By the time Jason arrived at the Benningtons’ home, the front room was filled with Betty’s cries of pain. Sympathy shot through his chest like a bullet, but before he could reach the back room, a female Alpha stood to block him in the hall.

“No Alphas,” she said firmly.

Jason scowled. He remembered the day Rita had come into the pack, and there was no sign of the reservation she’d shown then. The entire pack had been thrilled to have her and her brother, who’d narrowly escaped an attempt on his life after refusing to perform a forced abortion on an omega who had “inconvenienced” their pack Alpha with the fruits of his own infidelity. They had saved Jason’s life on more than one occasion, and when it came to all things medical, he gave them both the deference he was used to receiving from the other members of the pack.

“Is she alright?”

“It’s much too early,” Rita said, her brow furrowing with worry as she spoke. “Milton tried to stop the labor, but we think it’s the stress.”

Jason swallowed hard. “Do whatever you can. If there’s medicine you need, I’ll get it.”

“I’m afraid medicine won’t help matters now,” Rita said quietly. “We just have to wait and let Milton do what he’s best at.”

Jason nodded reluctantly. This was the part he hated. The helplessness. Fighting for his pack was a given. He thrived on it. It was knowing there wasn’t a damn thing he could do other than hope and trust in the skill of his packmates and the whims of fate.

Yeah, Betty had brought nothing but trouble with her ever since she’d shown up looking for asylum, but she was his responsibility. He wouldn’t let anyone, not his mate’s destined omega or the full force of the Tribunal itself, take her away from the semblance of peace she’d been able to find within Silver Rapids. Death, there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about.

“I heard there’s a Tribunal agent looking for her,” Rita said, as if to distract herself from the fact that the screams were much fewer and further between than they had originally been. That could be a good thing or a bad thing, but the heavy air in the room told Jason it was the latter.

“There is,” he grunted, checking to make sure Nellie wasn’t within earshot before he added, “Now he knows she’s here.”

Rita sighed. “Lovely.”

“Not that it matters. He already knew, it was just a matter of proving it.”

“What are you going to do with him?”

“I don’t know,” Jason admitted.

Rita bit her lip, watching him like she was about to suggest the very solution that would have been first in his mind if Clyde hadn’t been an omega. “They don’t have any right to be here…”

“I know that, but killing him isn’t an option.”

“Why not?”

“For one thing, it’d just bring down more trouble on our heads. The Federation has a lot more free time than it used to now that the war’s over. For another, he’s an omega.”

“An omega?” Her eyes widened. “They really have gone whole hog on that egalitarian thing, haven’t they?”

Jason snorted. “Something tells me they sent him just to screw with me.” Of course, he doubted that the Tribunal had any idea just how well that plan had gone. Only fate itself was conniving enough to send his mate’s destined omega knocking at his door.

“He’s secure right now, isn’t he?”

“Of course he is.” He didn’t want to believe that Kade had fallen under the omega’s spell so quickly that he’d let him slip through his fingers and risk the safety of the other members of his pack. He sent a text message anyway.

A few seconds later, Kade replied. He’s upstairs. I sedated him. How’s Betty?

Jason breathed a sigh of relief. Not good, but I’ll tell you when I know more.

There hadn’t been so much as a peep from the back room in a few minutes when a fresh scream from a much smaller set of lungs caught Jason’s attention. He and Rita both looked at each other, but their relief was short lived when the doctor’s other assistant stepped out of the room, her expression solemn and her eyes shining with unshed tears.

“Jason,” she said, her voice breaking. “She wants to see you. It’s… it’s not good.”

The Alpha took a moment to steel himself, but there was nothing that could have prepared him for the smile on the omega’s sweat-drenched face as she gazed down at the screaming pink bundle in her arms. Betty had always been a wisp of a thing, but she was white as the sheets beneath her and she had never looked more like the kid she was than she did with a child in her arms. It was so small and fragile that if it hadn’t been for the piercing wails, Jason would have sworn it was a doll.

“Hey, kid.” No matter how he tried, his voice betrayed the same grief that filled the room. His eyes met Milton’s and any hope he had went out the window with the solemn look on the young doctor’s face. Milton’s long blond hair was drenched in sweat and the blood on his coat made him look like the soldier he was, even though Jason wouldn’t have traded the battlefields he’d lived on for the one the omega had just been through any day of the week.

If Betty knew what everyone else in the room already did—that she was going to die—the thousand-watt smile on her face showed no sign of it. She looked up at Jason, pride beaming through her ashen complexion. “Isn’t she beautiful?” she cooed down at the infant who’d only just begun to settle.

“She takes after her mama,” Jason said, reaching down to brush the girl’s damp hair out of her forehead.

“Where’s Kade?”

“He’s dealing with something right now, but he’ll come see you both in a little while.”

For the first time, a glint of knowing shone in the girl’s eyes. They were the only part of her that seemed to be filled with life, and it was fading fast. She knew. Of that, he had no doubt. “The doc said she’s tiny, but she’ll be okay with lots of help and patience. This is a good place for her to be,” she said softly, stroking her daughter’s reddened face. She looked up suddenly, her eyes wide with desperation, as if she’d just thought of something. “If she goes back there, they’re just going to use her the way they did Ocean. They’re going to force her into a life she doesn’t want. You won’t let that happen, will you?”

“Of course not,” Jason said, his voice rough with fury at the thought of it. “But your family…”

“My mother can raise her,” she said softly, sadly. “I want her to, but she can’t protect her from Anthony.”

“He’ll never touch her,” Jason promised. “I’ll find your mother and bring her here.”

Betty frowned, as if she was afraid to hope he was serious. “It’s too much to ask. You and Kade have already done so much for me. I know that man from the Tribunal is here because of me…”

“Don’t you worry about him. You just worry about getting rest and taking care of that little girl,” he said, his voice growing hoarse. “I promise you, your baby’s gonna have the life she deserves here with this pack and her grandma.”

His answer seemed to be what Betty needed to hear and she relaxed. He didn’t know how he was going to make that happen, but he’d find a way. He always did.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “I think I’ll name her Rae… that’s a good name.”

“It is,” Jason said, his words sticking in his throat.

It was like someone had drained all the light and life out of her as soon as she had no more reason to fear for her daughter’s future. Jason stepped back and let the doctor and his assistant tend to her. It was a matter of an hour before Betty had breathed her last, and Jason swore to himself that Anthony was going to pay for what he’d done. For chasing two scared kids into their deaths, if he hadn’t put the bullet in Ocean’s chest himself.

Jason knew he should have gone back to the house immediately and told Kade what had happened. They still had Clyde to deal with, but he just couldn’t bring himself to go home. Not yet. He took the long way around and shifted, letting his wolf take over to the point where he might as well have blacked out. Not that he was any danger. According to his packmates, the wolf was more civil than he was, even if it looked like some kind of beast from hell with its jet black fur and glowing golden eyes.

He ran the length of the territory, burying himself in the forest and letting his howls express the grief and anger he couldn’t afford to expend in his human form. He hated himself for it, but Betty’s loss was magnified by his own irrational sense of betrayal. He’d never been one of those people who believed in curses or bad luck. He’d always seen fate as something you made yourself, but as he ran beneath the light of the moon, hunting any prey that had the misfortune of coming into his path as an outlet for his anger, he felt like the universe itself had decided to choose him as its punching bag.

He knew what his parents would say. It was punishment for betraying them so many years ago. For choosing his mate over his family and all the responsibilities that came with being a Smith.

But was it really so wrong to want something of his own? To want a place where he was free to be with the man he loved—the one that fate had chosen for him—and to give others the freedom to do the same? For young shifters like Betty and Ocean who’d been failed so grievously by the system that was supposedly put in place to protect them. For people like Rita and Milton who refused to compromise in the face of corruption and the secrecy men like his own father had always used to get ahead and keep others in their place.

Maybe it was just that he hadn’t done enough. He’d given his everything to Kade, but even though it wasn’t the other Alpha’s choice to imprint on another, surely there was some vacuum in Kade’s heart if another person existed to fill it. He’d done all he could to protect Betty and her unborn child from the wolves chomping viciously at their heels, and yet two innocent kids were dead and another orphaned while Anthony got to keep his cushy seat on the Great Plains Council.

When Jason realized that his pain stretched too far to outrun, he doubled back and changed, realizing he’d been out for a hell of a lot longer than he’d intended when he saw Kade running through the front door to greet him. The look on the Alpha’s face said it all.

“Jason!” Kade cried, throwing his arms around him, making it impossible to breathe. A second later, his relief turned to anger. “Where the fuck were you? I’ve been looking everywhere.”

“I was in the woods,” he murmured. Now he knew why he’d been out so long. All that time and running had done nothing to make this any easier. This moment where he had to deliver the news to his mate that he had failed yet again. “Betty, she…”

Kade’s gaze softened, full of grief. He nodded and for a moment, he seemed at a loss for words himself. “I know,” he said, pulling Jason back into his arms. “I know.”

They held each other until Jason no longer felt the emptiness inside threatening to swallow him up. He still didn’t want to pull away, but reality called. “Where is Clyde?”

Kade looked back at the house, frowning. “He’s still out. What are we going to do now that Betty’s…” he trailed off, and Jason couldn’t blame him. The words weren’t any easier to think than they were to say.

“That depends. We could lie to him and tell him the baby died, too, but somehow I doubt he’d believe the truth.”

“No,” Kade agreed, folding his arms. “Probably not.”

“You have to tell him,” Jason said, speaking the words even though it killed him. The look on Kade’s face was one of disbelief and resistance, so he added, “You don’t have a choice. If he leaves and goes back, he’s just going to interpret the pull between you as proof that there’s more to uncover here,” he muttered.

“You want me to be honest with him? What if he tells the others about the baby?”

“I promised Betty I’d bring her mother here,” he said quietly. “The kid can’t hide forever. She deserves better than that. The only way she’s gonna get better is if we prove her mother’s innocence. Who knows? Maybe Clyde can help.”

“I don’t know, Jason…”

“Look, I’m not saying I’m happy about any of this. I’m not,” he admitted. “But I’m too much of a realist to pretend like it’s anything other than what it is. The sooner we’re all on the same page, the better.”

“You’ve seen what he’s like,” Kade said warily. “Even if I tell him everything, there’s still a good chance he’s going to want to pretend like it never happened.”

Jason snorted. “He may be stubborn, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that there’s no one stubborn enough to resist you.”

“Jason…”

“Go on. Go talk to your mate, I’ll be alright.”

Kade frowned. “If this is going to happen, I’m not doing it without you. No secrets, and no compartmentalizing.” He reached out, taking Jason’s hand. “I waited for too long to get you to let me in, and I’m not going to start shutting you out now.”

Jason’s throat tightened. He nodded, following Kade inside. “Alright, then. We’ll tell him together.”