1. CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 1

It seemed like his entire life Coleson Duff had fought for everything he wanted. His parents had done their best to instill that his only ‘job' in life was to find an Alpha and have babies. So not happening. Well, no, that wasn't true.

The fact was, he did want to find an alpha and have a family. Just not only that.

Growing up, he'd loved law. Not all law. But the reason why Omegas were treated like they weren't even people. Hell, some animals had more rights than they did. But his fathers had told him an education wasn't needed to have a family and an Alpha might not want him if he was too smart.

Like what the actual fuck?

Admittedly, he'd been young and na?ve when his parents had said that, but even now, when he was twenty-four and seen for himself how right his fathers had been, Coleson didn't understand it. How was bettering oneself a bad thing?

But, as much as it pained him to admit it, in their world, it was. Which was why he'd been the first one of their friends to bring up finding a place they could live freely. Why he'd been the only one to actually search for that place. More importantly, he'd been the one to actually find it.

Yeah, Pella—which they now called Sanctuary—wasn't exactly an easy place to live with all the work they had to do to get it up and running again, but it was livable. Mostly.

Living west of the Mississippi river when the rest of the American population lived east of it wasn't easy, but it had its perks. The main one being no Alphas could force them to do anything. Even the one Alpha who had lived in the area hadn't attempted to do so. Although that was mostly because the Alpha, Lowen, had fallen in love with Ford, one of Coleson's best friends.

And as strange as it was to think, Lowen was why, despite Ford's protests that all Alphas were bad, Ford had not only fallen in love with Lowen but had been willing to get pregnant. Which, even though Coleson was a better choice regardless, was why Ford wasn't there instead of him.

Okay, so a better choice wasn't exactly accurate. Part of the reason they were on this trek further west, despite the fact that no one was supposed to live west of the Mississippi River, was to gather things they needed to make their new home livable. In that regard, as someone who knew how to fix mechanical parts, especially their solar panels and hydroelectric power, Ford was the right person to find those items.

But…and Coleson couldn't stress this enough…it was Coleson who knew how to negotiate deals. He was, after all, the one who got them from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Iowa without an Alpha involved. That wasn't a feat many could have managed.

In their world, Alphas ruled. They could pretty much do whatever they wanted, especially with an Omega, and get away with it. After years of studying every law Americans had created, he'd been surprised they never really learned from their own history, much less other nations' histories.

If anything, they seemed to resort back to their origins. Something they'd sworn to never repeat. Yet, there they were in 2110 with Omegas having no say in their lives. It was as if God himself was mocking their vows of the past by creating a scenario that would show them the error of their ways.

Yet, no one seemed to have learned their lessons. At least no one outside of Coleson and his friends. No. That wasn't entirely true. Lowen hadn't felt that way. From the moment they'd all met, Lowen had dove in and helped free them from a group of Alphas trying to capture their group of omegas. Quite literally.

Their boat had been rammed by four Alphas, intent on forcing them to procreate. Lowen had witnessed it and rammed his own boat into the Alphas. He'd been beaten within an inch of his life, but Lowen hadn't stopped until all four Alphas had died. More importantly, he'd done so with no expectations from any of them.

Yeah, he'd fallen in love with Ford, but instead of making Ford his, Lowen had patiently wooed him. It was exactly what Coleson had dreamed about for himself. Not Lowen, but the whole wooing part. No. Not just the wooing, but that Lowen hadn't once tried to turn Ford into something he wasn't.

If anything, he seemed to encourage Ford to do exactly what he was born to do, create green energy. Well, that and help with fixing many mechanical things they needed to make the town and Lowen's farm run. But that had more to do with helping them survive, not forcing him to do something Ford wasn't okay with doing.

"You ready for this?" Lowen asked when they were about to enter the Mississippi River in order to head south to the Missouri River. It was a huge risk, as they knew after Ford and Lowen had freed more than a hundred Omegas from Memphis, they were being hunted. But they had an advantage they hoped would stop them from being discovered. Instead of using Lowen's boat, which had been their transportation before, they were now on the ship Coleson and his friends had used to gain their own freedom.

It wouldn't guarantee their safety, but they all prayed it would do the trick. That and the fact they were traveling at night with their lights off in order to go undetected. They hoped.

"Honestly? No. But we need to find others who will trade with us if we hope to survive." That much was true. Sort of.

Actually, if they remained just as they were, they would have no trouble. They had plenty of shelter in the abandoned town they'd claimed, and Lowen's farm would easily produce enough food for them every year. The problem? They were all determined to make Pella, which they had renamed to Sanctuary, a place where Omegas who didn't feel safe could seek a safe place to live.

That meant having a good infrastructure. Something they were working on but would need supplies to make happen.

"There's a ship heading upstream from Memphis." Gulliver kept his voice pitched low as sound carried on the water.

Lowen turned on his heel and headed to the bridge to check the radar while Coleson looked south and east. There was no way he would have been able to see anything that soon, but he couldn't help but watch for even a flicker of light alerting him a ship was headed for them.

Even though he knew they would need a lot more than luck, he crossed his fingers that they would reach the mouth of the Missouri long before anyone saw them. It was the radar that would give their position away, as all light had been extinguished to keep them from being easily seen.

"Lowen said it's staying on the east side of the Mississippi," Gulliver quietly informed him a few minutes later. "He'll alert us if anything changes."

Coleson nodded as he breathed easier. It didn't mean they were out of the woods yet, but if the ship wasn't headed directly for them, they should easily reach the Missouri. It wouldn't make them in the clear completely, but few captains wanted to go west of the Mississippi in case the government caught them.

Not that they would. According to Damon, the Omega who had helped them traverse the Mississippi in order to begin their new lives west of the river and away from Alphas who thought they could control Omegas, the American government used scare tactics in name only about leaving the safety of the eastern United States.

Even their patrol boats that went up and down the great river stayed to the east side, never once checking some of the bigger rivers that headed in the other direction. He certainly hoped so, because they'd settled just off the Des Moines River, which unfortunately didn't lead to the Missouri, which would mean they'd need to traverse a small distance of the Mississippi whenever they wanted to trade. It was a risk but far less of one than trying to trade along one of the many ports on the eastern side of the river where Lowen would be recognized and most likely shot on sight for capturing those Omegas.

He didn't breathe easy until he felt the boat turning as they left the dangerous waters of the Mississippi. Only then did he leave his perch, watching for any lights that might show they'd been discovered.

"We should be good," Lowen told him, although he hadn't missed that they hadn't turned back on the lights yet. It wasn't exactly safe, and he hadn't used the Missouri in his lifetime, so he had no idea if there was anything that might run them aground.

It wasn't the first time, but he was wondering why he'd been so intent on being the one who went on the trip. Hell, Damon would have been a much better option, as he was experienced with ships and navigating rivers. But, as they needed to make repairs on two ships they'd been able to salvage further along the Des Moines River, it had been decided he should stay behind and get them up and running.

"You two should take turns getting some shuteye," Lowen murmured. "It will be a long night and we still do not know what we'll encounter along the way."

That much was true. "I'll take first watch," he told Gulliver. The Omega nodded and headed to one of the two cabins on the ship. They weren't much, but the beds were comfortable enough to suit their needs.

"I'll be turning on the lights in another fifteen minutes." Lowen had gone over the plan several times before they'd made the trek. There was a natural bend in the river that should shield their lights from the Mississippi. But just because they would be hidden and safe from those still looking for the Omegas, didn't mean there might not be people along the Missouri that would try to harm them.

Nodding, he went to back out on deck, infrared binoculars in hand. He started scanning the shoreline on both sides of their boat. When he was satisfied they weren't being watched, he headed back onto the bridge. "All clear," he told Lowen.

They waited another couple of minutes before Lowen flipped on the lights in front of them so they could see what was coming. It wasn't until a few minutes later when they both exhaled loudly that they'd chuckled as they realized they'd both been holding their breaths in anticipation of something going wrong.

"Do you think we'll make it back?" Coleson feared just asking would bring them back luck, but he was too terrified of what they would encounter out there not to voice it.

"Yes." There was zero doubt in Lowen's tone

Glancing dubiously at the Alpha, he wished he had just a fraction of his faith. But Lowen's eyes blazed with fire and determination. "There is no way I'm not getting back to Ford and our unborn child."

Coleson understood his need to believe they would return. That didn't mean it would happen. Did that make him a pessimist? Probably, which was not something he'd ever considered himself to be. It had been Coleson's drive to find a better life that led him to their new home.

He'd been the one to tell his friends they could not only make the trip without being caught by Alphas, but that they could forge a new life in an unknown world. It was his belief in what they could do that convinced his friends and fellow Omegas to take a chance.

Yet, when they'd went further west in order to hopefully find parts they desperately needed to help rebuild their town and food supply, something inside of Coleson knotted up. And no matter how many times he'd tried to tell himself it was no different from crossing the Mississippi to start their lives over, he couldn't shake the dread that filled him.

He just prayed it was nothing more than nerves. Because he'd never forgive himself if Lowen couldn't return to Ford and their unborn child.