Chapter 4 Cain
Leaving Calliope was the hardest thing I had to do. Ever since the day we met, I knew I would never let her go. The memory tugged at me. She had been devastating in her fury, covered in her former alpha’s blood. I was painfully hard seeing this omega in that state. Ayden wanted to stop her—to step in and protect her. I loved that side of him, but there was something primal about the way she moved. How she erased everything that made the man an alpha. He was already bleeding from somewhere between his legs. Something told me she had removed his junk. Her fury called to the dark and twisted parts of me. The ones that made me so good at my job.
Killing was the only thing that I had ever excelled at. My parents’ pack had made sure of that. I had been accompanying my father out on hits since I was five. He did all the things that a father was supposed to. Teaching me a skill. It was a really sweet idea until you realized that the skill he was teaching me was murder. That and all the things that came along with it. We even had practice stalking. I had assignments where I had to learn everything about my target, not knowing if I was going to be told to kill that target. When I started out on my own, I started with husbands and worked my way up to senators. The last international assignment I took nearly cost me everything. I was sure that Ayden would be gone by the time I got home for Calliope’s heat. God knew how often she had called my name—begged for me. From then on, I only took jobs in the country. This one had me on a train headed to Washington DC.
“Ticket, sir?” The voice of the elderly porter shook when he asked. I held it up for him to scan. His phone dinged, handing it back as he said, “Thank you, Mr. Bishop.”
I nodded and he moved on. Bishop was the name on my fake ID. The one that I would ditch along with the first burner phone when I arrived. My jobs came through on a several phones—all burners—that gave me details like when and where. This one wasn’t all that different from most of the others I had taken. My target was the Prime Minister of some small European country. From what the file told me, he was trafficking omegas. Not a surprising charge in and of itself. That was kind of my specialty.
That was six weeks ago. From there, I tried everything I could to track his movements. Seeking that one place where he would be vulnerable. My computer skills were shit by comparison and I couldn’t exactly ask Ayden to hack into a foreign government for me. The trap I ended up setting was a simple one. A spam email, hiding behind an address that looked right, sent to his public email address. One small change to a line of code allowed me access to his emails. All I had to do was wait. My chance came when he took a trip to Canada. Jumping on the next plane to Ontario, I was able to slide into place as a waiter at the hotel. Seating him in my section only took a twenty slipped into the hostess’ hands. Sliding in close, I slipped the tracker in his jacket pocket. Its weight was minimal, easy to miss.
I had the luck of having Ayden on my side. The tracker was his own design and made it simple to get into his phone. Ayden had searched all of his accounts for weeks, looking for what I had been told was there. Proof, I needed proof that he was the person I was told. I might be an assassin, but I wasn’t stupid. Any job I took could be my last. I had pissed off plenty of people in my time, and at least three of them had tried to set me up.
So, I did my own research.
There was nothing there and I was sure this was a set up until he signed into his government account. Ayden was able to use a backdoor to get into their systems. The videos he uncovered told me everything I needed to know. He was leading a genocide against omegas in his country. Eastern Europe was a hub for human trafficking, the instability made for easy pickings. This prime minister appeared to be one of those people. Selling omegas to the highest bidder. It was repulsive. I would have done the job for free, but the hundred-thousand-dollar payout was a nice cushion. It would be wired overseas and funneled back to Calliope’s accounts.
As the train neared DC, I powered on the burner phone. The tracking app was the only one installed, and I opened it. Pinging the tracker, I saw that he hadn’t left the hotel yet. That was the best case—less security. As we came to a stop, everyone rushed to leave the train. I sat there for a long moment, waiting for the clearance. Sliding into the middle of the chaos, I moved out into the station to another track nearby. Checking the app one last time, I tossed it onto the tracks beneath the moving train.
The hotel was a five-minute walk from the train station. I moved at a leisurely pace, exploring the city, seeming to bumble about until I arrived. Weeks ago, I made a trip to this hotel and booked what Ayden found was the prime minister’s favorite room—the Ambassador’s Suite. Gaining access to the roof was the difficult part. The door had an alarm. That first night, I tested the alarm’s response time. Forty-five minutes went by before someone from the front desk came to check it. That was plenty of time. I waited two hours before opening it again. My plan formed when I saw the flat plane of the roof and the suite which sat directly below a large exhaust vent. That would be my access point.
Getting access to a uniform was easy enough once I entered again.
Plastering a smile across my face I approached the desk. The front desk girl was slammed with guests. Now was the perfect time to do this. “Hi, I got a call from corporate about your HVAC system. Is there a key to the door that I need?”
She looked up at me, clearly flustered. Reaching into a drawer, she pulled out a rusted key and handed it to me. “Just lock it behind you.”
I nodded, turning, and taking the stairs. The roof was thirteen flights up. It was a quick climb. Sliding the key into the alarm, it shut it off and allowed me to open the door. When I visited weeks ago I had loosened the screws to the vent so I could open it easily. It was the third one from the back on the left side. Coming upon the loose one I pulled a blade. Sliding it in between the metal and the roof, I maneuvered it to the side. My arm disappeared inside as I grabbed the package. Pulling out the repelling gear, I set it beside me. Reaching into the bag, I pulled out the thick rope. In the middle was a slip knot that would allow me to lower myself to the ground. Tightening that loop around a concrete rod near the edge, I made sure it was secure before moving back to the vent.
A wicked smile crossed my face when I saw the top of a salt-and-pepper head. I waited for the bastard to reveal himself. Couldn’t kill the wrong person. I tapped the blade against the metal in an attempt to get him to look up. It was enough and his eyes caught mine. I watched the shock cross them. He started to move as I threw the blade down at him.
I didn’t stay to watch it hit. I never missed my targets. Grabbing the rope, I got to my feet, running before his guards could respond. Wrapping the rope around my waist, I started my descent. Throwing myself over the ledge, I let the rope play through my hands as I worked my way to the ground. I loved the rush of dangling fourteen stories in the air, the only thing between me and the ground was a rope and my own skill. The silky feel that enhanced the heart-pounding moments of escaping. The feeling made me wonder what Calliope would look like with ropes wrapped around her. How she would react when I drew my blade down her side with just enough pressure to break the skin. What my tongue lapping at that wound would do for her… Before I could finish that thought, my feet touched the ground. I moved into the streets, shedding the shirt as I did. I stripped using slow, deliberate movements. I was a few blocks farther when I grabbed the red wig that was on my head and tossed it into another set of bushes. Five blocks from the hotel, I hailed a cab. Jumping in the back, it was a swift drive to the airport. Pulling out the last burner phone, I turned it on. Sending one text, I let the person who hired me know it was done.
When we got to the airport, I paid in cash, leaving the phone and my fake ID in the cab. Approaching the desk, I produced another ID and claimed the ticket in that name. I managed to get through security—blades and all. An hour later, I was pulling my Mustang from its spot in the garage. I immediately grabbed my real phone and saw that Calliope had texted asking me to meet her at work. It was close, so I went there first. I couldn’t wait to get my omega. Couldn’t wait to take her in the news van and have her ride my cock in the bitch seat. And as wild and cock hungry as she was normally, she was ten times more so during her heat. If she didn’t always have one of us inside her, she whined and begged. It made my heart ache when she did that.
Ayden and I agreed it was our failure not hers. We should be able to anticipate her needs. It wasn’t her fault that she had such intense heats. Two in less than a month had been hard on us. We had nearly died from dehydration during the second. But that was no excuse for making it seem like she was in the wrong, that was what the stupid doctor had said before she fired him. As if she decided to have thyroid problems. Her heat was coming soon, and we did whatever made her happy, but I was starting to think that we needed some help.
Another alpha, maybe?
My cock ached at the thought of finding another alpha to help Ayden dominate me. Yeah, I liked that idea a lot.
I pulled up behind the news van and parked. It wouldn’t be hard to find Calliope. She was the only omega here. All of the other reporters were betas. All of them—except Dax. He had gotten an offer from a rival station to Calliope’s. Taking that offer made me suspicious. Having the only omega and alpha reporters in the same city was bad enough. Their working at rival stations made it worse. They even did the same kind of reporting—investigative journalism.
I followed my nose until I was upwind from where my omega stood. She looked radiant as she told everyone what the police knew about a murder she had committed. Her acting is impeccable. No one would know she had done a thing. She was tiny, barely coming up to my chest, black hair with red highlights, and stunning green eyes. Her curves made me rock hard. She was easily the most attractive woman I had ever seen. Some would have said that someone of her size wouldn’t have been able to do what this killer had done. They vastly underestimated my omega’s ability. And that high, airy voice, with the slight southern drawl… Hearing her say nasty things with that accent always made my cock ache. Wind swept through the space, sending my scent to her nose. I got to watch the moment her eyes flicked to me, just a split second where the mask slipped, and her pure unadulterated joy showed through.
She was just about wrapped up when an alpha slid up next to me. “You her alpha?”
I turned and looked up at the man. He was large, tattoos covered most of the exposed skin. My face flushed, cock throbbing in my pants. And then his scent hit me. He smelled coppery—like blood—but there was something more, something closer to death. Fuck, that made me want him even more. This man was trouble, there was no hiding that. It was the same way I had felt when I met Ayden all those years ago. And Calliope. That made me study him even more closely. He towered over me, making me feel small. That was an accomplishment as I stood over six-foot. His throat was tattooed with a raven, the wings spreading around his neck and disappeared under his shirt. I knew there was more work under the tight-fitting button-up he wore. The evidence of it showed in the whisps that peeked out from under his cuffs. He was a walking work of art, and that made him all the more fascinating.
Calliope finished her report during the time we had been standing there. I felt Calliope’s joy at seeing me as she approached me from behind. I put my arm out to her, and she came to me, allowing me to wrap that arm around her. I was being protective, and rightfully so; Dax was a predator. I didn’t know what kind just yet, but until I did, he wasn’t coming within ten feet of my omega. I would glue myself to her side if I had to.