Page 57 of Hired for Research
So sorry.
So guilty.
“So you’re not here to free alphas. Not really. You’re here to take away what we are. You’re working to help keep us enslaved.”
He ignored the way her lip trembled and she curled in on herself. She was an omega, her very nature called out for him to protect and comfort her, and that was likely the exact reason why Evelyn was chosen for the project. An alpha was less likely to hurt the softer dynamic than if a beta was the one caught in their scheme.
“I don’t agree with it, Jett. After a few days here, with you, I decided I couldn’t do it. I’m going to present my observations and say I can’t make the drug, and the project will be abandoned.”
He took a step back, shaking his head. She’d lied to him from the beginning, there was no way he could believe her now. She’d still taken all the samples, ran the tests.
“You knew we wouldn’t be freed, yet you came here anyway. Made us believe we had a chance. Trick me,everyone, into hoping…”
He trailed off, words failing him. He felt cold, his chest gone numb, his mind still frozen in disbelief.
Beneath it, rage was growing. Bubbling just beneath the surface, waiting for a weak spot to break through.
Shaking his head again, he pulled his gaze to the window. The sun shone outside, birds chasing each other around the little courtyard, green starting to appear after the past few days of nice weather.
Spring was coming. The season of growth and renewal. Of hope.
Yet the little omega standing in the room with him had just crushed his, and every alpha’s who’d volunteered for her project. He hadn’t wanted the freedom for himself, he’d been happy in Eden, but he’d come to believe he’d live to see the day when alphas got to choose the life they led. That any children he may have would never know the burden him and so many others had carried.
He turned without a word, walking out of the room. He passed through the foyer, then the front doors.
He walked through the city, past the rec area, right off the trails into the wilderness beyond.
Once he was sure he was well beyond any chance of anyone hearing him, he screamed.
25. Evelyn
Her last hour in Eden was a blur. She’d planned to stay through the afternoon to catch any stragglers, but after Jett walked out, she couldn’t stay.
Somehow she’d managed to hold it together through collecting her things, cleaning the exam room, packing the blood samples that needed shipped to the special lab and sending them off, then thanking Doctor Greyson for allowing her to use the facilities. All of the MRIs and test results had been uploaded to her laptop and backed up, she’d checked out of her hotel room, and there was nothing left to hold her there.
Except the gaping wound in her chest demanding she hunt down her alpha and make things better.
Evelyn didn’t blame Jett for his reaction. He had handled it fairly well considering what could have happened when he’d learned the truth.
No, she blamed the oozing, aching emptiness inside completely on herself.
No one had forced her to take over the project, she could have said no. No one dragged her to Eden to take her own samples because she couldn’t trust what had already been done.
And certainly no one had been dumb enough to tell her to fall in love with the alpha assigned to babysit her while she was there. Or to go into heat in the middle of the one place where alphas were available, at the beginning of a storm that trapped her in his apartment. Or to confess the truth to him when he told her he’d be willing to leave his home and come back to the place he had claimed to never want to go, even if he was free, just to be with her.
The sobs came as the speeder rose into the air, giving her another view of the beautiful city of Eden. The only place alphas were free to live a normal life, and likely to remain the only place, if they were lucky.
Because with just as many people who were clamoring for the removal of the mandates and freedom for the alphas, there were as many calling for Eden to be shut down. Eden threatenedthe way things were,and there were those who didn’t want to see a change.
Then, there were those in the middle. Betas who just wanted to live their lives and didn’t know or care what was happening to the alphas. Not bad people, just ones whose plates were full enough without the extra drama, who didn’t have the time to think about what it must be like, to have no rights simply because of their designation.
It was ignorance. It was not knowing, and having no reason to learn, because they thought the way things were was the way it needed to be. They believed what they’d been told, just like she had for so long.
But her eyes had been opened. She knew alphas were no different than the rest of them. Sure, they could have a short fuse, but so could she. So could any omega, or beta. There was no inherent badness in their dynamic, but too many people didn’t get the chance to see that. Too many were blind.
Anger filled her at the unfairness of it. These men, and the occasional woman, had done nothing to deserve the way they were treated. They were being judged on something they had no way of controlling. Considering women had gone through the same issues in the past, people should have known better.
But fear was a big motivator.
