Elliott #2
After escorting me home, Jet left to help vaccinate the cows.
When I walked into the house, Jackson, Trey, David, and Ben were there because their mates were helping out, too.
The vet, who was an alpha, was with them at the barn, so the omegas had to stay inside.
How could Nova explain having eight unmated omegas living on her property?
“Hi, Elliott,” Jackson greeted me. David, who was standing in the kitchen, looked over his shoulder and greeted me, too. Riku, Camp, and Zeke were playing a video game on the big screen TV, and Sol, Keane, Trey, and Ben were in a cuddle puddle on bean bags, on the floor, reading.
“Ren and I are making lunch. Where’ve you been? We were beginning to get worried about you,” David said.
“I went to talk to Dawson,” I said.
Ben turned to look at me over the back of the couch. “How’s he doing? We heard about the visit from the government. I’ll bet he was terrified.”
“He’s struggling. I talked to him about being scared, too, and about how the ops alphas will protect us.”
“Wow, and you don’t even like the ops alphas,” Keane commented, setting the book he was reading on the floor.
“Except for one,” Zeke teased me.
“I don’t like alphas, period,” I corrected. “But I’m not going to tell a kid that. I am aware that my fears are unreasonable. Jet respects that I don’t want him too close, so I’m not so afraid of him anymore.”
“Do you think Dawson felt better after talking to you?” Camp asked me.
“I think so. I feel really bad for him. He’s lonely and confused. I hope he doesn’t go into heat any time soon.”
“Maybe he won’t,” Ren said. “Some don’t until they’re a little older. Sixteen or seventeen.”
We changed the subject and had lunch together.
Later in the evening, after the vaccinations were over and the vet had gone home, I sat on the bench outside the front door, looking out into the night.
Other than the wind, which seemed to always be blowing here, some coyotes yipped in the distance and a couple of great horned owls called to one another.
I liked the night sounds on the ranch, even though they were kind of spooky.
After talking to Dawson, I was even more determined to help omegas so kids like him didn’t have to be afraid. My plan began taking shape in my head.
How I would get the information to the right people had always been a problem. If I took my cell phone with me, I’d have no place to hide it, and it would surely be confiscated. And the government might find my friends through my contacts. I needed to leave it behind.
But now I had Ben. I could contact Ben through our dreams with information that he could relay to the SOS and FBI. It was the perfect solution.
The other problem was how I was going to get off the ranch and to the bus station. I’d been thinking about it and decided to ask Riku to help me. He was the most likely to help me with this and the least likely to tell anyone.
Picking up my phone, I texted him to come out and talk to me when he could, but to come alone. I saw that he read it, but he didn’t answer.
Approximately twenty minutes went by before the front door opened and Riku slipped out. He sat down on the bench next to me.
“What’s up?”
In a low voice, I said, “I need to talk to you, but first you have to promise you won’t say a word about it to anyone.”
Riku scowled. “What’s this about?”
“I’m not saying anything until you swear you won’t tell. Even if you decide not to help me, you can’t say a word about it to anyone. Swear it on Ren’s life.”
“What? I’m not going to swear on my brother’s life. Listen, I won’t tell, okay? Believe me or don’t, I don’t care.”
I considered. “Okay.” Lowering my voice even more, I said, “Hear me out before saying anything. I’ve been planning this for a while. I’m going to leave here, anonymously turn myself in to ORCRO by reporting an unregistered omega sighting, and infiltrate the government from the inside.”
Riku stared at me in stunned silence before saying, “How the hell do you think you are going to get away with that? Remember the omega that the FBI sent to infiltrate the omega program who was later found floating in Capital River?”
“Yeah, but I have something he doesn’t: I’m an omega x. As soon as someone suspected that guy, he was dead. But they want omega x’s. They wanted my dad for that reason, and they’d hoped I was one, too.”
“That was the kidnappers, not the government.”
“You think they don’t want us, too? Come on. We can heal people!”
Riku sighed. “Tell me your plan.”
I laid everything out for him. When I came to the part about Ben and I communicating through dreams, Riku’s eyes widened, but he waited until I was finished to speak.
“Since when can you and Ben talk in your dreams?”
“We only recently found out because the omega x who emailed Gail said he and his twin could do it. So, we tried, and it worked the very first time. We’ve done it a lot since then.”
“And you see him and actually talk to him in your dream?”
I nodded.
“Is it, like, you find yourselves in a foggy field and your voices echo when you speak to each other?” Riku asked.
Frowning, I shook my head. “No. Not at all. The first time, I was dreaming about being in the pig pen, and suddenly there he was. Then, we just talked like normal.” I shrugged.
Riku continued to frown as though puzzling out how that might work.
“We practiced it for a week,” I added when he didn’t say anything.
“And Ben knows what you’re planning?” Riku finally asked.
“He knows about my plan because I told him a while back. Remember the day at his house when we discovered our matching freckles? I haven’t told Ben about his part in it yet.
I thought the perfect night for me to go would be when Jackson’s parents come next week.
Everyone will get together because they want to talk about all the new information they’ve gathered, but I’ll suddenly get sick and stay home.
And you’ll offer to stay with me. With everyone over at Ben’s attending the meeting, all I need is a way for me to get into the trunk of one of the cars and get driven over to Ben’s, so while the meeting’s going on, I can climb out and walk to the bus station. That’s where you come in.”
Riku looked conflicted.
“It’s a good plan, isn’t it?” I asked.
“It’s crazy,” Riku said. “But it might work. Only, I want to go, too.”
I stared at him. “To get turned in? Why?”
“Are you kidding? Because this is right up my alley! In fact, I should be doing it instead of you. Why didn’t you tell me the first time you thought of it?”
I frowned. “Why should it be you and not me?”
Riku made an impatient sound. “Because I’m the one who’s been training to become an ops alpha. I can fight—you can’t. And I’m not afraid of alphas like you are.”
“Oh, yeah?” I said, getting angry. “Can you talk to Ben in your dreams? No? Are you an omega x? No!”
Riku narrowed his eyes at me, but I narrowed mine back. He knew he was beaten.
“If I go with you, I can help,” he finally said.
“Or make things harder because there will be two of us to consider,” I pointed out.
“Riku,” I said seriously. “Ren would be devasted if anything happened to you. I need you here, anyway. You’re going to get me off the property so I can leave.
I know you can find a way for me to get me over to the Angels’ in secret that night so I can leave. ”
I saw the moment when Riku gave up his argument, and it was all because he couldn’t break his brother’s heart.
Sighing, he said, “Okay. Let me think on what the best way would be to get you out of here.”
Grinning, I said, “Thanks, Reeky.”
“Don’t call me Reeky!”
But Riku patted me on the head before we went inside.