Page 75 of Ruled By The Alpha

I nodded. My eyes searched out Cooper and Aiden, who stood close by.

"Your alphas may accompany you," Hanson said with an incline of his head. That he called them my alphas and not my mates, felt significant.

Loading up into the back of one of the two SUVs, we rolled out of Rivervale penitentiary, possibly for the last time. Sandwiched between Cooper and Aiden, I contemplated my future.

I was nervous. I remembered my last meeting with Rowan. How strongly I'd responded to him. He'd had a presence, as all alphas did, but was he also ruthless?

What would he do when he had me at his mercy?

Would he punish me for not coming to him sooner? No, I didn't think so.

I told myself I could accept this. Rowan wasn't a monster; at least, I didn't think he was. He wanted to expand Taylor's claim, because that way led to safety.

The two virologists who joined us last month would be among the first to go. I harbored no bitterness that their skills would find greater purpose in Taylor's community. We might be small comparatively, but we had skills, like Lilith, a trained nurse who’d been a pragmatic godsend.

We had two other omegas already mated when they joined us a year ago. I couldn't think of a reason for Rowan to interfere with an established bond, but I would call it out when we spoke. I presumed Rowan wanted my cooperation, and while I didn't have many demands, I expected my few to be met.

We bounced over rutted roads and the outskirts of the sprawling town, now under Taylor's command via Rowan, came into view. My stomach tied in knots. Novas Vires wasn't a large town, but it had a riverfront and a wharf, where I presumed they used boats to keep in contact with the city under Taylor's rule on the opposite bank. They'd both had other names once, not that I had a clue what they were. My parents fled east after the collapse in a camper van. I don't remember being a diligent student, but there were over three hundred cities in our country, and I could only name a dozen of the most obvious.

My eyes remained dry, but it was getting harder to cling to my iron mantle of control as we rolled over the rutted tarmac, taking a freeway eerily clear of cars. It had been a long time since I'd ventured this far from the penitentiary, and as we exited the freeway and the offices, apartment blocks, and derelict shops came into view, I sought the connection of my two alphas. They purred, instinctively seeking to calm me. I didn't like that show of my nerves, but as strong hands enclosed mine to either side, I gave in to the comfort. No longer a leader, I was an unmated omega about to be fed to the wolves.

If my life has taught me anything, it was to fake what I couldn't be. An omega had her own strengths and weaknesses, and this forced me to acknowledge them anew. I cared moreabout my community than myself. Yet I still had a dozen knives about my person, and I was betting at least one would escape his notice.

I asked myself what I could accept.

Could I be with a male not of my choice because it would ease the passage for my people?

Could I use a hidden knife if my instincts were wrong and I found him to be a monster?

"You never told me what happened between you," I whispered, almost lost under the growl of the engine.

"It doesn't matter anymore," Aiden said. "Shit happened. He changed."

"We all changed," Cooper said.

"Was it for the better or worse?" I asked the burning question.

"Neither," Cooper said, and I could hear the sadness in his voice. "Sometimes, shit happens, and you can't ever go back."

"He's trying to—"

"Shut the fuck up," Cooper snarled, cutting Aiden off and leaving me in the dark.

It was too late now either way, and I shivered thinking about his voice, that crisp British accent that melted my insides on the few occasions we'd conversed, once in person and the rest over comms.

Destiny, I scoffed at such nonsense. Yet I was still subject to it, and like circling planets, we were doomed to collide. My thighs squeezed together and Aiden's hand tightened over mine. I'd showered this morning, determined not to antagonize a potentially loaded situation by turning up covered in my alpha's cum. Now, slick gathered as my body betrayed my mind.

He would smell it.

"It'll be okay," Aiden said. "He's not a complete dick. And if he is, you can stab the bastard with one of those knives you havetucked away, and that the dipshit upfront failed to check you for."

"She's not stabbing anyone," Cooper said, cutting a scowl Aiden's way. "If she tries to stab him, or worse, succeeds, it will only piss him off. A pissed Rowan is not a pretty sight."

"You’re not making me feel any better," I said through clenched teeth.

"We're here," Hanson called over his shoulder as the SUV pulled into an underground garage of a tall apartment block, and my nerves exploded.

Rowan had made me an offer. I needed that offer. I had to remember that.

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