by Kian Rhodes
But not for the reasons that most of the victims had hoped.
Carol had pleaded guilty to multiple offenses, including thirteen counts of murder, three arsons, destruction of private property and the unauthorized detonation of explosives. The last two were for hiring a demolition company to blow the dam that had flooded the Alpha Zoo.
Once the news had been released to the press, it had taken less than a day for the man who had rigged the explosives to come forward and finger Carol as the person who had hired him. After providing multiple documents, including a fake demolition permit, and emails showing that he’d been an innocent dupe, he hadn’t faced any charges.
Sitting in the cool room much too early in the day – Carol was human so her case was heard on the diurnal schedule – we’d listened in amazement as she spun a tale that blamed all of the dead suspects as the bad guys and tried to spin herself as a vigilante heroine, of sorts.
It had all started, she had claimed, nearly ten years before, long before there was any hint of wrongdoing, by her cousin falsifying documents to allow a couple of undocumented Omegas who were in the country illegally to be sold.
From there, Carol had said, things had simply snowballed.
First, the employees of the auction house had simply looked the other way when Jack and his partner, Paul, had started showing up with Omegas to sell and the paperwork seemed off.
Then, emboldened by their success, they’d started to custom order, as Carol called it, Omegas for special, underground sales. Sales to medical facilities who wanted Omegas for research like the two Cal had run, and to Alphas who were under censure and couldn’t legally purchase an Omega on the open market.
Jack and his team had delivered, snatching Omegas from every possible place. Even going so far as to spy on Omegas who were sold at legitimate auctions and then going back later to try and kidnap them to be resold on the underground market.
The Alpha Zoo, Carol claimed, had actually begun as a breeding program specifically so they could branch out to provide shifter infants for black market adoptions. She admitted in open court that it had been the one that Colby was originally slated for. When pressed for a reason, she’d shrugged, a cold glint in her eyes as she explained that the breeding Omegas they’d started with had all died after only one or two pregnancies.
Colby, they thought, was strong enough to last several years. It was all I could do not to puke, even as Colby squeezed my hand soothingly, reminding me that he was safe.
When the prosecutor stopped her, referring back to his notes, she filled in a few more blanks.
The fighting ring had been an accident, Carol insisted. When all but a few of the breeding Omegas had died, they had held an investor meeting to raise the capital to purchase more. As part of the presentation, they’d allowed two of their Alphas to fight for the privilege of breeding the Omega in heat and the crowd had gone crazy.
Carol and Beatrice had realized that organized fights would raise more money in less time than the seven to nine months that it took for a successful pregnancy to bear fruit. And, additionally, they only needed a handful of Omegas if they weren’t actually being bred, so, they’d turned their attention to capturing fight-worthy Alphas, instead.
Jack’s attempt at poisoning me, she insisted was his own plan. Revenge not for me ending our personal relationship, but rather to get me out of the way when we started to interfere with his plans.
As Carol’s testimony wound down, she tried to explain how the ten-year campaign of terror and abuse against Omegas had really not been that big of a deal. Insisting that, when it got out of hand – a reference, apparently, to the COPSD investigation getting too close for comfort – she had decided the time had come to shut it down.
At that point, though, there were too many other players involved and they didn’t all necessarily agree with her.
“What did you do then?” the prosecutor asked, his voice echoing through the silent courtroom.
“I made cookies,” she said calmly. “With rat poison and paid each location a visit.” She chuckled. “Once they ate the cookies, it was a simple matter to light the buildings on fire.” She gave an evil laugh. “Rafe and his team did me a huge favor by keeping the details out of the press. Otherwise, I might have had to actually get blood on my hands.”
I rushed from the room, making it to the courthouse lawn before I dropped to my knees and vomited into the bushed.
Way after wave of nausea washed over me, leaving me dry heaving long after my stomach had emptied.
My head was spinning as strong hands lifted me up, supporting me, holding a bottle of water to my mouth and encouraging me to drink.
“Deep breaths,” I recognized Clint’s voice first, then knew it was Ralph holding me steady as I drank.
“Sorry,” I muttered, too humiliated look any of them in the eyes.
“No need,” Colt said, gripping the back of my neck, offering me comfort. “That was a lot to take in.”
We made our way over to a group of benches and sat, the early spring sun was bright, but the air was cool.
We watched from the garden as people began to file out of the courthouse. My cell phone blinked and swiped my thumb across the screen.
“Life plus one hundred and sixty-five years,” I read aloud.
I exhaled sharply as the Alpha crowded around me cheered.
“Perfect timing,” Ralph announced with a smile. “We can still make it to Cass’s graduation ceremony.”
Cass had Ralph’s jeep at the ODI campus, so he piled into the SUV with Colby and me. We’d been on the road for a bit when he lowered the radio.
“You know that was bullshit, Rafael,” my boss said softly. “There was no way that we could have stopped her murder spree. Those killings are not on your head, son.”
“I know,” I agreed, keeping my eyes on the road. “I’ll get past it, Ralph.”
“Why don’t you talk to somebody?” he suggested. “A professional?”
“I will.” I turned down a side road and into the ODI parking lot. “Now, happy faces. Time for Casen to shine!”
Casen
I waited nervously in the line on the side of the stage. I knew that Ralph and the rest had to be at the sentencing hearing for that bitch, but I’d reserved graduation tickets for them and blocked out seats in the audience, just in case.
I’d also intentionally placed myself at the end of the line, making me one of the last program graduates to walk the stage, receive my diploma and, be still my heart, meet the anonymous donor who had agreed to finance my start-up. While I’d finally broken down and admitted to Ralph that I was taking correspondence courses through ODI, I’d guarded the start-up secret closely and I was really hoping he’d be there for the big reveal.
As much as I’d wanted it to be a diner, long hours of discussion with my business had convinced me that a food truck was the way to go.
They were less expensive to get off the ground, mobile so I’d have more options, and, once it took off, I’d have the option of starting a brick and mortar location as well.
Win-win.
There were only two people left ahead of me in the line when I noticed a small commotion in the audience and saw the seats I’d marked off beginning to fill as Rafe, Colby and nearly a dozen other of my new friends filed in to take their spots.
Everyone but my Alpha.
I had to force the frown off my face as my name was called and I began the endless walk across the wooden stage to accept my diploma.
Mr. Kier began his long-winded speech, acknowledging my accomplishments – I was graduating at the head of my program class with honors, among other things. I smiled and nodded as he talked, sneaking glances back to the empty chair where my Alpha should have been by then.
I didn’t snap back to the present until I heard the polite applause from the audience interspersed with screams and catcalls from my small entourage.
“Without further ado,” Mr. Keir announced, thrusting my framed dip
loma into my hands, “please welcome the Alpha and Omega of the Coruscation Werewolf Pack, Clint and Trevor to issue the first grant from the Omega Success Scholarship Fund!”
I felt my jaw drop as my two friends strolled across the stage, their new baby girl tucked into the crook of Clint’s left arm and a large novelty check for twenty-thousand dollars held between them.
“Really?” I gasped, sniffing back tears. “Did you know it was me?”
Clint grinned and Trevor just rolled his eyes. “Of course, we did!” he teased me. “When we found out that you were enrolled, we made a few calls.”
We posed for the prerequisite pictures and, when I was about to follow Clint and Trevor from the stage, Mr. Kier caught my arm.
“Hold on,” he said under his breath. “You have one more surprise.”
When the audience burst into wild applause, I turned to see Ralph crossing the stage, dressed to the nines in dress-blues, his medals winking in the sunlight.
“What are you doing?” I asked him, not sure he could hear me over the roar of the crowd, but he smiled and winked at me before dropping to one knee.
I gaped at him as he held a sparkling diamond-encrusted band aloft.
“I told you I had a question for you,” he reminded me, reaching for my left hand. “Cass, will you marry me?”
The tears overflowed from my eyes as I nodded.
“I need the words,” he teased me, reminding me of that first time he’d been so concerned about my consent being freely given, and I laughed through my tears.
“Of course, I’ll marry you,” I announced, making sure my voice carried as he slid the ring on my finger. I gripped his hand and drew him up to kiss me as the crowd went wild, luckily my next words were just for him. “And I think you’re gonna like what I have on under this robe!”
The End