Page 61 of Omega Hunted

“No, leave it.”

Stay with our omega.

I ignored my wolf. “I’ll be in the kitchen, okay? I’ll check on you in an hour.”

“I’m okay.”

He buried his face in the growing collection of my clothes and sighed. Nesting was normal, particularly this late in pregnancy. I knew that. Every ORT operative who worked omega extraction knew that. What wasn’t normal was my wolf staring at the pile of stolen sweatshirts and blankets and acting as though Soren had built it for us. He was asleep, which was a relief, because I left the door ajar, and no locked doors meant I could help in an instant as I didn’t need to break a door down.

I had nothing to do apart from patrolling, and I wasn’t ready to leave the house right then, so I switched on my laptop to research more about childbirth and saw a flashing alert.

SKINSIDE // PRIVATE MESSAGE

THE ARCHIVIST: Tell me you don’t have him with you

I stared at the message before typing.

IRONPINE: Have who?

The reply came almost immediately.

THE ARCHIVIST: Don’t waste my time. You came looking for Emric Kastor. The private boards have exploded. Doubled bounty. No questions. Retrieval only.

A cold knot settled low in my stomach, and I didn’t answer.

THE ARCHIVIST: You have him.

My fingers hovered over the keyboard. What could I say?

THE ARCHIVIST: You’re already behind; Emric Kastor isn’t stupid. He didn’t inherit the Kastor family empire by being the loudest man in the room.

Another message appeared.

THE ARCHIVIST: He follows patterns.

Then another.

THE ARCHIVIST: People don’t interest him. Connections do.

My shoulders tensed.

IRONPINE: Meaning?

The response came back instantly, and my pulse quickened.

THE ARCHIVIST: I saw a name today via ORT. Your former teammate, Ronan Moreau is off-books and listed as rogue.

I froze. Rogue? Fuck, that was a lone wolf, going out on his own, disavowed by the ORT.

THE ARCHIVIST: He’s accused of the attack at Center 14, and if the ORT is sharing names publicly renouncing your ex-teammate, then Emric can see it.

I stared at the screen.

THE ARCHIVIST: And if Emric researches Moreau...

Another pause.

THE ARCHIVIST: ...he finds you.