Page 128 of Sawyer

“You don’t believe that,” he snaps at me.

“How long, Freddy?” I push forward a little, letting my leg fall to the side. “How long have you been working for this guy?”

“My uncle?” he questions. “All my life. He has a plan.”

There are thirty seconds left. “What’s that?”

“I know what you’re doing, Sawyer.” He smiles at me, and it’s that boy-next-door expression that he used to wear when I thought he was my friend. Except Vee showed me in less than an hour what a genuine friend is like. “You won’t find a mate. My uncle assured me that I could have you.”

“He can’t just gift me to you. No one can.”

“Your brother can.”

I shake my head, hating this world and everything in it. “No.”

“Yes, Sawyer. You will belong to me.” He’s so calm and sure that it feels like he knows something I don’t.

“I will never belong to you, no matter what anyone else says, and even if I get stuck with you somehow, I will never be yours.” Resolve settles in the pit of my belly. “I’d rather die.”

The timer blinks off.

The ruddy complexion of Freddy’s face deepens, and he smirks, his nostrils flaring. “You’ll see, Sawyer, you’ll see.” He wags a finger at me as the door opens, and then he backs out.

Red lights flash, “No match,” and then fresh air gets pumped into my room while another countdown begins with a two at the bottom.

How many males?

The air sweeps out Freddy’s rotten scent, and that sweet air gets pumped in again, and now I can taste the slight difference. They are pumping something into this room, but what?

The countdown ticks to zero, and another man walks in. He looks familiar, and I take a moment to place him. “Pearson.”

“You know me,” he purrs, stepping up to the glass as the door closes and the countdown begins. He’s an older version of Sin and just as handsome in his aging form. Though where Sin is lean, his father is athletic and tall, built with more muscle.

His eyes are so much like Sin’s that it’s unsettling, and he stares at me with curiosity, which I’ve seen so many times in his son’s eyes. Wearing a casual suit, he looks like he just stepped out of a conference instead of into an observation room.

That’s when I get it. Observation. It’s when males get to observe the females, smell us, and see if they are even remotely attracted to us.

It’s dark and disturbing, and I want to set this entire building on fire.

The countdown pauses, and Pearson grabs a stool, swinging it around to sit on it. “You’ve been a pain in my ass from the moment you showed up in the media, Sawyer,” he says while propping a foot on a bar of the stool and leaning forward.

His earthy scent pumps through the vents, spilling over my senses, but it’s not quite like Sin’s. It’s close, but my body rejects it.

Is this what they have been doing with the omegas?

“You’re welcome,” I tell the councilman. I’ve never met with any of them besides the monarch’s pack. It’s an unsettling experience to look at one of the men directly responsible for everything wrong in this world.

“You must think we’re monsters here.”

I don’t hesitate. “I do.”

He nods and itches the side of his neck. “We aren’t. Consider this an exclusive.”

“A story?” I bark out a dry laugh. “An exclusive I’ll never be able to tell the world.”

“You won’t. No.” His dirty brown hair falls in his eyes, and he pushes it back, focusing his cruel gaze on me. “You need to understand our motivation, Sawyer.”

“There is no motivation that will ever excuse the death of another.”

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