Chapter Twenty Six

Ben

I"m still not happy about not going on the retrieval mission. I know having a good place for the omegas to be once they get here is important, and I know that I can"t leave Desie to go on any kind of mission right now, but it still bothers me. I feel like I"m just sitting here while other people do the hard work. Desie is my omega, I should be the one going to save her mom. I trust what Devon and Nathan are saying, that the COTs who are about to be on the ground are some of the best the East Coast Council has and that the omegas will be here by the time the sun comes up. I do. But I still feel like I should be there.

"The second floor is finished," Michael says, stepping off the stairs. "All the rooms are set. How many are left to check down here?"

I sigh and look down the hall at the open doors of the rooms I just checked for the third time. It"s busywork. Regardless of anything anyone says, they asked me and Michael to do this to make us feel like we were actually doing something. Anyone could have done what we"ve been doing. "They"re done. Everything"s good."

"What"s the matter with you?"

I sigh again, deeper than the last. "Don"t you think they asked us to do this to keep us out of the way? Like to make us feel useful while everyone else does the hard work?"

"No."

"No?"

He crosses his arms and raises a brow. "No. Think about it."

"I have been," I say, throwing my hands out to the side. "I"ve been thinking about it since we started. We could be doing so much more, Michael."

"We"re doing something important, Ben. This is important."

Maybe I"m an idiot. Or an asshole. But I don"t see how interior decorating is as important as going on rescue missions. "Please explain it to me then, because I feel like I"ve been running around with paintbrushes and throw pillows when I should be up there with guns in my hands on a rescue mission."

Michael tilts his head. "What have you been thinking about this whole time? Not the major threats to your masculinity, but about the rooms? About the colors and the lights and the furniture and the blankets?"

I shrug. "Soothing colors. Calm scents. Soft textures. Whatever would make them feel comfortable. And safe. I want them to feel safe."

"Right. Have you been angry this whole time? Other than right now."

I shake my head. "Of course not. You can"t fix up a room for an omega if you're walking around pissed off. It lingers and they feel it."

"Exactly."

"Exactly what?"

Michael rolls his eyes. "You were concentrating on creating a good space for omegas. We"ve been doing that since we were kids. We touched every single thing in this place thinking about how comfortable it would make an omega feel. Close your eyes and try to feel the energy of this place."

I close my eyes. Begrudgingly. I breathe in the air and try to feel the atmosphere. "Okay, fine," I huff. "Fine. It"s good. But I just think–"

"You think your energy would be better spent fighting." Elizabet comes into the room and lays back on the bed I just smoothed out. "Right? You think being in the thick of battle is more important than making beds and checking light switches. I get it, Ben. I really do. But you"re building the real battlefield here."

When I don"t say anything she continues. "The COTs storming that compound right now are just the first step in saving those omegas. They will save their bodies and bring them here. But for those omegas, the alphas and betas on those teams are just as terrifying as the rogues who have been keeping them captive. They look the same as the rogues. They feel aggressive, much like the rogues do. The COTs will load them up into planes for transport exactly the way the rogues loaded them into vans and probably planes. And those vehicles will smell like aggression and stress. They will feel dangerous. This place doesn"t feel dangerous, does it?"

I shake my head, my shoulders slumping.

"I am an omega, correct?"

I nod.

"Do you know what you and your brother feel like to me?"

I shake my head again.

"You feel safe. You smell safe. You smell like alphas who protect omegas and make them safe. Guess what every room in this place smells like because you and Michael have touched every single part of it?"

Well, fuck. "I didn"t think about it like that."

"Exactly," she sits up and gives me a small smile. "You understand now, don"t you? Why it had to be you? The omegas who come here will feel protected and safe while they fight to regain themselves. They haven"t felt that for a very long time."

"You just can"t let me pout, can you?"

She laughs. "Nope. What you"ve done is just as important as what the COTs are doing. You don"t get to pout about that."

I"m about to make another comment to continue the banter, but Seth calls Michael and Michael"s expression has me on my feet.

"Yes. Okay. We"re on the way now." He ends the call and looks at Elizabet. "Nothing"s wrong. But we need to go to Nathan"s. Will you be alright? Is Marcus on the way?"

She rolls her eyes. "I"ll be fine. Marcus will be here soon. I"ll lock the doors behind you."

When we walk into Nathan"s security room there are a lot of things happening on multiple monitors and I don"t know where I"m supposed to look. Seth clears up the confusion by pointing at one of them. "Watch. I need you to confirm. I don"t want Desir"ee in here for this."

"Or Talia," Jasper says from his perch on the edge of one of the desks. "I probably shouldn"t be in here either, but nobody"s kicked me out yet."

"Watch," Seth says again. "It"s almost over. Then we"ll find out how many are left."

Michael grips Seth"s arm. "What do you mean, how many are left?"

Seth holds up a finger, shaking his head. "Just wait."

I watch the absolute chaos on the screen. It looks like chaos, but the longer I watch the less chaotic it becomes. It would be less messy if the COTs didn"t look exactly like the rogues, further hammering in Elizabet"s point.

The cacophony of gunfire halts almost all at once and one by one the COTs begin to reform, taking stock of our losses. We watch as the units efficiently move across the compound tagging the dead and immobilizing the rogues who are injured or dying.

"Here we go," Nathan says. "They"re going in." He pulls up the view of the building with all the extra vents and things.

Then an unfamiliar voice sounds from one of the speakers in the room. "One forty-two alive."

"There should be one forty-five," Nathan barks. That"s the first time I"ve heard him sound even a little aggressive. "Where are the other three?"

Everyone holds their breath as we watch and listen for the voice to tell us where the three unaccounted for omegas are. After what feels like an eternity, we get good and bad news.

"Three were moved to another facility. Two female omegas and one male. There"s an omega here who has a message. I"m going to put her on."

We wait for an even longer eternity before a trembling female voice starts speaking. "They found out you were coming this morning. They woke us up and put us all in here. They moved Owens to another facility." She stops, her voice breaking on a sob. "They took Connie."

"That"s Desie"s mom," I hiss. "That"s her name."

"Where did they take her?" Nathan asks, the fight for calm making his own voice tremble.

"I... I don"t know. She just said a different facility, but she grabbed a coat. She said to tell Mateo that she"s okay and she"ll be home as soon as her work is done. Are you taking us home? Please take us home. She said you would."

Nathan takes a long breath, his nostrils flaring, but he answers with the kindest voice. "Yes. We"re getting you home. The teams there are going to bring you here to get checked out and then we"ll get you home."

Pure, unfiltered disappointment and rage fills the bond between me, Michael, and Seth. We"re all silent as Nathan works through the rest of the ground mission. How are we supposed to tell Desie that her mom isn"t coming home?

~

She takes it as well as I thought she would. She cries. So much that she throws up. Then she gets mad. The only thing keeping her from walking down to Nathan"s house and screaming at him is us begging her not to.

"He"s gutted, Des," Michael tells her. "You weren"t there. You didn"t see him. He finished directing the whole thing, but he wasn"t okay."

"Nathan won"t be okay until every single omega is safe," Seth adds. "He won"t let this go. He wanted to bring your mom home and he"s not going to be okay until he does. Please don"t be upset with Nathan."

"I need to be upset with someone!" she cries. "I need to be mad at somebody, Seth. What work could be more important than coming home? We thought she was gone, and she just chose not to come back to us? I don"t understand."

The next morning we have a partial answer to that question. Desie gets a call from an unfamiliar number. Seth almost didn"t let her answer it, but she glared at him and jerked the phone away from him. She did answer it on speaker, though.

"Hello?"

"Is this Desir"ee Romero?" a female voice asks.

"Yes. Who is this?"

"My name is Regan. I"m the one who told Nathan about the message from your mom. I was too upset and scared to tell all of it yesterday. I need to tell you the rest. I think I gave you the wrong idea."

"Okay."

The girl takes a shaky breath and continues. "Your mama kept us alive. We never would have made it without her. She wouldn"t let them mistreat us too much. She made sure we got good food and clothes. She helped the ones who," her voice breaks and she has to take several breaths before she can go on. "She helped the ones who had babies and the ones who... who didn"t. She told us stories. About you and your brothers. She saved us. She made the worst of them leave us alone."

"Why didn"t she come back?" Desie asks, her voice almost as broken as the girl's on the phone is.

"She tried. When they found out about the raid they gathered us up and put us in Medical with Owens"s omegas. We tried to keep her with us, but they found her and took her with Owens. She made me promise to tell you that she"s okay and that she"s helping to fix everything. She said to tell you that not everything is the way they"re making it seem, and that she"d be back home as soon as the work was done and she could get away. I"m so sorry. I tried to hold onto her, but they pulled her away from me. I couldn"t hold her. I"m so sorry."

"Are they hurting her?" Desie asks, barely above a whisper.

"No," the girl says quickly. "Never. She"s special to Owens. He wouldn"t leave without her."

"You have no idea where they took her?"

"There"s another compound on the other side of the Northern territory. She told us that Owens took her there sometimes. That"s where I think they are."

Seth motions with his hand, urging Desie to try to get more information. "Do you know where it is?"

"I"m sorry," the girl says. "I don"t know. I"ll ask around. If anyone knows, I"ll make sure to get the information to you."

"Thank you. Thank you for telling me."

"Of course. I"m sorry I couldn"t hold onto her."

"No," Desie says. "Listen. You couldn"t have. I"m just glad you"re safe. If I can do anything at all for you, please reach out. I"ll be coming out with Obi to help with assessments and I"ll make sure to say hello."

"Thank you. I can"t wait to meet you. Connie really did tell us so much about you. I know you"re older than in the stories, but I"m so happy that I get to meet the person I"ve heard so much about. I have to ask you something, if you don"t mind?"

"What?"

"Did you end up with the twins? Connie said they would grow up to be your alphas. She said you would be with them and be happy by the time she could go home."

Desie looks at me, and Michael puts his hand on her knee. "I did. They helped make The Omega House. They made sure every room was safe."

The girl on the other end of the call pulls in a sharp breath. "It feels safe. Will you tell them that?"

"I will."

They end the call and Desie cries again. It feels different this time. She"s still sad, but she isn"t hopeless. None of us are. Not anymore.