Page 67 of For the First Time
Then I broke the quiet by pointing out the obvious.“You dyed your hair.It looks good.”
Hannah’s had pink hair since the accident, but now, it was a stark black, making her look like a model.Her cheekbones were somehow more elegant, her eyes more striking.Of course, she still had the heart shaved into the side of her head that surrounded the permanent scar where her skull cracked open.
“Thanks,” she beamed.“I figured I needed a war color.”
“War?”
“Yeah.Cause we’re going to war against that dickhead, right?”
I stared at Hannah, completely not understanding those words in a sentence despite knowing each exact word’s meaning.“I’m sorry, I think I’m confused.”
It was Koda who said, “We want to help support you while you fight against Adam.Whatever you need.”
Hannah nodded solemnly.“We all know it was you he was talking about.Did you know before then?”
Jackson spoke up before I could answer, “Why don’t you three go have a conversation?You can use one of the spare rooms for some privacy.”
I felt hesitant to leave my pack.After all, I’d brought them to a stranger’s house and abandoning them felt weird.Atlas just kissed my cheek and then went to follow Han who suggested putting the dessert in the fridge.Oaks kissed my other cheek before going up to Koda’s alpha, Aidan, and talking about his nightclub.
Everett leaned down to whisper, “You got good instincts, Babygirl.Trust them.”Then he, too, left to speak with Jackson and Jenson, the other two lead alphas of the other packs.
“Eve, come on.”Hannah bounced on her toes, impatiently waiting for me to follow her and Koda.
She led us into a space mixed with tables of computer screens and easels with oil paint.Maybe a shared workspace considering the two contrasting activities?Or maybe a storage space for whatever the alphas weren’t interested in at the moment?There were two couches, not quite facing each other, but enough that the three of us took our seats.
Koda and Hannah shared one couch, and I took up the other, despite my protests that they could each have a couch, and I’d sit on the floor.Koda curled her knees up to her chest, rubbing her hands on the cushion underneath her while Hannah sat with her legs crossed, fluffing up the pillows around her.
I was sitting in the middle of the couch, directly in the middle so that I felt the slight gap between the two cushions that my weight caused.
“Okay, start from the beginning,” Koda said.
“The beginning?”
“Yeah,” Hannah agreed.“Catch us up on what happened with representative dick.”
I started with the letter since they were both aware of everything that happened before.I also told them about meeting with Bartholomew, then of course, when Hannah called about the live declaration from Adam.
“Can he just do that?”Hannah asked.
“Do what?”
“Paint you out to be a villain before the case has even started.He went up there and didn’t even give the whole story.He tried to make it sound like all betas working at the OC are dangerous to omegas.”
“I think that was his goal.He wants to separate the betas from the other designations.”
“Why?”Koda asked.
I didn’t have a valid answer, just what I assumed.“He’s an elitist.He thinks betas are below the other designations despite the fact that he doesn’t even truly respect omegas.”
“Why pretend then?It has to be exhausting.”
Hannah shook her head.“That’s the thing.He isn’t pretending.He truly thinks alphas are simply better.He thinks only alphas can protect omegas because to him, this is all a game.In the end, only the alphas can win cause they’re the only players.He’s just competing against his own designation.Omegas are the prize.Betas are the fodder he uses to raise himself higher.”
It was hard to pinpoint and explain exactly how and why Adam was vile.He hid behind declarations of safety and kindness.If you simply looked beyond the surface, you’d see it wasn’t gold he was showing off, just yellow painted rocks.
Alphas put omegas in danger.Their aggression was uncontrolled and lacking any severe punishment.It was the societal mindset that pitted alphas against each other, creating a dangerous competition rather than encouraging peace.
It was pride, that alphas were great, the best, that should for some reason be rewarded.As if a designation was a rule we had to follow rather than a simple biological guideline to help.Omegas liked nests during their heat.Needed knots.All of that was true on a biological level.But even omegas had preferences for female or male alphas.That couldn’t be explained away by biology.Just preference.
