Page 52 of The Alpha’s Heir

I ignored that bit about Meg, even if I agreed. “No excuse.” I put my card on the counter. “This round is on me.”

“Damn straight it is.” Marcus smiled. “You’re the one with the fancy paychecks now.”

Hoots and hollers came from the guys as they jostled each other near my back.

“Must be nice.”

“You saving up for a new ride or anything?” Lutten asked.

I shook my head.

“So how is it, sir? Being on the other side and all?” Corporal Yemen was the youngest in our platoon, and I hadn’t worked with him before I commissioned, so he was still nervous around me.

I wanted to brag it up a bit. To tell him that I didn’t have to smell lower-enlisted stank anymore in the barracks, and that the paycheck was worth it.

But I also didn’t want to fill his head with unattainable dreams. Most men who enlisted did so for a reason, and Ethica didn’t take well to those who tried to reach above their station.

“The paycheck is nice,” I told him. “But the politics are worse.”

The kid nodded like he thought that was the case and accepted the beer I’d bought.

Damn if that didn’t make me feel old.

Lutten burped. “Speaking of politics, did you all hear that new measure the council is passing about the mutants?”

Everyone looked at me.

I scoffed. “Still above my paygrade.”

They all laughed and nodded, saving me from the awkward conversation of explaining that I had no say or pull in any government policy. I’d been out of the loop working for Councilwoman Troy anyway, and wasn’t sure what was going on.

“It’s bogus if you ask me,” Sgt. Stone said. “We’re already overcrowding the holding cells for protestors. Things are going to get a whole lot worse when we add more criteria for terrorists.”

That I knew. Tensions had been rising of late, like they always did when elections were on the horizon. Not that anyone from the council ever got voted out, but the illusion of choice was a powerful control mechanism.

“How do you even separate the purists’ hate groups from the mutant lovers?” Lutten asked. “This is going to be a clusterfuck. It’s not like you can expect them to be honest on a questionnaire.”

Now that was news to me. I stared into my cup, waiting to hear what else the rumors said. This squad was a good group of guys and I knew they were just processing the changes. I didn’t know what the council had planned, though maybe I did know more than I thought.

It was Meg. Her being here with Justus would change things. If their marriage were to be accepted by the people, the council was bound to make new rules to ensure people did as they were told.

I just wasn’t sure how much longer they could keep pushing things until they broke.

“I’m sure they’ll make some sort of a test for it,” Yemen said, casting a worried glance my way, and then changed the subject. “Anyway, that girl Jacques is seeing…”

“Don’t you talk about Sophia,” Jacques growled.

“I heard she’s a barrack’s bunny,” Yemen whispered, earning himself an elbow to the gut.

The rest of them started jostling and teasing each other about Jacques’s latest love interest, until Marcus told them to go play darts and shut up.

“So what are you doing here tonight?” Marcus asked as he sipped his beer. “I know it’s not because it’s my birthday.”

Shame flooded me. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Don’t be.” Marcus sighed. “None of these jerks would’ve come out anyway, but I guilted them into it since I was driving Daisy out here.”

“How’s she doing?” I asked.