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"Because! He never would have talked to me with you there, and you wouldn't have let me go!" Phe shouts.
"When have I ever not let you do something?" Sully counters.
Phe growls, "Ugh! I don't know, like lots of times!"
Asher tries a different approach. "Okay, I think we're getting off track. Ophelia, we just want to know… why didn't you ask us to go with you? Why Imogen? Two omegas in an alpha-housed prison—"
"We're not invalids," she snaps.
"No, of course not. We just want you safe. That's all. You went to see Jackson, I assume? Did you find anything out, at least?"
Phe shoots a look at Imogen, who sits stiffly between me and Iggy. She has that fake small smile on, eyes downcast, sadness radiating off her.
Phe sighs, then sits in a chair, crossing her legs, picking at the material of her jeans. "Yeah. We found some things out."
"Care to share, Bumblebee?" Though the rest of the room groans at Theo's stupid nickname, Phe's lips lift slightly in amusement. She loves it for some reason.
"Well… he claims…" She clears her throat, frowning at Imogen. "He said it was Kenneth Stevens, the mayor, who got his name on the list. Apparently, the mayor's the go-to. You pay him under the guise of campaign funds, so it's basically an embezzlement scam on top of him being, apparently, one of the biggest sexual predators in the city." She winces, still watching Imogen for any reaction, but Imogen doesn't flinch. She stays perfectly still, seemingly relaxed.
It's unsettling. We could be talking about a fucking bake sale, and she'd have the same expression. Iggy stares her down, but this just opens a lot more questions for me.
"Im… how you doing?" Phe asks.
Imogen's lips lift slightly. "I'm fine, thank you for asking." It's so fucking fake.
"So, you can break off your engagement now, right?" Cass asks, and I shoot him a glare.
Imogen's expression doesn't change. I recognize this mask from when we found out she was our scent-match. She's not going to say yes. But I'm not letting that slide anymore.
"Im, you have to tell us what they have on you. You said it had something to do with your parents?"
Everyone in the room watches her with rapt attention, but she's not budging. I get out of my seat and kneel between her knees on the ground in front of her.
"Do you trust me?"
A slight tic in her brow, but it's not enough of a reaction. "Of course I do," she says sweetly.
"You trust me and Iggy and Cass. To take care of you. To catch you when you fall. Right? I know we haven't had a lot of time together, but you know how we feel. You can feel it, too."
Her blue eyes water, and she nods.
"And we trust you, too. To take care of yourself and us. We've got each other's backs. But that means leaning on each other once in a while. You can't do everything yourself in a pack. We want you in our pack, in our family. But that means trusting us fully. Not just with your body. But with your heart, your problems, your worries. The things that make you sad. Let us in, baby," I plead.
A single tear falls down her cheek, and I hold her hands in mine. Reluctantly, she nods, Cass and Iggy letting out a breath.
Never letting her gaze leave mine, she says to the room, "They tried to purchase me. My parents… they accepted a sum of cash for me to marry them. When I told my mother I wouldn't do it, I found out they owed money to some sketchy debt collectors. My father, Jeffrey, now has a broken wrist, and Bowen is recovering from a knee injury. I'm not sure exactly what happened. They claim both injuries happened at the gym. But my mother said it's because the collectors are getting impatient. I have no idea who holds the debt, only that the amount could be a few hundred thousand. I don't want to marry them. I can't. I won't.
"But I've been going along with it, publicly, because I don't know how to break it to my family. I don't want them to get hurt or worse. What if someone's killed over this? I'd never forgive myself."
Imogen's tears flow more freely, and I don't give a fuck that I'm in a room full of people not-pack. I sit again, gather her in my arms, and let the purr rattle from my chest. The vibration soothes her instantly. I've never done it before, didn't even know how, before the other night, but I know how much Imogen needs comforting, and I think the ability to purr showed up right when we really needed it.
So this is the big secret that's been keeping my omega away from me. I have to say, it's not what I expected. Of course it's something selfless, something she did to help people she loves. Even if they don't fucking deserve it. I keep purring, trying not to think about how enraged I am at her folks at what they've done to her, her mental well-being, her confidence, stealing her trust. I suspect it's worse than what she's shared, but I save those questions for later.
The guys and Phe talk around us, coming up with solutions and plans. Sully doesn't even hesitate, he offers the cash right off the bat to keep Imogen from danger, which I fucking respect and hate that I can't provide. He and Cass go back and forth, but ultimately, they decide they'll hold her parents responsible, treating it like a loan with interest.
It lets Imogen off the hook but doesn't solve the other problem. The mayor caught up in, essentially, forced prostitution. Rape. Collecting cash by selling omega's heats. It's so fucked up.
But when they get down to the details of how to handle it, Imogen pulls from my lap. I wrap my hands around her hips. She doesn't go far, but she's much calmer and stronger than when she walked in here.
