Page 51 of The Alpha: Part Three
“We'd be the perfect choice and you know it. We know how they work. We know who they are. We know how to speak to them,” Michael argues very diplomatically.
Ben isn't diplomatic. “Fuck you, Seth. They were going to take Desie. They did take her. We can go. We'll fuck them up and get the omegas out.”
My shoulders raise with a deep breath. “That'soneof the reasons it can't be you and Michael. You're too angry, understandably angry, but anger doesn't make missions like this go smoothly. It has to be a COT. One who hasn't been personally affected by anything. We need spies right now, not berserkers.”
“What are the other reasons?” Michael asks, crossing his arms.
“Selfishness. I'm too selfish to let you walk into that. I can't go. Too many of them know who I am at this point; and if you and Ben went in there, I would need to stay here with Desir'ee. I just got you. I'm unwilling to risk losing you. I'm sorry.”
“We can't do nothing, Seth,” Ben argues, but I can feel the fire in him receding in the face of reason. “We can't just sit here.”
“You won't,” Devon says. “If we send the right COT and get the information we need in time, then we can get the omegas out by the end of summer. Elizabet and Claire are almost finished with The Omega House, but they're working with small teams and that's making everything take longer. We've been spending as much time as we can over there helping, but between everything else going on we're not able to be there as much as we need to be.”
Ben's eyes narrow. “You want us to, what, paint walls? Arrange furniture?”
“Yes.” Devon raises a brow. “I want you to use what you know about caring for omegas to help turn the interior of that place into a sanctuary. These omegas are traumatized. They are going to need every comfort and drop of peace and stability we can provide for them. You and your brother have been providing for and caring for an omega since you were boys. You're practically experts in the field.”
“You know how to do all that, too,” Ben argues. “Talia and Jasper are well taken care of.”
Devon nods. “They are. Now. There are many more differences between East Coast packs and West Coast packs than I imagined. There are training schools here, depending on location, for alphas. Omegas have their own training centers and betas bounce between the two until they find their niche. I didn't notice much of that when we were on the West Coast.”
“Yeah,” Ben nods. “It's weird that you do that here. The separation is weird.”
Devon shrugs. “It's how it's always been, but we're changing it. It will take time but it will be changed. Up until recently, the education alphas received regarding omegas was lacking at best. It has been a painful experience to learn exactly how much I don't know. You and Michael already know all of it. You can help Elizabet and Claire. You will see things in a way they won't and you can fill in the spaces they miss. It seems small, but it's important.”
Ben sighs and rolls his neck. “Fine. It's important. But I still think we could be better utilized than expert interior decorators.”
“You'll also need to help vet the security teams.” Devon does a bad job of not smiling.
“That's more like it,” Ben grumbles, and turns back to the monitor. Nathan has switched to a different view and he's enlarging various points.
“Go back,” Ben says. “You see that?” He points at the building in the back right corner of the screen. “Why is that one different?”
“Huh,” Nathan says. “It is. More exits. More ventilation. Trent.”
Trent pushes between Michael and Devon to lean over Nathan's shoulder. “Yeah. They've got something going in there. Think it's related?”
“Oh,” Desie gasps.
Every eye snaps to her.
“Owens,” she says, shaking her head. “I overheard Flores talking about Owens.”
Devon tilts his head. “We know about Owens.”
“Flores was talking about findings and chemicals and alterations. I couldn't hear everything, they were downstairs, but Elijah was angry. Then the omegas we met on the way here called him Doctor Owens. Do you think Owens is there? What if...” she trails off.
I don't want to think about omegas being chemically altered.
Desie
Seth's arms tighten around me. “Could you call Mallory? She might have heard something. She may have even been at that same compound at some point.”
I nod.
“I'm calling Minos, too,” Seth adds. “And Lopez.”
After a few positively awful phone calls, it is decided that Nathan will get a COT to the compound by the end of the week and they'll report back immediately. The bones of the rescue mission will be planned simultaneously and as soon as the spy team reports back with the specifics that Nathan needs they'll put it on a timeline. Minos is livid. He was sitting beside Mallory when she told me the things she'd forgotten until I reminded her.
