Page 38 of The Alpha: Part Two
“I know Talia’s part. I want Seth’s version. You and Ben get both at the same time, I’ve had to wait. Don’t be rude, Michael.”
“You don’t be rude. You could have told us.”
“When?” she asks. “During the heat spike? Or when Seth was marking me? When we were sleeping? Or first thing this morning over breakfast? Which of those times would have been the most appropriate, do you think?”
Michael’s jaw actually ticks as he straightens back up at his post.
“That’s what I thought. Sorry, Talia. Please go on.” Every alpha in the room, besides Michael, of course, is trying not to smile.
Talia doesn’t bother to fight off her smile. “I don’t think I could have picked someone better for him than you. As I was saying, Desie knows the basic run down from my point of view. I don’t want to get very much more detailed than that, if that’s alright.” Seth nods. Her whole pack nods, except the smaller male, Jasper. He’s doing his best to keep the animosity off his face, and failing. The asshole who was introduced as Devon moves to stand near Jasper.
“I started out as a beta. There’s a whole backstory with my mother and all kinds of unnecessary details that you’ll eventually get the feel of, but none of it matters at this moment. What matters is that betas who complete training and graduate from the program get two choices. They can find a pack on their own, which takes a long time, or they can be placed with a pack through the council until they find the right fit. I am not and have never been a loner as I don’t do well on my own, so I opted to let the council place me. I’m not the easiest person to get along with,” she sighs as her story is interrupted by her pack's soft smiles and chuckles. “So, I was passed around a bit. Eventually I was passed to Seth’s pack. The thing is, my mother had insisted I would eventually make the change to omega, I just needed the right pack to trigger my system into doing it but I was happy as a beta if that never happened. Seth’s father wanted ties with my family, so he managed to pull enough strings to get me placed with his son’s pack thinking they could make that change happen.”
“My pack was bad,” Seth cuts in. “I didn’t know they were when my dad introduced us. I thought they would make a strong pack, my dad said they would. But they were horrible people. The more time I spent with them, the worse it got. My dad got worse, too, but he was my dad, you know? I didn’t want to disappoint him. I thought I must be the problem because I didn’t want the same things they all did. It took my dad months to convince Talia’s mother to put her with us for a trial run. I didn’t feel any connection to Talia, not the way Dad wanted me to, and I left her alone for the most part. Jay and Derek were nice enough to her in the beginning, but then they started going after her. I didn’t find out until after everything happened that they were in with the rogue organization that was responsible for so many omega disappearances. My dad got in with them because he wanted more power for our name and he used me to get it.”
My stomach starts to sink as Talia takes back over. “Seth did leave me alone. He made sure I didn’t need anything, but he didn’t give me the attention Jay and Derek did. He was very neutral with me. Then one day I was cutting fruit in the kitchen and Derek came up behind me and grabbed me. I had about a few seconds delay before I started fighting him because at first I thought he might have just been horsing around, but then he started dragging me deeper into the compound. I’d never been down there. Jay was there to help him get me on the table –”
“Stop,” Seth whispers, all the color drained from his face, even the ashen gray from before. “Just, please. Stop. Please. Let me catch my breath.”
The energy in the room has turned black. Talia reaches for Corso and Devon steps further into Jasper’s space. Jasper looks especially murderous. Reid, who has been silent until this moment, puts himself on the other side of Jasper.
“It’s okay, Seth. I’m not going into any more detail. I just wanted to give the right impression.” She waits for Seth to nod, then continues. “Anyway, they got me on the table and–”
“They tied her down on that goddamned medical cart and raped her.” Seth’s voice sounds like broken glass over sandpaper.
“They did. Then Seth came through the door. I don’t know what it looked like on his end, but I’ve had time to think and process how it was for me,” Talia says softly, looking at everyone and no one. “Seth–”
“I raped her, too.” Seth doesn’t look up from the floor.
Silence.
For a full minute.
Then I break it. “Wait. I thought…you talk about her like she’s your sister or something. How? Why?”
“He didn’t want to,” Talia answers. “It was obvious he didn’t want to, but there were very few options left for him to get me out. I know, for a fact, that Jay and Derek would have killed both of us if he had tried to fight them off. I wasn’t able to do much and Seth was in too much shock to be at his best. They would have killed us in a fight, starting with me, so he did something else. I watched him weigh our options, I just didn’t realize it at the time; but I do now. He showed them what they needed to see, then pulled the wholeI’m the lead alphashit and took me away. He got me off the table and gave me a bath in the biggest sink in the world and put the shirt he was wearing on me, then he locked me in a cell with every blanket he could find. He wouldn’t let them into the room. He only came to the cell to make sure I was okay. He didn’t talk to me or touch me. I slept a lot. I don’t know how long I was there. Then Corso came out of nowhere and carried me out. I didn’t care at the time, I was just so glad that he came. I don’t know how that happened.”
“I called him.” Seth chokes out, still looking at the floor. Everyone in the room looks at him all at once and he flinches.
“You called me?” Corso asks, tucking a few strands of hair behind his ear as he considers Seth from across the room.
Seth barely breathes as he speaks in a monotone voice that sounds almost nothing like him. “Alpha Zaphir. Talia Graves is in a holding cell at the Pratchett compound. Go around the building on the left side. The door is brown, it will be unlocked. Walk straight down the hall, take two rights. There will be a cup of coffee on the desk, the key to her cell is in the cup. Her cell is on the other side of the green door. It will take you an hour to get here. I’ll keep them distracted.”
Corso openly gawks. “I didn’t make the connection.”
“I tried not to sound like me,” Seth whispers. “I just wanted you to come get her, not waste time fighting to get to her. I picked a fight with Derek and Jay and lured them into the woods. I fought them for hours, praying that you’d get there for Talia before it was finished.”
Silence again. The energy shifts into something less deadly, but it’s nowhere near friendly.
“I didn’t know you called him.” Talia’s eyes are all for Seth.
Seth only nods and Desie runs her hand through his hair. “I met with the council that same day. I made them agree to never place another omega with us ever again, and I begged them to black out your name from the record of the meeting. I didn’t want anyone to know what happened to you unless you told them. I didn’t know what else to do to protect you.”
“You protected the other omegas, too.”
Seth shakes his head and presses his forehead against Desie’s knee. “Not enough.”
No one seems to know what to say or do with this new information. I think Talia’s pack has considered Seth to be an alpha just as bad as the rogues for so long that being presented with the idea and proof that he isn’t is a shock. Me and Michael are just relieved that he isn’t what we thought he might have been. I still don’t like the violent intent vibrating from Jasper in dark waves. Neither does Michael. In fact, he likes it way less than I do. He’s positively bristled.
