Chapter Eleven
Ryan
It was my night for a perimeter run, and I was glad for it. It would give my bear something to do that wasn't thinking about King and his mission. He didn't share what it was with me and I didn't think he was allowed to. The alphas tended to meet in private, with few omegas by their sides, those omegas being their mates. I wasn't privy to what they spoke about.
Until now, I didn't care about that. Why should I? My job was to help the house run, to keep the children feeling safe, and to do what was needed. It wasn't to be part of every single meeting they had.
But now that I understood that those meetings discussed the safety of not only them but specifically my mate? Now I beyond cared. I didn't like being left in the dark even though I understood all the reasons I had to be.
This run was going to be good for me. When my beast took over, I could fall back and just be. He took the job seriously, and he'd keep me down as he scented the air and the ground, making sure no one who shouldn't be on our grounds was. It forced me away from my worries.
Running the perimeter was fairly new for me. It had taken a while for me to convince everyone that I was up for the job. They saw me as a kid when I got here. And in a way, I had been—barely eighteen, not quite a man—but also, not a child. And really, I'd lived so many lifetimes in those eighteen years that, in a lot of ways, I was well into adulthood. I'd lost loved ones, fended for myself, faced unthinkable abuse at the hands of both loved ones and strangers, and helped get six precious cubs to safety. That was far from your typical kid stuff.
Thankfully, they didn't see me that way for long. As I got older and the kids settled in, they gave me more and more responsibilities. At first, they apologized, like they were asking too much of me. I assured them that I not only wanted to help but needed to and slowly but surely, they added more and more to my duties under the condition that I didn't skip my counseling, which I never did. I understood how easily the darkness could slip back in all too well. You can't go through what I had without it leaving a mark.
Eventually they agreed to the runs, first letting me go with someone, and now on my own. As omegas, we took turns taking care of the kids—not that they needed anything this time of night. They were sound asleep, but someone would be there if they woke up. That was important to all of us. We refused for them ever to feel alone again.
As I entered the lobby, the energy there was off. It felt like something was happening but nothing I could pinpoint directly. Still, something.
I approached some of the alphas who were talking in the corner in hushed whispers. They assured me it was nothing, that they were here just hanging out. I wasn't sure I believed them, so I told them straight out, "Guys, for the record, I deserve a seat at the table. I'm not a kid. It's dangerous for me to be here protecting everyone when I don't know everything."
Then, as if to prove just how much of a responsible adult I was, I stomped outside, took my fur, and ran the perimeter. I wasn't sure what gave me the balls to say that to them, but it felt good to get it off my chest. In hindsight, I'd have preferred not skulking away like a toddler in a tantrum, but progress was progress.
It still didn't make sense though. Why were they all here? Most of them lived at the warehouse. This was not there. If they were watching a game on the TV or eating pizza, I'd have called it a hangout night, but the way they spoke in hushed whispers, I doubted that was the case.
King was on a mission, and I half suspected they were here to keep an eye on me. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. It wouldn't be for me, though, not really. It would be that King was being an unmarked mate filled with worry and, in that lens, it meant that they were caring for their friend. So, maybe I was fine with it after all.
We ran the perimeter, my beast paying careful attention to every scent, every sound, every animal. He was slow and methodical, just as he should be, and when we reached the clearing and shifted back, I felt calmer. I always did after assuring that the grounds were safe.
That calm disappeared when I came back in and my beast wasn't less frazzled anymore. If anything, he was more wound up than when he left. Not at anything we scented but at the tension in the common area that wasn't there when we left, even though it was vacant. I marched to the conference room and didn't bother knocking before going inside.
Mav looked me straight in the eye. "Before you say anything, you were right before. You belong here. Take a seat." He let out a long breath. "And this sort of involves you."
I wanted to ask how but sat down in silence instead. I didn't want to be uninvited.
They were all there—the alphas minus King and the mates who weren't on kid duty.
"Earlier, when you interrupted us, we were talking about the concerns building inside us. We didn't understand them, but we all felt a sense of unease, like something was happening. Something felt off."
I understood that feeling too well and was glad they shared with me.
"But now we know what's going on. King called."
My stomach dropped.
"Fuck. Is he okay?"
I hadn't meant for my first contribution to a meeting to be a curse, but there it was.
"Yeah, he's fine." Tyrus forced a smile. "But his mission today, what he was meant to do…it led him to something we will never do. We need to fix this—now—and we don't have time. You got here just as we were deciding exactly who went where and how."
"I'm in." I didn't care why. I was going to help.
"Normally, I'd put my foot down." This time it was Pop-Tart. "I don't like omegas in the mix."
I held in a growl. Omegas could do anything alphas could do. More, really, because we could also grow whole-ass people.
"There's an omega with children, and they need our protection as much as King does." Mav's clarification only fueled me.
"Then why am I here? Why are we here? Let's go." This wasn't meeting time. It was go time.
"It's not as easy as all that." Tyrus might be technically correct, but I still gave him my best stink eye.
"Fuck that." I stood up and walked out the door, texting Sloan to let him know I was going to be a while, surprised when they came with me. We piled into the vehicles and drove. At least it wasn't far away, closer to the house than the warehouse, which explained why they were all there.
Using our phones on speaker, we made a piss-poor plan the best we could, but really, we were going in blind. There wasn't time to do more. If we didn't get in and out on time, others would get out never.
All we knew was that there was an omega and his children with a bounty on their heads, and they needed out of there. I didn't care what the omega did; those kids were innocent. And really, if there was a bounty on his head, chances were the omega pissed off the bad guys, making him a de facto good guy.
"King said it would be safe to extract them if we're fast enough—at least that's what Tyrus said." Mav was attempting to reassure me, and I was glad for it.
And really, we had no way of knowing that for sure. Anyone who would be willing to kill children was not to be trusted.
We pulled up and shuffled out of the vehicles, some of us in our skin and others in their fur. I was one of the people going inside. Being the only omega there, I thought my designation would be helpful. They might trust me more. At least, that was the hope because barging into a house and telling someone they were in danger and to come with the big scary shifters with a bunch of sketchy-looking vehicles wasn't going to be easy.
I waited in the van for the signal, and when none came, I climbed out to see my mate.
"What in the fuck? What is he doing here?" he growled at Tyrus.
He didn't know me very well if he thought that anyone could've stopped me.