“How far are you willing to go if it means you’re free of him?” I asked, leaning forward as I waited for his answer.
Rick took a seat across from me, pulled out a picture, and set it in front of me. The photo was of a pregnant woman holding a toddler on her hip that resembled Rick in many ways. “If it means my son and soon to arrive daughter can grow up in a world where they don’t dread their sixteenth birthday, I’m not sure there’s anything I won’t do.”
I picked up the picture and was amazed to see that the possibility of more than one child being born to a couple was real. “How?”
“Sasha is an Omega,” Rick answered. “We met when I was on a diplomatic mission in Shearia. A military unit is as close to a pack as you can get these days when you know the chance of having an Omega is zero. The five of us fell for her almost as instantly as we saw her. Our team was there for a month and ended up bonding with her. In that country, the bond is sacred and considered a forever commitment, dead or alive. So, there was nothing they could do about us bringing her back with us, even though they have fewer Omegas than we do.”
“That’s what Yoram has on you, that you broke our laws, even though you were in another country?” I realized. “Is he threatening to take her away from you? Because he can’t now that she’s had your children.”
“No, not her, my children,” Rick corrected. “In Shearia Omegas can be born male or female, and his threat has been to remove them from our home and raise them in one of the Care Centers.”
Just when I didn’t think Yoram could be a more heartless bastard.
“I’m so sorry, Rick, it must be awful to have something so special in your life and fear every moment it might be taken away,” I said, handing him back the picture. “I know what that feels like, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”
Rick looked confused. “Your pack has an Omega?”
“We do, although because of my morals and wanting to do right by the law, we haven’t bonded with her. In doing the right thing, I set myself up to lose her and I didn’t even realize it. While my pack and I were here trying to get proper approval from the CoF, Yoram sent a team of men to my home and stole her right out of her nest,” I explained.
Understanding flashed in Rick’s eyes. “Savo has her, doesn’t he?”
I nodded and leaned back in my chair, looking up at the ceiling. “The heavens must be looking down on us for something like that to have happened. Savo and my Beta, Spencer, are friends, so Cambrie has met Savo before. It gives me some peace to know she isn’t alone, unprotected, and suffering.” Looking back at Rick, I could tell by the look on his face that he was completely committed to helping us. “Yoram is trying to sell her off to the Chancellor of Shearia to gain some alliance. The message you passed on to me earlier was saying they are coming for her in the morning. We don’t have much time, Rick. We need to do whatever it takes to bring her home.”
“You said before that she’s the key to destroying Yoram. How is that possible?” he questioned.
I rubbed a hand over my face, trying to figure out the simplest way to make sense of the whole thing. “She’s proof that his Omega might not have died the way he said she did. Cambrie is his daughter, and one of his female packmates smuggled the child away from him so she wouldn’t end up in the situation she’s in now. If we can find the other two pack members and get them to tell us what they know, or even if the public knows who Cambrie is, they will demand that he’s removed from office.”
“Wait, we can do that?” Rick challenged.
“It’s an old law, one that’s never been used, but if there is a vote of no confidence from a majority of the population, there has to be a re-election,” I shared. “When they first started this concept of the Council of Four, it was to ensure it couldn’t be controlled by one person. They also included that failsafe if there was a situation such as now. Yoram is one hundred percent as guilty as Eric claims. I’m the one who figured it out and brought the matter to him.”
“Holy fuck,” Rick gasped, sitting back in his chair heavily. “Okay, so we need to act tonight while you’re all doing the press conference. Yoram will be busy and unable to do anything if he gets alerted to what's happening. You’ll be there to stall him just in case something changes, and he can get away. At the residence, there is only Savo and my other guy that I trust, so I’ll need to bring a team with me to deal with others stationed there. The biggest perk is I know how many and roughly what the layout of the property is. No clue about the house, but if my guy can get to Savo and let him know what’s going down, then we might not need to worry.
“The rest of my pack will want to be somewhere close so they can secure her as quickly as possible. I would love for them to take her back to the home she knows, but I think it would be best to have her in another location just to be sure,” I said, reaching for my phone. “I’ll give you their contact information, and I’ll let them know what’s going down.”
Rick stood and held out a hand to me. “It’s an honor to be working with you, Official Stone. If I had a say in how things go after this, I’d gladly call you our sole leader. We need a man who sticks to his morals and thinks about the country as a whole.”
“Thank you, your words humble me, and I’m not sure I deserve them,” I responded, shaking his hand. “How selfless am I if all of this was discovered because of a woman?”
“The fact that you’re even asking me that should answer your question. I know it will be hard to do, but leave the rescue to me. I’ll make sure your Omega gets returned to your pack safely. You just need to focus on our people and tell them as much of the truth as you can. Trust them to take the rope when you offer them a way out,” Rick urged before leaving my office. “Oh, and I’ll have one of the men I trust come look after you for the rest of the day,” he called over his shoulder.
Sitting there in my office I took a moment to process everything that had just happened between Rick and me. Then, I called Nixon and gave him the much shorter version of our plan to have Cambrie in our arms by the end of the day. Now, I just needed to figure out what the hell I was going to say in this press conference.
Chapter 12
Somethingwasgoingon.I could feel it in the energy of the room as I tried to concentrate on my history books. Arthur had me forgo all other books that didn’t pertain to Shearia and their past until the present. It was an interesting country, focusing on education for all people, but their views on Omegas were subservient. While Oscad didn’t have a fair system for Omegas, we weren’t considered less than other designations. If anything, we were overvalued, which made them control all aspects of our lives but we still weren’t expected to be seen and not heard.
Could this be where they’re trying to send me?My thoughts drifted to the one-sided conversation I heard Arthur having earlier. Whoever he’d been talking to said they would come for me tomorrow. His argument had been he didn’t feel I was ready, now here I was focusing solely on this country.
Savo had returned a short while ago and seemed restless, not the silent sentinel he’d been the other days. Between his agitation and Arthur’s irritation, I was left in the middle feeling lost at what to do, so I studied. Learning was something that I enjoyed, and normally it could distract me from the problems whirling around me, but not today. Today felt different, almost like I was on the edge of a knife and one wrong move I might get cut.
“Miss Cambrie, are you even paying attention to what you’re reading? You’ve been staring at that page for over fifteen minutes,” Arthur snapped, startling me into dropping the book on my desk with a loudthump. “Seems the history of a wise and noble people isn’t to your liking, how about we work on something more physical and see if we can keep you on task? I’m going to get the tea service and we will work through that. It will be one of the most important tasks you do for your pack, so you must master it.”
Arthur walked over to the door and spoke to the guard outside before he returned to me. “Stand,” he commanded.
Rising to my feet slowly, I watched his every move, feeling like I might get hit for some reason. The anger pouring off Arthur was almost palpable and had all the warning bells in my head going off.
“Morning tea is a ritual that happens before breakfast is served. It is the one task that must be performed by the Omega for her Alphas. Doing this shows your humility, willingness to serve, and gratitude for all they provide for you,” Arthur droned on. “When you are serving you must never meet your Alpha’s gaze as a show of his dominance over you. While waiting, I want you to stand up straight, drop your head, and clasp your hands together, but keep them relaxed.”