8. The World Flips Upside Down

Bruno awoke to an urgent beeping of his phone. A message this early?

He got up quietly to retrieve the device from his nightstand, trying not to wake Alice, and glared at the screen. Six in the morning. It was still dark outside, and from the sound of the rain hitting the window, it was going to be a gloomy Sunday.

He looked at the message. Something had happened in France, and an emergency meeting was being called with the other countries. The presence of the chairmen and their secretaries was requested. He sighed and rubbed his face. What had the French First Chair done now?

He tried to get up slowly, but Alice stirred all the same. "Peeing again? That's what you get for drinking so much beer," she said, drowsy.

He cuddled up next to her, pulling her close to him by her waist. Her eyes were still closed, and she was only half awake. He brushed his hand along the curve of her waist and hips. She only had her top on, everything else discarded in their late-night lovemaking. Her warm back pressed against his chest, and filled him with want. He buried his face in her neck, breathing in deeply. He couldn't get enough of her smell.

He got out of bed reluctantly, tucking Alice in, and opened the closet to get dressed.

"Where are you going?" She looked at him through half-closed lids, somnolence heavy on her eyes. The message said to bring the secretaries also, but Alice was not officially his secretary, and he didn't want to drag her along this early.

"I have to go to the office. There's an emergency. You stay and sleep."

She pulled the blanket down to get out of bed. "I'll come with you."

Sitting next to her on the bed, he pulled the blanket back up to cover her. "No, you stay here and sleep some more. We had a late night yesterday."

"What if you need me?"

"I'll call you if I need you. I can pick you up for lunch, maybe go shopping after? I need a new travel bag for Japan."

"Okay. I love you…" Alice drifted back to sleep.

He kissed her forehead gently, careful not to wake her up again, and finished getting dressed. Before he left, he couldn't resist giving her one more kiss, to which she gave a sleepy grunt.

He drove to work, his annoyance at the early hour making him drive faster than he should. It had been an unusually rainy September, and the road was wet and punctuated with puddles that reflected the sky above them. He swerved around a familiar pothole in the road. He was going to have to talk about it with the Fifth Chair again. The man was responsible for Lisbon's management, but he tended to focus only on certain areas, and that annoyed Bruno to no end.

There was a faint light coming over the horizon, fighting against the clouds. The streetlights were still on, and there was hardly anyone outside.

In the car park beneath the government building, almost every space was empty, except for two cars and a black truck. He expected more people to be here; the other chairs must have gotten the same message. Gabriel was probably out cold. Saturday nights were busy at his nightclub, and he usually slept till noon on Sundays.

Another car parked next to Bruno's, and the Third Chair greeted him with drowsy eyes.

"Why is it always France?" The alpha locked her car and joined Bruno at the elevator. "Is your wife coming?"

"No, I let her sleep in. I'll ask someone else to help me out today," Bruno replied.

"My secretary is on the subway. Why on earth do they need the secretaries to be present? It's not like we can't do anything without them."

"Beats me. Maybe it's some stupid new law coming in again, because of the French Chair. If it's anything like the last one, I'll just refuse it again."

They exited the elevator on the top floor and walked to the conference room. The motion-sensor lights turned on as they walked down the halls.

"You'd expect more people to be in with an emergency going on," the Third Chair commented.

"True." Bruno looked around. And there should be more people here to help them set up the meeting room. The hairs on the back of his neck raised, his alpha instincts making acutely aware of how unusual this situation was.

When he reached the conference room, the phones on the desks were all blinking red, signaling the line was down. He turned on one of the computers and tried to access the meeting program. There was no internet connection.

The Fourth Chair appeared at the door, checking his phone.

"Just got a message from the Fifth Chair. He's not in Lisbon so he can't get here on time." The man tossed his laptop bag on a chair. "Why is it always France?"

"Our thoughts exactly." The Third Chair chuckled.

More people came in, three secretaries and a few assistants, trying to figure out what was wrong with the internet. Bruno called IT, and an unfamiliar voice informed him they were working on it already.

Bruno's senses were screaming at him. He rubbed the skin above his heart. His worry was probably going to wake Alice. He picked up his phone to call her, but there was no service available. "Does anyone have service?"

The others in the room picked up their own phones to check—then a metallic scraping noise surprised everyone.

"What the fuck?" several voices asked.

The auto shades of the building were closing. Several aides went to the controls, but couldn't put them back up.

Bruno gave up on fighting his instincts. "I want everyone out of the building now!" he commanded.

A robotic monotone voice came from the end of the hall.

"No one is going anywhere."

Several figures filled into the room from the emergency staircases and the elevators. They all looked identical, the only difference between them being their heights and bulk. They were dressed in all black, hooded, and had their guns pointed at everyone. Their faces were obscured by black masks that wouldn't even allow the eyes to be seen.

All their voices were weirdly distorted, as if passing through an old speaker. There was no emotion or inflection in any of their commands as they pushed people into the conference room and down on their knees.

Bruno resisted their orders, but when they threatened to shoot one of the women, he gave in.

One man stood out from the rest. He wasn't holding a gun, but was directing the others. He was taller than Bruno but not as wide, and his face was equally obscured by a mask identical to the others. The others deferred to him and followed his every command.

An alpha.

He ordered for everyone to be put in the conference room in a straight line facing him, near the wall. He needed a clear head count of who was and wasn't here.

"Have teams two and three sweep the building. This is fewer people than I expected."

His robotic voice echoed in the empty offices. The only other voices were the whimpering of the betas.

He looked at the men and women on their knees, hands behind their heads.

She wasn't here.

He walked up to her husband, the so-called First Chair of Portugal. Bruno was fuming at him, pure hatred burning in his eyes. "I demand that you release us right now!" Bruno's alpha command made his people hesitate.

"No one is releasing you," the masked man said. He looked around at his people and they resumed their work, following their plan. That had been a very strong alpha command, and it almost got to them.

Almost. No doubt the result of the bond between Bruno and Alice.

But these people would obey only him; nothing could interfere with that. Not even an omega.

He crouched in front of Bruno and examined him. He didn't seem any different since they last spoke, yet he could feel the power emanating from him, radiating command and presence.

"I thought I asked for chairmen and their secretaries to come in."

Realization hit the other alpha's face like a slap. He couldn't help but chuckle at his expression.

"Fuck you!" Bruno roared as he lunged at him.

"Hold him," he commanded.

It took three of his strongest men to hold the alpha down and keep him from moving. When he was sure Bruno couldn't attack him, he searched the alpha's pockets and took out his phone. Then he grabbed Bruno's hand and used his finger to unlock it.

"I need this phone to be available for outgoing calls only," he ordered as he flipped through the messages.

One of his men put a bulky laptop on the floor near him and he connected some wires to the phone.

"Who the fuck are you?" Bruno demanded.

"We are the ones who will set things right, and release everyone from the powers behind the curtain that are manipulating our fate," he replied without looking up from the screen. Some of these messages were quite interesting.

"Time is five," one of his men yelled. They still had plenty of time.

"What do you want?" Bruno gave another alpha command, but once again, it was useless.

"I want your wife." He was surprised that Bruno hadn't figured it out.

Bruno tried to free himself from the men holding him, to attack him, but they pushed him onto the ground and held him there.

"The encryption on yours and Alice's phones is quite good. We are having trouble breaking in."

"Good to hear that," Bruno grunted, the knees on his back keeping him from drawing a full breath.

"I need info on a Matts Hansen. Put him on the list." This was clearly the man protecting the omegas. Good. Now that they had a name, it would be easier to track him down.

"No photos of your wife on your phone? What kind of husband are you?" He tutted at him.

"You are not going to get your hands on her, or any of the other omegas," Bruno spat.

He watched the rest of the hostages. The other two alphas were looking at him with disgust, and the betas were cowering. None of them seemed surprised at the mention of omegas. Did they know Alice was one?

He examined Bruno closely. "I don't want the other omegas. I want this one. You think you were so smart, placing someone ahead of me on the list. It's not going to keep her from me."

That clearly surprised Bruno, but he quickly recovered. "You think you're the only alpha after her? I can assure you, she is quite safe from your hands."

"The other alphas don't concern me. And now that I have the name and contact of her little guardian angel, I can deal with him easily."

"The line is available." The phone in his hands beeped once, and the sign for calls appeared.

"Let him sit up," he commanded.

His men pulled Bruno up from the floor.

"Time is four."

He crouched in front of Bruno again, and stared at him. This was a long shot, but it was worth a try.

"I am going to send a voicemail to your wife, in which you will tell her a car is coming to get her so she can come join you at work."

"Fuck you! You're delusional if you think I'll ask her anything."

He pointed to one of the betas, and one of the masked men shot the beta in the head.

Screams filled the office, but Bruno kept his face turned forward. "You are going to kill us all anyway. I'm not going to give you Alice."

The cries and wails continued.

He smiled behind the mask. Bruno was right; he couldn't take the chance of letting anyone live.

He pointed the phone at Bruno. "One of the women will go next. Isn't her life worth one voicemail?" He hit record and showed him it was recording.

"I love you, Alice, don't trust—"

One of his men hit Bruno on the side of the head.

He deleted the useless message and pointed to one of the women. Another gunshot sounded. He didn't bother to look. The betas continued to scream and cry.

"Last chance to save the remaining betas. Tell Alice you're going to send a car to get her."

Bruno just shook his head, defeated, blood dripping from the side of his head.

"Kill them," he ordered, disappointed.

The betas screamed but couldn't get away. The alphas were more dignified and stood proud for their execution.

"I guess I'll text her, then." He ignored the gunshots, and focused on sending a believable message to Alice. "What is it that you call her? Meu amor?"

"She's not going to believe it. She'll know I'm dead. And she will know it was you."

He finished the message and hit send. There was a high chance Bruno was right and she wouldn't fall for this trick, but it was still worth a try.

"Time is three."

"You weren't so perceptive before." He skimmed his fingers on Bruno's chest, over his heart. "It's because of her, isn't it? That's why you're more powerful too."

He didn't reply.

"An omega is such a waste on your kind of alpha. When she's connected to me, I will become unstoppable."

"Connected to you? That will never happen. She would need to love you for that."

He smiled at Bruno, though the mask didn't allow it to show.

"I don't need her to love me. She already loves you. That's all I need."

Bruno was obviously baffled, but he didn't need him to understand.

"Hold his head. I need to take a look."

He got up, took off his gloves, and placed his hands on the confused alpha's forehead, spreading his fingers around his eyes. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and concentrated.

Alpha minds weren't hard to explore. Such basic creatures; their thoughts were an open book to him. He focused on Alice. He needed more information on her and what measures were taken to protect her. There was pushback, but this alpha had no mental power of his own. He found what he wanted easily.

Curiosity made him look at the last memories Bruno had of her. She was in their bed, partly naked and asleep. He could feel the warmth of her body, smell her hair. He felt the goodbye kiss Bruno had given her, and tasted her lips. He licked his own lips behind his mask.

Something drew his attention. A nervous pull that wasn't his or Bruno's. He followed it and he could feel another presence there. A feminine touch that transmitted worry and love. A link to Alice. The link he would make his.

He would have to be patient. He'd waited this long, and everything was in place for her to come to him. One way or another.

He rummaged Bruno's mind for all useful information about their relationship, and filed it away in his own mind for later. Then he left the other man's head.

Reality was a stark contrast to traveling along memories, and leaving a mind always felt as if he was pulling his head out of water. He took a moment to steady himself, then took a step back.

"Time is one."

He had taken longer than expected.

"What did you do?" For the first time, Bruno had fear in his eyes.

"I could feel it… I could feel her." He rubbed the skin above his heart. For a second, he had felt that connection as if it was his own.

"No… You can't. You can't take it!" Bruno must have felt it too, his pull on their bond, because he fought ferociously against the men holding him, knocking one down. Two others took his place to keep the alpha secure.

He put his gloves back on, stretched out his hand, and one of his men handed him a gun. This would be his kill.

"Do you know who I am? Can you guess?"

When Bruno didn't reply, he took off his mask and showed him his face.

Bruno's eyes opened in recognition. "You bastard. I knew it was you!"

"I didn't think it would be appropriate for me to kill you without you knowing who I am first. I respect you too much for that."

"Respect? If you respected anyone, you wouldn't be creating this carnage in the first place."

"Oh, but I do respect you, and I'm sorry I have to kill you. If you hadn't stepped between me and Alice, things would be very different."

He put the gun against Bruno's head.

"I promise I will take good care of her. You can rest in peace."

He pulled the trigger.

His men let go of the body, and blood spread over the carpet floors. He put his mask back in place. No more unnecessary risks.

"Put the bodies in their places, and make sure all gunshot wounds are the first to burn."

He gave the phone to his hacker. It could still be useful to decipher the encryption on Alice's phone. "Don't hack her phone yet. I don't want them to have any reason to change the cypher."

He watched his men stage the bodies and prepare to burn the whole building down.

Those who were here to steal information had already finished their work and packed up.

All the pieces were in place. It was time for the next part of the game.

This was the hardest thing he had ever done in his life.

He was in Bruno's living room, sitting next to Alice on the couch. It was bright outside, but the living room still felt cold. He glanced awkwardly around while he waited for Alice to process the news. There were cardboard boxes piled in a corner, half hidden behind a television, and the bookshelf on the back wall was empty, still waiting for books.

They didn't even finish unpacking.

"I don't understand."

Alice was having a hard time accepting what had happened. She was hugging a pillow, and kept rubbing the skin above her heart.

"I'm so sorry." He grabbed her hands. "We are trying to understand what happened, and recover the bodies—"

"The building has a fire prevention system. It would've detected the smoke right away," she interrupted him. Tears ran down her face, but either she wasn't aware of them or she was ignoring them.

"I know, Alice, I know. I supervised all security in the building, including the fire system when it was installed. It should have worked, but it didn't. We're checking why it failed."

"It can't have failed, Gabriel!" She got up and tried to put some distance between them, but there was little space to roam between the sofa and the coffee table. She kept pulling the pillow into her chest.

He got up too.

"Alice…" He wasn't sure what else he could say.

"They're still looking for survivors, right? You can still find him?" She rubbed her chest again. "I can still feel… He's strong. He could still be alive."

"Alice, the top of the building collapsed. Everything burned down. There are no survivors."

Her lips were trembling. She looked as if she wanted to either hug him or slap him. Probably both. She gave a pained look, and gripped the pillow to her chest.

The doorbell rang and he heard Naomi greeting the new arrival. There was a soft knock on the living room door.

"Daniel is here." Naomi's voice was raspy and her eyes were red. She had been crying too.

Daniel talked softly with Naomi before joining them. He gave Alice a hug, but she quickly pulled away to search his expression.

"Did they find him? Is he okay?"

Daniel used his professional voice with Alice. He was no stranger to delivering hard news. "They found several bodies, Alice. They were taken to the morgue."

Alice just shook her head and sat back on the couch. "Why does this hurt so much?" She was rubbing her heart again.

"Here." Naomi came in with a big glass of water in her hands, and placed it in front of Alice. Then she sat next to her and leaned her head on Alice's shoulder. She was sniffling and trying to hold back tears.

"It's okay. Please don't cry," Alice soothed Naomi softly, one hand on her friend's cheek. It should have been the other way around, Naomi soothing Alice, but Gabriel had noticed her doing this for others even before she became an omega. She comforted those around her, to her own detriment.

Daniel put two pills next to the water glass. "Please take these, Alice."

"I don't need any pills. I'm okay." Her lips were trembling.

"I know you don't like to take pills, but this will help you sleep," Daniel insisted.

"I don't want to sleep, Daniel. They may still find him alive. I need to be up." She was shaking now, still hugging the pillow close.

Daniel sighed and looked at Gabriel for permission. Gabriel nodded.

"Alice, if you don't take the pills, I will have to give you an injection instead. You are not calm, and it's going to get worse. I need you to sleep."

Daniel might as well have slapped her with the look she gave him.

Lips trembling, she took the pills one at a time and stared straight ahead.

"Good. Do you want to go to the bedroom to sleep?" Daniel asked, still using his doctor's voice.

"No!" She sank deeper into the couch to get away from him. "Please, no. I prefer to stay here."

"It's okay. I'll stay here with her." Naomi rushed to their bedroom and returned with a blanket and a pillow. Bruno's scent wafted into the room.

"You'll let me know if you find him, right?" Alice asked Gabriel. Her eyes were unfocused, and her voice sounded calmer already.

"I will." He didn't like lying, but this wasn't the time to be honest.

He joined Daniel in the kitchen, surprised to find him crying. Gabriel was doing his best to keep his own emotions in check. He was in charge now. He was responsible not just for Alice, but for everyone in their pack of friends.

"Why was it so urgent for her to go to sleep?" Gabriel asked.

"I told the lead doctor for the omegas about Bruno. She ordered me to immediately sedate Alice." Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose. "One of the other omegas—she lost her fiancé, an alpha, to an accident."

"And…?" Gabriel didn't like where this was going.

"She tried to kill herself. Sarah said the omega had complained of chest pain, then started to harm herself. Then she almost successfully killed herself."

"What happened next?"

"I don't know. She's probably with the second on her list. I wanted to get here as soon as possible, so I didn't ask." Daniel took more pills from his backpack and started writing down instructions. "What's important right now is that Alice is always supervised and medicated. If we can hold off any self-harm attempts, we may be able to avoid more serious issues."

Shit, the last thing Gabriel needed was for Alice to get hurt too. His phone rang with an urgent call. After hanging up, he said, "I have to go to the site. Can you keep an eye on things here until the others arrive?"

"Sure. Who is coming?"

Gabriel checked his phone again to see who was available to help. He wasn't surprised. "Everyone." He put the phone away. "Are you going to the morgue?"

"Yes." Daniel gave him a worried look. "Doesn't all this seem… strange to you?"

Gabriel looked at his friend. If there was anyone he could trust right now, it was him. He took a deep breath and admitted his worries. "There was an emergency meeting called at six in the morning. I didn't hear the message, and most people couldn't join so early. I double-checked with the higher-ups this afternoon. No meeting had been requested. They had no idea what I was talking about."

"What does that mean? You make it sound like it was a trap." Daniel leaned against the counter, his face pale.

"I believe it was. The message asked for the chairs and their secretaries. Alice is not registered as a government worker, so I can't say for sure if they were counting on her going with Bruno or not. It was deleted from all mobile phones a couple of hours after being sent."

"But more people saw it, right?"

"All chairs, I assume. The secretaries only received messages from the chairs, asking them to come in."

Gabriel's cellphone rang again, and he took the call with a frustrated growl. On the other side of the line, someone complained that the registry server for all converted had been damaged in the fire. They needed his permission to download the missing info from a mirror server.

More calls kept coming in regarding other issues caused by the fire, demanding his attention. He double-checked on Alice before rushing to the site.

To top it all, there were the families of the people who had died. He needed to take care of them also.

If there was one good thing about being Bruno's second, it was that this kind of shitstorm would have gone to him. But now it had dropped in Gabriel's lap; he needed to rise to the challenge.

And he was going to push the fact that he was now at the top of the list for Alice to the back of his mind.

Portuguese funerals took too long for Gabriel's taste. So many people wanted to talk with Alice, to say how sorry they were for her loss. She held their hands, accepted their hugs, and spoke soft words with a polite smile. But she didn't take any comfort for herself. She seemed to be in an odd, numb state, hardly aware of her surroundings.

When they returned home, she went directly to her bedroom without saying a word. Marina followed her to make sure she wasn't alone. Everyone in their pack of friends was dedicated to ensuring she was never alone. Gabriel had noticed her looking thoughtfully at the box of pills Daniel had brought. She didn't need them to sleep anymore, as sleep was all she did lately. It was a hard task to convince her to eat. Naomi was the only one who could bully her into eating.

One day after Bruno's passing, Gabriel had gotten a call informing him he had temporary guardianship of Alice. On the day of the funeral, he received a call informing him of a hearing to decide Alice's future. All other men on the first list had been invited to attend, and the voice on the phone sternly reminded him his guardianship was temporary, and that any abuse of Alice would not be tolerated.

Gabriel fumed and paced the living room, looking at his phone with disgust. It was fewer than five days since Bruno died, and already the vultures were circling Alice.

How was he going to explain this to her? Had Bruno told her about Gabriel being second on the list? If Alice was a beta, that would just mean he had a chance to court her unchallenged, but as she was an omega, he would have far too much power over her.

Shit, how he dreaded the conversation he would have to have with her. For the first time since he was converted to an alpha, Gabriel felt like a coward.