Page 14 of For All My Effort

Sebastian shook his head while Han immediately tightened his grip on my leg, saying, “That’s not what he means. Of course, you should still protest. None of us agrees with the strict omega laws.”

“What do you mean, then?”

On my opposite side, I could scent Zeke’s emotional shift to amusement, but I didn’t take my attention away from the other two alphas.

Seb adjusted his clothes, fidgeting slightly before managing any words. “My family—mine and Han’s—are well-off. Not just financially, but socially.”

My nose wrinkled in distaste which made everyone chuckle.

“Yeah, we know,” he continued. “But at some point, we had decided it would be better to maintain the façade that comes from our family names.”

Han squeezed my leg, dragging my attention to him. “We did it to protect you. Omegas are barely afforded any rights as it is, if the OC, the public, found out an omega was protesting, we don’t know what that would mean for your designation. Most of the protests are done by betas. Whenever an alpha joins the forum in your app, you don’t attend.”

I frowned, unable to help it. How many protests was I missing because of this ‘rule’?

“Plus,” Seb added, “It also means we have the ear of certain important people.”

That got my attention. “Really?”

“I work for a lab that’s big with pharmaceuticals.” He laughed when he saw my expression drop. “Trust me, it feels distant in the chain of power, but it’s not nothing. And Han’s family—”

“My family is rich. Old money. At the minimum, it helps convince people to look the other way. To accept a handshake filled with cash so we can get something done.”

That made me feel … better. I’d apparently given up a little, but I wasn’t alone anymore. And if we were negotiating new rules about being at protests or not, I had some thoughts to share.

It was Jackson who brought the conversation back on track, simultaneously pulling me out of my thoughts. “None of us knows what happened between Hannah being at the protest and where we found her. Did the officer mark her as an omega? Did she do something—”

“Hey.” I glared at the alpha for the baseless accusation.

He just snorted. “Don’t even bother, rebel. We know exactly who we mated. You’re no innocent little omega.”

Despite the words, I preened.

My hand started buzzing, more messages coming in on the phone. I felt bad ignoring them, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle the other Hannah’s friends. She might have had good taste in mates, I just didn’t know if that would extend to random people. Anyways, I wouldn’t get the jokes, the references. It was better to just wait.

“We’ve had this conversation a lot.” Seb started pacing, staying in the room, just walking a few steps behind the little table Jackson was perched on. “Going with Hannah alerts everyone that there’s an omega protesting. It’ll cause a social epidemic.”

“She can’t go alone anymore,” Jackson argued. “If they’d grabbed her, we’d have never known.”

“We just need a new system.” Zeke’s words caught everyone’s attention. Leaning back against the couch, the hand not touching me laying on the top of the cushions, he looked completely relaxed in this conversation. “Maybe we go but pretend to not know Hannah. Arrive at different times. Someone can protect her, and it might even act like a fake confirmation that no omega is present.”

I nodded my head so hard I had to stop because the pain in the back of my head almost gave me an instant headache. “I like that idea.”

Sebastian and Han seemed to consider this option, having their own private conversation. It must be nice to know someone so well that you could communicate silently with them.

“We’re not saying no,” Sebastian started. He stared right at me as he said the words before turning his attention to Jackson. “But I would like to remind everyone that all four of us are easily recognizable.”

I glanced down at my clothes. They were still the same borrowed pajamas that I wore out of the hospital, so definitely not my style. Still, I couldn’t imagine my style as one that blended in. Unless…

I gasped. “Am I boring now? Do I wear sad beige clothes like the beta counselors tried to convince me was somehow better on my instincts? Color theory is bullshit, by the way. There’s no way that rhinestone bras and fishnet mittens make any difference in my temperament.”

Still sitting on the small table, Jackson leaned closer, pinching my chin between his thumb and fingers. “Take a deep breath, rebel.” He waited, actually waited until I’d done as he said, even if my breath was more of a puff of annoyance. “You’re still you. Putting together crazy outfits that we tear off you because we can’t stand not fucking you when you beam at us, so full of pride at whatever you’ve made that we actually get jealous of the fucking clothes you bedazzled and shit.”

“Oh.” His words were nice, probably, but it was his grip on my face, his stern glare, the way his crisp scent seemed to become stronger—

It happened faster than a blink. One moment, I was sitting on the couch, indulging in my mate, and the next, I was in Jackson’s lap, my knees spread on either side of him as my lips hovered just a breath away from his. I wanted to taste him. He was mine, after all. I’d claimed him.

Except it wasn’t me that claimed him. So, this last bit of distance made me hesitate.

---