Page 1 of Deadly Ties

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My contact at the omega auction told me to meet him at the holding pens in the basement. As I ease the stairwell door open, I’m planning on making him bleed for calling them that. Don’t care if I have to dump his dead body down here, he’s going to eat my fist for comparing omegas to cattle. But my focus right now is on getting my mate Kelly out of this fucking place. Nothing else matters.

Including my fake stepsister, Elvana Bisha.

Pushing a twinge of guilt aside, I pause at the bottom of the stairwell and pull my knife out of my shoe. I’m in a tux, the expensive material loose across my shoulders where my gun holster usually rests. Feels fucking naked, but the small blade in my hand is better than nothing. I can always shift if things go sideways, but I don’t plan on running through the streets of Boston in my wolf form unless I can help it.

And I always follow the plan.

Which means meeting a bent beta official in a basement after abandoning Elvana to the wolves.

She was my way in. As my contact put it: omega in, omega out. I fed her a bullshit story about bidding on an omega for breeding rights, but it was all a smokescreen to get her here. The only story that matters is the one I linked to the tracking chip in her head. Most omegas are tagged these days and their memories wiped after the fact. They’re too rare and valuable to just roam free, although I didn’t really believe the tracking database existed until I saw it with my own eyes. It was easy to hack, and I was able to change Elvana’s details from the daughter of the biggest alpha on the East Coast, to a nobody screw-up. It’s the only protection I can give her in case she’s auctioned off today.

She might have got out. Maybe she realized I was going to double-cross her and went straight for one of the exits. She’s naïve and way too trusting, but I’ve caught a glimpse of a backbone when she’s been pushed into a corner. Either way, she’s on her own now.

I smell the alpha before I see him. The corridor is lined with doors, some of which are cracked open. He’s waiting behind the first one, and I tuck the blade up my sleeve before he steps into view. Which casts a long shadow into the hallway, since he’s at least six-four with broad shoulders and about forty pounds on my own muscular frame. He’s in a security uniform, with pouchy, pale eyes that watch me from under the brim of his cap. I put his age at mid-thirties, which gives him more than a decade on me. But in the world of alphas, size and experience don’t mean as much as raw animal power, and I have that over him easy. “Who the fuck are you?” I growl.

“Mr. Berkely? I’m Mike. Nathan Godfrey asked me to meet you here.”

“I didn’t agree to any hand-offs,” I tell him, my voice hard. “I want to talk to the beta.”

He scoffs, his lip curling. “You think those pencil necks get their hands dirty? Here’s the paperwork if you need to see it.”

I grab the single page printout from his gloved hand. There’s enough light in the corridor to see it’s a bill of sale, and Liam Berkley, my assumed name, is printed in the Purchaser box. Kelly’s specifics are nowhere to be seen, but his serial number from the tracking database is typed in the Property section. From cattle to property, it makes my wolf rake his claws down my spine.

“There’s only a serial number,” the guard points out. “Does your omega have a name?”

Little Wolf…

Why the fuck did I think that? It’s my brother’s pet name for Elvana, and it has no place in my head right now. “Kelly Starling,” I tell him instead. Doesn’t matter it’s his true name. Once we’re out of here, I plan to burn this operation to the ground.

“Right. Well, the omegas ready for auction are already upstairs. We keep the others down here.” His narrowed eyes take my measure. “You’re not gonna freak out if she’s a little banged up, are you? We gotta keep a low profile if you don’t want to bring the boss down on our heads.”

I look away from him, studying the door at the end of the corridor so he can’t see the wolf in my eyes. If Kelly isbanged up, his boss will be the least of his problems. I could correct him; tell him Kelly is male and the best goddamn omega in the world, but he doesn’t deserve to know such things. Instead, I ask in a voice that’s so low it’s all growl, “Where the fuck are these holding pens?”

There’s an amused tilt to his mouth as he gestures to a door at the end, closest to the exit. “Down there. We just need to get confirmation from Godfrey that the omega you’re trading has passed all her checks.” He pulls out a cell and taps it on his palm, his head tilted as he studies me. I try to pick the scent coming off him, but it’s murky. I can usually sense strong emotions, but I can’t tell if this guy is bored or has a death wish as he asks, “You just looking to upgrade? On one hand, I get it; your girl has quite an interesting history. You’re probably looking for something new and sweet.” His nostrils flare, and it’s definitely lust coming off him now. “You meet your old omega at the Fox Den?”

I swallow around a lump of rage in my throat, reminding myself I’m partly to blame for his interest. This slimeball might be salivating over Elvana, but I was the one who fed her fake background into the database. Putting her last owner as the notorious shifter brothel was meant to protect her, since most alphas aren’t interested in used goods. But maybe there’d been a little bit of spite at work too, since she’d just come off a four-day sex binge with my two brothers. “Let’s just get this done, okay?”

The guard grunts and checks his cell again. “Sure.” He taps the screen, then cocks a brow at me. “Seems like you’re good to get your girl.”

I clench my jaw and follow him to the end of the corridor. I’m braced for the worst, although the excitement is starting to build now, too. Not everything I told Elvana was a lie, and it’s been nearly a year since I saw my mate in the flesh. Sweat prickles under my tux, my throat tightening with need as I picture his perfect face. I know it won’t look like that now, since the last time he smuggled out a video call he’d definitely been banged up. But it will still be his eyes, his scent…

My brain is too slow to put it together, distracted as I am by memories of Kelly. Instead of being faced with omegas in cages, I step over the threshold and straight into a massive fist. Pain explodes through my skull, but I still manage to drop my knife into my hand. I’m bringing it up to gut whoever just hit me when the guard grabs me from behind, slapping cuffs on my wrists and giving me a vicious punch to the kidneys. Not done with me yet, he kicks my feet from under me, and I land heavily on my knees. I’m still clutching the knife, but that’s taken almost gently from my cuffed hands.

Fuck.

I’m in some kind of storeroom, but all I can see are wine barrels and boxes of paper napkins. And Arben Fucking Marku, Doctor Death and the most ruthless assassin on the East Coast. He works for Elvana’s father, Roan Bisha, and until recently, I thought we had a deal. He got his little wolf back to do with as he pleased, and he connected me to Kelly.

He's an enormous fucker, a foot taller than the alpha guard, with the musculature of a gorilla. He’s in his usual black suit, his raven hair slicked back from his pale face. I realize it’s his fist I just ate, so it’s not surprising I need to lean over and spit a wad of blood on the floor. “What the fuck, Marku?”

“Are you still working alone?”

I try to blink through the pain, but my head is throbbing. He can’t really be surprised to see me here. What did he expect when he gave me access to the omega database and its administrator? That I wouldn’t hunt Kelly done, and use everything in my arsenal – including Elvana – to get him back?

The guard shakes me by the scruff when I don’t answer, the assassin snarling in my face. “Did your brothers let you take her? Do they know Elvana’s here?”

Shit. This guy has a one-track mind when it comes to the little wolf. Not that I can talk since I’ll pretty much ruin anyone for Kelly, but he’s my mate. “What? No. My brothers have nothing to do with this. I distracted them. Took her without them knowing.” My throbbing head swings around the room, even though I know Cam and Rory can’t be here. I left them drugged on Kelly’s deck, conveniently out of the way so I could bring Elvana here to trade. “Leave them the fuck out of this!”

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