Page 58 of The Alpha: Part One
That catches my attention. It was already going to be bad enough with just the four of them, but if I'm expected to have sexual relationships with the betas, too, I might not survive it. "Will I have to… with the betas, too?"
His nostrils flare and his eyes darken. "No. Absolutely not. And you're to inform one of your alphas immediately if one of them suggests such a thing. If one of them touches you, I want to know that second. James is putting our numbers into your phone. You can call or text if something unacceptable happens; or come straight to one of us. Is that clear?"
I nod, a measure of relief making me tear up.
"You'll have anything you want. Send me a list of anything you need or want. Any foods you like to keep on hand, your favorite restaurants, what brand of laundry detergent you prefer, what thread-count you like for your sheets, all of it. We want you to have everything. I'll need to know your sizes so we can get you things we'd like to see you in, other things like that. Regardless of how it looks or the circumstances, we do want our omega to be happy."
The numbness settles back around me and I'm grateful for it. These men intend to build a very pretty cage to keep me in. I'll never be happy, and that will be completely obvious once they mark me. I wonder if the twins can feel my numbness through our bond from this distance. For a while after they loaded us all into separate cars, all I could feel was Michael's rage and Benny's sorrow. There wasn't any room for my own emotions, and now this blessed numbness is protecting me from all of it. I hope it can protect them, too.
I let Alpha Lopez lead me off the elevator and I follow him down a hall and around a corner, then through a large set of heavy doors into a huge foyer. He pulls me up a set of stairs and down another hall with cushy, gray carpeting to a smaller set of doors. He pushes them open and proudly announces, "this is your room. You have your own bathroom, obviously, and a large walk-in closet. If you don't like anything, just let one of us know and we can replace it with something you do like. We weren't sure what type of bedding you might like. Ernesto chose silk. I thought they might be too hot, but he insisted."
"It's fine. Everything is fine." My life is ruined, my entire life, and he's going on about sheets.
He shoots me a look. "You don't know if everything in this room is fine, or not, Miss Romero. Go through everything, touch everything. Everything is replaceable. If the mattress is too firm, tell me. We will do everything we can to ensure your comfort."
"Okay."
He holds my gaze for a few moments, then sighs and nods. "It will just take a little time to come to terms with the changes and get used to everything. You'll see. You'll be happy in no time at all. Let us take care of you, Desir'ee. Let us spoil you. Let us dote on you. We can make you happy, if you let us." He lifts my hand to brush a kiss against my knuckles. "I'll leave you to explore your new room. You have free access to the penthouse. The balconies are off limits for now, for obvious reasons, and you can't access the elevator without a code. You should be relatively safe. If you need anything, there is an intercom in every room. James will bring your phone to you as soon as he's finished with it, and you can contact your family. We don't want them worrying."
He picks up a remote control from the bookshelf and turns on the television. He smiles at me as he switches it to channel twenty-three, and my breath hitches when the same view as the one on Flores’s phone appears. My boys, broken and bound, on a split screen. “Alpha Flores wanted you to have the option to check on Michael and Benjamin, and watch the main attraction every Friday and Saturday night, eight sharp. I thought it was in poor taste and counteractive to our ultimate goal, but he insisted.” Then he turns and walks out the door, leaving me alone to mourn with only the wretched images of Ben and Michael as comfort. I was wondering how they were going to remind me of what was at stake.
I don't care how long it takes. Weeks. Months. Years. However long. I am going to burn this place to the ground and scatter the ashes.
Chapter twenty-six
Seth
The sound of the shot is still rattling around inside my head even though I watched Lopez pull the trigger hours ago. He didn't shoot Ben, but it definitely looked like he did for a minute. I thought he did until I saw Ben fighting to get free of the men holding him as the Desir'ee's car sped away with Michael in the trunk. I'll never get the sound of her begging out of my head. It's all I've been able to do to keep the panic attack that's been screaming at me at bay. I can't have a panic attack right now. I don't have time. This is my fault, just like everything else. I have to save them.
I was in a cab on the way to the airport before the nagging feeling twisting up my gut turned me around. I couldn't leave, not like this. Desir'ee and the twins deserve to know the truth, as awful as it is. If I'm going to be a villain, I at least want to be a villain for the right reasons. They need to know that it wasn't like what Desir'ee's brother said, what they read in my file. They need to know that I was trying to save Talia, not hurt her. They need to know that I was the one who called Corso to come get her, and that I’m the one who met with the Omega Institute and begged them to keep Talia’s record secret and made sure my pack would never have an omega. Never. That’s the only thing I knew to do. My father never knew it was my request instead of Talia’s; I can only imagine how he would have reacted.
I knew it was those Flores fucks behind all this. And I knew it was them who spun my past against me with the WCC, and most importantly, Desir'ee and the twins. I just fucking knew it. Just like they’re trafficking the omegas that go missing. More than half of the omegas these West Coast packs have claimed, have been stolen by rogues, and delivered by Flores to gain favor. Hell, Minos’s own omega is obviously a victim, which is probably why he introduced me to her to begin with. So she’d have the opportunity to tell her story to someone who might be able to do something with it.
Now, I have to find a way to shine a big, bright spotlight on them while I save my pack. And they aremypack. I can feel it. I felt it that first night at the meet. I felt it the moment the twins walked in line with me. I felt it the moment Desir'ee pushed an empty plate across the table for me to fill. They're mine. I will find a way to get them back. Then I'll kill anyone affiliated with Flores. His whole pack is already dead, they just don't know it yet.
When I followed Desir'ee to the top level of the parking garage this morning, I thought it was odd that she would park all the way up there; but I brushed it off. She can park wherever she wants, maybe she wanted the view of the city on her lunch break, but she never came out for lunch.
I had hoped to talk to her before her shift, unfortunately she rushed inside before I could get out of the truck. I watched cars come and go all day. I only left long enough to go grab something to eat. It was stupid, I should have thought ahead and brought something. But why would I think to look out for someone waiting around to kidnap two grown-ass alphas and one omega? The only time I know of that alphas have been targeted was myself when I refused to participate in the rogue narrative and Kaleb’s pack when the rogues were trying to get to their omegas. Kidnapping alphas is pretty much a non-point. I was there to wait for her to come out so I could plead my case. Beg her to listen, to understand. I just wanted to talk to her without anybody around to interrupt my explanation. That was probably the wrong thing to do, but it seemed like the right thing at the time.
I watched Desie walk across the garage to her car and fuss around with her things after she got inside. My hand was on the handle of my door when another car pulled in, then all hell broke loose. I watched in horror as Lopez and his guys took Desie and the twins. I couldn’t have stopped them, the only thing I could have done by charging in for the rescue is get all of us killed. I knew watching and following them was the best thing to do, but it still burned when yet another failing scorched its way through me. Another black mark etched onto my soul as I watched the pack that was supposed to be mine being taken while I sat in the cab of a rental and did…nothing. Nothing but watch it happen, feeling like the weak coward my father always said I would turn out to be.
What am I going to do? I followed behind the car Desie was in until I lost it in the maze of downtown. I haven't been here long enough to get a feel of all these streets that turn into one-ways at the last second. I have no idea where they took her. I don't know if the twins will be at the same place as her, but it's doubtful.
After it was apparent that I'd never be able to catch up with or find any of the cars, I started driving out of the city. I realized a couple hours in that I was driving home for help. I was driving back East. To Devon, to Talia. Hell, to Jasper and his hateful ass. They're home. They're help. Except that's not true anymore. Desir'ee is my home, and the twins live there with me. I don't know what to do. And the only people who might know what to do are asleep in bed, thousands of miles away.
I'm on my own out here. It will take days to get back to the East Coast. Days. Minos pulled his support, and with it the private plane that got me here. I’d have to fly back home on a commercial flight, but with all the stops and layovers I’d get home faster driving. Besides, I might be flagged as a security risk. Everyone's been telling me for weeks how strong and far-reaching the Flores pack's influence is. Driving home is the best bet. I don't have time to waste weighing all the options, I don't even know if I have options at this point.
Fuck it.
I slow down just enough to keep the truck from turning over when I pull a U-turn, ignoring the blaring horns from the surrounding vehicles. I can't do this on my own. I dial the number as I pick up speed. Talia’s phone rings four times before Devon answers it, barking a gruff, “what the fuck, Seth?”.
“I know it’s late, but I’ve got a few problems out here and I can’t handle them on my own.”
I can hear his teeth grinding together across the line, louder than Jasper’s muffled complaint about being woken up in the middle of the night. “What did you do?”
“Nothing. Well, not right now. I didn’t do anything right now. But I have a really bad situation to deal with and need to know what to do.”
He takes a measured breath, and I can hear Talia firing off questions in the background. “Who is it, Devon? Is it Bianca? What’s wrong? What happened?”
