OmegaMine (31 page)

Diskant felt her anger, her contempt.

Thomas was right, she didn’t expect anything less.

She folded the note, placed it atop the towels and lifted
the file. For several agonizing seconds, she simply stared at the folder. Then
she flipped it open.

“
My god
.” Her fingers trembled as she gazed at the
page and started sorting through the pictures that were stapled along the top.

He shifted around the tub until he could see inside.
Although he’d never met them, he knew the Polaroids were of her parents. Ava
looked like her mother—blonde, petite and delicate. Her father was the
opposite—tall, broad and dark. Some of the images were of them laughing as they
strolled along the street in broad daylight. Others were of them at night,
obviously flying under the radar as both wore hats, dark clothing and somber
expressions.

She went through the pages slowly, one by one, digesting the
information with Diskant privy to her thoughts and emotions. The Villati knew
that Harold Brisbane and Vivian Lockhart were a telepathic couple who met
during college and eventually married. There was nothing significant or out of
the ordinary. Then Ava turned to a page with an image of her brother. Directly
below his picture and date of birth was a small typed statement.

Adopted son, Thomas Harold Brisbane
.

“It explains a lot. In fact, you could say it paints things
in an entirely new light,” she repeated Thomas’ earlier words. “Jesus, Diskant.
How could they have kept something like this from us?”

He wrapped a hand around her neck and stroked the frantic
hammering of her pulse with his thumb. “I don’t know. Keep reading.”

She read through the information about Thomas, including the
records of his multiple altercations with the law and his dalliances with
notable crime figures in the city. He’d gotten around after his gambling
addiction had taken hold and he’d begun taking higher risks. The information
ended with his trading off her family locket to the Villati in exchange for a
sizable two hundred and fifty thousand dollar payment. There wasn’t anything
about his birth parents, aside from a birth certificate that listed his mother
as Helena Terrance, with no father mentioned.

The next page had an image of Ava at Club Liminality stapled
to the top. She was behind the bar, hard at work. She didn’t get angry about
the information accumulated until she reached her personal life. Her beautiful
lips pursed and a crease appeared between her brows. She skimmed over it,
noting it stated she shared the same psychic abilities as her parents and that
she’d managed to keep her talent under wraps. A new, fresh portion was typed
along the bottom, indicating she was seen leaving her place of employment with
Diskant Black.

“They have spies at the club,” she muttered. “Figures.”

Turning the page, she went still. Clippings of her parents’
wreck were neatly pieced together. There was also the obituary and a notice of
the auction to sell off some of their holdings. Below that was a wrinkled note
with Thomas’ handwriting indicating a time and place to exchange the locket
he’d acquired for the agreed-upon amount of cash.

She ran her fingers across the paper. “Sneaky bastard.”

Diskant reached past her to turn to the next page. This one
had some handwritten notes and a sketch of a sword with a stone in the center
of the pommel. More pictures followed, with the same stone featured, a stone
that his mate recognized.

The Brisbane locket
.

She removed the note attached to the photo, the wax seal
with the symbol of the Villati already broken, and handed him the file. She
started reading the moment she could see the words, whispering each sentence.

The locket wasn’t a locket at all but something called a
zephyr. With it her telepathy would be enhanced significantly, to the point
that she could possibly read people from miles away. Unfortunately, the Villati
weren’t the only ones who knew about it and as such, keeping it placed the
holder in a substantial amount of danger. That was why Craig had given the
package to Thomas and had it delivered to her. He still wanted to meet to
discuss the details and ended the missive by imploring her to contact him as
soon as possible.

“Damn it, Thomas.” She closed the note. “You’re going to get
yourself killed.”

In that moment Diskant realized she loved her brother, no
matter how much of a consummate fuckup he was. In her mind the good memories—of
them as children, teenagers and college-age students—suffocated the bad, taking
her back to a time when he didn’t gamble and was actually a decent man.

“I can put out word with the packs,” he offered, stroking
her hair. “They might be able to track him down.”

“No.” She sighed. “I can’t keep bailing Thomas out. As much
as I worry about him, he’s going to have to start taking care of himself. I’m
not his keeper anymore and I have other people to think about.”

His hand stilled as he realized even though he was blocking
her link to the pack and lessening the full impact of their loss, she was well
aware of it using her telepathy. Her heart was heavy, her mind attuned to him,
seeking to remove the ache in his chest and replace it with the promise of
something better.

“Ava…” He attempted to extend her comfort but couldn’t find
the words, unable to say exactly how he felt.

She turned to him, offered a small smile and leaned across
the tub to place the note on top of the file he’d plopped onto the floor. She
brushed her lips against his, prepared to ease his pain. A knock came from the
bedroom and she pulled away, gazing up at him with eyes full of desire and
love.

“It’s going to be fine,” she said softly, reading his
thoughts with ease, and rose from the water like Venus, beads of water
trickling along her fair skin, traveling down the valleys of her breast and
abdomen. She reached for him, wrapping her arms around his bare torso and
pressed her wet chest to his.

“D,” Nathan called through the door.

Ava kissed him quickly, unwound her arms and reached for a
towel. “Go ahead,” she said as she lifted her foot, placed it on the rim of the
tub and started fluffing and drying her leg, revealing fleeting flashes of the
smooth, pink mound at the apex of her thighs. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Diskant turned from the temptation and strode from the
bathroom. He could sense agitation radiating through door, could feel his pack
mate’s worry long before he grasped the handle and stood before Nathan.

The Beta didn’t waste any time. “If you still want Ava to
see that asshole we brought in with the Shepherd, bring her to the basement—
now
.
The bastard is running off at the mouth and Trey is eventually going to lose it
and kill his worthless ass.”

“Why didn’t you gag him?”

Nathan lifted his hand. There was a large, gaping wound in
the fleshy portion between his index finger and thumb. The injury had started
to mend but it was apparent by the missing flap of skin that a massive chunk
had been removed.

“He bit you?”

Nathan nodded and lowered his hand. “He’s been an absolute
cockbite since he came around. His eye is swollen shut, and I’d guess more than
one of his ribs is broken since he’s having a hard time breathing. But he’s
still not willing to back down.”

“Stupid fuck,” Diskant snapped.

“Nathan?” Ava spoke from just behind Diskant and then he
felt her hand against his back. He turned slightly and she came around, dressed
in one of his T-shirts, which fell to her knee. “Is everything okay?”

Diskant wondered if she was attuning to Nathan, listening in
to his thoughts, but realized she wasn’t when her concerned gaze returned to
him.

“We need to go downstairs,” Diskant answered before Nathan
could. “We need you to get any information you can from the men we brought back
with us. Can you do that?”

When she nodded, Nathan’s shoulders relaxed. “You’d better
hurry. Doc said the Shepherd doesn’t have a lot of time left with the blood
loss he’s sustained.”

Ava paled. “Blood loss?”

“It’s going to be okay.” Diskant wrapped an arm around her
waist. “You won’t face them alone, baby.”

“As much as I hate to rush you, you’d better hurry.” Nathan
interrupted and spun toward the staircase. “If Trey can’t kill one of them,
he’s bound to take out a wall or two. I’m not sure how much longer he’ll be
able to hold out.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Where are they?” Trey sneered into the bloodied face of the
man, who didn’t flinch or give an inch. “You will tell me what you know or I’ll
make you wish you’d never been born. We can do this the easy way or the hard
way.”

The masochistic asshole smiled, spat in his face and
taunted, “Fuck you.”

Trey had brought his hand back, prepared to deliver a blow
that would crush the eye on the unmarred side of the bastard’s face, when a
hand wound around his wrist.

“Stop, brother,” Emory said evenly though his voice was
rough. “The Shepherds are long gone. I think everyone knows they never intended
to stay.”

Emory nodded to his former friend and pack mate, Brian.
“Shut him up.”

Brian stepped behind the man strapped to the chair in the
center of the room and lifted the kitchen towel they’d been forced to use as a
gag. The man struggled as Brian forced the material into his mouth like a cloth
bridle.

Trey snarled his outrage. There wasn’t much left intact in
the basement now. In an effort to curb his temper, Trey had attacked any object
in the room that could take the edge off his anger and lessen the sting of the
vast ache in his chest. Like Diskant, he felt the loss of his pack mates, was
aware of the precise moment when their lives had been snuffed from existence.

Gazing around the room, he studied the pensive faces of
those who had lost loved ones. Some were fortunate, having lost only close
friends and acquaintances as their immediate families chose to remain outside
the city, in more rural, less-populated areas. Others, however, were in the
grip of grief.

His attention drifted to two of the mated males who’d lost
their females in the explosion.

One was newly mated to a wolf female, which meant he might
survive the loss. There was no bloodbond to complicate things.

The same couldn’t be said for the other.

Trey ripped his gaze from Zach, who was now a virtual
dead-shifter-walking, detached from everything around him. He sat unmoving,
staring blindly across the room. Although he’d only been in the second stage of
the bond with Katie, it was enough that he probably wouldn’t survive the loss.

Fuck if it didn’t make him furious. So goddamn angry he
wanted to tear the Shepherd from throat to asshole and feast on his heart. The
void was bad enough without what could occur as a consequence in the aftermath.
If Zach didn’t improve, the humane thing would be to put him out of his misery.

A fucking kindness that Trey would be expected to deliver as
an Alpha.

Shuffling diverted his focus and he turned in time to see
Kinsley descend the stairs with Nathan on his heels. The expression on his face
spoke volumes, reminding the pack that while he wasn’t one of their own, his
loyalty was as strong and unshakable.

“It took a lot of ass-kissing but the prides have agreed to
take turns monitoring the city if you decide to track down the Shepherds
responsible.”

“You’re sure we can trust them?” Nathan asked as he strode
past Trey.

“They know that this isn’t something they can turn their
backs on,” Kinsley answered. “Once Shepherds decide to make a statement like
this it’s only a matter of time before they return. The prides won’t risk their
own. They’ll band together now. They won’t stand alone when the shit hits the
fan.”

“I want their fucking blood.” Trey rotated in a circle until
he located Emory. He stared his brother in the eye, wanting to be clear.
“Retrieving your mate is only the beginning.”

Emory’s irises flared, shifting from caramel to amber, and
he nodded.

“You can’t go to war with the Shepherds,” Kinsley said,
reading between the lines. “As Alpha, you’ll bring danger to the packs.”

“You’re right,” Trey remarked dryly. “Which is why I’ll be
relinquishing my place before we leave.”

“What?” Everyone in the room questioned in unison, their
disbelieving gazes falling on him.

“I’ve lost over half of my pack tonight.” His voice nearly
cracked, strained by emotion. “Some of them were friends, others were family. I
have to make sure something like this never happens again. We can’t continue to
allow Shepherds to choose the battleground and kill us as it suits them. We’ve
been neutral for too long. That means some hard choices have to be made. It’s
the best time for me to step aside and allow another to take my place so that
things will transition smoothly.”

No one spoke yet Trey could hear the unspoken question. The
remaining pack wanted to know who would be in charge when he left, who would
take control to rebuild and put things back in order. Every Alpha chose his
successor. While there could always be a challenge for the position, it was a
common practice and display of respect to honor the Alpha’s decision in the
matter.

Taking a deep breath, he decided there was no better time
than the present to make his intentions known. Although he hadn’t asked the man
of the hour to consider accepting the position, he was confident he would
nonetheless. It wasn’t just his city at stake but his race as a whole. Being an
Omega didn’t change that, it only raised the stakes.

“I plan to ask Diskant to take his rightful place as Alpha.
He was born into my pack, raised in my pack, and had the Omega mark not
surfaced upon maturity would have become my immediate choice.” A stunned
silence spread through the room and he waited several seconds before he
continued. “Diskant will want to remain here with his mate. He’s fully
bloodbonded now, which means he’ll need to establish a safe haven for Ava and a
family.”