Chapter Nineteen

One week later

I gripped the sides of my laptop. My fingers were digging in too hard to the screen, yet I couldn’t let it go.

It was good news, and I didn’t want to believe it. No—I wanted to believe it, but I was scared.

One of the representatives that voted in agreement to the temporary ban had been pulled from office. Their constituents had voted for an emergency election, and they lost their seat. I wasn’t even aware that was something that could be done, and despite the representative’s claims that it wasn’t fair, it was legal. The other representatives were getting nervous.

Alphas might have liked pretending they were better than betas, but they still needed beta votes, especially since betas make up most of the population. Despite alphas being in most of the leadership positions, they only succeed by pandering to betas.

Apparently, the alphas forgot about that.

“Hannah?”

I looked up from my screen to see Han had turned around in his chair, giving me a curious look. “Did you see this?”

He came over to look since I’d forgotten to turn the laptop around and I watched his eyes widen.

“This is good news, right?” I asked. “Maybe Representative Adam will be next.”

“I doubt it, unfortunately. He’s so extreme his followers almost worship him for his political views. It does mean that he might lose the votes on the permanency, though. This could be enough to spook the representatives who were on the fence. The temporary ban barely passed as it was.”

“What do we do now?” Someone had left that information on my page last night, so I figured it wasn’t public news yet. Or at least, not news that was being broadcast, most likely in an attempt to keep what happened quiet. “Is there a way we can secretly broadcast this?”

“What do you mean? Like send this to a news channel?”

I tensed. Just the thought of working with reporters bothered me. I didn’t trust them with this. Before, I’d believed because they were on TV, because they claimed roles as journalists, that they had some humanity for their audience. I’ve learned the truth. “I don’t think they’ll report on it. And even if they did, I don’t trust them to not twist it. I want the story to break out around them leaving them scrambling to report it.”

Han nodded his head, not so much like he was agreeing, more like he was thinking. “I could break into some websites and change the entire face to just be this information. That will take some time, but I can do it. Although, it will be a little harder without any links to reputable news sites.”

I scoffed. “Reputable.”

“I know, Hannah. But a lot of people still only get their information from those types of media outlets.” He went back to his desk, and I followed, hovering around him, holding my laptop in case he wanted to reference the information sent to me.

The comforting silence that usually surrounded us in Han’s office was missing as Han looked up sites, opening several tabs on each of his screens, and started breaking through their protective firewalls to post what we wanted.

I was barely able to hold still as I watched him. He typed so fast without even glancing down at the keyboard like it was as easy as talking. In a way, he sort of was communicating with the technology.

Jackson must have felt the change in my emotions because his scent was suddenly permeating through the office. “What’s going on?”

I glanced up at my mate quickly, doing a double take when I realized he was leaning against the doorframe, shirtless, covered in sweat, and slightly heaving. No wonder his scent was so strong, he’d been working out and I was amazed to see that even his bulky muscles had a pump from whatever he’d been doing.

It felt impossible to look away from Jackson even as my brain tried to remind me that I was watching something important.

Han was the one who spoke up, saying, “One of the representatives just got booted from office. We’re trying to leak the information.”

My perfume was starting to bloom just looking at Jackson. It didn’t help that my emotions were already high. The giddy excitement I felt over this information was making it even harder to not run to my mate. I wanted to celebrate, I wanted this to be the piece of information that meant the world was finally righting itself.

Even I knew that would be too premature.

Jackson came closer, stepping into the room to watch as Han continued working. His apple scent slammed into me making me groan.

I was bouncing on my toes, fighting the need to fuck my mate and be here while Han worked on this. It didn’t help that my arousal was making Han’s scent bloom as well. He didn’t slow down as he typed despite his pumpkin scent growing stronger.

There was something incredibly sexy about watching Han work, knowing he was aroused, yet not so much as looking up from his multiple screens. It was hard to keep up with what he was doing, especially as I watched his side profile, his serious features.

A chime went through the house, taking all of our attention away from the screens toward the office door, as if that’s where the random person was actually waiting.

Jackson growled, “Han, what the hell did you do?”

“That’s not about this. It has to be a coincidence. Even if I had fucked up, which I didn’t, but if I had, they wouldn’t have gotten here this fast. Also, I didn’t fuck up.”

I was reassured, although I only made it one step toward the door before Jackson grabbed me. “Nice try, rebel. You stay up here with Han.”

Looking back at my mate who was already staring at his screens, I agreed. I planned to sneak down the stairs anyway—

“Han,” Jackson demanded. “Keep Hannah up here.”

That got my mate to look up from his computers. I didn’t even have time to argue before Jackson started making his way out of the room and down the stairs. He was stomping each step, but I couldn’t follow because Han wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me back so I was actually sitting on his lap.

“Han—” I tried to struggle out of his lap. He kept one arm bound around me as he started closing everything on the screens. “Wait, what are you doing?”

“I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

“What do you mean?”

“We rarely get visitors, especially ones that don’t reach out before coming. And someone shows up on the same day that you get a leaked message about the vote? Shit’s going down.”

The only thing I felt at his words was panic. My mate was down there. Was Jackson in danger? I needed to protect him.

I was desperately trying to push out of Han’s hold, a sort of haze covering my mind with my only thoughts about Jackson and the potential danger for him downstairs.

“Shit, fuck, Hannah, I didn’t mean it like that.”

Han was trying to turn my waist and I was getting nowhere in my attempts to separate us. His grip around me tightened moments before he started purring, my body physically relaxing, slumping against his chest.

“Jackson is fine,” Han said. “I promise. I meant I was worried about you, not him.”

“Me?”

Han didn’t get time to answer. The same stomping steps made their way back up the stairs. That time, when I tried to scramble from Han’s lap, he let me.

I climbed my mate, wrapping my arms and legs around him as best I could the moment I saw him. He was wearing a thin tank top he must have put on to answer the door, although his sweat had soaked into the fabric. I took a deep inhale, needing his scent to calm me, to tell me that he wasn’t injured. Instead, I was hit with a strong sense of anger. Considering he was holding me tightly, I knew it wasn’t directed at me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, my face so close to his neck that my words came out mumbled against him.

“That was an assistant to Representative Adam.” Each word seemed to be pulled from him, his grip becoming impossibly tighter around me. “He would like to meet with us tonight.”

“Why?” Han’s voice was right behind me, his hand rubbing up and down on my back.

“Apparently, he wishes to speak with Hannah’s alphas about a mutually beneficial agreement.”

“Zeke is in a session right now. It’s a multi-hour piece, he won’t be home for a few more hours.”

“I know. I explained all this. The prick isn’t showing up until after dinner.”

Lifting my head, I turned to look at Han, admitting, “You were right.”

****

Dinner had been a strangely loud and hectic affair. My mates were going over every possible topic that could be brought up at the meeting about to happen. What we should say, how we should respond, reminders about what specifically not to say.

A lot of it was not so subtly aimed in my direction.

Neither Zeke nor Seb was happy that we hadn’t called them right away to tell them, but the decision was Jackson’s to make as first alpha. He also made the decisions about who would take the lead in the upcoming conversation.

My job was to be a perfect little omega. I was told I wasn’t allowed to demand why Adam was an insecure asshole who asserted his power and dominance over the other designations. Or point out that his beliefs were so obviously wrong that it was why he didn’t have a pack omega. Neither was I allowed to admit my true reasoning for being at his restaurant nor my opinions on anything he said about my presence there.

Only Zeke wasn’t dressed up for Adam’s appearance. My other mates had a form of social obligation to look nice for the male, and even I’d been encouraged by Jackson to wear something semi-formal to keep up appearances.

I was sitting between Zeke’s legs, his hands drawing aimlessly around my thighs and up my stomach carelessly. My scent was a mix of annoyance and arousal, the latter thanks to how close to my core Zeke’s fingers were getting.

“I still think we should refuse,” I told my alphas.

Zeke and I were in Han’s bedroom as the alpha finished getting fancy. The door was open, though, ensuring both Seb and Jackson could hear me. Sebastian peeked his head around the door to give me an unimpressed look.

“You’re telling me that if we cancelled right now, you wouldn’t be desperate to know what he wanted?”

That earned a glare from me. “Maybe. It might be worth the killing curiosity to keep his scent from my home.”

Seb snorted, the sound so uncharacteristic from him that I knew how blatant my lie truly was. I wanted Adam to come. I had grand imaginary plans for what I’d say to him. How I’d yell at him and get him to change his mind. Not that I would—I’d learned my lesson about grand proclamations from the reporters. I was meant to be behind the scenes, blending in with crowds, a voice unidentifiable but raising the volume of others.

I stuck my tongue out, ignoring the heated look Seb gave me before he disappeared to finish getting ready.

Jackson came to the doorway, not entering Han’s private space. He was dressed in a nice pair of black slacks and a black shirt that he’d left unbuttoned at the top. The look was serious and sexy. On anyone else, the outfit would make him seem like he was trying to blend in, but there was no hiding Jackson, and his clothes were a testament that he demanded attention no matter what fabric was covering him.

“You going to be a good girl, rebel?” Jackson asked.

I couldn’t even pretend to glare at him, simply taking him in. If any good came out of this meeting, it would be seeing my mates looking this good. “I’ll be good so long as he is.”

That was the best he was going to get, and he knew it.

Just in time, the doorbell rang, the chime spiking my adrenaline. This was it. It felt like I was moving slowly as I scooted off the bed, waiting on Zeke. I would have sworn that my blood felt thicker, struggling to push its way through my veins to all my extremities. Even my ears felt heavy—did blood even go to ears?

All of a sudden, I was in the formal greeting space, and I realized I needed my mates.

“Hannah, what’s wrong?”

I felt my lips part, felt the words on the tip of my tongue, but they disappeared when someone knocked on the door. This was really happening. The alpha that was trying to socially break my designation was about to come into my house and I realized for the first time that I hated that idea.

“Hannah, look at me.” The alpha bark had my brain focusing, every instinct telling me to appease my alpha over everything else. Jackson was cupping my face, his nose so close to mine that I was forced to only see his dark brown irises. “Tell me you can’t handle this, and I’ll send him away.”

I shook my head. I had no idea what was wrong with me, why my emotions were freaking out, but I did know that I didn’t want to send Adam-the-asshole away. Sebastian was right, I wanted to know what Adam had to say.

“I need to get the door, rebel,” Jackson said, “But I’m not leaving you until you calm down. I felt your panic earlier, and your heart is beating too fast for my liking. If you can’t settle your heart rate, I’m taking you to the emergency care.”

“I can’t go outside. It’s too late.”

Jackson growled, the sound doing more to settle me than his words. It was a blatant reminder of how fierce my alpha was. A protector. He wouldn’t let Adam hurt me. I looked at how strong he was, and my heart finally stopped threatening to overwork itself.

I was safe.

My shoulders rolled back, and my chin lifted. No more panic, or fear, or emotional bullshit. I could handle this with my mates. I trusted them.

Jackson stood to his full height, looking down at me with a smirk over his lips. “Atta girl, rebel.”

As soon as he stepped away, my other alphas came in to surround me. Zeke behind me, his arms around my stomach and keeping me pressed against his front. Sebastian and Han on either side of me, so close that my shoulders touched their arms.

I took in a deep breath, and then Jackson opened the door.