Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 114617 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114617 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
“Ding, ding, ding, ding!” I clapped, setting off Ava and the other epsilons clapping with me.
Andre looked like he swallowed a battery. “That’s why you forced yourself into the academy. That’s why even though you kept bleating about wanting Badr, Nyx, Edric, and Orion to leave you alone, you got yourself into the alpha track, and kept provoking them—waiting for them to do something stupid that set this all in motion.”
“Wow, well done.” I clapped louder. “Best and brightest of Wolf Nation right here, folks. Everything they said about academy students was true. I’m so glad you all will be my soldiers in the revolution.”
“We’ll never follow you,” Tracy shrieked. “You’re insane.”
I tsked. “Come now, Tracy, why would you say such a thing? Can’t you see the gift I’m trying to give you?”
“Gift?” Her voice hit new octaves. “You think you’re giving us a gift?!”
“I know I am. The gift of a truly equal society. The gift of choosing your own path. The gift of getting revenge against that alpha man—your own uncle—who took everything from your father with only a few words. His home, his car, his savings, and his wife.
“He locked your mother away in a gilded prison, and threw you, your sister, and your dad onto the street. And when your dad went to the police for help, they told him a clan alpha can take whatever—and whoever—he wants, and there was nothing a little omega like him could do about it,” I said. “A year in, your mother ran away from him and your uncle had her dragged back, ordered her ears cut, and threw her out of Wolf Nation.”
Her chest heaved—wolf eyes shining even as tears streaked her face.
“I know what’s in your bottom drawer,” I hissed. “I know what you want to do to him, and you know what would’ve happened if you tried. Well, that world is done with. Carolina is about to become the new leader of the earth wolves.”
The freckle-faced epsilon waved, beaming wide.
“When she does, that vile piece of shit will be put on trial, and you and your mother—who will be welcomed back with open arms—will decide what happens to him. Quickly or slowly.”
Tracy stared at me, swallowing hard.
“As much as you’re traumatically codependent on this backwards society, I’m going to bet no one in it ever cared about your pain, or what your family lost... until today.” I closed the distance between us. “So, tell me, Tracy, do you want to go on as you have? No help. No support. And hoping one day you pluck up the courage to blow up your life with that thing you have in your bottom drawer.
“Or do you want to take a chance on me and the world I want to give you, where you fuck that bastard up, rip the house keys off his corpse, and then move back into the home and life he stole from you, with your family finally whole and happy together?” I snapped my fingers, and my ally removed her chains—simply letting them fall away and clank on the floor. “The choice is yours.”
She didn’t move. “Choice? But... you said we didn’t have a choice.”
“In your case, you do. You can stay on your knees and keep bleating and whining for the people who put your uncle in charge and shrugged when he ruined your life. Or you stand up and join the people who want to take him down as much as you do— Oh, wait, you’re right.” I gave her a hard look. “There really isn’t a choice, is there?”
She studied me for a long beat. “No,” she said softly, “there isn’t.” With that, Tracy walked over and stood next to Ava.
“Tracy, what are you doing!” Raquelle, one of her and Nia’s friends, cried. “You can’t be serious falling in with them. She literally stabbed Nia in the back! Volana is a liar and a psycho, and she doesn’t give a shit about making life right for an omega. None of them do!”
“I understand why you feel that way,” I said, going over and patting her on the head.
She roughly tossed her head, snarling at me.
“Test me.”
“What?”
“Test me,” I repeated. “You think I don’t care about omegas and I won’t fight for them. Test me. You guys made this into a courtroom all on your own, so let us have it. Tell us what’s gone wrong. Tell us who hurt you. Tell us what you want.”
Her eyes narrowed to slits. “You’re not really going to do anything.”
“Like I said, test me.”
She scoffed. “All right, you really want me to believe you’re going to punish an alpha on the word of an omega? Well, Rowan Kai has been forcing me to do his homework since I got here. Cheating is grounds for expulsion, but since you’re not—”