Page 60 of The Beta: Part Three
Nathan ends up finding twenty-four more alpha registrations with numbers that link to that area on the coast. He says he wants to check back through the rest of the files we have on the people who were brought back from the compound before we take it to Marcus. I am back to being a petulant asshole who wants to go home, so it's good that we're finally doing it.
We're walking through the lobby when I remember something that bothered me about the registration. “Nathan, the mothers. Or the lack of them. What if, it sounds horrible, but what if females have been going missing for years. You know how Jay and Derrick were plants? They just came to training one day, with a story that they were transfers from other territories so nobody questioned anything. What if their mothers were missing girls from years ago? Like the omegas we're trying to track right now. They're taken, turned into a baby factory for whatever purpose, and then...I don't want to think about it.”
Nathan stops right in the doorway and turns back for the elevator. “Come on.” When we get back to our temporary office he turns all the computers back on and I have to aggressively fight the urge to rip all my hair out. I want to go the fuck home. “If I show you what to do, can you help me? I want all the files put on this hard drive, and I don't want to do it wireless. I only trust four people in this entire building, and two of them are us.”
“Yeah, I can do it. Show me.” He plugs two of the computers into a hard drive he takes out of his bag and shows me how to move things from one window to another. Then we get to it. It only adds another bullshit hour to the day, but I understand the urgency. Marcus said we shouldn't make a big show of taking things in and out of the building, and to not say anything too important sounding enough for anybody to hear. I suppose my loud mouth did just that when we were in the lobby.
When we get back to the car, Devon's car to be precise, Nathan doesn't say anything until we're well out of the parking garage. We've both been quiet, just trying to get all the files moved over, so when he starts yelling it scares the shit out of me. “You figured it out! You got it! I can do all this internal stuff and digital digging and sneaking and backdoor shit, but you put it all together. That's got to be it. We've been hearing stories about omegas being taken our whole lives. And think about it, Trent. Every alpha that transferred from another territory was always such a prick, and aligned himself with the other transfers from almost the very first day. It was always a male, never a female alpha. And Crane or Tomas always took a special interest in them because they ran the transfer program. They've been taking omegas for years and years, and Crane was part of it the whole time. I'll just bet that's where the omegas we're tracking are headed to, the coast. And I know we can find proof in those files. I just didn't want to leave them there. Anybody could come in and destroy evidence, especially since Crane was so high ranking. Who knows who all is working under him.”
“Yeah, alright, but who's his boss? Crane obviously didn't run the whole thing because it's still going. He's lower down than we thought.”
Nathan's hands grip the steering wheel a little tighter while he thinks. “I don't know. Hopefully we'll find some answers now that we have a better idea of where to look.”
It takes a million and eight years to get home, but we finally make it. My plan was to kiss Jasper and scoop Talia up and take her to my room, dinner or not. But when I get to the kitchen, she's sitting on the same counter from earlier, the flannel unfortunately buttoned to her collarbone, eating whole black olives out of a jar while Jasper is at the stove stirring a pan of something that smells like heaven. Alex is at the table with his laptop, and there's music coming from somewhere. It's very, very domestic. I love it.
“Those were supposed to be for dinner. You can't sit there and eat an entire jar of olives.” Jasper's mouth is fussing, but his hands are snatching the jar and taking it to the sink to drain and dump in a bowl. He gives it to her and tugs on her braid then goes back to his stirring. So, so domestic. And so fucking wonderful.
I lean on the counter next to her and wrap my arm around her waist. When I turn to her with my mouth open she feeds me an olive and kisses me after she puts it in my mouth. I might have an emotional outburst. We've been feeling more and more like a family and this moment is what cements it for me.
“At least give me a handful before you two eat them all, this really does need just a few for the taste.” Jasper's smiling when I look over at him, and I grab a few out of Talia's bowl and deliver them to the stove.
“In the pan?” There's some of the lot of stuff in the pan that I saw around Talia in the picture she sent. I see the pepperoni, but also zucchini, mushrooms, little tomatoes, and I can smell the onion and garlic.
“On a plate. I'll chop them up so they spread farther. Did you and Nathan have a productive day?”
Oh my god. He basically just said how was your day at the office, honey. This is too much, just right, and not enough all at the same time. “It actually was productive. We think we've got some things worked out. I'll let Nathan tell you when he's finished. I think I'm going to go take a shower real quick before dinner, unless you need me for anything.”
“I think she needs you for a couple things. That was a fun picture, by the way. Dinner in twenty minutes, Devon and the other's should be home by then. So go quick if you're going.”
When I turn back to help Talia off the counter all I see is an empty bowl.
Chapter twenty-four
Jasper
The more time Obi spends sliding the transducer across Talia's stomach the harder his expression becomes. I can hear the quick rushing of the baby's heartbeat, so that makes me feel a little better. He's turned the monitor away from us so I can't see what he's seeing. The only thing known for sure is that he doesn't like whatever he's seeing. Talia's eyes flick back and forth between my face and Obi's and I can tell how hard she's fighting to maintain neutrality.
Obi starts to make another pass across her lower abdomen and she bites his head off. “What the actual fuck are you doing? Why are you so goddamned worried all of a sudden? If you don't show me right fucking now I'm calling for every single alpha in this fucking house. Tell me what's wrong, Oberon Samuel Green. Now.”
He pulls in a deep, slow breath and takes his time blowing it out before he turns the monitor toward us. For a minute it looks like just a grainy, swirl of dark chaos but then I see it. There is more than one black hole. More than one tiny, fluttering heart. I sit down in the chair beside the bed and recount the images on the screen. Three. There are three.
“Jasper,” Talia whispers, and I drag my eyes from the monitor to her. She's staring at the monitor with the same pinched expression Obi is wearing. I pull her hand between both of mine.
“Are they alright? Are they all okay?” That's all I can think to ask. We were trying to have one, singular baby. None of us would have ever guessed multiples would be an option. Twins are so rare that they're not really a consideration, but three? It's unheard of. I have literally never heard of it happening in my lifetime.
“They look okay. I'm going to check each one individually as well as I can, but at a glance all three appear to be thriving.”
“Look at them. Every detail you can see. Show us everything,” I say, looking back at the screen. I can see each baby twitching and kicking their tiny legs.
“Do you see this dark area?” Obi asks and points at the larger sac, “these two are sharing the same sac. Do you want to know the sex of the babies?”
I look back at Talia.
She shrugs, “it's up to you, princess. It would make picking clothes and decorating the nursery easier, but I'm alright with a surprise.”
“Tell us,” I say. I don't like surprises. Especially not huge ones like this.
Obi slides the transducer around and presses just a little harder against her stomach. “There,” he says, pointing at a set of little legs, “do you see that?”
