Chapter 125

Sarah POV

It was wonderful to be back home. It was less wonderful to be in a meeting where my public image was being crafted like a character in an absurdist play.

“So, it looks like the charity’s new name will be Feed the World’s Children,” Lainey said while we sipped tea in the sitting room and looked at our laptops. The girls were in school, and Zane was in his study.

I winced. “They spent weeks, and that was the best they could do?”

Lainey shrugged. “At least they didn’t try to get cute with it, and the message is clear. The dinner Friday night is their first major fundraiser since the auction and masquerade, and Alpha Zane’s already bought a table.”

“I’m still not going, right?”

“Yes. They don’t need you there as a reminder of what happened. I’m going to suggest to Tony Whitfield that three werewolf and three human children sit at the table instead.”

“How are the two of you doing?” I asked.

She frowned at me. “What do you mean?”

“Are you working well together?”

“Oh, yes. He’s pretty much a legend in the business, so I’m learning a lot, but he listens to my ideas when I think I’ve got something worth sharing. Also, I have to admire his loyalty.”

“In general, or did something specific happen?”

Lainey looked a little coy. “Well, nothing official, but word is someone did offer him a small fortune to take on a new client.”

“Does ‘word’ know who that client is?”

“No, but ‘word’ is saying it’s a new player on the board, an unmated alpha who’s being groomed as a mate for some prominent alpha in the pack.”

I didn’t laugh, though I wanted to. “How is one groomed for that, exactly?”

“Oh, the best schools, lots of money, thorough background check. And I hear they’re a real looker.”

“Wouldn’t a beta be more traditional if this is some sort of arranged marriage?” I asked.

“Only for a lesser alpha. This is for some alpha who’s truly near the top.”

“Should I ask Zane about it, do you think?”

Lainey looked uncomfortable. “I wouldn’t want to intrude on your relationships within your household.”

I smiled ruefully. “In other words, I’d come over as nosy, and if he wants me to know about something, he’ll tell me without prompting?”

She sent me a look of approval. And went back to her keyboard. I knew she was drafting an email of support for the

I opened up a document I’d been working on for years, a sort of “Guide for Dummies” concerning werewolf rank and status. I added what I’d learned about alpha/alpha marriages for prominent alphas, and then I looked over what I had in total on alphas, betas, and gammas.

“What’s wrong?” Lainey asked.

“I know almost nothing about omegas.”

She winced slightly.

I rolled my eyes. “And that’s why. It never seems to be OK to talk about them, but they do exist, don’t they? What’s with the secrecy?”

Lainey leaned back on the settee and crossed her arms. “It’s more a question of being an indelicate topic, not a secret one.”

“Comes to the same thing for me. There’s almost nothing about them online, at least that I can access. Even the porn sites with alpha/omega sex actually use gammas.”

Lainey laughed. “How do you know that?”

I didn’t answer that. “And there are all sorts of ‘omega kink’ things online, but no actual omegas. The only photos I’ve found of omegas are of people who’ve died after their photo was taken, and they look just like betas to me.”

“Yes, omegas will pass as betas if they can.”

“But what’s the big deal? Why is it so awful to be an omega you have to hide it all your life?”

Lainey had gone from uncomfortable to downright pained.

“I’m sorry to press this,” I said, “but I really don’t have anyone else to ask, and I feel like it’s such an important part of wolf culture. I’m worried my ignorance is going to cause a problem.”

Lainey nodded reluctantly. “You’ve heard there has never been such a thing as a wolf slave?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s not really true. Back in pagan times, omegas were bought and sold.”

“As sex slaves, you mean?”

“Not so much.”

I waited.

“They were often used in religious rites as, well, sacrifices, especially to the moon.”

“They were killed in religious rites?” Wow. I didn’t see that one coming.

“Yes.” Lainey reached out to play with her teacup. “I know wolves and humans have done horrible things to each other, but the way wolves treated omegas was worse in a lot of ways. They weren’t really seen as true wolves, and even today there’s this sort of ‘omega stain’ about them.

“There are no laws forbidding omegas from holding certain jobs, but you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who’d knowingly hire an omega for a position of authority or expertise. They’re seen as unreliable and duplicitous and a lot of other unpleasant things. And of course, the stereotypes get reinforced because omegas do tend to hide themselves from the world.”

“How terrible for them,” I said.

“And it doesn’t help that there are so few of them, about a tenth of 1 percent of the population is the estimate, though nobody can know for sure, considering the lengths and omega and their families will go to to hide their rank.”

“It seems so cruel.”

Lainey leaned forward. “Your heart is kind, Sarah, but I have to advise you not to express sympathy for omegas in public, particularly considering your association with Scott Cavendish.”

“What does Scott have to do with anything?”

“You don’t know? I thought it might be why you were asking. His mother was an omega.”

I sat there and digested that for a moment. “Is that one of the reasons why he and Zane are at odds?”

“I don’t know, and I would never ask. I do know his mother was killed in a car accident, a hit-and-run.”

I sighed. “This would all be so much easier if there were just some book or something I could read.”

“There are a few out there. I’ll see if I can get you copies, but please do not try to purchase them on your own.”

“Is the stigma really that bad?”

She nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

I didn’t like how uneasy she looked. “I won’t be telling anyone we had this conversation,” I assured her.

She looked so relieved I felt guilty and changed the subject.