Page 56 of Knot Your Fated M.U.S.E.

"I've been talking to the other subunits in Parazodiac Nexus."

That gets everyone's attention.

We've been operating so long as our own isolated unit that it's easy to forget we're part of something larger. The Parazodiac Nexus Operations isn't just us – it's an entire network of alpha packs working to infiltrate and maintain some semblance of order in the black market dealings between alphas, betas, and omegas.

We're the ones the government sends in while pretending they're not systematically dismantling the very operations they rely on in the shadows. Our unit, Subdivision A, earned its designation through having the highest combination of successful rescues and confirmed kills. When situations require special handling, when standard protocols won't suffice, they call us.

The irony isn't lost on me – we're essentially government-sanctioned criminals taking down other criminals, all while our superiors pretend they don't benefit from the very systems we're supposedly disrupting. It's a dance of hypocrisy and necessary evil that we've learned to navigate, but moments like this make the bitter taste of it rise in my throat.

Vale continues, his voice taking on the clinical tone he uses when delivering particularly difficult intelligence.

"The subunits have been tracking submission patterns. It's not random, and it's not just about mental stability or pack compatibility. There's a systematic targeting of omegas who don't fit traditional expectations – whether that's appearance, behavior, or background."

The implication settles over us like a shroud.

We're not just dealing with individual acts of cruelty but with a coordinated effort to remove "undesirable" omegas from society. To turn them into products for the very alphas society claims to protect them from.

Atlas remains perfectly still, a statue carved from tension and controlled rage. Kieran's pacing has stopped, which is almost more worrying than his movement.

And I...I find myself touching my damaged ear again, wondering how many of these omegas were marked as "different" by things equally beyond their control.

If we were Omegas with our list of disabilities, we would be thrown in a pit and set on fire due to our lack of perfection. These Omegas are being given to these laboratories to become rats all because they don’t fit the labeled implication of a perfect and worthy Omega for the plentiful packs of Alphas deemed valuable to the government’s domain.

It’s exactly why we have a love-and-hate relationship with the government because we understand the underlying truth of our continued existence.

The bitter irony of our position isn't lost on me as I watch my packmates process this latest revelation.

We're given carte blanche to conduct these missions, handed the best tools and intelligence, all because we're useful to the powers that be – despite being what society would typically consider broken alphas.

A blind pack leader.

A half-deaf tactical specialist.

A trauma-bonded enforcer.

The strategist with a degenerative condition that eats away at his mobility and lifespan.

By all social standards, we should be outcasts.

Instead, we're Subdivision A, the elite unit of Parazodiac Nexus, precisely because our "flaws" make us unpredictable, and make us think outside conventional boundaries.

Watching Vale work his magic on the computer systems, I can't help but appreciate the irony of our position.

Here we are, granted every privilege and tool we need for these missions, treated like elite operatives despite being what society would consider broken alphas.

Atlas, our thirty-seven-year-old leader, navigates the world without sight but seeing more than most people with working eyes.

I’m also thirty-seven, half-deaf but reading bodies and situations better than when I had full hearing.

Kieran at thirty-five, carrying the phantom pain of a broken bond that should have destroyed him.

And Vale, our youngest at thirty-two, a brilliant mind trapped in a body that's betraying him more each day.

We're useful to the powers that be, so our "flaws" are overlooked. But I can't help thinking about how different our fate would be if we were omegas instead of alphas.

Our ages alone would condemn us – any omega over thirty is considered past their prime, unworthy of investment. Never mind that rich alphas can afford endless fertility treatments for their aging omegas.

IVF, surrogacy, experimental therapies – all available if you have the money and the right designation.

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