Page 34 of The Omega's Bloodlinem: Part Two

Fate could kiss my ass, quite frankly. Sometimes I liked the idea of predetermination, but other times it felt like a shackle around my neck. No one truly knew where exactly fate and free will intersected, nor how strongly one could influence the other.How much do you think it hurts to break a bond?

I don’t know, panther. Are you asking for me or for yourself?

Why would I ask for you?

Because I bonded your omega?

I stared at her for a long moment.Do you really think I would demand that of you or Logan?

Yelena shrugged as well as she was able to while lying down in cat form.You like to guard your thoughts so I’m not sure what to think about you most of the time.

I would only push for that if Logan wanted it.

Yelena nodded, stretching out one leg until her paw touched me.When this is all over, we will seek out a trained witch and see if they can sever the bond between you and Rachel. You won’t have to wait forever to claim Logan.

I wasn’t so sure she was right.

Rachel didn’t want to talk to me and I couldn’t blame her for that, but I still wished things were different. All I wanted was a straight answer and to be free of my connection to her so I didn’t put Logan and the others at risk if I ever joined their bond. It was an open connection, a web of consciousness that linked toeveryone part of it. It was far safer if I was the only one Rachel had access to.

I summoned up an image of her—blazing red hair, ice blue eyes that were as sharp as her mouth was soft.Rachel?

I had no idea if reaching out was possible, or if the bond was truly gone, but I had to try.

Talk to me. Please.No answer was forthcoming, but I tried anyway.I’m sorry for everything. I don’t know if you can hear me, but we need help. You know where we are. Please just?—

Instead of a voice, a bolt of electricity came in reply, making me shriek and shake my head to dispel the sensation.

Logan dropped down instantly next to me, scooping me up. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

I shook my head, pressing my face against her to breathe in her jasmine sweetness.

“Are you hurt?”

When I lifted my head the others—Yelena, Seth, and Haru—were gathered around us.I’m okay. Not sure what it was.

My stomach turned. There was no guarantee Rachel had sent that shock, but what else could it be? It meant two things that made my hope crumble. The first was that the bond was still there, and the second was that she was capable of hurting me, and thus hurting anyone I was connected to.

“Mistress.” We all turned to Margaret, the librarian. “We’ve had a response from another witch.”

Yelena shifted back into her human form and picked up her discarded gown from the grass. “We’ll be right there. Thank you, Margaret.”

“Seth, Haru,” Logan said, “can you watch everything until we get back?”

On it,Seth replied.

I didn’t bother changing back, Logan following quickly after Yelena and Margaret with me in her arms. We went straightto Yelena’s suite, where the email Margaret had forwarded was waiting for us.

Yelena read it over. “She knows Anya, or at least how to contact her. It looks like she’s set up shop in New Zealand. What the hell time is it there?” She punched the question into a search engine and cursed. “Middle of the night. Well, we can reach out and hopefully she gets back to us. Precious, would you like to tell her what you need?”

I sat on Logan’s lap, watching her type out the message when Yelena passed her the laptop.

Subject line: Urgent! Nest at risk in Portland

Anya,

My name is Logan Murphy. Melinda Kyle told me to find you and we were finally able to contact someone who could tell us where you’d gone.

We need your help. I only found out I’m a witch a short time ago and I don’t know the extent of my magic, but there is a monster outside of the wards and we have to figure out how to destroy it. It eats magic. Several shifters have already been killed by it, and it was able to break through nest warding once already. I don’t know much more than that. Someone suggested it could be the same type as the one the O’Clery line created.

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