???
They fall into a routine as if they'd been doing it their whole lives.
Tenor takes a teaching assistant job at the local community college using their new IDs and comes back swearing about how the freshman are somehow even more illiterate than the inmates getting their GEDs were. Luke does something on the computer that he only gives her vague answers for and Eden decides she's better off not knowing.
Julius eventually takes a job as a foreman at a local construction company when Luke calls him a border collie and threatens to send him to herd sheep if he doesn't leave their omega alone, and Eden doesn't argue. But she can't deny it is nice when he comes in the door smelling like sweat and wood and fresh air and takes her against the wall while telling her how much he missed her.
As for herself, Eden starts therapy online with a therapist who specializes in EMDR for trauma. After the first session, she can barely hold in her sobs. She wakes from sleep with tears streaming down her face for days. But then, like a miracle, she finds some of the weight lifted off her. The memories were still there, still awful, but somehow lighter. And so she goes again the next week. And it isn't quite as hard.
And then suddenly one day she realizes that she's looking forward to her sessions.
Tenor helps her enroll in classes at South York University online, and she doesn't know what she wants to do, but they encourage her to take whatever interests her. She enrolls for a class aboutOmega Authorship in the Early Modern Period and a course on Culinary History just for fun. She finishes the semester with an A average and she has never seen her mates so proud of her.
The four of them spend the evenings piled on the couch together, taking turns rubbing her feet.
One warm evening in May, she breaks the peaceful silence. She's sitting in Julius' lap with her feet on Tenor's as he massages her soles.
"There's others like me, aren't there?" She's not sure where the question came from. Her mates pause, looking over at her, so she continues. "Omegas who were... stolen."
Julius runs a hand down his face, breathing out a heavy sigh. It's Luke who responds, his voice soft, but he's never been one to lie to Eden or hide the truth from her. "Yeah, baby. I think there are others like you."
"I want to help them," she whispers. "Can we... do that?"
They're silent for another minute, and she can feel them through the bond, each of them a turmoil of shame, sadness, and then determination.
"Yeah, baby," Julius finally says. "We can help them."
Epilogue
Julius
???
They send Eden with Luke to a shopping street in the city that's known for its local artisans and boutiques. They give her the express order to buy whatever she wants, and if she looks at something longer than three seconds, they tell Luke to buy it for her.
Dressed in civilian clothes, Tenor and Julius cross through security into the army base along the water where General Cillian Quinn is based.
The man in front of him is as hard-assed as Julius remembered. Despite having passed middle age, the man seemed to show no signs of allowing something as paltry as time to diminish him.
Seated behind his desk, cleared of everything except one solitary teacup, the general eyes the two of them with disapproval that fills Julius' gut with dread.
"You boys got out. I oversaw the mission myself. Got you new identities, which wasn't an easy task these days. Why would you want back in for something like this?"
Tenor clears his throat. The alpha soldiers who the general had known once upon a time would've eaten their own boots before admitting this, but they weren't those alphas anymore. Those alphas had barely been more than boys, thirsty for adventure and glory, without a shred of fear between them.
"Our girl, sir," Tenor says, no trace of shame on his face. "I believe you met our mate, Eden. She was trafficked into the prison with us as part of an attempt to... subdue the inmates."
The general nods once in acknowledgement, although his face still reveals nothing. This information wasn't new to him.
"She wants to help other omegas who might be in similar circumstances. We have a unique skillset. We want to put it to use."
General Quinn leaned back in his chair, his face still impassive, although he made no effort to conceal the way he surveyed them.
"I'm coming up on my retirement, boys," he says finally. "I don't have as much time or energy these days as I used to for my... hobbies. But as luck would have it, I have a job this weekend."
Julius keeps his face blank, despite the swell of emotion in his gut.
"You three can join me. Wear blacks. Carry. No serials. Nothing that can be traced."
