Page 195 of Fallen Omega

In my hand’s a note.

I crumple it and let it fall.

This is a diversion. I can see it.

And I know what I have to do. To save my men. To save their pack. He lied about the bites. He told me it was too late, that the Council would come for me no matter what. They had been trying since Dad took me.

He told me Hover Valley’s a punishment for the sins of my father.

There are truth and lies in his words. And I don’t like the man, no matter how appealing his scent.

He is, I think, the evil to Dante’s good. They’re both devils, but Dante’s still in the light. Ghost got twisted up and he sank.

And if I stay, that’ll happen to the Unholy Trinity.

I slip into the bar, past where Julien and Knight are searching for Ghost and me, and I grab a hoodie that Mason left on the bar, and pull it on. Then I duck behind the bar, grabbing the garbage and a few things.

Those things I shove in my pockets. I’m out the door at the dumpsters with the garbage and then, I duck down and go out through the back alley.

Just like the note said.

If Dad took me, it was to protect me. I’m his daughter and no lies can say otherwise. I look like him. And he showed me nothing but love, did nothing but protect, try and give me the tools to not only survive, but live.

But the Council being after me? That I believe.

They found me too quickly after Dad died. Not immediately, but too soon. Like they were searching and the chance capture by the police pushed that over the edge.

That or this Ghost turned me in.

I flip up the hood of the jacket as I head to the Hollows, looking for the address I burned into my brain.

Along with the words,If you want to save them…

The Council woman Ghost mentioned, someone named Susan, he said, was waiting, risking her life. I’m not sure I believe that, but I do believe him about the Council coming for me because of my birth. And he and Dante talked about a Council girl.

Ghost said when he grabbed me, heading through the club, that the girl would help me avoid my fate.

If she’s going to help.

But while I’m doing something foolhardy, my eyes are open and I run my fingers along the tools in my pocket.

3016 Denmark Street. Apartment number one. I go to ringthe bell, but in the quiet of the daytime street, when this part of town sleeps, it’s open.

My heart starts to thud as my senses scream. Every horror movie I’ve ever seen runs a similar scene through my head.

But there’s nothing else to do.

If I tell Dante, they’ll kill him, Knight too. And Reaper? He’ll be back in prison, or dead. I can’t risk it.

I take a calming breath and push the building door open and step inside.

Upstairs, I hear a TV blaring. The sweet heavy scent of weed floats from further along this floor.

Number one’s to my right. I grip the corkscrew and knock.

No one answers.

My nerves jump and skitter and it takes everything I have to knock again.

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