Chapter Ten

Ben

"That"s ridiculous, Seth," Desie fumes.

Seth sighs heavily and drags his hands down his face. "It is not ridiculous, Desir"ee. You"re lucky I"m even letting you go in anymore at all."

She puts her hands on her hips. "Let me? You"ve let me go to my shifts since my heat lifted without making a fuss. The only difference now is that I know that I"m pregnant."

Oh boy. This is going to be a fun one. Desie and Seth have been going back and forth about this for a couple days. She just doesn"t realize that the only thing that"s kept Seth from camping out at the hospital when she"s at work this whole time is me and Michael aggressively talking him out of it. The main argument was that she"d know something was up if we started keeping watch over her at work, and that wouldn"t go along with letting her figure out she"s pregnant on her own. We all wanted that for her so much, so he allowed himself to be convinced. He still put a new tracker on her phone. And another one on her car.

Seth rubs his jaw, then his neck. "Desir"ee. The only reason we haven"t been taking turns sitting in the hallway for the past two and a half weeks is because we love you and we knew it would make you happy to realize you were pregnant without us telling you. At least one of us will be with you every minute of the day from now on. I"m sorry. I know you"re angry. But it"s happening."

The glare she levels him with is icy and I"m glad it"s not directed at me. Maybe she"s too pissed off to feel the sour combination of Seth"s fear and his own anger trembling along our bond, but I can feel it loud and clear. If she keeps fighting, he"ll force her to listen with a command and that might mess both of them up.

"Listen, baby," I say gently. "Just listen for a minute. Try to understand. Flores took you. He took you from the hospital with me and Michael both there. Then he took us. Do you have any idea what it would do to us if something like that happened again? Can"t you feel how afraid Seth is? How worried I am? We know you"re strong. We know you"re careful. But you"re still ours, and we need to protect you. Especially now."

She turns that glare on me, but it"s lost most of its sharpness. "You can"t keep me in a bubble for the next twenty-seven weeks. I have a job. I have responsibilities."

"You have the same responsibility we do, which is to keep that baby safe," Michael says. "You and that baby are all that matters. If I knew how to put you in a bubble, I fucking would. But the best we can do is stay with you."

She sighs and drops her hands from her hips. "You can"t just sit at the hospital all day. My shifts are long."

Seth tilts his head and licks his lips. "Not anymore. You cannot be on your feet and running around for that long. It will put too much strain on you."

"You can"t take my job from me, Seth Pratchett. I worked too hard for it."

I reach over and wrap my fingers around her wrist and pull her to me, wrapping my arms around her. "Nobody is taking your job. Nobody is forcing you to stop working. All we"re doing is taking care of you." We didn"t decide that Desie couldn"t work ten to twelve hour shifts, Seth decided that. But it"s the right decision.

Seth pushes away from the kitchen table and comes to stand in front of her. He puts his hands on either side of her face and presses his forehead against hers. "I know your work is important. What you do is the most important thing. And I can"t express how proud I am of you. But I won"t back down from this. I can"t. We have to keep you safe and healthy."

"What about after the baby comes?" she asks. "What will we do then? Because I am going back to work once he"s old enough."

"When she"s old enough for you to go back to work, she"ll stay with one of us," Michael answers. "Or one of us will be home with her. Besides, we"ll be on the East Coast by then. Talia and Jasper will help. And Brandon will be there. She"ll get to grow up with their kids, and with Amber"s when we come back here. We won"t be alone. But until she"s here, we"re keeping you safe every second of the day."

"The baby can"t go to council meetings, Michael."

"Why not?" Seth counters. "I have already been looking at those baby wrap sling things. I can take her with me. Marcus loves it when kids are in his suite."

"Who is Marcus?" she asks, curiosity winning out over outrage.

Seth smiles and runs his thumb across her bottom lip. "Marcus is Talia"s father. He"s crazy. And he has the foulest mouth I"ve ever heard. All kids love him. When I was a kid, I used to wish he was my dad. He"s going to love you."

"Why?"

He smiles again. "A million reasons. One of them being the way you do not have a filthy vocabulary. He"ll try to corrupt you."

I laugh. "He can"t. We"ve been trying for years."

Desie sighs again. "We really will be on the East Coast when he"s born, won"t we? In a farmhouse? Is there actually a farm?"

Seth kisses her and goes back to his seat at the table. "I don"t think there"s a farm. There could be if you wanted one. I don"t think we"ll be there long, though. Corso already has a team fixing the house at the back of his property. You can have a farm there, too. I don"t care. Whatever you want. He"d say the same thing."

"I might like a small garden," she hums. "Maybe grow some tomatoes and squash," she smiles back at me at the mention of squash. Then she huffs. "Are all three of you really going to go everywhere with me?"

"Every minute of the day, darlin," Seth answers. "There"s no way around it."

She huffs again. "Fine."

She understands. I can feel it. She just doesn"t like being told what to do. Any other time, we"d give her her way about it, but not about this. We"ll keep her safe before we keep her happy.

Talia has decided that they"re ready to go back home. Luca is sturdy enough for travel, and Talia is ready. Devon is a little bit past ready, but I get the feeling that he"s not happy or satisfied no matter where he is. He isn"t even a little satisfied with the fact that Brandon will be going back with them, and even less happy about him staying in Seth"s old garage apartment; but he"s dealing with it. Much more quietly now that Talia has given him the "mom look".

Brandon isn"t happy with their method of travel. He doesn"t think they should fly. He says he"d feel a whole lot better if they were on the ground.

"It would take much longer to drive across the territories, kid," Alex explains. "A few hours in a plane with three toddlers and a newborn is much easier and safer than driving for days with a ton of stops along the way."

"They"ll stay in their car seats, though, right?" Brandon reluctantly asks. "They won"t be running around the plane?"

Corso jumps in. "They will be in their seats until the plane gets into the air, and then they will be able to sit with us if they want. We would never allow them to run through the plane. They will likely flock to you."

Brandon nods and looks into the bag we brought him. He has things here. Somewhere. I don"t know where he keeps them, but Desie insisted that he needed new things for his new life. So we bought him new stuff. And a new bag to put it in, as well as a new phone of his own that we will pay for. We wanted him to be able to call home whenever he needed to. It"s already programmed with all the numbers he"ll need and some pictures of Cody and Joseph. He might be rough around the edges, but he"s as anxious as he is determined. We wanted to help where we could.

"We"ll leave early in the morning," Talia chirps. "You"ll stay here tonight so we can get to the airport in time. What time do we need to be at the WCC this afternoon, Seth?"

Minos wanted to have a big, fat meeting before Talia"s pack went back east. He said it wasn"t a huge deal, but he wanted our pack and as much of Talia"s as they were comfortable sending in attendance. Desie, Talia, the kids, and half of her pack will stay here while the rest of us, including Jasper, attend the meeting. Nobody wants Jasper to go, but he said he"d get there whether he went with us or not. We believed him so he"s going with us. And he"ll just have to be mad about us keeping him in the middle of all of us. He"s a lot of intense and interesting things, but he"s still an omega no matter how strange the energy that rolls off of him feels; and omegas will be protected whether they like it or not.

"He said 2pm."

She nods. "And he hasn"t mentioned what it"s about?"

Seth shakes his head. "No. He just said it was important and to get everyone that I could to come with me. I don"t like it. Why would I need to put your pack at risk if it was something good? I don"t like it at all."

"I agree, Pratchett," Reid says. "If it was nothing to worry about, then he wouldn"t have requested extra support." Reid is having a much more difficult time than anyone else right now. There is no way for him to be here with Talia and at the meeting with Jasper and he obviously feels very much like he needs to be in both places. "Are you sure I can"t persuade you to stay back, Jasper? I would feel much better if you and Talia were in one location."

"She could come with us," Jasper suggests, raising his eyebrows. "The kids will be fine with Desir"ee; and Alex, Nathan, Kaleb, and you will keep everyone nice and safe."

The sour look that Reid gives him makes him smile.

"I want to go, Reid," Jasper says. "I probably won"t be able to see anything, anyway. You know they"ll guard me to the point of suffocation."

"They better," Reid grumbles and stalks out of the kitchen.

Once we get to the WCC building, everyone straightens their shoulders and puts on their best go-fuck-yourself expression as we walk through the door. A secretary leads us upstairs to the boardroom and asks us if we"d like water or coffee. None of us are inclined to accept any drinks inside this building, regardless of how safe Minos assures us we are. Especially with Jasper with us.

The anxiety flowing freely between us amps up when the first council member through the door is Alpha Aceves, and it tightens uncomfortably when he"s followed in by Alpha Urwin. Neither are upstanding citizens and both are corrupt council members. One or both of them were ring-side more often than not when Michael and I were being held by Flores. This is the first time we"ve seen them since The Back House and if either of them are surprised to see us here it doesn"t show on their faces.

The other council members file in and Minos walks in one minute before the meeting is set to begin. Everyone stands when he enters and waits until he"s seated to sit back down. The only one of our group sitting at the table is Seth. Me and Michael are standing directly behind him and everyone else is fanned around us with Jasper safely surrounded in the middle.

"Are we ready to begin?" Minos asks, looking around at the people seated and gathered. When everyone nods, he continues. "Thank you all for coming today. I understand that it is time consuming with travel and whatnot, but this is an all hands situation. You"re all aware of the passing of Ernesto Flores?"

I don"t miss the quick look exchanged between Urwin and Aceves. The way Michael"s head tilts in their direction tells me he saw it, too.

"We called a meeting to talk about that asshole?" Alpha Estrada asks, lifting her brows. "Surely he isn"t worth an entire council meeting."

Several people laugh, but not Urwin and Aceves. Michael and Seth aren"t hiding the fact that they noticed. Devon and Corso have also noticed, which means everyone is beginning to notice.

"Not him specifically," Minos replies. "Just the aftermath. I"ve been watching him closely for some time now. I"ve learned a great deal about him and the company he kept. I"ve learned so much, in fact, that a council meeting has unfortunately become necessary. Would you all like a big, official speech? Or would you rather me just get to it?"

"Get to it, Minos. I have a birthday celebration to get to," Alpha Estrada says. "And nobody wants to sit through one of your speeches today." She smiles and looks every bit like a proud grandmother.

Minos nods. "Very well. You all know Alpha Pratchett by now. I"ve asked him to join the WCC."

Shock and outrage spreads through the room, but there are a few who look pleased with the news; including Alpha Estrada.

"That"s unacceptable, Minos," Urwin spits. "He isn"t from this territory. He has no holding here."

"Untrue," Alpha Roblado argues. "He has a holding here through his pack. I was the second signature on their registration. Benjamin and Michael are very active in their community, and their omega is a Romero. The late Alpha Romero should have been on the council years before his passing, we all wanted him."

"Not all of us," Aceves says. "And he never wanted a seat."

Michael leans over Seth"s shoulder to make direct eye contact with Aceves. "Mister Romero didn"t want a seat on a corrupt council. He knew back then where things were headed and he didn"t want anything to do with it. And look what still happened to him and his pack and family. He was a good alpha. He would have been good for the territory and everyone knew it." Then he straightens and continues watching the room.

"If he would have been so good for the territories, Michael, he would have wanted to get rid of the supposed corruption," Aceves sneers. "He was a coward."

The scent of the lie rolls sourly through the air, and I just can"t listen to any more of it. "Liar. You reek of it."

Corso speaks quietly from behind Jasper. "I would like to know more about Desir"ee"s father, and what happened to him, if we are to continue working closely with this council."

Michael nods without looking back. "I"ll get Mateo to tell you."

"If you"re all finished," Minos continues, holding up a hand, "I"d like to get to the point. Alpha Pratchett will have a seat on the WCC. Beginning immediately. He will be allotted council housing or funds for housing of his own choosing. He will be taking the lead on a project or two and he will need information and cooperation from all of you."

"This is outrageous," Urwin barks. "There aren"t any seats available, Minos. There are no unclaimed districts."

"Actually, there are two unclaimed districts," Minos smiles. "Maybe more. We"ll find out soon, I suppose."

The energy shifts so quickly that I grip the back of Seth"s chair. There are a few seconds of electric silence before Aceves and Urwin stand up from their chairs and pull out guns. Guns that they aim at Seth. Several of the other alphas in the room reach for their own weapons, and Michael and I each put a hand on one of Seth"s shoulders to pull him behind us.

It all becomes unnecessary when Jasper starts making a sound that can only be described as unnerving. Every alpha in the room stops moving and turns toward him.

"Jasper," Devon hisses. "Get behind me."

"It"s alright, Devon," Jasper says softly, his voice full of those clicks. "No one is going to hurt me. Or Seth. Everyone is going to sit back down in their nice, comfortable chairs and we are going to continue this meeting. Everyone except for those two assholes." He points at Aceves and Urwin.

Then everyone who was sitting in a chair sits back down, with pale faces and wide eyes. They all glance back and forth for some kind of explanation. Fuck, I want an explanation. My skin is about to crawl off my body.

"What the fuck is this, Minos?" Estrada whispers.

Minos is curious, but not concerned. "I"m not sure, but I"m glad for it. Aceves, Urwin. You are relieved. You will be escorted back home where you will determine whether or not you will inform your packs that you and they will be collected for an inquiry."

"You can"t do that," Urwin snarls. "I have children."

"Obviously, the children will not be questioned, and they will be well cared for until your involvement with the rogue organizations and Flores is thoroughly established. At that point, a fair consequence for your actions will be determined and carried out." Minos holds each of their gazes until they drop their eyes. "Do you understand?"

"Yes," they each answer without looking up.

"Good," Minos nods. "Jasper, if you will." The way he says it makes it seem like he knew all along that Jasper could do whatever he"s doing. Jasper doesn"t undermine the bluff. He stops making the clicking sound and allows himself to be dragged against Devon"s side.

I can see the gears turning behind Minos"s eyes. I"m only a little curious about what that was, but I"m a lot worried about it. Desie can"t do that. No omega I"ve ever known could do that. I"ve heard Desie purr, but this is definitely not that. The clicking, the talking through the clicking, the way he made everyone stop and then sit back down… Omegas shouldn"t be able to do that.

"Now then," Minos knocks twice on the table. "Where were we? Oh yes, Seth"s districts. Benjamin, Michael, you know the areas. Show him around and introduce him to the communities, I"m sure they"ll be welcoming."

Alpha Estrada clears her throat. "I hate to mention anything that will keep us here longer, but what about his seat on the East Coast Council? What will happen there?"

"It will be a dual seat. He will split his time between the territories as needed. It has already been discussed and agreed upon."

She nods at his explanation and glances at her watch like she didn"t just experience some intensely strange shit. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes, one other thing. After Alpha Pratchett gains his bearings and a few things are cleaned up, we will begin the process of implementing something similar to the COT units utilized by the East Coast Council. Any questions?"

"I have one," Alpha Greene speaks up. "What about the rogues? When will we do something about them? Our communities are afraid and we can only do so much. Many packs have been hurt and lost trying to fight back against the organization."

Alpha Minos looks him in the eye. "We are going to destroy them. One rogue at a time. Their time is over."

Today was long. And stressful. And exhausting. I don"t want to know about any new twists and turns with the rogues or the WCC or anything else. I want to crawl into the nest with Desie and sleep for about six days. And then I want to fly over to the East Coast and find out exactly what the fuck Jasper actually is because omegas cannot order alphas. They just can"t. And I need answers immediately. Right after I sleep for a good, long while.

But Michael sends me a text from the other side of the couch instead of saying anything out loud, and I know that sleep isn"t happening anytime soon.

We should burn it down.

I stare at the screen for a full minute before I respond.

The rogues or the WCC?

His reply is fast and short.

The Back House.

Yeah. Fuck that place. I grin at Michael and get up from the couch. Seth is in a Desie cocoon in the bedroom. He doesn"t need to come with us, and Desie sure as fuck doesn"t need to be there, but he needs to know we"re leaving.

I tiptoe into the dark room and whisper, "Michael and I are going out for a little bit."

"What?" Seth whispers back. "Why? Where?"

"We"re just going for a drive. We"ll be back soon."

"Be careful. Keep your phone on. Call if you need me."

"Okay."

"Ben?"

I pause with my hand on the doorknob. "Yeah?"

"Don"t be gone too long. I didn"t enjoy today."

"You got it, captain."

Michael and I are just as good at starting fires as we are putting them out. There wasn"t a single person in the area when we drove through on the way, not even an empty vehicle, so there"s no one around to ask us why we"re carrying in containers of gas or ask any questions when we don"t walk out of the building with them.

"Think we"re far enough away?" I ask Michael. We"re across the street from the building. There aren"t any homes here, just empty buildings, and the closest store is the gas station we bought the gas from on the way here. We"re not worried about getting caught, nobody"s going to care if this place burns down.

"What do you think?"

I look across at the place that almost took my spirit and my life. Well, not the place exactly, but what it represents. So many people lost their lives and livelihoods inside those walls. I will never forget the stink of that mat or all the desperate, greedy, defeated people surrounding it. I will never get the sound of their screams out of my ears. "Can you make it?"

Michael"s jaw clenches. "I can make it." He lights the fabric hanging out of the bottle in his hand and snarls at the building before he takes a couple steps and launches the bottle across the street and parking lot. The bottle shatters the glass of the upstairs window. Flores"s office. We wanted the fire to start there. It takes less than ten minutes for flames to swallow the building, and in less than two hours it"s a pile of ash and embers.