Page 153 of His Reluctant Omega

Wilder wasas good as his word. The following week brought a few more visits. Lake brought Auggie. Rohan and Tensen arrived to check in with him on the case. And, of course, Wilder. While he was happy to see them and get away from the boredom of prison, watching the world through a piece of glass, getting tiny brief glimmers of the life he’d lost, was killing him. He was in some hellish purgatory, his life in limbo. Weeks had passed since the trial. They had given a date for the Tribunal, and time seemed to stand still; the days seeming like weeks, the weeks like months.

Over that time, morning sickness had arrived, much to his cellmate’s chagrin. They complained every morning as he rushed to the shared toilet and let loose everything he’d been able to eat the night before, which wasn’t much. When he glanced in the mirror on wash day, he barely noticed a swell to his stomach and wondered if he’d someday get as swollen and large as Gray had.

A week before the Tribunal, he sat in the common room, once again getting his ass beaten in poker, when he heard the news come on.

The Omega Rights Movement and the subsequent boycotting have wreaked havoc in the province these past weeks. Protests continued today, the focus on the Provincial Congress, as the leaders of the ORM are now demanding for omega restrictions to be abolished and the introduction of new legislation legalizing the drugsHeatexandScentexfor regular use.

Avery smiled at the TV screen as the surrounding omegas in the common room cheered. Suddenly, his Uncle Gray was on screen—sitting comfortably, holding a newborn. Other omegas were with him. It was announced that they were the leadership of the New ORM.

Right on, Uncle Gray!

“Wait, everyone!” Avery cried, hushing the group’s cheering. Tears came to his eyes as he looked upon his newest little cousin.

“We will not back down,” an omega said. A name flashed on the screen under the man’s face. Bailey Doucet—President of the ORM. “We have been working in secret for many years, gently pushing for change, and it fell on deaf ears. Avery Stephens and his stunning choice of a defense was a cause we could get behind and finally make our stand. Public outcry showed us this is the time for change. We now have the numbers and the momentum—and we demand the same rights all humans have through legislation change. Bodily autonomy. The right of health and happiness. The right to choose our own destiny. The right to protest. The right for unmated omegas to vote. Last, we want Avery Stephens freed of all charges.Now.We will not back down until they meet all of our demands.”

The reporter came back to the screen. “As you can see, viewers, there’s no end in sight for the omega boycott. Not unless changes are made to the core of our beliefs. Is that really what we want to do? Give in to these outrageous demands and change everything about our world? Has it been so bad, this way of life? I say no. No, it has not.”

The group of inmates around Avery booed at the screen.

“We must stand firm. We are alpha… we are strong. We will prevail. Good night from the TVZD studio. I’m Jake Spelling.”

Several inmates flipped the TV the bird while others cursed the reporter.

“Do you think it’s possible?” Medjul asked.

“What’s that?” Avery replied.

Medjul stared at him for a moment, a light shining in his eyes. “You said you were going to fight for a change. Do you think it’s actually possible?”

“I don’t know… but I had to try.” He shook his head. “Honestly, it’s not like I’ve done much from in here. I asked for a certain defense, but other people—” He waved to the screen showing the protestors. “They’ve done all the hard work. What have I done?”

“You were the spark. The one with the bravery to get this all going,” Medjul said before clapping a hand to Avery’s leg and getting up.

Avery watched as Medjul departed, considering his words.

Considering how close he’d come to caving when he’d been in court.

Brave? Hardly.

* * *

Wilder staredout of the window, his back to the two men discussing Avery’s defense. He rarely came to the Beta Quadrant and looked about with curiosity. For so long, he’d lived with blinders on, rarely stepping outside his small world.

Behind him, Avery’s attorneys were seated in a conference room in Tensen’s office. It was a far cry better than the one at the prison, though Wilder would’ve preferred to see his omega.

“You handle surrogacies, right?” Wilder asked Tensen.

“I do.”

“How do you meet with prospective clients here?” He spun. “Omegas can’t come to the Beta Quad, right? Or are there special circumstances?”

“We have another office in the Omega Quadrant, where we can meet with omegas.”

Of course.“It’s odd to know there’s a whole other world inside our walls where we alphas have never tread.”

“That’s not exactly true,” Rohan said. “I visited my papa’s brother there often as a young child.” He got an odd look on his face. “Alphas go occasionally.”

Most of Wilder’s papa’s family were deceased, or so Wynter said. Neither of his parents seemed to have much family. There had never been reunions or big holiday events. Wilder had a brief memory of his grandparents, but he’d been too young to remember much. There were no uncles, either. No cousins. Nothing.

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