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Noah.
4
The Administrator of Order
Noah
No one asked if I wanted to be Administrator of Order.
Rather, I was appointed to the position, which is a fancy way of saying I was ordered to do it.
I’ll never forget the morning the alpha council showed up at Sage House. It had briefly snowed the night before, so a fine layer of white crystals covered Goldenrod’s freezing terrain, sparkling in the bright sunlight.
As soon as I saw the five council members lumbering around the Sage House entryway in their wet outerwear and pensive, accusing expressions, I knew something was afoot.
I led them into my father’s study—which had recently become my study, I suppose, since my older brother, Wyatt, had unceremoniously dumped our family’s legacy on my lap—and sat behind the desk, waiting as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the door like some sort of blockade.
I was about to ask them what they wanted when Marcus Catmint, the leader of the council, stepped forward and gleefully muttered the words that changed my life.
“Beebalm died last night.”
I froze as a mixture of shock and relief washed over me. Cyrus Beebalm had been Administrator for as long as I could remember. He was an institution in Goldenrod. And while he was popular with Goldenrod’s general population, those of us who knew him on a more personal level loathed him.
He was pompous and irreverent—always talking in puzzles and laughing at jokes that only he understood. Not to mention, some of his recent actions were just bizarre… Like the way he’d attached himself to my younger brother, Jason.
And that bright morning—the day after my brother had so publicly lost it—my Jason-shaped wounds were still fresh. So, it was no wonder that my first thought was that he was connected to Beebalm’s death somehow.
If anyone had a reason to kill the Administrator, it would be Jason, right? Beebalm had molded him into someone who barely resembled my funny, gentle younger brother. He’d become an aggressive, careless … monster.
Though Jason wasn’t the only one whom Beebalm had negatively affected. It was my entire family—Mother, Father, Wyatt, and probably Stella, too, for all I knew.
Maybe things would be different if only I’d done more.
If I’d kept a closer eye on them all.
Especially Jason.
But it didn’t matter at that point. The only thing that mattered was avoiding another scandal. It was the last thing neither the Sages nor the town needed.
“What happened?” I finally asked Marcus, dreading the answer. “How did he die?”
“A fire destroyed the Home for Unwanted Omegas,” he replied, his light blue eyes trained on my face. “We found his charred remains in the rubble, along with Alfonso Maidenhair. But strangely enough, we didn’t find any omegas.”
He said it like the fact that The Home for Unwanted Omegas contained no actual omegas was more mildly amusing than alarming. He also didn’t take his eyes off me—it was like he was expecting a specific reaction from me.
“What else?” I growled, growing annoyed. “Obviously, you’re here for some other reason, Marcus. Spit it out.”
“Your brother was seen leaving the scene,” he explained calmly as cold certainty encompassed me.
“Jason?” I choked with dread.
“Wyatt,” he clarified, “and Alfonso’s daughter, Camilla—she’s Wyatt’s mate, right? Also, Ed could’ve sworn he saw some giant, strange alpha carrying Elizabeth Cypress through town afterward.” Marcus jerked his head toward Ed Rose, who nodded along gravely.
Shit.
“Come to think of it,” Marcus continued slowly. “Wasn’t the Cypress omega supposed to be promised to Jason last night until she stormed away all emotional, and then he went off in a mad craze?” He stuck out his lower lip in an exaggerated fashion. “Kind of like your lunatic mother, huh?”
I couldn’t say anything. Instead, I dropped my head in my hands and groaned, my heart shriveling into a pit of despair.
