Chapter 17

Brielle

After briefly meeting Alpha Wynn at the cafe, I hadn't thought I would see him again so soon.

Korren was a steady presence beside me as we crossed the threshold of Isolde's home. The Alpha's den was a huge three-story log cabin with exposed wooden beams and oak paneling, and as I looked around, I heard the faint sound of male voices.

My wolf sensed Ezra and Valor nearby, along with the Alpha and two other males I'd yet to meet. Even as my shoulders tensed, some biological part of me was soothed by my mates' proximity.

Isolde guided us up the stairs and toward a dark oak door. Korren's hand settled at the small of my back.

"Here you are," Isolde said. "I'm going to take a nap." She grasped my hand and gave it a squeeze. "You'll be fine."

Were my nerves that obvious?

I wanted to believe Isolde, but nothing good ever came from meetings with males in power. I trusted my mates to keep me safe, but that didn't mean I would like the ensuing conversation.

Korren guided me into the room, and Ezra and Valor immediately walked toward us, both males running their eyes over me before speaking.

"Fancy seeing you here, sweetling," Valor said with a lopsided smile.

"Did you enjoy your day?" Ezra asked.

"I did. Isolde was very sweet."

I noticed the slight frown on Korren's face but decided to ignore it for now.

"So . . . um, why am I here?" I cautiously looked around the room, and guilt flashed through my mates' eyes. My stomach lurched.

"Come." Ezra guided me to a plush chair in front of the Alpha's desk. "Alpha Wynn will explain everything."

I glanced at the Alpha and the two males on either side of him.

"Hello again," Wynn said. He waved his hand toward a tan, muscular male with short hair and shocking gray eyes. "This is your Beta, Bishop, and this—" he pointed to a tall man with playful blue eyes and long hair tied at the nape of his neck, "—is your Gamma, Alaric."

I had not missed how he said your Beta and Gamma.

I introduced myself to Bishop and Alaric and waited for him to continue.

"I'm not sure if you're aware, but Hidden Creek has been investigating some of the unethical practices and crimes that the Council has committed—not only against Omegas but shifter society as a whole."

"No, I wasn't aware," I said. My throat felt like a desert.

Are they trying to challenge the Council? That's treason.

Everything I had learned about sanctioned packs roared in my ears—their greed, the blind eye they turned to the Council's activities, their abuse of Omegas. There was no doubt in my mind some of those things were real—Isolde had admitted as much when she shared Hidden Creek's past. I spent years thinking packs were just as bad as the Council, but everyone in Hidden Creek seemed to believe otherwise. What if the truth was somewhere in the middle?

I looked at the three males in front of me and made my decision. I would give them as much as they gave me. I would tell them some information and see what they did with it.

"I won't waste time with useless details," Alpha Wynn said. "Ezra released trackers into the facility, and we've uncovered some confusing evidence. We're hoping you can shed some light on the situation."

"Why?" The question was out of my mouth before I could stop it.

The Alpha, Beta, and Gamma glanced at each other, probably deciding what they could reveal. That was fine; I didn't fully trust them either.

Bishop sat on the edge of Alpha Wynn's desk. "We're trying to help the Omegas. We want to free them from the Council."

I crossed my arms over my chest, skeptical. "And free the sanctioned packs from their regulations, right?"

The corner of Alpha Wynn's mouth twitched. "That's the idea."

"What about the underaged Omegas?" I asked, my voice calm despite my inner turmoil.

A hand slid along the back of my neck, and Valor's calloused fingers traced my pulse. The pressure should have made me feel dominated, but it didn't. I felt safe and supported.

"There are no tricks here. We want to help them, not hurt them," Alaric said.

"I don't doubt that. But it isn't clear if you have any concept of what that actually means. No offense."

"Explain," Alpha Wynn ordered. Instead of the anger I expected, he sounded curious.

I straightened in my seat. "There are five compound boarding houses for Omegas. Each one has between forty and sixty Omegas of varying ages. Some are as young as three, though they're not technically supposed to have them that early. This means a fair number of Omegas are children, girls, and teens. What happens to the defenseless children who don't have parents to return to? Will they be split among packs like cattle? How can you ensure they won't be abused?"

Alpha Wynn's face betrayed no emotion, but Bishop's eyes widened a fraction, and Alaric's jaw clenched.

I continued. "Like I said, I have no doubt you want to help Omegas, but when you think of us, you think of breeding-age females, not crying toddlers who've just lost everything. If you want me to help you, there has to be a plan for them, too."

My wolf growled in agreement as ribbons of pride snaked through the bond, blanketing me in my mates' tender affection and awe.

Alpha Wynn studied me, his glacial stare breaking through my confidence with the precision of an arrow. The air grew thin as silence stretched between us.

Finally, he nodded, a trace of respect in his gaze. "We'll figure out a plan to get each of the girls into the right hands. We'll see if we can track down their families, and if not, they are welcome to join our pack or any other they choose." He nodded at the other members of his unit, and Alaric placed a laptop on his desk and turned it toward me. "Now, what can you tell us about the facility."

I stared at the recording of the cells I'd been confined to for the last nine months. My stomach pitched as anger mixed with my need for vengeance.

Korren's voice broke through the fog. "You okay, love?"

Ezra stroked my hair, and I had to force myself not to lean into my mate's touch. "I'm okay." I cleared my throat, shoring up my strength. "Those are the cells for females who have aged out of the boarding houses. We're kept there until the Hunt. I lived there for nine months."

Alpha Wynn took a seat. "We're going to need you to tell us everything you know."

So, I told them. I told them how the staff underfed us to keep us docile for the Hunt. I told them about the handsy guards and the workers who were drugged into submission if they resisted their unsavory duties. I told them about the Omegas that went missing and never made it to the Hunt due to Councilman Raza's selections.

When I finally took a breath, I was met with silence.

Finally, Bishop spoke up and asked, "Why were you continuing to participate in the Hunt?"

"Because I had no choice," I said. "I was bound by the rules—rules you were lied to about if I've heard correctly."

I told them about the five-win rule, and just like their mate, Alpha Wynn and his unit asked how I knew it was true.

I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. "My father was a member of the Council. He created the rule."

It was so quiet I could have heard a fly sneeze.

I ignored it and pushed forward. "He broke his vow and went on the run to protect me. He trained me and taught me how to survive. He also made sure I knew the laws inside and out, just in case we were caught. When I was fourteen, they finally tracked us down. The Council had been hunting us all my life. They called him a traitor and killed him after capturing us."

Korren laced his fingers through mine, but I felt his shock through the bond. It must have been hard to see Council members as individuals rather than all-powerful rulers.

"What were you going to do after you won?" Alpha Wynn asked. "I doubt the Council would make life easy for an Omega who beat their system."

"They wouldn't," I agreed. "I'd be on my own. No pack. No protection."

"So, what was your plan?" Ezra asked.

My heart threatened to crack my ribs. I was at an impasse. Telling them about the Council was one thing, but discussing my sister was another.

Sensing my indecision, Valor kneeled before me. He crooked a finger under my chin and drew my eyes to his. "You don't have to say or do anything that makes you uncomfortable, sweetling. But I want you to know that you're safe here. And the more we know, the better we can prepare."

Out of habit, I searched for signs of deception. My instincts told me there were none.

With a drawn-out sigh, I confessed, "I was going to find my sister."