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What the hell is happening to us?
Caelan’s mouth curves into a small, knowing smirk that causes Dax’s eyes to narrow to slits. They stare each other down, and it’s like the more irritated Daxen gets, the wider Caelan’s smile grows.
As if this moment couldn’t possibly get any more tense, the door swings open and Branwen saunters in, fingers flying over the screen of her phone.
“I hope you boys didn’t start without me.”
Daxen turns his narrow-eyed glare on the Omega. “No. Get out.”
She finally looks up from her phone and cocks her head to the side, frowning before she turns to Caelan and asks, “You’re cool if I’m here, right?”
Caelan shrugs. “Fine with me.”
“Absolutely not,” Dax barks.
Branwen snorts, stopping in front of the snack cart and popping open the tin of butter cookies with a hum of appreciation. “These are the best. My gran used to make ones just like this, but better.”
“Homemade’s always better,” I agree, tossing another cookie into my mouth.
Dax’s eyes widen. “Vae!”
Maybe I’m petty, or maybe it's because I actually kind of like the little Omega, but either way, I swallow my bite before saying, “Don’t look at me. I vote she stays.”
“I’m fine with her staying,” Silas mutters from his seat in the corner, tucked back in the shadows like a fucking gremlin. At the sound of his voice, Branwen shrieks and spins around, eyes wide as she searches the dimly lit room until she finds where the voice came from.
“You bloody arsehole! You scared me half to death!”
Silas must really be in a shitty mood because all he does is wince and shrink further in his chair, mumbling, “Sorry.”
Branwen turns back to Dax with a beaming smile. “Four to one. Looks like you’re outvoted.”
“I’m not outvoted,” Dax growls, crossing his arms over his chest. “There is no vote. This is my office. I say who stays. I say who goes.”
“Come on, Dax, don’t be such a dick,” I mutter, which earns me a grin from Branwen and a glare from my Packmate. I shoot a surreptitious glance at Caelan, but he doesn’t respond, and my gut sours.
Instead of going back and forth with him like she always does, Branwen sighs, plucks two more cookies from the tin before replacing the lid, and heads back to the door like she’s leaving.
She only makes it two steps before Silas shouts, “Wait, where are you going?”
“I’m not going to stay where I’m not wanted. I told your Leader I’d be here to help with the whole missing Omegas’ situation, but if Daxen doesn’t want my help, that’s on him.”
Well now I’m curious. “What help?”
With one hand planted on the door, she looks over her shoulder at Daxen and shrugs. “Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing you lot can’t handle. I mean, Cage’s texts with his father only talk about switching their base of operations a few times over the last two years. I’m sure the evidence Daxen found on Cage’s phones will lead you straight to any number of abandoned buildings in the area. Cage went out on leave twice a week for six and eight hours at a time, right? So you only need to narrow it down to abandoned buildings within a sixty-mile radius depending on mode of transport. That’s only like… 1,500 locations if we’re counting houses, warehouses, schools, churches, etc.”
“You’ve made your point, Omega,” Dax sighs.
“Of course… Cage’s father works for some high-profit agricultural company, so you’ll also need to check any buildings they’ve bought or sold. And probably add abandoned mills, farms—”
“Enough, Omega,” Dax groans, interrupting her. “You can stay.”
“Then there’s the possible prisoner I Saw being held at their current base. I’m sure she has plenty of time for you to—”
“Branwen!” Dax shouts, and Branwen turns to him with a smile.
“I’m so sorry, have you been speaking to me this whole time?” She lifts a hand to her chest and widens her eyes in feigned shock. “You kept saying ‘Omega’ and, well, we Omegas are just so silly and scatterbrained. You really must try harder to use our actual names so we know when you’re speaking to us,” she admonishes, and the smile on her face does nothing to diminish her obvious sarcasm.
I find myself grinning like an idiot.
