Page 71 of For the First Time
“If that’s what Dickhead is doing,” Hannah started, “then it makes sense as to why he wants to push out betas.He’s scared that omegas might decide to pack with betas.Or that packs will start to be made of smaller amounts of alphas because betas are joining.”
“To what end?”Koda asked.
To a designation war.He wants to separate alphas and omegas from betas.Because if he does, he’ll have the numbers, the strength to do whatever he wants.And all he had to do was hide behind omega safety.
Chapter Seventeen
Since his initial speech, Representative Adam had been on the news every single night.That was nearly two weeks of making outrageous claims regarding how dangerous betas were to the most vulnerable of society and how he was the reason safety was going to come back to the city and how he was personally going to see punishment done and restrictions in place to ensure that no omega was ever abused or harmed again.
Apparently, if we just locked up all the omegas and never let them out of a nice padded, gilded cage and called that cage a home, then they could never be hurt.So long as we ignored any of their attempts to break out and pretended like padded pillows over wrought iron bars couldn’t possibly hurt someone and also forget the emotional pain of being locked away.Then sure, Adam had the right idea.At least regarding omegas.
What about the social neglect toward betas?Well, apparently that wasn’t real because betas made up the mass of the populace.Before Adam started giving his speeches, I didn’t know that birthing rates translated into whether a group of people could be cast out of society.
Honestly, just thinking about Adam had my jaw clenching, my anger spiking to the point that I slammed the bowl on the countertop much harder than necessary.It didn’t help that I was home alone, making lunch for everyone.That part was normal, but without my packmates nearby, it was too easy to fall into the rage inside me.
Why was no one fact checking him?Every speech Adam gave was just blatant lies, and people didn’t even know it!Like the fact that my moms thought omegas in packs were more likely to be abused if a beta was in the pack, when the actual study showed that it was outside people hurting the omegas.Alphas so enraged that a beta had a spot they coveted that the alphas were attacking the pack.
Or Adam’s outrageous claims that betas in packs were dangerous to an omega’s health because they take the spot of an alpha that could help tend the omega’s heat better.And the core of that problem apparently comes from alphas and betas attending schools together.Forming bonds and ludicrous ideas of family when, in fact, omegas were supposed to choose packs, and no omega would willingly choose a beta over an alpha.Yep, he was targeting beta children now, as well.
I didn’t leave the house much.I worked and lived here, having unofficially moved in since Atlas’s heat, and I was fine with that.But my mates all left the house for work, and they were noticeably tenser.
One thing Adam was doing right, at least for his cause, was making the designations a topic.
Patients at Everett’s clinic were requesting doctors based on designation.Oak’s clients were simply chattering about the designations and Adam’s speeches and suggestions.Atlas had been getting more and more comments about his designation.How he was able to work and where his mates were.Tensions were quickly rising.
My own rage was building to the point where I had to grab the countertop like an anchor through the wave of anger rushing through me.I didn’t have any sort of distraction.Cooking was done almost subconsciously, the same with cleaning.I knew that my mates felt my emotions through the bond, and if I didn’t get myself calm soon, one of them would call me.Again.Worse, if I got too angry, my scent would perfume strong enough to linger which would send Atlas into a craze when he got home for lunch, reluctant to leave again.
A distraction.That’s what I needed.
It took me a few minutes to find the right notebook.It was still in the pile of stuff we’d grabbed from my apartment when we’d all gone into town to see Hannah and Koda.Of all my notebooks, the one with all my vendors has a hard, waterproof cover with rings on the side that open letting me add new pages or remove old ones easily.
It wasn’t as cute as the newer notebooks my pack had bought for me as a courting gift.In fact, all my old notebooks were plain, dark or single block colors.My newer books were splashes of fun colors and designs.
Grabbing the neon flower notebook I’d dedicated to Chloe’s event, I started making a list of the vendors I wanted to call today.The printing company worked well for the large entrance signs as well as the little tags I’d add to the goody bags.For the goody bags, I’d have to call a different printing company to design the bags as well as the table toppers.Tablecloths, glasses, and long rugs as well as decorative lights would all need to be rented from a party company that specialized in high-end gatherings.A bakery for the desserts and a second bakery for the cookies going into the goody bags because I had an idea about making the cookies look like Chloe’s pack—just their silhouettes.Two different food vendors—one for appetizers and the other for dinner.Then there was all the special-order decorations that I’d have to place to keep on theme.Like the small disco balls and the—
Wait, was the pack still doing the disco-mirror-thing theme?I wasn’t sure.I had been going off that assumption, but it wasn’t like Rosalie was doing a very good job of keeping me updated on decisions.If I hadn’t been constantly messaging her, I was pretty sure she’d forget to reach out to me at all.
