Page 19 of Omega Untamed
“You’re in the foothills of Mount Orro.”
Like that helped. I blinked up at him.
“If I’m not back by nightfall, go back to the road. Can you find it?”
I shook my head. I knew nothing about navigating forests. I had been raised on the streets. As Bast stared at me with those unfathomable eyes, I nodded. “I can do it,” I said. I knew the direction we’d come, but now everything looked the same. I’d find a way.
“Good. But for now, shut up and stay put.”
His footfalls receded into the undergrowth and then I was alone.
Still in shock, I stared up into the dawn. Through the thick trees I could see patches of lightening sky, pale green tinged with pink.
I thought I’d never see another sunrise. I was wrong.
Chapter Six
Bast
“Did he squeal much?” Stone offered me a cigarette.
I waved my hand, declining. “No.”
“Damn. He was a cute one. I’d have had my way with him first, I think.”
The car turned onto the highway, heading back to the city. “I’m sure you would have.”
Stone turned all the way facing me. “You know, Bast, you’re a real cold shit. I’m thinking you don’t like me.”
I met his gaze. “You’re not on any special list. I don’t like anyone.”
He frowned, mulling over my words in his slow brain. “Oh.”
Stone was nothing to me, and the last item on my list of thoughts, if he even made the list at all. Topmost item: What had I just done?
Saved an innocent man, that’s what. More, I’d saved a guy who, when he looked at me even though he knew nothing about me except I was one of his captors, communicated to me a sort of unconditional trust I wasn’t sure how to interpret. As if, somehow, he knew I wanted to be on his side, wanted to help.
All I’d done was give him a damned soda. And well, then, saved his life.
But something else was there, too. Something invisible and compelling that woke more than a cop’s protective instinct. Flashes of him sitting, weak and in pain, at the trunk of the pine at the burial site kept invading my mind. His hair in slick hanks hanging in his face. His muscular chest exposed from the black vest he wore that was a size too small. His injured hand clutched tight in his good hand, his feet bare and covered in dirt and leaves, the left one bloody.
There was so much I had to do now. So much I couldn’t forget. I was responsible for him, as well as keeping him a secret from both Myre and Sam.
I’d killed for Myre before. For the job with the force and my job with Myre. Both occupations mixing into one and the same after two years undercover. But today I’d decided not to. No more.
Sam was going to be furious with me if he found out. But I’d asked him for help and he’d let me down. Left me in a position to do the dirty work on a guy taking the blame formydeeds.
Several times this past year I’d told Sam I was done. He needed to pull me back into the fold. Send me elsewhere. Another city. Another life. He’d convinced to hold out a few more months.
Sam I could handle. But if Myre ever found out Kee was still alive, I’d be dead before I drew my next breath.
I had plans to make. I could not afford one wrong move.
The drive back to the casino seemed endless. On Myre’s orders, the driver had to stay within the speed limit at all times. Our people could not be pulled over for even the most minor of infractions.
Myre was already suspicious of everyone, including those closest to him. He did not trust any interaction with cops. Yet strangely, he trusted me. I worked hard to build that. I was the force’s most valuable asset concerning this case at the moment.
Now, this one act, saving this Omega, put everything in jeopardy for me. But I found I did not care.
