Page 1 of Ondine, Vol. 2 (Cash City Omegaverse)

Extraction

Shadow

T he room swarms with Man-ho’s men. It’s too chaotic for me to do anything other than let them pile in, shoulder to shoulder.

The lights cut in the hallway, and the emergency lights glow red, flashing on and off.

I crouch and elbow my way to the edge of the door.

I can barely see them wrestle with my knots on the cords tying their boss to the chair.

A siren blares out in a rhythm not matching the lights, so everything feels even more unhinged.

I muscle my way into the hallway where more guards flood the corridor. Suddenly, one guard takes off his tactical helmet and plops it on my head. I meet his eyes and see he’s one of Sebastian’s betas. A Meier Group security agent.

He didn’t send him in here. He’s one of our spies. I strap the helmet on without giving him away. He shoves a walkie talkie into my hands and pushes me along, guiding me through the crowd.

He abandons me at one point, but it’s fine because if I just lift the walkie to my face, I’ve got it covered, and the helmet makes me look like one of them. Fuck yes.

I come up to the trapdoor that leads back to the pleasure room.

I could go back into this thing, crawl up the chute, or take my chances wherever I am now.

Eh. I’ll take my chances. I head against the flow of guards, looking annoyed and busy.

I yell mandarin into the walkie that basically amounts to, “What the fuck is wrong with you?! That’s not what I asked you to do! I need the report now!”

I try my best not to laugh at how much fun I’m having. It’s like I’m completely invisible. But suddenly I get the feeling I’ve been descending further and further underground. Did I miss a turn?

There are no more guards here.

Just a carpeted hallway leading to a spiral staircase. It only goes down.

Fuck.

I can’t go further down. I’ve only gone down since I got here.

I turn around and join the melee where I’d last left it. I peek over everyone’s heads and see them pull Man-ho’s unconscious body from the little room I’d had him in. I could just blend in and follow the crowd out.

Well, I could, if not for the fact that Man-ho wakes up, sees the knife sticking out of his thigh, and then immediately spots me in the crowd.

Fucking damnit.

I wink at him and then take off back where I came, stumbling down the spiral staircase to the great unknown.

There’s no light, so I’m going further and further down in absolute darkness while the sounds of footsteps of men come after me.

Terror strikes when I hit water. How the fuck did I not hear or smell water? !

I jump back and cling to the grated staircase. Suddenly, the footsteps chasing me stop.

“He’s trapped!” I hear them say. “Close the hatch and keep him down there!”

And that’s exactly what they do.

The trap me down here in what I can only assume is an eel pit of some sort (probably just an old cistern.)

Jake

Sebastian’s team should be in place now. Looks like Shadow got himself locked in some sort of bunker. He hasn’t moved for the last thirty minutes. Our man inside, Creed, gave us an encrypted message that he saw Shadow and he’s ok for now. Man-ho has been stabbed in the thigh.

Ondine is with her new mate. Safe and warm and happy. As she should be. Sebastian is dressed and waiting at Sky Nest with Killer the cat. He’s turned that receiving room at Ondine’s nest into HQ.

I am doing something entirely different. I’m on my own mission. I’ve broken into the Heat Clinic in the Kestrel Burrow where Ondine used to make her heat appointments at. B&Es are usually Shadow’s job, but he’s indisposed.

I stalk through the halls of the quiet Heat Clinic. It’s 24/7, so there are rooms being used. Suites, they call them. I cannot believe Ondine used this service. Regularly. A man in a white coat comes down the low-light hallway, on his way to intercept me.

“Excuse me, sir. What’s your business here?” he asks with some authority. He is in his late 50‘s and does not look like he could chase me if I ran. Not that I need to.

“I’m a private investigator looking into an omega who frequented this clinic. Can I have a moment?”

Ondine probably spoke to this man. Walked down this hall. Used one of these rooms. I’m wracking my brain trying to think of a scenario where I met her earlier, and she used me and my pack for her heats and not this place.

I don’t come up with anything.

“You really should come back in the morning. One of the admins can meet with you.”

I point to his name tag, which says Reid Daniels. “Your name is Reid? That’s my brother’s name.” I smile through my bullshit.

“Oh,” he says, a little taken aback.

“He’s a beta. Or was. He passed away recently…” I trail off, looking at my shoes.

A heavy, awkward silence settles between us and I don’t do a thing about it.

Reid sighs. “I have some time. Why don’t you come to the office?”

Reid doesn’t ask how I got into the building, which is nice. I let him lead me through the corridors to his office. It’s nice. They must interview the omegas here.

I sit down and make myself at home with a water bottle from the mini fridge.

“How long have you worked here?” I ask casually.

“14 years. But I’ve always been over at the Casteel Park location. Our room manager from this location left without notice just a couple of weeks ago.”

Bingo, mother fucker.

“Is he ok?” I ask.

“Oh sure. Sometimes it’s hard for these young guys.

He’d just graduated, and it’s long hours.

Just tonight, I have three omegas that I’m managing all night.

This location notoriously has infrequent use, so they only have one room manager on staff.

I’ve only been here a few weeks and even I am getting burnt out. ”

I nod concerningly. “And he just couldn’t cut it?”

“I’m not sure. I met him. He seemed to have it together. Anyway, what was the name of the omega who hired you?”

My face involuntarily twitches. I don’t want to tell this man Ondine’s name. I want him to tell me the name of the room manager who quit about the same time my omega ran out of here like a bat out of hell.

“If my omega was here three weeks ago, would that align with this room manager’s unexpected departure?” I ask carefully.

His glasses fall down his nose slightly, and he pushes them back. “You think something happened?”

“She had a heat spike,” I offer.

“If Arnold had an omega come in here with a heat spike, he would have handled it professionally.”

I look like I believe him. “What would that have looked like?”

“We have spare nests. Or if she was already one of our omegas, and he was done with her nest, he’d get her in. Her alphas would have been on call.”

“Maybe I should speak with Arnold, and he can direct me where to go. I don’t want too many people knowing about the…” I decide to use this word, even though I know it may not exactly qualify, “assault.”

Reid’s eyes bulge out of his head.

“Assault?”

“Alleged,” I say to soften the allegation.

“Oh, my god. Yeah, let me give his contact info.”

“First and last name and last known address, please.”

I practically skip out of there with Arnold Berrera’s information.

This mother fucker. I’m going to fucking ki…

nope hold on, Jake. Let’s just take this one step at a time.

I call Sebastian, and it looks like Shadow is on the move.

He found some small passage escape from the cistern they were using to trap him in.

We have to wait for him to appear again somewhere before we can grab him.

Sebastian is pulling up GIS data on any city waterways in the area.

“And what did you find?” he asks suspiciously.

“I’ll tell you when I find it, Sabbies.”

I end the call and make my way to a surprisingly nearby apartment building.

It’s one of those new builds, all steel and hard angles. He’s on the 6th floor.

“Got you, motherfucker,” I whisper.

Shadow

I’m in a tight spot. Literally. I’m wiggling my way through some sort of pipe. But rectangle shaped. It’s fine. It’s better than the eel pit. Still-water scares the fuck out of me. Sebastian is sending me directions on how to get out of this hellscape.

“Left turn. Go straight. Do you see anything?” He’s been saying over the walkie.

No, I don’t fucking see anything.

I lay on my back for a second to make sure I’m staying calm. I say into the walkie, “How is she, Sabbies? How is she?”

I’ve already asked a few times, but he’s being purposefully cagey.

“ She’s doing good. We’ll talk more when you’re out.”

“Just tell me. Please.”

There’s a long pause.

“ Freddie went into a rut and bit her. They’re bonded, Shadow. ”

No. That’s not right. Jake would never have let that happen. That didn’t happen.

But Sabbies wouldn’t lie. He wouldn’t even tell me unless he was sure.

You can’t bite someone in bond-sickness , I think, and my fear for her life threatens to send me in a spiral until I remember Sabbies told me three times she was fine. She’s fine. She’s good. Did his bite help her? Fucking Freddie! He could have hurt her!

I’m oddly calm. No, that’s not true. Tears pool over my eyes and suddenly break down the sides of my head.

My mouth opens in a silent scream. Oh my god.

No. No. No. He’s wrong. That didn’t happen.

My heart constricts and for this moment I feel like I’ll never be better.

I knew that time was slipping away from me—I just didn’t realize it would happen this fast.

I’ve lost her.

I’ve already lost her.

I never even had her.

Why does it hurt so bad?

“ Shadow? Talk to me. ”

He asks once more before I click on the walkie. “She’s ok?”

“ Yes. She’s doing good, my friend. Jake called your family doctor. The one that saw her the other day. She’s going to come by in the morning to check on her. ”

I turn to my side and press my face into the side of this tube I’m in.

In a small voice that doesn’t feel like my own, I ask, “What’re we going to do?”

She was always going to go. That’s why I couldn’t let her close. This was always going to happen. And I knew it would always hurt. But what I didn’t expect was this resolve to take root that I wouldn’t let this be the end. She came into my life, and I won’t let her go this easily.

I can’t and the alpha in me won’t.

“ I think Jake is working on that right now. You’ve stopped moving, Shadow. Get your ass out of there. I have a team at the Crimson Lion market square who will pull the grate and then pull you out of there. But it’s very exposed, so you need to be careful. And get there now. ”

I nod, even though I know he can’t see it.

“Roger that,” I say and get going.

His team isn’t there. I made a wrong turn, which Sabbies keeps barking at me for. I just kind of lost track of which way was up or down. It’s fine. I pull myself into the back of a market stall, scaring the piss out of the family that runs it.

They decide to keep their mouths shut as I make my escape.

I get out of Chinatown without any of Man-ho’s men spotting me.

I’m on my way to “the studio” a space Meier Protections rents and we use for…

various reasons. The last time was to interview the man who shot at Freddie’s dad, the senator.

My phone is trashed from swimming through the cistern.

But I have the walkie, so I let Sabbies know on our channel we’ve been using.

When I get to the studio, I’m met with a manic Jake. He doesn’t let me past the door, I just shut behind me.

“Shadow!” He says with a big smile and large dilated eyes.

“Jake…” I respond. “I need to take a shower. Get new clothes. And my phone is all fucked up. Can you let me in?”

His face remains that smiley/scary face.

“What’s going on?” I sigh.

And then I realize why he’s blocking my way up the stairs.

He has someone in the interview room. Who on earth does Jake have? Is it Man-ho? Did he lift Man-ho?

I push past him and run up the stairs to the interview room. I look through the glass and see not Man-ho. But a young man strapped to a metal chair. He’s got red hair and very angry eyes.

Jake comes up behind me to look into the room with me. “Who the fuck is that?”

Jake pats me on the shoulder, and in a crude voice, replies, “Ondine insurance.”