After breakfast, Simon called a meeting, and I felt a shiver go down my spine at the look on his face.
He did not look pleased in the slightest. But as I looked around the dining hall, I could see the restoration and cleaning of the mansion was progressing swimmingly. In fact, it could almost be said it was ahead of schedule, but Simon's face said otherwise as he faced us, hands behind his back.
Normally I'd be standing at James' side for these meetings, but he'd curtly told me to stay with the other captives, something I was more than happy to do. I did not like having to stand at his side whilst Simon gave his reports; it made me feel like I was betraying my fellow captives. At least this time I'd be able to stand with them.
"You're all a disappointment," Simon said, his voice like iron as he stared us all down. "I thought the threat of losing your wolves was enough to pull you all into line and make sure that you did the right thing. I guess I was wrong to put so much trust in your ability to obey me without question.
"Very well." He clapped his hands together, and two of his goons stepped forward. I recognised one of them; he'd been the one to kick me awake the day of the battle, and his stare was as cold as Simon's, if not colder. I did not like him, and the feeling was mutual. "Ethan and Samuel are my enforcers," Simon said, and I wasn't the only one to shiver. "They are going to personally oversee you from now on. They'll do this by linking with you, and you will allow them in. If you try and block them at any point, they have my authority to punish you as they see fit, up to and including killing your wolf."
No one dared say a word; Seamus, the male who'd gotten his jaw busted by James on our first day here, did look like he wanted to say something, but instead he wisely held his tongue. "Ethan, Samuel, get started," Simon ordered them.
It was a brutal process, and I winced every time one of my fellow captives screamed in agony. Ethan and Samuel were ruthless in their method, and they definitely made sure each captive lowered their barriers. No one wanted to lose their wolf; one look into the enforcers' cold eyes told the tale more clearly than words. Obey or lose your wolf, or worse.
By the time the last captive was left sobbing on their knees, I was trembling, my heart pounding as Ethan - the man who'd kicked me - came to stand before me. His smile was as cold as his eyes, and I braced myself as he put his hands on either side of my head. "Drop your barriers," he said.
I took a deep breath, but just as I was about to - reluctantly - open myself up to this brute, Simon intervened. "Leave her," he said, and Ethan dropped his hands with a grimace.
I frowned, but kept my mouth shut as the enforcers returned to their boss's side. Simon's face showed he had something else in mind. "She's the Gamma," he told his enforcers. "She will answer personally to James while I'm away. James, do the honours."
James walked over and put his hands on either side of my head. "Open," he commanded. I wanted to hold back, but I knew I had no choice, and let all my barriers go. It was, in short, a brutal process, and by the time James took his hands away, I was on my knees, sobbing , trembling as I recovered from the brutal after effects of the linking. Even worse, I could feel James' presence inside my head, and it was not a pleasant feeling. I could now feel all the disdain he had for me, but it was multiplied a hundredfold, and I legitimately felt like being sick as I got to my feet. Never had I felt such disdain, but it went deeper than that; it was a bone-deep revulsion that scoured me right to the core of my being, and I rubbed my arms, wishing myself alone for five minutes so I could cry in peace.
Of course, that wasn't going to happen, so I wiped my eyes and walked silently to James' side. At least he now got to feel the utter disgust I had for him, and the set line to his jaw suggested he didn't like it at all. But he kept his face expressionless as Simon delivered the rest of his orders. "You will have an extra month," he said to the other captives. "To this end, you will now be known as omegas, and as such, you will perform to the abilities your new role provides."
A collective wince once more went through the newly named omegas, and for good reason. Omegas were, as their name suggested, the lowest on the totem pole. In some respects, it was even worse than being unranked. Once you were labeled an omega, you lost all standing in the pack, and you were therefore subject to the whims and wishes of all who outranked you. Even unranked pack members could order an omega about, and you could do nothing about it but obey.
Simon smiled thinly at the collective dismany. "I trust you all know what happens next? No? Very well. From now on, you get only what I deem you to deserve. If I think you deserve to sleep in the basement, then sleep in the basement you shall. If I deem you worthy of receiving just bread and water, then that is all you will get. And so on. Ethan and Samuel will, of course, have your care in their hands while I'm away, and they will use their discretion to decide what you deserve each day. And they can change their minds as they see fit, so don't even think you know what you're getting each day. Because you won't." He gave a sharp nod. "Dismissed."
As the omegas left, I felt ill all over again. I so badly wanted to be with them, and would gladly have given up my position as Gamma if it meant I could share their suffering. But not one of them looked at me as they left the dining hall, and I didn't blame them. None of us had really spoken in the days since our capture, and once I'd been named as Gamma, I'd had no chance at all to try and speak to them, to try and bond with them so we could forumlate a plan to escape. That had probably been Simon's plan all along, and as the last omega left, I resisted the urge to punch my stupid uncle in his stupid nose.
James raised an eyebrow. 'You're not happy,' he commented.
I gave him an equally murderous glare which conveyed just what I thought of him at that moment. "Let's get going," I said, all but biting each word off as it came out. Right now, I was too angry to care if it got a reprimand; I was hurting hard.
James, to his credit, said nothing as we fell in behind Simon. But I felt his annoyance, and I sent back a wave of pure "just-don't-give-a-shit" energy which caused his annoyance to deepen. For once, I didn't care. Now that I had guessed at one of the reasons why Simon had made me Gamma, I felt ill, heartsore, and just plain miserable. If the omegas ever got a chance to band together and escape, they'd be doing so without me.
And that hurt worse than losing almost all my own family. 133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJXShAs64LF
