Omega Mine

Josie shook her head, the sadness in her eyes impossible for him to miss. “It’s not that simple, Grayson. I’ve never heard of any Mongrel coming back to the person they were before. Even if it were possible to do so, what exactly would we be bringing back? How much of him would be left?”

...How much?

Grayson grinded his back molars, his fists clenching at his sides as he looked away from his mate and down at his brother. Had this been the conversation the rebellion, his own mother, had discussed regarding him? Anger burned in his gut.

“My own people believed I’d become a Mongrel. They kept me imprisoned years longer than I should have been, all because they didn’t believe there was any help for me.” He looked back up at his mate, indecision shining in his eyes. “What if they were right? What if I was?”

Josie stilled, cocking her head to the side to study him. “What if you were a Mongrel?” Josie stepped into him, cupping his face. Her scent invaded his lungs, and immediately, tension began to drain from his shoulders. “Grayson, you weren’t a Mongrel,” she whispered. “We were able to converse when I met you.”

“I’d been a mindless beast for decades until I met you. Only ever thinking about my next kill, and when I’d be able to feel blood coating my hands again,” he bit out, keeping his hands pressed firmly to his sides.

This conversation was making him more irate, and the last thing he wanted was to accidentally harm her by holding her too tightly. “The night you were brought to my cell, I’d thought about killing you several times. I could have been a Mongrel, Josie. Maybe it was you who brought me back.”

A few of the Omega females gasped, making Grayson acutely aware that their conversation was anything but private. David, to his credit, worked on freeing the last female from her chains, while Jameson stood to his feet.

Jameson turned toward them, keeping a fair bit of distance between himself and Wyatt’s prone form. “All of our reports indicated you had turned Mongrel. The humans believed you to be, but you served a better purpose in the arena, earning money, than you did being trained like a dog to hunt for them.”

Grayson’s upper lip curled on a snarl. “My brother is not a dog,” he spat.

Jameson’s eyes widened before he looked down at Wyatt. Ever so slowly, his gaze traveled back up to Grayson before he nodded to Josie. “I’d also like to point out that while it’s difficult for Mongrels to speak, it isn’t impossible. Fragmented sentences can happen if the need is great enough.”

Josie dropped her hands, turning her attention to the other Omega. “Really?”

“Yes. Grayson spoke a handful of times during my employment as a guard. Most were the night he met you, but it still happened and was noted in the reports I sent back.”

“Have you heard of any Mongrel being rehabilitated?”

Jameson shook his head. “No, but if that’s what happened between you and Grayson…” he trailed off, but the answer was obvious.

If an Omega could bring an Alpha back from total madness, then there was hope for Wyatt.

There was hope.

“Bring me those chains,” Grayson commanded to no one in particular.

David pushed to his feet, putting a wide berth between himself and Wyatt as he walked to Grayson’s side. “Do you want my help?”

Grayson raised a brow. “Aren’t you afraid he’ll wake and kill you?”

David laughed, scratching the back of his neck. “Terrified, actually. But the longer we wait, the more likely he is to wake and I’d rather not see what he does if he’s able to move around freely.”

“What do we do when we’ve chained him up?” Josie asked softly, biting her lower lip as indecision warred on her face. “We can’t stay here too long. I’m sure once those guards don’t check-in, or Samuel makes it back to the city, this place will be swarming with enemies.”

Grayson took a deep breath. “We’ll see if we can find Jameson’s father. Then we’ll reach out to the rebellion.”

Clearly meeting his mother again after all these years was long overdue. First, she’d waited years to attempt a half-assed rescue. Then, she’d placed his mate in danger, something that could have killed them both.

Now, he’d discovered that his little brother had suffered a worse fate than himself. How could she not have known? Or had she just not cared? Was Grayson the only one that mattered to her, as he was the Alpha Prime since his father had passed?

She’d tracked Grayson for years, but she’d never looked for Wyatt? As a Mongrel for the humans, he would have been more in the public eye, right?

Grayson had so many questions, and it was more than time he figured out what the fuck was going on. The things he was learning about her were so in contrast to the woman he remembered, as vague as his memories were.

Whenever he tried to picture her in his mind, all he could recall was her warmth and affection, and her staunch protectiveness that always made his father’s eyes light up with pride. Her sweet, floral scent could always make him feel safe and secure.

Bethany had been his home, his safe haven as a child.

He couldn’t envision his mother willing to sacrifice her own sons for a cause. It didn’t add up.

One of the freed Omegas cleared her throat, wiping at her tear-stained face with the back of her hand, and drawing Grayson from his thoughts.

“Mayor Bolton was taken,” she said on a trembling breath. “There were more guards here earlier. At least two other vehicles. Once they found out how many Omegas were being hidden, they beat him and tossed him into the back of a prison transport along with a few of the men in town. They left a few hours ago.”

“Fuck!” Jameson bellowed, slamming his fist into a wall beside him.

“I-I’m sorry,” the female sniffled. “I don’t think any of them are going to make it back.”

The implication was obvious, and Jameson cursed again, tugging at his hair roughly as he began to pace. “We can go back to the city. Free him–”

“Absolutely not,” Josie snapped, her tone brooking no argument. “I’m so sorry, Jameson, but no.”

“I forbid it,” Grayson added, his voice heavy with command. “We need you here. With us.”

Jameson was silent for a long moment, staring blankly at the ground. Ever so subtly, he nodded. “I don’t know how to contact the rebellion from this location. My father never disclosed his access code or where he kept his satellite phone.”

“I know how you can get in contact with the rebellion,” another Omega piped up, looking discreetly at Jameson before she cleared her throat. “I’m a…friend of your father’s. I’ve been in his office a few times when he’s checked in with them, so I know where he keeps his phone hidden.”

Grayson and Jameson followed the Omega female into the neighborhood from the town square, leaving Josie and David with a tied up, unconscious Mongrel.

Her mate had been opposed to the idea at first, but after they’d bound Wyatt’s hands and feet, and chained his limp body to a large oak tree, he’d been less closed off to leaving them alone. She and David were also both carrying guns, which she’d made abundantly clear she wouldn’t hesitate to use if necessary.

With a promise to return as soon as possible, Grayson’s small group had departed, leaving Josie and David to monitor their hostage.

“You seem stressed,” David commented quietly after nearly ten minutes of silence. “Not particularly interested in harboring a Mongrel assassin?”

Josie snorted, sending him an amused look. “Is it that obvious?”

She sighed. She couldn’t keep her eyes off of Grayson’s little brother.

When he’d been lifted off the ground, his hair had shifted out of his face, allowing her a clear view of him for the first time. And God…He did look like Grayson. There was no denying this was Wyatt. The familial connection between them was obvious.

“I understand where Grayson is coming from.” David shrugged. “When I first found out my sister was missing, I’d been determined to hunt her down and find her. It was how I got captured by the city guards to begin with,” he added, though she vaguely remembered him telling her this the first night they’d met. “Do you have siblings?”

Josie shook her head, fingers tightening on the gun in her hand. Grayson’s little brother or not, she was going to shoot the bastard if he woke up and tried anything. He might be hard to kill, but if she shot his kneecaps, he’d have a hard time moving to attack anyone.

Part of her hoped he did attack, just so she could retaliate for the bloodshed he’d caused her mate.

“It’s difficult to see your younger sibling, someone you’ve placed under your care, so hurt. So lost.” David looked haunted as he spoke. “My little sister, Jessica, got hooked on drugs to cope with the death of our mother a few years back. It made her sloppy, uncaring if we were discovered or not. One day I woke up and she was just…gone.”

“I’m so sorry,” Josie murmured. “How long have you been looking for her?”

David smiled, but she couldn’t help but notice how forced the action was. “Almost a year. I know, I know,” he added when she gasped. “She’s likely dead. Either from the humans, or through an overdose. But knowing she might be out there…I can’t give up on her.” He nodded to Wyatt. “It’s the same for Grayson, only his brother is right here. It’s a second chance for him to make things right, to protect him when he couldn’t before. I’d kill to be given that chance.”

Josie bit her lower lip. “It’s not that simple.” Was anything? “What if we’re only delaying the inevitable, and there is no hope for Wyatt? Even if he has a mate out there, somewhere, what if we never find them? What if we do? Are we going to force his mate to endure him in this state in the off-chance he can be rehabilitated? That could potentially traumatize them for life.”

Or kill them. If Grayson had been a Mongrel when they’d met, which she refused to believe, then it was a miracle she’d survived with her scent blockers keeping her identity concealed from him.

David shrugged. “I suppose that’s a decision for his mate to make. If you’d been given a choice, instead of being deceived and sent to your possible doom, would you have walked away from Grayson knowing you might have been able to help him?”

No. She wouldn’t have tossed away her mate, even knowing he might have been irreparably damaged.

David sent her a kind smile. “I wouldn’t walk away either.”

“How can we even find her? I’m assuming Wyatt’s blood might be on file, like Grayson’s. But if his mate isn’t part of the rebellion, it could take years to find them.” Or never.

Before David could answer, Grayson and Jameson returned.

“We made contact,” Grayson said softly.

“With Bethany? Did you speak with her?” Josie’s eyes widened.

“No. Someone in her chain of command answered. She’s been off the grid for about a week,” Jameson chimed in. “There was a perimeter breach, and one of the rebel bases was attacked. She was evacuated to an undisclosed location.”

“That explains why we didn’t have help escaping the city,” Josie commented, shoulders slumping with relief.

Jameson agreed, but Grayson’s expression became shuttered, indecision skating through their bond. Immediately, she was on edge, wondering why he felt that way at the news.

She’d ask him later, when they were alone. Right now, she didn’t trust their bond to remain intact for a full blown conversation, and if it was a touchy subject, she didn’t want Grayson to become agitated in front of the others.

“They said to plan for extraction in the next few days. We’ll keep the satellite phone with us for tracking, but we’ll need to seek shelter in the woods until then.”

Josie nodded, though her back was already aching from the thought of another day sleeping on the cold, hard ground.

“Can we gather some supplies from town before we go?” Josie asked. “We should also speak with the remaining villagers about coming with us. They didn’t kill these humans, but I doubt Ortega will care who was responsible. He’ll kill everyone in Charleton.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Grayson stated. He pulled her into his arms, holding her protectively against him. His mind brushed hers a second later.

And then we need to talk, little mate.