Page 7 of Omega's Fire

I toss my phone onto the mattress like it’s suddenly burning my hand. Meet him? The man who believes omegas should be grateful for forced marriages?

No. Way.

I scrub my hands over my face, trying to think. My brain is foggy. This isn’t random. It can’t be. The Bureau matched me with Thorndike deliberately. It’s a tailor-made punishment for my activism. They want to make an example of me. If they can take me down, it’ll be a nice little PR exercise for them.

I grab my phone again, ignoring my mother’s message to dial Meg instead. Forget marriage. Friendship is where its at and she has been there for me for better and for worse, as I have been for her. This definitely comes under ‘worse’.

It rings five times before she answers with a groggy, “Hmmm?”

“I got matched already,” I tell her without preamble. “Prime Match. With Nash Thorndike.”

The silence on the other end lasts three full seconds before Meg says softly, “Are you kidding me? Thorndick? Are you okay?”

“Not really,” I confirm. “It’s not happening, obviously, but my head is a mess.”

I hear a soft sigh from the other end of the line. “I know you, Leo. You already know how you deal with this. It’s just one more piece of shit that life is trying to send your way. Emphasis ontrying. We both know you’re not going to take this.”

“I am certainly not.”

“Then we need a battle plan. This isn’t just a match,” she says. “If it’s Thorndick, it’s news and we need to get the upper hand before they do. Time to rally the troops. I’ll start calling round.”

“Meet you at Halley Hall?” I say, grabbing a semi-clean t-shirt from my laundry pile.

“Ten minutes,” she confirms, and I can hear her moving, getting her things together.

“We’ll figure this out, Leo. I promise.”

I end the call and pull on my boots, moving on autopilot. That’s when it hits me. The first minute was disbelief. Then anger. Now it’s shock.

I look down to see that my hands are shaking. My heart is thundering against my ribs. But beneath the panic, something else is building, a familiar, clarifying rage.

I take a deep breath and try to focus on the fire that is raging inside me.

I can see Thorndike’s smug face now. He’ll have been notified too. I bet he’s loving it.

I walk faster than I need to towards Halley Hall, trying to release all the nervous energy buzzing through my body.

Halley Hall is humming with chatter by the time I arrive. The basement room we use for activist meetings is packed - Meg, Jules, and half a dozen others, all looking as fiercely determined as I feel.

The whiteboard is already covered with hastily scrawled notes.

“Leo!” Meg calls when I walk in, rushing over to pull me into a tight hug. When she pulls back, her eyes are blazing and that’s all I need.

When I left home, I was completely alone. I slept on the street for a long time. I didn’t trust anyone. Some of that was my history making me a little paranoid but a lot was for goodreason. Everyone knows what happens to young omegas without protectors. I learned to keep my distance.

But then I came here and I found my family in Meg and Jules and all the people who have stood with me while I’ve found my feet. I’m not alone anymore. I’ve been fighting the system from a distance. Yes, I’ve been involved in direct initiatives like volunteering at the university’s omega crisis center, but this has been the first time that I am fighting directly for myself. I’m the person we will be campaigning for.

It’s an odd feeling, but it’s also obvious why I was chosen. I’m a threat.

I drop my messenger bag onto the center table. “They’re trying to shut us up,” I say, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Using me to send a message to every omega who dares to challenge the system.”

Meg nods, pacing the length of the room. “It has to be. No way a legitimate algorithm paired you with Thorndike of all people.”

“Ninety-eight percent,” Jules says. I met Jules in second year. He’s a beta but he has four omega siblings. That’s who he’s fighting for today. “That’s Prime Match territory. They’ve never been successfully challenged.”

“Until now,” I counter. I look around the room at these people who’ve become my true family over the past few years. “Thank you all for coming,” I manage, my voice rougher than I’d like. “I don’t know what I’d do without you guys.”

“Probably get yourself arrested less often,” Jules jokes, breaking the tension. A ripple of laughter goes through the room.

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