AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A smile twitches my lips when someone gasps. I guess you’re not supposed to swear on live TV.
Rune takes over. “The Omega Institute was created to protect omegas. They haven’t been doing that, so we will.”
“Some of you might be thinking, well, aren’t you worried about offending the Council?” Kylian asks, scratching his jaw. “Aren’t we worried about making enemies in the city? Or about pissing off the most powerful. And our answer? Fuck ’em.”
In the silence, cameras flash. I’m not sure how many reporters Pack Ashe gathered for this, but from the amount of bright flashes, I’d say there must be twenty or more.
Cian’s voice is clipped, angry. “Alphas were preying on omegas in places they should have been safe. That stops. That stops now.”
Rune turns the microphone back toward him. He holds my gaze with those big amber eyes. And he smiles slightly, as if he were smiling right at me. “Ever Safe, the first Pack Ashe owned free heat clinic opens in a little over one week.”
I slowly sink to the edge of the couch, raising my shaking hand to my mouth as a camera pans up to capture the name on the front of the new building.
Ever Safe.
They named it after me.
Tears are streaming down my cheeks as Rune continues.
“More will follow in the coming months and years. It’s open to any omega in the city, rich, poor. It doesn’t matter. They can come to ride out their heat, they can come in the evenings to meet with other omegas if they wish it. We’ll be fitting out bars and serving light bites. But no alphas are permitted to enter.”
“Including you?” a reporter yells out.
“Including us,” Kylian responds.
“We will be vetting all beta staff. Any attempts to harm, to prey upon, to, in short, make this space unsafe for the omegas who use it will learn exactly how ruthless we can be.” Rune sweeps his eyes across what I envision is an army of reporters stretching their microphones toward the lectern. “Their great-grandchildren will inherit their debt once we’re through suing them.”
“We will crush them in any way and every way we can,” Cian says.
Nervous laughter.
“Using purely legal channels, of course,” a reporter calls out.
“Purely legal.” Kylian smiles and I don’t think anyone who saw the hard look in his eyes would believe he meant it.
Rune and Kylian step back from the lectern, and Cian steps forward. He’s talking about the amenities that omegas can expect to find in all Ever Safe locations, but I’m not listening anymore. These tears don’t seem to want to stop.
They did this for me. I don’t know how I can be so certain of something, but I am about this.
And Rune…
Rune said they had something in the works, but it wouldn’t be ready in time for my first heat.This. They were doing this.
They want me and the other omegas in the city to be safe.
I think they love me.
“Everleigh?” Mom perches beside me on the couch. I hadn’t even realized she’d moved.
“I love them, Mom,” I say and burst into tears.
* * *
I cry for a long time, curled up on the couch with my head in Mom’s lap and her hand stroking my hair. I can’t make myself stop.
When I’ve finished crying through an entire box of tissues and my tears finally abate, Mom sighs as she kisses my hair. “I haven’t been a good mother to you, have I, Everleigh?”
I sit up. “No, you—”
