Page 3 of Omega Shattered
When no sirens sounded after a long while, I finally relaxed a little. They hadn't found me and now I was leaving the area. There was no telling where this truck was headed, but it had to be better than the Center. I smiled to myself, burrowed deeper into my blanket and tried to ignore the cold.
Chapter 3
Hunter
"You're sure you can't come with?" Kade eyed me over his cup of coffee, tapping long, pale fingers on the ceramic.
"I have a job, too, you know," I told him. "Relax. It's going to be fine. Everyone else will be with you."
Kade frowned. "I know that, asshole. It just doesn't feel right leaving you here alone. You'll miss out on all the fun."
His attempt at a joke fell flat because I knew the man in front of me all too well. Kade was my left-hand man and I'd known him for longer than either of our pack members. He'd never come out and say it, but I knew it made him anxious when the group split up.
"Two days and you'll be back here," I reassured him. "I'm looking forward to the peace and quiet in the meantime."
"Live it up," he said dryly. "Archer will be fucking with you in no time."
He threw back the coffee with a wince and hopped up from his chair, just as Orion rounded the corner from the living room.
"You still in here?" Orion glared. "Get a move on, we're out of here in five minutes. Anything you forgot to pack gets left behind." His gaze swept over me. "Make sure you set the alarms when you leave, River."
"Yes, Dad."
His glare only intensified. "I'm serious, River."
"I know. I'll keep the place locked down like Fort Knox."
A minute later, Archer came thundering down the stairs and I shook my head. The man was the smallest of us all, which wasn't saying much, but he sounded like a herd of elephants as he pounded downstairs. His suitcase thudded behind him as he bounded into the garage.
"See you, River!"
Then they were gone, and the house was silent. I had only just poured a fresh cup of coffee and sat down when my phone started vibrating in my pocket. Annoyed, I pulled it out, expecting to see Archer's name, but it was the ORC. Adrenaline shot through my body. There was only one reason they'd call this early.
"James speaking."
"River, we have a problem. One of the omegas escaped yesterday afternoon." Laura's voice was clipped and impatient. "I need you on this immediately."
"Immediately would have been yesterday afternoon," I pointed out.
"No one thought she could get far, she was in heat. We had the betas searching for her, but she's vanished."
"So you wasted valuable time searching for her before calling me," I sighed. "Alright, I'll be there in twenty. Make sure all the intel is ready to go, and I'll head out as soon as you debrief me."
"Jump to it. This one's important." She hung up.
I finished my coffee before heading upstairs to change into my work clothes, black slacks, and a black shirt. It was snowingoutside, so I pulled on a black sweater to finish the outfit and shrugged into my jacket and boots before heading out the door. Mindful of Orion's instructions, I made sure the alarm was set before getting into my SUV and heading in to work.
The Omega Reassignment Center wasn't far from home and I arrived exactly 20 minutes after the call. Leaving my car parked in the staff lot, I headed inside, nodding at the receptionist before making my way to Laura's office on the third floor.
"Come in," she said at my knock. The director of the institute was standing at the window, looking down at the throngs of omegas lined up for breakfast.
"You have all the paperwork?"
"Right here." She handed me a file.
Flipping it open, I pulled out the photo of the omega I was looking for. Quinn Ramsey, 24 years old. The intake photo showed an attractive enough female with long wavy hair and freckles scattered across her nose. If she'd been a beta, I would have thought her pretty, but she was an omega. In my experience, they were literally designed to reel alphas in and tear them apart. That made them all ugly to me.
With a curl of my lip, I scanned the rest of the file, noting that the omega had been in a pack a year ago and had previously lived with her father and a beta sister on a farm outside the city. Those were two places I needed to check. Most runaways headed for familiar territory.
