Everyone looked at Finlo as he walked back into the room, and he sighed. “I hated high school. Why do I always get stuck with the academic questions?” he whined, then he grabbed me and dragged me to the couch, settling me on his lap. “On second thoughts, I’d be okay with these studying arrangements.” His big hand wrapped around my thigh, and I silently willed him higher. Gatlin cleared his throat pointedly, and Finlo stuck out his tongue.
“Always the killjoy, that one. Okay, so the Manix are governed by the Legion. They were the Manix army in the old days, and were separate to the Alpha ruling family. When the ruling family was killed during an attack a couple of centuries ago, the Legion took control. They make the decisions, dole out the punishments and generally see to the day-to-day running and defense of Maxton. They are run by an Alpha General, who is our Alpha now, I guess.” He slid a look to Gatlin, whose face looked stony. Ah, there was history there, but now was not the time to mine that secret. “There’s only a couple of thousand of us left, so it isn’t a taxing job. But we keep a specialist elite force of warriors on hand, the Legion Force, and everyone gets combat training from childhood. Generally, we are just like a normal Pack of supernaturals. We follow the same social hierarchy as, say, wolves.”
“Except we are stuck a hundred years in the past with our social values,” Raiden growled from where he’d flopped down on the other end of the couch.
Finlo squeezed me harder. “Yes, except that. With us all being separate from the greater part of human or supernatural society, our views tend to be conservative to the point of detrimental. Half-caste Manix are treated with general disdain by some elements of the community, irrespective of their strength. Omegas are like the 1930s housewives, intended to be seen and not heard. Anything out of the ordinary is viewed with suspicion, and basically it’s open season for the strong to prey on the weak.”
I wanted to be outraged at the barbarism, which I was, but wasn’t human society still like this in some places? It wasn’t just a Manix condition, that's for sure.
I looked around at them all and suddenly understood them better. They were the ones that were cast outside the mold. The different ones. It was what made them so unique, so special.
“And what’ll happen tomorrow?”
Gatlin gave me a purely crocodile grin. “Tomorrow we blow their tiny little minds.”
29
Raiden
I’d wanted to stay home with Luisa, but Gatlin had put his foot down. We needed to show a united front, and if the cub and I stayed home, he’d have to leave Finlo and Seven with us for protection. I got it. He hated the idea of splitting up his Omegas right now, but still, this sucked.
This morning, Gatlin had smelled the change in my physiology that meant that at least one of the zygotes had taken. I was pregnant.
I’d never thought I could be so happy.
Or so scared.
It was like a switch had flicked in my brain now, and the people and places I’d known my whole life were suddenly potential threats to my cubs. I eyed them all warily, knowing that they’d pick up the change in my scent too, if they focused on it hard enough. Maybe the sight of Naja would distract them enough they’d miss it.
It wouldn’t fool the Legion though.
Finlo was on the phone to his dads, who’d all meet us at the Legion headquarters. It sounded like it would be something impressive, but really it was just an ordinary wooden building. Behind it were barracks for single men in the Legion Force and some of the peripheral workers of the Legion. Families had homes around the outskirts, some provided by the town, and others—like us—had built on land bought and annexed from the Legion, a benefit granted for Manix who formed their own Packs.
We pulled the ATVs up to the front steps of the Legion HQ, and I helped Naja down. Ellar climbed off with Luisa in his arms, and already I could feel eyes on us from every direction. Finlo’s parents, all four of them, walked down the steps to meet us. They were there for support, and given the wideness of their eyes, they were taking in all the new scents, including my pregnancy.
Selena’s grin got impossibly wider. “Congratulations again,” she murmured to Finlo under her breath, though I could tell what she actually wanted to do was yell it so every person in Maxton would know she was going to be a grandma.
“Thanks, Mom.” He gave the older Manix woman a hug. He looked at his dads, the ones who hadn’t come around the other day—Jeff and Jack. “Did Wilkie make it here first?”
Jack shook his head. “No, and you can bet we would have heard about it by now. Come on, the Alpha General will be having his daily update with the rest of the Legion Generals. Can’t think of a better time to spring this on them,” he said with a grin. Jack was a rabble-rouser, that was for sure. Finlo was definitely his kid.
Gatlin held his head high as he walked inside. It was an average-looking building, but the men inside held our future in their hands.
Selena stopped Naja with a hand on her arm. “Would you like me to watch the little one for you?” She asked it softly, her face reassuring and open. I watched Naja hesitate, her natural suspicion of people warring with the warm sense of rightness that Selena naturally gave off. I could have reassured Naja, but it had to be her choice.
Naja finally nodded, although she left it up to Luisa. Selena wasn’t a dumb woman; she reached into her purse and pulled out a chocolate bar. Luisa reached out with grabby hands and Naja let out a soft laugh. She let the baby go into the arms of Finlo’s mother. As if she’d been prepared for this moment, Selena also pulled out a giraffe toy.
Finlo chuckled. “Really, Mom? Bribery already?”
Selena just raised a brow. “I take my role as a grandmother very seriously, son.” With that, she plopped down onto the ground of the foyer with Luisa to play giraffes and eat chocolate.
Orson looked down at them fondly. “I’ll watch over them,” he promised Naja. It was a reassuring statement. Orson was built like a hundred-year-old tree. Giant and immovable.
Naja nodded and swallowed hard. “Thank you.”
Orson shook his head. “No, child. Thankyou.”
Finlo put his hand on Naja’s lower back and urged her further into the building, with the guys reflexively forming a barrier around us. We stopped at the huge double doors that led to the Alpha General’s office. Radic, the Alpha General’s secretary, looked between us all. Radic was a Beta and a nice guy. He was efficient and took no shit, but he was the more empathetic arm of the Legion, and although he was only a secretary, he wielded a fair amount of clout. If you want to appeal to someone for a favor, you didn’t ask the Legion Generals. You asked Radic, and Rad would either give you what you wanted on the down-low, or pass it up the chain.
