Page 52 of Blood Pack Beginning

“Then stop acting like one,” Amir had snarled. “You don’t like it here? Fine. Put on your big-boy pants and leave. Hell, I’ll even make sure you have enough cash to put down a first and last month’s deposit on a place, plus a bit extra to keep you fed and shit while you find a job. But that’s the extent of my aid. It’s time you manned up and learned to stand on your own two feet.”

“I can’t believe my own brother is abandoning me so he can fuck a bloodsucker,” Omar hissed.

“Leave Sasha out of this. This has nothing to do with her. Jesus Christ, Omar, surely you didn’t think I’d be nannying your ass the rest of your life?”

“I see it’s no use trying to reason with you,” Amir spat. “Stay here with the whore. You’ll regret it when she drains you dry. I’m out of here. I’ve got a ride lined up with a vamp heading into the city after sunset.”

“Good luck. Drop me a line when you’re settled.”

“Fuck you.” The last thing said before his brother stormed off.

A part of Amir had almost chased down Omar, hating that they’d parted so harshly, but what would have been the point? His brother wouldn’t budge, and neither would Amir. Amir’s fault, really, for not dealing with the situation with his brother sooner. Lorelei had tried broaching it a few times, only to back down when Omar threw a tantrum. They’d both given intoo often, wanting to avoid the fireworks. And now Omar had stormed off with the vampire who’d killed Lycans.

Guilt rode him hard and whipped his shredded emotions, until Sasha reached over and slapped him.

“Snap out of it, Puppy Chow. Your brother’s not dead yet.”

“Yet,” Amir repeated in a dull monotone. “Omar’s riding with a killer. It’s only a matter of time before he ends up like those other Lycans in the woods.”

“You can’t know that. Neither of us can. Monty must have taken him for a reason.”

“Yeah. To eat as a snack.” The very mention of it left a sour taste in his mouth.

“I can’t help but wonder if there’s something more to it.” Her fingers drummed the steering wheel before she asked in a barely audible mutter, “How good is your brother with computers?”

“Why?”

“Because Monty is great at a bunch of things, but technology wasn’t one of them. I don’t know if Diego told you, but someone compromised the compound security system.”

“Diego did mention something about some cameras being on a loop because of a hacker…” Amir paused. “Oh shit.”

Sasha’s grip on the wheel tightened and not just because she whipped the car around a curve in the road. “Your brother is a hacker.”

“He never used that term, but I know he spent a lot of time on his laptop. Even when we were long hauling, he’d be in the cab’s bunk tapping away. When I told him to stop playing his dumb-ass games and give me a hand, he said he was working his second job as a programmer.”

“Did you ever ask what kind of programming?”

“Not really. I assumed he wasn’t very good at it since he was always whining about being broke.”

“If he was the one to change the camera feeds and reprogram the gate, then you do realize that means he’s in cahoots with Monty.”

“He wouldn’t have helped kill our kind.”

“Are you sure of that?” Her counter.

He couldn’t be sure of anything anymore. Amir’s head dipped and his shoulders rounded. “What will happen to Omar if we find him?”

“I don’t know. Monty will, for sure, be staked out in the sun for his treachery, but your brother’s fate will likely depend on if he was influenced or abetting of his own volition.”

Amir banged his fists off the dash. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

“Hey, no abusing my baby!” Sasha yelped.

He clenched his hands instead, simmering. How could Omar be so dumb as to betray Thaddeus? Then again, he knew his brother. Unfortunately, Omar never had a chance to see true loyalty in action. Their family had left their first pack then joined the new one in America as outsiders. His mother had a hysterectomy because his parents didn’t agree with the Pack Law of taking more mates. Then, the pack exiled Lorelei and Amir left with her, after which their parents died. It all resulted in Omar having a stunted maturity and survival-mode narcissism.

So, Omar looking out for himself with no regard for the lives of others? Not so farfetched.

“I’m sorry,” she softly said.

---