“Don’t worry,” she said, getting up and crossing to the door. “I’m interviewing someone for a job as a guard.” She looked at the three of us at the table. “He’s an alpha, so you guys go into the living room.”
Keane, David, and I left the room.
“Why would Laura interview an alpha to guard a bunch of omegas?” David asked.
“All the SOS ops guys are alphas. They take rut suppressants,” Keane said.
Sitting down on the couch, I took a deep breath and let it out. The feeling of insecurity I experienced when my alphas weren’t within sight was building inside me. Determined to ride it out, I picked up two round blue pillows and set them on one side ofme, then took the two beige square ones and put them on the other.
When I looked up, Keane was watching me with interest.
“Nesting,” David explained. “Ben’s expecting.”
The front door opened, and the others trooped in. Zeke had the folded blanket under his arm.
“It’s getting hot out there,” he said.
“Yeah, and we’re thirsty.” Camp headed for the kitchen, but I stopped him with a hand to his arm.
“Wait,” I said. “Laura is interviewing someone in there. Let’s go to your house. You guys have a kitchen there, right?”
“Yeah, and we have soda,” Camp said, turning and heading back for the door. “I could do with a nice cold can of ginger ale.”
It was a short walk to their building. I’d been inside it when it was empty, but it looked totally different with navy drapes over the big window that looked out at the craggy mountains in the distance, and the long, L-shaped couch facing a table with a TV on it. The kitchen counters now held a coffee maker, air fryer, and toaster, and there was a microwave hanging over the small stove. While Camp stuck his head in the refrigerator, I went to peek at the bathroom. A green curtain hung over the tub and shower with matching towels on the rack by the sink and a fluffy green rug lay on the floor. Next door, in the big bedroom, two sets of bunk beds were made up with navy comforters, and there was a double bed as well. A dresser held a small lamp, and the bookshelf had an aquarium of freshwater fish on it.
Back in the living room, David said, “Wow, this is really nice.” He sat down on the couch, which was almost long enough to fit all of us at once. Camp and Solomon took the big chairs after passing out cans of ginger ale.
“Where’s Elliott?” Solomon asked.
“With Gail,” Keane said.
“He okay?”
“He will be.”
“Laura’s interviewing an alpha,” I said.
“He has to be on suppressants,” David said.
Zeke frowned. “They aren’t easy to get, but the SOS manages to get ahold of them. Maybe he works for them. What was he like?”
“I only got a glimpse. Tall, dark-haired. Beard. Muscular.” Keane shuddered and rubbed his arms as though cold.
“Let’s pick up where we left off making our list,” Ren said. “I really want to see if we have any new information between us. My addition isomegas can only be ‘normal’ once they’re mated to an alpha. Why couldn’t they just make a law that omegas of ripening age have to stay at home until properly mated? Why did the government have to step in?”
“Public welfare, supposedly,” Keane said.
My head was starting to throb. Closing my eyes, I leaned back against the couch and zoned out. David could fill me in later. The air unit was running, and the room was cool and comfortable. I could feel myself falling asleep but couldn’t rouse myself. Just a short nap…
I couldn’t have been sleeping long when I fell into a vivid dream.
A small room and two men. One was sitting in a chair, one standing. The one in the chair had his head in his hands and he was crying.
The standing man said, “You don’t understand, Byron. This is so much worse. He’s not like you, and he’d be better off dead than having them take him.”
Byron took a shaky breath and looked up at the other man. I’d never seen such heart-wrenching pain on someone’s face.
“You do it, then, Stephen. I won’t. You do it and see if you can live with yourself!”