Alpha Shield

Notes - Abby

Trying to change the subject to escape the building fire in her cheeks, she again focused on the coffee table as the safest thing in the room before starting off in a voice a little louder than a whisper, "You mentioned there have been notes? What did they say? If they're not from Tobias, then who are they from?"

"We're not entirely sure. I wanted to show them to you. Alphas tend to try to hide things from us to 'keep us safe,' when really it does anything but." Selah responded, complete with eyeroll and finger quotes all while staring at her mate who stared right back with a heat in his eyes hot enough to make Abby squirm. She was surprised the couch hadn't gone up in flames yet.

"I was outvoted," Selah continued, "because some of OSF didn't really see it as a threat. Sanctuary's director didn't want to disturb the progress you've made for something that was 'vague.'" More finger quotes this time accompanied by disbelieving snort.

"What are the notes about?" Abby asked, gathering her courage. While Killian might think her to be tough, Abby knew better. If today hadn't been more overt, Abby would have been perfectly happy to be oblivious to the threatening notes. She wasn't brave.

"I have digital images of the previous notes that were intercepted by Sanctuary's security team. You can read them and maybe you'll know who wrote them." Selah pulled her tablet from her large tote, powered it on, and passed it to Abby.

Abby noticed her hands shaking as she reached to accept the tablet. A deep breath in, hold for a count of seven before breathing out for four. She could do this. Pulling the tablet closer to her, she looked at the first image on the screen.

The note had been typed so she didn't have handwriting as a clue, but when she started reading it she at least knew the source of the text, "This is from Marc's doctrine. Christoph's father."

She looked up and Selah nodded in confirmation. "Father made us all memorize it. When he would discipline us - my mother and I - he would make us recite passages. He'd say it was to make sure we knew our place. Know how proper Omegas were to act."

"Unfortunately," Malcolm ground out between clenched teeth, "that fanatic manifesto is easily available online so it doesn't help identify who sent it."

Abby felt a dark, rolling threat of power from the Alpha still on one knee by the door. It had started when she'd said the word 'discipline.' This level of anger should have sent her scurrying from the room, but while Selah and Malcolm provided a sense of security, some instinct told her that when Killian exploded, she'd be the safest person in the room.

Selah's hand came over to touch the tablet's surface. "The next three are the same. Typed. Just copied from the manifesto. Could have been anyone. The only difference is that the fourth one looks like it was manhandled. It's folded and creased repeatedly where the other two look very... new. The last one and the one from today though are different."

Selah flicked through the photos until she came to an image of a different note. The first image she'd seen looked to be a crisp, white piece of computer paper. This note was tattered. Worn. The paper was spotted with something that could have been coffee or dirt. It looked like someone had balled it up and straightened it out over and over. But the biggest difference?

It was handwritten.

With penmanship that Abby recognized with only a bare glance.

Setting the tablet down on the coffee table like it leached poison into her skin, she gasped and felt tears come to her eyes. She raised her hands to cover her mouth, but a distressed whine slipped out. She smothered the sound as quickly as it had escaped, but couldn't hold back her yip of surprise when Killian's imposing form was suddenly kneeling on the floor next to her with his arm pressed to her knee.