49. Mila

Chapter 49

Mila

" I t will be okay, Mila. Everything will be fine…"

I can hear the uncertainty in his voice, and now we sit in silence, the movie droning on in the background as white noise.

Gryphon and Barret went to visit Frederick, seeing if he was willing to come back with us, exposing Lily for the liar she is.

She framed his death, and he should want to get even.

I don't know what she did or said to convince him to live on the fringes of our society, becoming a recluse basically, but it must have been enough to terrify him.

He was paving the way for Betas, threatening Lily's Alpha government.

The most likely explanation: she threatened him.

And I wonder what she said to get him to leave.

Did Frederick have secrets?

I never liked him, and I always got a bad vibe from him whenever we exchanged pleasantries. The Beta was a pig, and I saw the way he ogled those Omegas at the Governor's Ball.

Whatever Lily has over him, it could be enough to damn him and his career. Maybe send him to prison.

I just hope he is brave enough to come back with us.

Oliver freezes beside me next, and I glance his way, my heart pounding.

His face is white.

"What is it, Oliver?"

He peers at me, his lip shaking. "Gryphon… he just sent a message through the bond…"

The bond. Something I don't have access to.

One I hope to one day.

When all this is over. When we are free from opposition.

"What did he say?"

Oliver's face breaks, and it looks as if he doesn't know how to tell me, that he is too afraid.

"Frederick… he's dead. A knife to the throat… Gryphon and Barret…"

He doesn't have to go on. My mind has put two and two together.

Gryphon and Barret had gone to visit Frederick, and enlist him…

Only to find him dead.

Lily. She's already one step ahead of us.

She must have gotten wind that we found Frederick, and was it something I said over the phone? Did my voice give it away?

Unless she is as omnipresent as I feared.

I'm too numb with shock. I can barely move, but when Oliver jumps out of the seat, pinning me to the ground, I don't even react.

Not even when the house explodes all around us.

Still, I wrap my arms around his back, knowing that this could be the end. That we may die.

I'm just grateful that I got to die in the arms of someone I love.

Not everyone gets to be so lucky.

***

When I wake, it's not the arms of Oliver I find myself, but in a cold, dark cell, gazing up through the gaps of the bars to see her face.

Lily. Sitting on a stool in a ridiculous pink suit, her arms crossed, disappointment leaking from her cruel, black eyes.

An armed guard stands close, his eyes peeled ahead, a formidable force.

If Lily gives the order, he will shoot. No questions.

My throat swells, but I hold back my emotions and face her head-on.

"Where is he?"

Lily gives me nothing. Not even a tic of the jaw. The only muscle that she moves on her face is her eyebrow. "Who?"

I stumble up to my feet, gripping the bars. "You know who."

The armed guard shifts, but Lily holds her hand out.

He resumes his position.

The idiot is on the wrong side. I wonder if she threatened to kill his wife and kids.

This woman has a leash around us all, and it's time we put a stop to her.

She's still a person, though. Maybe I can ruffle her up somehow, poke at a nerve. It could spell the end for me, but I'm willing to try anything now just to save my family.

Oliver and the pack are my family now, and we will all live happily ever after.

"Oliver… my Omega …"

Lily finally reacts. One side of her mouth curves, and she's mocking me, I know it, but I never falter, never let my glare waver.

" Your Omega?"

I nod. "That's right."

Lily blinks. Then she laughs, repositioning her legs.

That pink pencil skirt does not suit her at all. Her legs are far too muscular.

Still. She could probably pop my head off my shoulders with those thighs, but I can hold my own.

I was the best in my class after all. The top Beta.

"I never knew an Omega could have an Omega..."

I scoff, "He's more of my Omega than he'll ever be yours, Governor."

Lily's eyes flash, and for the first time, she gives me something. A flicker.

Merely rage, but that rage has to come from somewhere.

I will find its origin.

"And what about Gryphon?"

I stop, and she smirks, knowing she hit her mark. Things are still tense between me and Gryphon, and I don't think we will ever become closer than we are now, but I still hold on to hope.

"Still trouble in paradise, I see…"

I fall quiet, but I still don't look away from her.

"A pity. I thought I saw something in his eyes that day in my office… the first time he showed me defiance. I had mentioned you, of course. Hence why I had to act."

I don't reply, my eyes stinging as she discusses Gryphon.

Just maybe things could have been different between us. In different circumstances.

I always assumed that Oliver, Barret, and Lachlan would have been enough, and they are.

But my life wouldn't be the same without Gryphon in it.

I don't want him to book a hotel for my next heat. I want him in the nest, pleasing me along with Oliver…

Pure heaven.

And I will have that one day.

I still have hope.

Lily regards me with those shrewd eyes, and she really can see right through me.

The fault of having doe eyes—doe eyes a rare shade of green.

"I saw this coming, you know. From the day I entered your dorm room and gave you that proposition, I knew you would betray me…"

The comment pisses me off, and I grit my teeth. "Then why come to me in the first place?"

She shrugs the padded shoulders of her pink blazer, and the last thing she needs is shoulder pads with those broad shoulders. "I guess I just like playing with my toys… or my chess pieces, if you will."

Yeah. Because we are all nothing but pawns on her big strategy board. The witch.

It makes sense why she was able to anticipate all our moves.

The woman can see every possible outcome, every possible action her subjects could potentially make.

A true skill.

And it's that developed abstract thinking that makes her a feared leader.

"Why?" I ask

"Why what?"

"Why can't you just leave us alone? You finally have it all. You're at the top. Frederick is dead… Why can't you just let us be?"

I spy it, then. A flicker in her eyes, and I pay closer attention now.

She senses my awareness, and rises from the stool, giving me her back, but it's too late.

I saw it all in just that one glimpse.

Lily doesn't have it all. The words just blurted out of me. I hadn't even planned them, yet they made her react.

Made her human.

The woman hates insubordination. But I've started to realize. Her power is all she has…

That fear and respect.

So when it wanes, she falters.

It may not be much, but I revel in my small victory.

She may be able to see right through my big green eyes, but I saw something in hers too.

Even if it was brief, it was something.

I will just have to bide my time. Strike in the right moment.

And when I do, I will make it hurt.