far. My focus has been on the mission to free Colette and then revenge.
I’m not a good person like Colette is.
Phantom strides to Colette, however, resting his large hand on her shoulder.
He nods.
“This is my Chief Alpha, Phantom.” Joker smiles, bouncing with excitement.
“It seems that he’s agreed to your idea.
We own this safehouse. We are…may be…outlaws.
It pays well. So, we have enough money to build a sanctuary for the Rogues in the forest. There is a mansion neighboring us.
We could put in an offer that the owners can’t refuse and refit it for the Rogues’ use. ”
Joker has the mafia language down.
“I’ll negotiate it,” I offer.
It looks like the Hunters will be a large pack after all.
We won’t be alone again.
“Let’s sweep this level and then prepare to burn this…” I choke on my words, staggering against the wall.
Phantom drops his gun and clutches my arm in alarm.
Panicked, I nuzzle the Alpha’s throat.
Phantom growls protectively.
The explosions must have broken the pheromone blockers.
The elation and strength of my emotions is making me transform into an Omega in the middle of our takeover of the facility.
My scent sweetens to caramel.
I howl, as my body transforms into Switch, and I tumble into heat.