I had him in my sight. I was about to pull the damn trigger before that raccoon blew my cover,” I said, slamming down my coffee cup for added effect.

The cafeteria was loud and boisterous. The sounds were really getting to me today. I just hoped my commanding officer would believe me since my peers weren’t buying it.

Hansel nearly choked on his food. He was a gray wolf too, but he was the baddest of the bunch. Covered in tattoos and battle scars, he told us many times the story about how he turned in his parents for his “freedom.” I didn’t exactly like the guy, but I did have to put up with him.

He coughed until he caught his breath. “Raccoon? Bullshit, Liam. You chickened out again. Didn’t you?”

I tried my hardest not to blush with embarrassment. I didn’t want anyone to know the truth. That piece-of-dirt alpha was right. I was a hidden omega, and I was in heat, despite trying to convince myself that I wasn’t.

“Hansel, when was the last time you caught a gray wolf? A year ago? Stop giving Liam such a hard time. He’s one of our best,” Boots said.

Boots was a human, but he had no qualms with the gray wolves. In fact, he signed up to “keep the peace” between the two groups. I always thought he was crazy for doing it. Most likely, he was doing it for money and under-the-table bribes.

“Whatever,” Hansel muttered. He grabbed a piece of moldy bread and dipped it into his bowl of slop. “You’re right. He’s been a good addition to the team. I’m only breaking his balls.”

Sometimes, I felt like Hansel was more like me than he thought. All of us shifters were hiding our true selves. We were forced to hide behind a set of masks that we carefully designed. It was tiring.

“It’s fine. Really. I can take it, Boots,” I say.

“Hey, at least we got the bastard’s father. I had been looking for that guy for a year now. You could say that he was my white whale,” Hansel said.

I laughed, but I felt desensitized to the whole thing. “What’s going to happen to him? Is he soldiering up?” I asked.

“They got him in the interrogation unit right now. I guess they’re bruising him up pretty good until he talks,” Hansel said. The image was so horrifying that I decided to pretend not to hear what he said.

“Until he talks? What’s he got to say for himself? I thought that he just didn’t register,” I said.

Hansel chewed his food arrogantly. “My gut tells me that there’s more to that story than we know. There are still Northern Alliance members out there and I’ve got a hunch that he’s behind some of the attacks,” he said.

I pondered this for a second. It was possible. For the most part, the Alliance had been hunted down, but there were attacks now and then. Did I come face to face with the son of a terrorist? Why the fuck did I let him go? And why did I find him so… alluring.

It was punishing to have to be around these guys, day and night. But the world we lived in was a punisher’s paradise, and I just had to suck it up and deal with it. Every single day, I was forced to be someone that I wasn’t.

The worst part was that I was a trained shot. I never missed. I signed up for the academy before they started segregating us. It was mere chance that they put me in the militia.

The cafeteria alarm rang loudly like a 1950’s atomic siren. “All gray wolf personnel must report to the front desk for the headcount,” a pre-recorded message said.

“I hate doing this bullshit. Can’t we just get one day where we don’t have to report to the front?” Hansel asked.

Boots finished his food quickly. “It is just protocol. And the faster you do it, the faster you can go home.”

“Home.” I sighed.

Hansel nodded in agreement. Even the toughest ones hated what our predicament. “Right there with you, brother. Going back to my trailer isn’t going home, Boots. Get that through your thick skull. Us outsiders don’t have homes,” Hansel said.

“Damn straight,” I replied.

Hansel stood up angrily and opened his arms wide. He presented the dirty cafeteria to us. “This is our prison. So when you talk about headcounts, you should be aware of something. Our lives have been taken over by protocol, buddy. And someday, these guys here are going to break.”

“What are you talking about?” Boots issued a worried laugh.

Hansel leaned against the plastic table. His palms slapped against the surface loudly. “One by one, these guys will pop. Because history has shown its ugly fucking head, time and time again. When push comes to shove, the lower classes always rebel. So they better kill us all first, eh?”

At this point, Hansel bent his face near Boots’. All of the soldiers nearby were looking at the two. Boots whispered, “Back off, friend. Or you’ll be the first to go.”

Every man has his breaking point, and Hansel pushed it too far. Boots always helped us out. When there wasn’t any food left, he snuck us bread. He always gave the guys extra cigarettes and booze, but Hansel was a loose cannon. He was just waiting for his chance to explode.

The guards near the door caught wind of the altercation. They came running with stun guns. “Break it up! Hands over your head!”

Boots laughed. He was also a tough son of a gun, and he got his name from receiving a boot to the face. It cracked his jaw in half and shattered his septum. As the story went, he took that boot and beat the gray wolf into submission. We never found out the shifter’s real name.

Hansel wasn’t one to back down from his actions, even if it meant extreme punishment. He had already been in the hole over five times now, and the bosses seemed to love his obsession with pain. To them, he was like a Rottweiler. As long as they threw him some meat every so often, they had complete control.

The guards, on the other hand, hated the guy. “Stand down, mongrel!” They had their shock collars ready.

“Mongrel? Who the fuck you calling a mongrel?” Hansel slammed his fist against the plastic table, instantly denting the surface. He had a scary look in his eyes again. He had lost control.

I jumped back, knowing what was about to happen. I had seen this play out a million times before. The guards threw the leather collar around his neck and tightened it. Hansel violently swung his arms, but it was nearly impossible to fight against the voltage.

The team of guards pulled back on his leash and increased the energy current. Hansel was screaming. I hated hearing the screams the most because it triggered my protective senses. It made me want to shift and tear the guards to pieces. I had to look away.

When they finally restrained him, he was nearly foaming at the mouth. Boots stopped laughing and turned away. “You shouldn’t have done that,” I said.

“Me? He was the one who punched the damn table,” he said.

“Yeah. I guess. Just try and go easy on the guy. He’s had a difficult life,” I said.

Boots patted my back and walked away. There was nothing to be said. This was life in the lower sectors. We had to deal with the reality.

I checked into the front area and had my eyes scanned. Within five minutes, I was cleared to go home in the barracks. It wasn’t a beautiful place, but it was as cozy as I could make it.

I walked past the smoking soldiers and the flaming trashcans. When I got to my front door, I wiped my shoes off. I collapsed onto my crappy mattress as soon as I walked in.

I couldn’t stop thinking about that alpha. Carter Thompson was his name. I read everything I could about the guy’s father. He was the church’s pastor back in the day. I remembered him well. Happily married for about twenty years, his omega’s death fucked him up. Ever since then, he had been living with his son, off the grid.

I remembered when it happened. Some soldiers shot his omega in what was known as the town’s best “self defense” trial. Of course, it was a total sham. One of the soldiers got piss drunk. He left the camp and saw an omega walking home past the new curfew.

It wasn’t long after the case when they banned omegas from society. Most of us were rounded up and taken to the prisons. The newborns had their omega powers taken from them with specially designed medication.

Others fled to more tolerant areas of the world. There was a myth floating around, a place called the Sanctuary. If the rumors were real, I would have heard more about it by now.

I never left. I just blended in and pretended best I could. I was the last of the omegas, and I was hiding in plain sight. I thought I was good at it too. Hansel couldn’t even sniff me out. But that Carter Thompson did. I needed to know how. I couldn’t get caught. I couldn’t bear to live a life behind bars.

I had only been caught once. It was during a hunt. We had been instructed that a pack of alphas was heading toward the wolf camps near the border. Those were the no-go zones for us soldiers. It was “political bullshit,” they told us. We had to make sure the pack of alphas didn’t get there in time.

They had us split up into groups of two. I didn’t know what happened, but I must have shown one of the soldiers my omega markings, or maybe I had acted too feminine. Most gray wolves had specific designs tattooed on them at around age 13. It was a rite of passage for us.

As soon as he got wind of what I was, he held me down. He forced himself on top of me in the dead of night. He held his blade up to my face. The soldier was going to kill me, and I knew it.

I wrestled with him for ten seconds, but it felt like a lifetime. I was a good fighter, a better fighter than that sorry sack. But he was quick, and I took too long thinking about my next move.

I’ll never forget the cold, burning feeling of the blade slicing my cheek open. Lucky for me, he wouldn’t remember anything ever again.

I didn’t even want to think about it. The soldiers’ behavior disgusted me. This whole world disgusted me.

I lit my kerosene lamp and closed my eyes. As soon as I drifted off to sleep, a loud banging shot me straight out of bed.

It was the commanding officer, and he was standing directly in front of me. “Sir!” I saluted and stood as tall as I could stand. Officer Walter Snook was as cold as ice, but he looked tired. It was easy to see that the “border wars” were starting to get to him.

He saluted back but sat down quickly. “At ease,” he said. “You know I hate barging in on you like this, Liam.”

“Yes, sir. I know. Do you want to do another room check?” I asked.

He looked around the disheveled and dirty trailer. “No. I’ve dealt with enough shit today. I’m sure you heard about Hansel. That wolf’s aggression is getting out of hand.”

“I saw it happen, sir. I walked away from the ordeal. I don’t like to see conflict within the ranks,” I lied.

“Good, man. You’ve always been dedicated to our cause. That’s exactly why I’m here. I heard about your chase today. The Thompson boy, right?” His eyes were scanning my reaction. I remained as calm as ever. There was no way he knew that I let him run.

“Yes, sir. A despicable family, no doubt,” I said.

He laughed and nodded. “Yes, well. You shouldn’t be too hard on yourself. You can’t catch them all,” he said.

“But we have his father, yes? Surely, he can provide us some insight into finding out his son’s whereabouts,” I said.

Officer Walter Snook ran his fingers through his thinning hair. He looked displeased. “He has given us nothing,” he said.

“So, you up the interrogation tactics. Correct?” he asked.

Walter gave a sharp laugh. “Well, as it turns out, he’s protected under law.”

“Protected? What does that even mean? He’s a gray wolf. None of them are protected,” I said. Them. The officer loved it when I acted separately from my own kind.

He smiled, hiding his malice for the situation. “It’s just how it goes. He was a pastor. Religious exemptions,” he said.

I stood up and punched my wall. It was an elaborate show. I wanted him to believe that I would do anything for the cause. “Religious exemption? Their religion is a crock of shit! It’s just a bunch of wolves in a room, howling at the moon. There has to be another way. We need to find his son. I’m sure that Daren is one of the last rebels. We can’t let his offspring off the hook.”

“I love your enthusiasm, but we don’t know that yet. Our Intel is shaky at best,” he said. I sighed and sat back down. “But you know I didn’t come here just to chat.”

“What do you have for me, sir?” I asked.

“I have a mission, but it has to be our little secret. No one else can know about it. Can you handle that? Or do I have to find some lowly human to do it?” Walter Snook asked.

“Whatever it is, I can do it,” I said.

Outside, loud gunshots could be heard. That was nothing new. Every time the sun went down, the soldiers turned a little trigger-happy. Anyone who walked the street passed curfew were targeted. Even humans were gunned down from time to time.

“I need you to head toward the wolf camp near the bitter lake,” he said, in a low voice.

My heart sank into my stomach. “But sir, we can’t enter the camps. We don’t have jurisdiction to go—”

Walter held up his hand for me to stop talking. I did and watched him light a cigarette in my home. “This is what I mean. No one must know. Not Hansel. Not Boots. This is your mission,” he said. “And when it’s all said and done, there will be something big waiting for you.”

My mind started to wonder what that something might be. Was it my freedom? Or was it another miniscule promotion? Either way, it wasn’t like I could say no. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“Alright. I’ll do it,” I said.

He took a huge drag on his cigarette. The smoke came billowing out onto my face. He stood up. “I’ll send you the details. Why is it that I can always count on you?” he asked.

Of course, he didn’t wait for a response. He didn’t care.