Page 32 of Impossible

“Is that appropriate?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Just, er, you’re a teacher right?”

He facepalms with his good hand. “I’m so sorry, we should have made that clear up front. The Complex finishes mandatory education when you’re sixteen; everything is accelerated. From that point on it’s just an education center. Boot camp, more like, for the alphas. You have ‘classes’, but they’re all intended to teach you life skills and help you get a pack. Or learn how to navigate the world without one, if you so choose.” He dips his head towards me in acknowledgement. “So, yes, I’m a trainer, but I’m not, like, your teacher or anything.”

“And it’s ok for trainers to socialize with students?” I ask.

“I’m saying it is, and I have more dominance than anybody who might say otherwise, so yes, yes it is,” he smiles, then turns and jogs away before I can reply.

Dominance. The word makes me shiver.

10

Magnetized

Hollis

“Soasyoucansee, our population counts are at an all-time low, with one alpha per three thousand betas, and one omega per twelve alphas. Alpha birthrates among omegas are down nearly forty percent in the last decade, and omega births in beta populations are up by twelve percent, while being down by fourteen percent in the omega population. Overall, this is leading to a population decline so severe we can expect to go extinct within the next two to five hundred years.”

There’s a faint rumble in the room at Marcus Phoenix’s words. I don’t join in, because I know what’s coming next. He’s been bragging about it for the past two weeks.

“In order to avoid this fate, drastic measures must be taken. The Coalition has been vetting packs since its origin, serving as a directory and resource for omegas to stay safe while searching for packs to either bond with or take as heat-mates. We’ve done this for free, with nothing but our allocated funds, but I believe it’s time we begin asking for something in return for the service we provide.

“Our data on these pairings is clear as day: less than twenty percent result in a birth within the first two years. Our stats on the alpha and omega birthrates are obviously a decade or more behind, but even with trailing data it is clear that they are both proportionally higher in these pairings than in organic connections made outside our purview. And the ratio is only growing, a positive indicator for the value-add of our genetic research. I would also be remiss not to mention the increased occurrence of fated mate bonds from these pairings, with over a dozen having been logged in the last decade alone.

“If we want to save our species, the only path forward is clear: we must require that omegas wishing to utilize the Coalition’s vetting process for finding a pack are not on birth control for their heats spent with the pack we pair them with.”

The uproar is instant, and that should hearten me, but I can see the faces around the table in the sterile conference room that are actually taking Marcus seriously. And they’re the faces with power, that might actually be able to make this nightmare a reality.

“Absolutely not!” a voice cries.

“They’d turn away from us! We’d leave them at the mercy of the packs!”

“The amount of time we’d spend in damage control—”

“They’re not slaves, what right do we have to—”

“ENOUGH!” Anthony Gold’s voice roars over the room, his dominance shattering the chaos and making the weaker alphas among us shrivel into their seats. It rips through my chest, and I have to use all my strength to stay upright through the teeth-clenching order.

Gold Pack is the seat of power for the alpha and omega populations right now—Steven Gold sits in the white house, Adam Gold is the head of the secret service, and Anthony runs the Coalition. Their omega, Marianne, is playing the part of the perfect First Lady, filling her time with charity work and press appearances and making it appear as though all five of her children were sired by Steven and Steven alone. I can’t remember ever seeing her at Coalition headquarters. Even if her time weren’t filled with political obligations, I doubt we’d see much of her.

Before the attack, Midas pack was poised to take them on in the next election. Or maybe the next—I try not to be too ambitious for my age, I swear. And not for the White House. Not yet. The Coalition. People were starting to worry about the power of both wings of government being held by the same pack. There’s no checks and balances, and it’s difficult for other voices to be heard in a community where dominance can decide an election as easily as votes can. Where not a single omega currently sits on the Board of Governors.

I would have changed that. My legislation has always emphasized equity for omega voices in our ranks. Of course, running for Head of the Coalition without an omega of my own was a gamble. I tried to push the pack to get out more in hopes of finding a mate, but it just never seemed like the right time. We never had our shit together enough to be worthy of an omega’s time, not with Risk’s partying and Joshua’s reclusiveness. Leon seemed just as happy picking betas up at the bars as courting omegas. It used to drive me insane.

“Marcus, explain your proposal,” Anthony orders, and my stomach sinks. He’s taking this seriously.

“It’s simple. We’re testing all of the omegas for genetic markers already, so we can propose best-fit packs. All that testing goes to waste if the omega is on birth control. We simply make it a requirement that to participate in our matching process, an omega must stop any and all birth control measures. We can test for it with the genetic testing.”

“This is preposterous,” Lucas Orion scoffs. “I understand the notion, but we can’t legislate omegas’ bodies. That would make us no better than those beta monsters we all laugh at. What if we incentivized childbirth instead? A lump sum reward for all births resulting from our pairings within the first year or two?”

I’m grateful that Lucas piped up, but his idea still puts a bad taste in my mouth. Risk is the product of an omega that didn’t want to raise a child and took advantage of Coalition laws protecting her right not to. I don’t think the world would be a better place with thousands of him running around, as much as I may love him.

Still, Lucas’s proposal is more tolerable than Marcus’s absolutism. Orion pack has always been an ally to us as well, and Lucas is good at finding middle ground when things get heated.

Despite his words feeling far more sane, the room erupts in arguing again.

---