Page 29 of Ryder

“We do foolish things when we’re scared,” Jude said.“She probably wanted some time to come to terms with it.”

Sloane wasn’t the only one guilty of that.

The regrets kept on coming, only these went further back.I regretted pretending to be okay, when really, I was struggling inside.I missed my big sister.I missed the woman who’d cared for me as more than just a sister.

“Tell me she’s going to be all right?”

“She’s going to be all right,” Jude said.“Alphas, they’re not like us—they don’t see constraints and barriers in the way we do.If she connected with Jace, the alpha you mentioned, then I really think that he will stop at nothing to get her out.”

My tears came anew, even though I felt cold and empty inside.“How can they possibly get her out?”

“I don’t know, love,” Jude said.“But I suppose all omegas end up with an alpha one way or another.If you’re a strong alpha and you want something, you’re going to make it happen.”

“I just need to know that she’s safe.”

“I can’t believe the bastards kicked you out of your own apartment in your nightclothes,” Derek said.“It’s all a land grab, if you ask me, just an excuse to fill the coffers from someone else’s toil.We’ve been trying to run articles on this for months.Every time we get an angle, the government swoops in and shuts it down.”

“What do you know?”I asked.Derek was an editor at a small, independent news site.They often posted exposés on corruption.I also know they skirted closure often.They had a few wealthy benefactors who stepped in with a legal team whenever the government got too heavy-handed, but it was a fine line.I’d never really thought much about such things before.Now I saw them in a different light.

“Not as much as I would like to,” he said.“It’s been hard to pin people down for interviews, even if it’s anonymous.What you’ve told us is typical of other stories.Society fears alphas and disdains omegas because propaganda tells us to, and all the while, we forget that they are people.”

My once orderly future was slipping through my fingers.There was no scenario where Sloane ever came back home.I didn’t even know if I still had a home for her to come back to.My expectations were lowering, but all I wanted to know was that she was safe, even if it wasn’t with me.

I couldn’t sit still, but I couldn’t move either.I was caught in a sphere of incapacitating tension mixed with sorrow, hopelessness, and despair.

“I’ve always felt sorry for them,” I said quietly.“The way they mysteriously disappear.There was a girl in college, and she just vanished.”I wondered if she was in Desparion now, one of the omegas that Ryder spoke about—the ones you didn’t see because they were under an alpha’s protection.

The enormity of what was happening hit me anew, only this time, it was my sister.She was an omega, taken like the girl in my design class.The dogs from the Dawn Agency had admitted she would be given over to a suitable alpha in Desparion.Or a different alpha zone.“For all we know, they might not house them in the local zone.Maybe that’s the usual practice.It makes sense that they wouldn’t, because otherwise, they might come into contact with friends or family on the days the zone is opened.”The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that they would send her far away.

I looked toward Derek.

He nodded.“From what I’ve learned, sometimes they do.There are a few factors involved.”

“Well, once Jace gets Sloane, she will be taken to Desparion,” Jude said before I could question Derek on the mysterious factors.“We’ll be able to go and see her all the time!”

“When have you ever heard of anybody seeing an omega after they’ve left?When?”

“I don’t know, love,” he said.“Maybe they do, but they don’t talk about it.”

“Everybody shuns them,” I said.“Like they’re animals and a stain on the family.”

“That’s the alphas,” Derek said.“The omegas are more…pitied.”

Only pity wasn’t the word for how they’d treated Sloane.They’d treated her like she was a broodmare in heat, acting out until she was bred.Sloane had been in pain and hurting.They hadn’t shown a bit of pity or care.

Another sob bubbled up, and Jude rubbed my back.

A few feet from where I sat, my cell was plugged into a charger.

At my silent cue, Derek picked it up and checked it.“Fully charged.You want it back?”

“Please.”I nodded, feeling better at having it and being able to verify that there were no new messages and that sounds and notifications were on.

“Baby, you’d be surprised what we can do,”Ryder had said.

I clutched the cell in my hands like it was my personal lifeline.In a way, it was.

It rang, and I nearly freaking dropped it when I saw the name on the screen.

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