46. Mine

I woke up with my wrist tied behind my back, a weird coating in my mouth, and my head pounding. They must have fashioned a makeshift contraption to tie me like this. Something that felt like rope dug into my wrist, and when I tugged on it, more of it pulled around my waist. Points for creativity, but fuck whoever did this.

My cheek pressed against the hardwood floor, and as I opened my eyes and they slowly adjusted to the brightness of the room, I saw Ellie and Gerard next to me in similar positions. Neither of them moved, and with Ellie facing me, I saw that her eyes remained closed with no indication that she was awake.

Pulling my knees up under me, I was able to get to a kneeling position and look around. It was a rather large room but small for the uppity and fancy ballrooms I had seen on TV. In front of me was a long elegant wooden table with five chairs set behind it. They were all empty, but the wood matched that of the table, and the central parts were coated in a lush red fabric.

To the left and right, more tables sat empty, making fifteen seats in total. Behind me was a set of large double doors in the center of the wall. Despite the ornate furniture, the walls were a simple cream with the trim and doors matching the wooden furniture again. At least they weren't incredibly gaudy with the design, only a little.

I couldn't hear anything or anyone, so I stood up and nudged both Ellie and Gerard with my bare foot. Although we were all in the same clothes we had been before being attacked and kidnapped, our shoes were taken.

No amount of nudging got them to wake up, but their chests rose, so I took some solace in that.

With a sigh of relief, I headed for the door to see if they were dumb enough to leave it unlocked. I was a few feet from it when a voice rang out from behind me, followed by many footsteps.

"Carmine." I turned around to see a rather tall man with graying black hair, ice blue eyes, and stubble along his strong chin. He looked nothing like the other Omegas I had met, but given the assumption that this was the council I was about to meet, he was most certainly one of them. "Have a seat."

A larger man, who I assumed was an Alpha or Beta who served the council, brought a smaller version of their chairs out and sat it next to Ellie, indicating for me to sit down. I begrudgingly did so but kept my eyes on the two men currently in the room. Two more chairs were grabbed as well, and Ellie and Gerard were practically thrown into them, their limp forms barely remaining in the seats.

I tried to blast him with my pheromones but realized he was already being controlled by a much more powerful Omega. Besides, I didn't have the control I had hoped over them, and even if he wasn't already under the influence, I doubted I would have done much.

"Don't bother. You have no power here, little Omega." I really wanted to flip this guy off or cuss him out, but I was unable to do either at the moment. Once Ellie was awake though, I would live vicariously through her.

Still, I mouthed "fuck you" for the hell of it.

"I'm Bernard Galliway, head of the council. I doubt you recognize me or anyone here. Carmilla is sadly getting treated at the moment for injuries sustained from detaining you and the others." Although his words were to show remorse, his voice held nothing of the sort.

I smirked, enjoying the fact that Ellie had done enough damage to prevent Carmilla's presence and that even though they were on the council together, Bernie didn't seem to care one bit about his fellow member. What a shit show.

"You're probably wondering why you're here." No, not really. You and your people were assholes and blah, blah, blah. I truly wished he could hear my inner thoughts. "Let me explain," he started as the other members all took their seats, keeping their eyes on us. "The council must keep order and make decisions on how to keep the order in tact. One such decision, as you know, was to separate—" Ostracize "—the people known as Humans so that their genes and lack of designation would stop clouding our gene pool. Eventually, as you know, we realized that they did indeed have designations, but they were locked away, waiting to be revealed. By then, it was too late, and the order was set. We couldn't invite them back in. It would be chaos. So we kept our secret, the one you and your family seem to be determined to out."

I glared at him with a sneer of my lips as I was reminded of their involvement with my family's death. I'd see his head on a spike by the end of this.

"I take it by your expression that that hit a nerve, hm?" He smirked, and I would give anything to smash it off his face. One of these chairs would be a great weapon for such a thing. "We did what we had to do, and the Primarchy went on without a hitch." But mine was destroyed. The lack of care the council seemed to have, if they all agreed with this fuck face, was disturbing. No one with this little empathy and sympathy should run anything. "Yet here we are, dealing with their daughter who didn't die along with them. Pity really. This could have all been prevented. If only they hadn't stuck their noses into our business. If only Lucinda hadn't unknowingly moved in next door to you. We wouldn't be here." He shrugged, but still, no emotion rolled off of him. "So now we have to deal with this little problem. Like your mother, you're an Omega who accidentally drank some of her mates blood, which surprisingly was your father if you didn't know. What a shock that was to all of us, but anyway, I believe you know the rest or can piece it together."

My eye twitched, and it took all my might to stay sitting and not rush him. I could roll over the table and get one good kick in before anyone got to me, but it wasn't worth it when I had no one backing me.

"Now, why am I telling you this? Wouldn't this go against what we are trying to do here? Snuff out the little gnats who disturb our order?" I continued to glare at him. He could tell me whatever he wanted; I knew this ended in my death, so there wasn't a reason for him to not enjoy the sound of his voice for as long as he wanted. It was like his own version of torture. "It's simple. Dead men tell no tales and all that, right?" I rolled my eyes and slumped back with faux boredom. "Not amused, I see. This would be a lot more amusing, I'm sure, if you could speak. Sadly, that is not something we can do for you. We looked into it when your family popped up on our radar. Whatever your ancestor did, they pissed off the wrong Witch, an extremely powerful one too, so powerful no one in this generation matches up to them. Sorry to say that." No he wasn't, and I didn't care.

"I was really hoping you'd all be awake by now. Gerard and Ellery are certainly taking their time." Bernard snapped his fingers. "Herman, wake them."

One of the guards stepped forward and pulled out two syringes. They could see the look on my face and knew I'd tackle him, arm or no arm, if he came near them with that.

"Relax, it's basically the Human's version of an Epipen when you come down to it. It will wake them. That's all." I didn't believe Bernard, but again, we were dead no matter what.

I tried to not think about the others, especially my mates, but it was getting more difficult. Either they were dead already, or they'd find me. I knew with everything inside my being that those were the only two options. I had hoped some part of me would know if they had died, and I didn't feel a great loss yet, so hope remained.

Herman injected the syringes, and within a minute, Ellie and Gerard were waking up. The daze remained as they looked around in panic, then settled when they realized where we were. Settled wasn't the right word exactly. Settled felt too much like everything was fine, but their bodies relaxed, and a blank look crossed both their faces. I wished I could manage the same, but these people kept pissing me off.

"Glad you two could join us!" Bernard clapped his hands together.

"Fuck off, Bernard." Wow, I did not expect that from Gerard, but bravo to him.

The restraints held down my arm when I automatically tried to cuss him out, but thankfully, Ellie handled it for me. "Go to hell, you bastards. Oh, and Mine says ‘eat my dick, and choke on it.'" I laughed, letting the small enjoyment I got from Ellie's words push away the bleakness for a moment.

"Such fowl mouths. Has this Human tainted you that much already?" Bernard nearly looked sick as he grimaced down at us.

"Tainted? No, enlightened, yes. I was blinded by the power and need to protect my children, but now that you have gone back on your words to protect your people and I am far beyond aware of the other atrocities you have committed, I have no reason to hold anything back. You could all die, painful agonizing deaths, and I would feel nothing but peace that the world was rid of scum like you." Ellie's jaw dropped open at her father's words, and I so badly wished I could give him the slow clap he deserved.

"I had hoped this would be a civilized discussion on your execution, but if that's the way—" The door opening behind us cut off his words.

We all swiveled in our chairs, eyeing the well-known faces that came into view as each of them stepped into the room.

"Well, come in, and join us. We've been expecting you." Bernard welcomed them in.

First, Odie and Sloane walked in with Cy, Leona, Iker, and Alastor on their heels, their bodies ridged and eyes darting around the room, taking in every detail. I knew they were trained for this, but seeing them in action, the cold calmness they portrayed, was something else entirely. They all lined up behind us for a moment, having been chastised for trying to get too close. Bernard's power washed through the room, keeping most of them in place. Iker, Leona, and Alastor moved closer, ignoring his commands.

"Kill us or don't. Stop with your games," Leona said before leaning down next to my ear. "Are you okay?"

I nodded with a shrug. Her lips thinned as she nodded back, understanding that I meant the situation sucks, but I'm not hurt. She turned and asked Ellie the same question and received nearly the same response. We were all in this shitty situation, and there wasn't a thing we could do to stop it unless someone came in guns ready and massacred everyone in this room to save us.

I didn't hold my breath on that option and wanted this little show to carry on.

Leona and Iker stepped back but were closer to us than the others since Bernard's power didn't work on them. The small amount of sweat on Leona's brow and tensing of her muscles told me he was having some effect, but she was fighting it off. Iker didn't seem to have any issues at all.

"Let's continue, shall we? Not only have you endangered the entire Primarchy community by harboring Carmine, you have also harmed a council member, Oliver, and many others in your haste to get up here, have you not?" Boohoo was all I thought. "That all adds up rather nicely for no one to dig into your disappearance. Thank you for that." Bernard stood up, raising his head high. "Onto the verdict. No need for a true trial. Is everyone in agreement?" Bernard looked around, and all thirteen of the remaining council members nodded.

I eyed each of them. It was a near even split between male and female Omegas with their ages seeming to range from late twenties to retirement age. No one was familiar to me, and when I held their gaze, there was no level of kinship residing in their dead eyes.

This wasn't a council fit to reign over anyone. This was a dictatorship filled with psychopaths. Born or made, I wasn't sure.

"That settles it. Their execution will happen within the hour, and we can all make our brunch appointments." Brunch? Had we really been out that long?

Panic shot through me, but there was nothing I could do to stop this. We were all frozen in some way with nothing and no one on our side.

"Wait!" Gerard's voice boomed out. "There has to be another way. Isn't our silence enough? Sneak Mine into the databases as if she's always been here. That's easy enough for you. Let us keep our lives, and it will be as if this never happened. We will all retire, living humble lives without as much of a peep of what happened here. I've seen you do it before, brush issues under the rug as if they never existed. Why not now? That's the least you could do for me." Gerard wasn't begging, although his words sounded as much. His voice was steady with anger, catching Bernard and the others off guard.

"Oh, you expect us to do something for you? The one who couldn't even tell his own sister was a traitor?"

"Either you didn't know about her, or you did and let her continue. That's no better or perhaps worse, depending on which one it is," Gerard countered.

Bernard closed his eyes for a moment, then beamed down on Gerard. "How dare you speak to me this way after all I have given you." His eye twitched, but he schooled his features quickly when one of the other members spoke up. Maybe I had counted them out too quickly.

Perhaps one of them wasn't some pompous fuck who was high on power. I closed my eyes, hoping that was the case.