"You don't keep track of who uses these computers, do you?" she asked the librarian, keeping her voice to a whisper.
The man shook his head, his smile warm with understanding. "Absolutely not. And we don't keep track of what you look up either. All you have to do is type in the search criteria, and the computer will show you everything we have. I promise you that no one will know."
Faith thanked him before sitting down and getting to work. She quickly filled in the date and keyword areas, and, just like magic, the headline that had been haunting her for a month filled the screen.
Missing Local Woman Discovered In Boundarylands; Tells Tale of Murder and New Life as Omega
Faith's hand flew to her mouth in horror. So it was true.
She'd caught sight of the newspaper clipping on the kitchen counter early one morning several weeks ago. Seconds after she spotted it, her mother came into the room and snatched up the slip of paper, shoving it into her apron pocket.
That morning, Faith had barely been able to skim the article, catching only a few of the highly charged words and phrases that stood out: shooting… drug gang… lone survivor…emergence of her omega nature … presence of an alpha…now living in the Boundarylands.
And her sister's name—Hope Johansen.
At first, Faith couldn't believe what she was reading. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be true.
Because the article was dated last November…but her sister had died five years ago.
At least, that was what her parents and her pastor had told her. What they had told everybody.
Faith would never forget the night that Hope told their parents she was leaving the church to live on her own in the city. The fight had lasted for hours. Faith had huddled in her bed with her four other siblings as shouts and accusations echoed through the house.
Then came the slaps.
Then the crying.
And finally, the slamming doors.
When Faith finally dared to come out of the bedroom after a sleepless night, Hope was gone, and their mother was standing in the kitchen with a vacant expression in her red-rimmed eyes.
"Promise me that you'll never be like her," her mother had said when she spotted Faith. Her lip quivered as she started to cry again. "Tell me you'll always be our good girl."
Hope's stomach twisted at the memory of her mother's words.
A week later, her father had gathered all the kids together to tell them the news—Hope was dead. Murdered in the city…just as he had always warned.
The story spread through the church community. Sermons were preached on the subject of temptation, her sister's fate used as an example of its dangers. Hope’s death became a cautionary tale about leaving the flock and venturing into the wicked world.
Now Faith knew it had all been a lie.
At first, she had desperately wanted to believe in her parents' innocence. Surely they wouldn't have lied about her sister's death, not to her siblings who loved and missed her so much… but with each passing day, when they made no mention of the news in the clipping, Faith began to realize that her parents were not as righteous as they pretended to be.
And now she could see with her own eyes that they'd known the truth all along. It was right there in black and white, near the end of the article.
The parents of the woman, who are active members of the local Church of the Beta Way sect, declined to comment on the situation other than this comment from her father: "Hope walked away from her family years ago. She is dead to us, and so we have nothing to say about her current predicament."
Faith rubbed her eyes and read that last line a few more times just to be sure.
Dead to us.
Faith sat back in her chair, her shock giving way to anger.
Hope might be dead to their parents, but she would never be dead to Faith. Her sister—who had cooked every meal she'd eaten as a child, who had allowed Faith into her bed when she had a nightmare, who had dried Faith's tears when their parents had announced they'd come to a marriage agreement for her with Peter Stockworth's family—was alive.
More importantly, Hope needed Faith's help.
As shocking as it was to discover that her sister was an omega, it was even worse to know that Hope was stuck in the Boundarylands at the mercy of a devil alpha. The torture her poor sister must be going through right now was enough to make Faith want to weep.
Maybe her parents had been willing to toss Hope to the lions, but Faith wasn't.
She didn't know how yet, but she would do everything she could to save her sister from a life of servitude to an instrument of Satan.
The librarian had told Faith that she could find anything she needed by searching with this computer. It was time to put that to the test.
Faith checked her watch. Five minutes had passed. Only ten left.
She had better get right to the point.
Faith clicked on the search bar, and with fumbling fingers, managed to type a question.
What caliber bullet does it take to kill an alpha?
Chapter Two
Troy stifled a groan as the eight ball dropped neatly into the corner pocket, clacking against the other balls inside.
"What do you know," the alpha standing across the table from him said with a smirking grin. Zeke only smiled when he won…and that was far too often for Troy. "Guess that's the game. Want to try again?"
"I'm sick of pool," Troy grumbled, reaching into his back pocket. He pulled out a bill—one large enough to cover the next round of beers—and slapped it down on the green felt.
Zeke's grin widened as he swiped his winnings off the table.
"No problem," he said. "I'm happy to kick your ass at darts too."
"Fuck that." Troy had had enough losing for one night. He slammed his cue in
