Chapter 16

Sixteen

SERGIO

" Y ou're back," said the commanding officer of the Royal Pack.

He sounded bored as I sat on the other side of his desk in his office. I was the complete opposite of bored, ready to tell him more information regarding the omega breeding camp.

"As you know, Henry is still breeding omegas," I said. "I have pictures from the Birthing Building."

Reaching inside my jacket, I pulled out the polaroid pictures of mothers in sterile white rooms and a large circular room where they kept the babies.

"Do you have proof that the omegas have been brought there by force?"

"Jareth, you know they have," I said, exasperated and annoyed. He was scratching his mustache and looking at me like I was stupid. "I was sent on a mission myself to kidnap a young omega."

His eyebrows rose, and I remembered the recording I kept of Henry telling me to do the job.

"Is that so?"

His question made the hairs on the back of my neck rise.

He gave off the same vibe that Claws had, and I decided to hold back from showing him the recording. I would have to find the king and talk to him directly. He didn't look interested, and something seemed off this time.

"Yes," I said, staring at the dusty family portrait on his desk.

Something about the picture caught my eye, and it wasn't the three kids sitting at their father's feet. It was the father himself. He looked nearly identical to Henry but older. Then, my eyes roamed to the kids, and I focused on one of them. Something about his features looked familiar. He had black hair and looked like the younger version of Henry. My pulse raced when I saw the second kid next to him, and it looked much like the commanding officer in front of me.

What the fuck?

"What are you looking at?" Jareth barked.

"Are you related to Henry?" I asked in bewilderment, not intimidated by his uniform or muscular physique. Jareth contemplated my question, sizing me up before he answered.

"It's not a secret that he's my brother," said Jareth. "I suggest you leave my office right now."

I stood up from the chair, giving him a calculated look.

"I don't know what your problem is today, Jareth, but we really need to help those omegas," I said. "We need to go in there today."

"We're not ready," he said, pursing his lips.

"Don't you want justice for them?"

"Of course I do," said Jareth. "But we don't have the resources yet to take on such a huge operation. I will take it under consideration."

"I see," I said, and then I turned to leave, even more determined to find King Armon myself.

Luckily, I didn't have to wait long before I bumped into him in the gardens, talking to his omega wife and drinking tea. After the guards had escorted me out, I was able to lie and pretend I had more information. But instead of going to the commanding officer's room, I turned in the opposite direction.

"Sergio," roared King Armon upon seeing me walking towards him and his wife.

"My king," I said, bowing. And I kissed the queen's outstretched hand. "My queen."

"Do you have news from the breeding camp? I haven't heard anything in years."

"Years?" I asked, arching my eyebrows. I knew Jareth was up to no good. He was protecting his damn brother. "Sir, I have a lot to tell you."

After I finished relaying everything I had been telling Jareth and everything my pack had informed him about, the king's face turned white.

"Such horrible news," said his wife. "What are we going to do, Armon? Those omegas need us!"

Suddenly, I heard footsteps crunching behind me, and I turned, seeing a gun pointed straight at me.

"Did you fucking tell him?" growled Jareth.

"Fuck," I muttered, hoping he wouldn't lose it. But I was willing to die for the omegas trapped in there. I was willing to die for my mother, who had disappeared in there years ago.

"Put the gun down," said King Armon calmly. "Or else we will kill your brother on sight. I know you don't want that."

At the mention of his brother, Jareth slowly lowered his gun.

"You won't kill him?" asked Jareth.

"We will bring him in for questioning," said King Armon, nodding to his guards, who instantly pulled the gun away from Jareth, putting handcuffs on him. "Take him to the prison for treason. I will deal with him later."

"You'll regret this," hissed Jareth, his black eyes narrowed into slits as they took him away.

"Thanks for that," I said to the king, and he nodded gruffly. He wasn't happy at all how things turned out. Especially finding out that his commanding officer was corrupt couldn't be easy.

"I will send my best force with you to the camp," promised King Armon. "We will take Henry down and put an end to this nonsense. Alphas have gone astray plenty of times, including myself, but I cannot allow this to go on. It was all a rumor before, but now you've confirmed all the atrocities. I appreciate all the effort you've put in, Sergio, but we'll take it from here."

Three Days Later

It had been days since stepping foot back onto the OBC grounds.

But this time, I had reinforcement.

An army of alphas silently jumped out of helicopters and cars, surrounding the two buildings in the middle of the night. I couldn't believe I had managed to convince the Royal Pack that this operation needed to end after finally getting through to King Armon.

Holding a rifle in my hands, I ran as quickly across the sand.

I needed to get to my pack first and find out where Olivia was. I hadn't been able to contact Ian for days after telling him to check on Olivia, and I was worried something horrible had happened to him and Evan.

I shot at the two alphas guarding the entrance to the lobby, and they collapsed to the ground, unsuspecting of me. Their blood seeped into the sand, staining the ground below.

Barging into Henry's office, I could see his feet on the desk as he smiled at something on his phone. His eyes bugged out of his head when he saw the massive rifle in my hands.

"Greetings," I said curtly. "Where's Ian and Evan? My pack."

Henry slowly removed his feet off the table. And he must have pressed something under his desk because I could hear alarms blaring throughout the building. Long, loud ringing blaring through my skull.

"They're not here," he said, interlocking his fingers on the desk. "I suggest you leave right now before I order your immediate execution. You don't want to die before you save your precious Olivia, do you?"

"Where are they?" I said, cocking my gun. I had enough of his nonsense, and I was ready to shoot the fucker down now. But a voice at the doorway distracted me.

"They're at the barracks, in the prison cells," said Rodmon, who was pointing a gun at Henry. "Can't believe the Royal Pack guards are here."

"They're here?!" roared Henry. "You did this, Sergio. Do you find satisfaction in destroying everything I worked so hard for?"

Every fiber in my being roared at me to pull the trigger. To put an end to him.

"I'll watch him until he gets arrested," said Rodmon, gruffly shaking my shoulder. "Go. Go get your pack and your omega."

I didn't need any more pushing.

I rushed out of his office and outside towards a smaller building behind this one. The sand flew under my thick black boots as I held the gun over my shoulder. I wished I could shift into my alpha wolf form to get there faster and to get Olivia quicker, but I needed to be armed. Every second mattered, and every second, she was probably getting tortured.

I hoped she was okay, and I prayed furiously in my mind as I got to the barracks. There were no prison guards as they were rushing to help Henry, ignoring me in the mix, thinking I was still loyal.

I stopped one of the prison guards running towards the building.

"I need the keys. Henry said he needs all the backup that he can use," I barked.

The guard threw the ring of keys at me without a second look at my face.

"Serg is here! Thank god," said Ian, grabbing the iron bars and shaking them to the other prisoners' annoyance.

"Oh, thank fuck," said Evan, who stood up from the dingy ground, joining Ian.

"It's not like he has the keys or anything," said one of the other prisoners.

"I do," I said, shaking the keys, and suddenly all the prisoners surrounded the door, ready to rush out. They were all in here for disobedience to Henry. "I'm breaking out all of you to help the omegas free."

"You got it, man," said one of the larger alphas covered in tattoos. "The love of my life is trapped in there. And she just had a baby a month ago."

When I shoved the iron gate open, every alpha shifted to wolf form, howling as they escaped out of the giant cell.

"Where's Olivia?" I asked.

"We'll take you there," said Evan quickly, shifting into wolf form as well as Ian. They ran ahead of me towards the tall glass building that no alpha without clearance was allowed into. A place where all the babies were born and sent to foster care for no reason.

Gripping my rifle with now-sweaty hands, we made our way to the building despite the chaos of alphas shouting and omegas screaming. I had to get to Olivia, despite the short time I'd known her.

I shot the lock on the door, and we burst into the building.

Ian and Evan bounded down the steps of the basement in wolf form. It got darker and more rank the further down I climbed. The stench down here was unbearable, and my eyes widened upon seeing three skeletal-like omegas sitting together in the main cavern. They looked almost shocked to see us there.

"But it's not time yet," said the one with the long braids, with a shocked look on her face.

I looked around, not seeing my precious Olivia anywhere. "Where's Olivia?"

"In her room," she answered, and my pack ran there. The other two omegas looked frozen in place as if scared to draw my attention to them. I felt sorry as hell for these omegas, and I wished I had gotten here earlier.

"You are free to go," I said, pointing the gun up the stairs. "It's unlocked. The Royal Guards are out there, and they have cars to take you."

"You don't need to tell me twice," said the purple-haired omega, making a run for the stairs. When the other two omegas didn't see me shoot their friend, they made a dash for the stairs.

Catching my breath, I was nervous about the state of condition that Olivia was in.

I ran down the dimly lit hallway and saw a room with a door that was hanging by its hinges. Walking towards the room, I saw Ian and Evan parked at the doorway, refusing to go inside.

"What's going on guys?" I asked with dread. I was so fucking scared to find her dead inside. The thought shook me to the core, and when I heard Ian whine, I rushed into the room.

And when I saw her, my heart shattered.

She was hiding in the corner, covered in a shroud of darkness, with her face tucked between her knees. Putting the gun behind my shoulder with the strap, I slowly approached her so as to not scare her further. She was visibly shaking when she heard me approaching.

I stopped and knelt on my knees.

"Olivia, it's only me," I said in a low voice so she wouldn't get scared even further. I was worried she would go into shock from the tremors in her body.

"No, no, it's not real," she muttered to herself, shaking her head.

I inched closer, my heart breaking even more when I saw her filthy leggings or what was left of it. Her feet were stained from the black paint on the ground, and her arms were covered in scars.

"It's very real, Liv," I said, and she slowly looked up. Her curly black hair was matted to her scalp, and her eyes were red, either from lack of sleep or crying. Her lips were trembling when she tried to speak, but she was overcome with emotion- her eyes flooding with tears.

"It's really you," she said, gasping for air, and I quickly made my way over to her. I lifted my arm to wrap her in a hug, but she flinched, and I stopped myself right away.

What kind of fucker would do this to her? What the hell happened to her?

"I'm here to take you home," I said softly. "Don't you want to see your family again?"

Her eyes widened.

"Yes," she breathed, trying to straighten her legs to stand, but she was shaking so much. I offered her my arm, and she hesitated before taking it. Her cherry scent enveloped me as she leaned on me for support.

We took two steps before she froze, her body tensing against mine. She stared at Ian and Evan at the doorway, who were both howling in victory.

"Oh, that's just Ian and Evan," I explained.

Her shoulders relaxed slightly. "Okay."

I desperately wanted to scoop her up in my arms and get the fuck out of there, but that would only make her retreat back into her corner. All the signs of mistreatment were there. I would question her once we were on the plane, as doing so now would do no good for us. She wouldn't trust me, and I needed her to. I helped her up the stairs while my pack ran ahead of us, still in wolf form.

Gunshots and chaos still reigned outside. I was glad to see omegas being taken into vans, planes, and cars as they evacuated the premises. I led my omega to the black private plane awaiting us, and her eyes widened when she saw it.

"Wait, we need to save the others," she said, turning back to the building, but I held her arm.

"They're all being rescued right now," I said. "The Royal Guards will make sure they're safe."

She nodded silently, a tear pouring down her cheek.