OMEGA: A New Adult Urban Fantasy (Mackenzie Grey Book 4)

by Karina Espinosa

“I was in California for a while,” I said and didn’t expound.

  “Wow! California? That’s exciting!” he said with such enthusiasm I was shell-shocked.

  “Are you high?” I quirked a brow. I heard Raven cackle in the background.

  James looked the same. He was still handsome, with his hair tucked under a beanie like always.

  He laughed. “I’m just happy to see you, Kenz. It’s been years.”

  “Right…”

  I turned to Raven for help, but she shook her head. “You’re on your own,” she said.

  I looked away and tried to catch the bartender’s eyes to see if he’d save me from this uncomfortable encounter. Of course he wasn’t paying attention to me. He was too busy flirting with some busty blonde.

  “James!” a girl screeched and it made me flinch. Oh god…it couldn’t be…could it? “What is taking you so damn long—”

  I peered around James and waved at the one and only, Diana Stone. Her mouth fell open at the sight of me, but she regained her composure.

  “Well, well, well…” Diana smirked. “If it isn’t the college drop-out. Weren’t you kidnapped or something?”

  It was my turn to act surprised. Diana came with claws, she no longer was the passive-aggressive girl she’d been a few years ago.

  “I wasn’t kidnapped,” I clenched. “I was working with a special unit of the LAPD until I was transferred back to New York City.” This bitch still had the ability to piss me off. I should’ve kept my mouth shut, I didn’t need to explain myself to anyone, but I wanted to rub it in her face.

  Diana rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right.”

  I pulled aside the right lapel of my brown leather jacket and flashed my badge that was clipped on my belt. Her smirk vanished, while James eyes widened.

  “Well,” Raven hiccuped. “That’s my cue to go. Look me up if you’re ever in Portland, Mackenzie, but leave the badge at home,” she winked. With a swagger that was too cool for school, she strutted out of the bar with a slight swerve that said she might be drunk.

  And then there were three. I sighed as I returned a bored look at the bane of my existence.

  “Let me guess, Diana,” I sized her up and down. “You working the pole?”

  Her face reddened and she shifted in her neon-pink miniskirt. She was a pretty girl, but she still dressed like a cheap escort.

  James chuckled to ease the tension, but Diana and I only stared each other down. I hated that she still had this sort of effect on me. I didn’t even want James—he was like a blip on the map.

  “That’s really cool, Kenz. I’m proud of you,” James smiled.

  “Thanks…” I murmured.

  “What are you doing next week? I’m having a party at my place and I’d love to get a chance to talk to you,” James said. His eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and I wondered if maybe I had sucker punched him so hard that he forgot.

  “James!” Diana reprimanded.

  “Shut up,” he gritted between his teeth and smiled at me. “Just think about it, okay?”

  My cellphone began to buzz again on the bar countertop. I looked over and saw Briggs’ name on the screen. My hero. I grabbed my phone and flashed it to James.

  “Duty calls,” I said and slid off the barstool.

  “I’m still at the same apartment,” James said. “Come by.”

  “I’ll think about it,” I said as I escaped before he pushed any further. There was no way I would even entertain the idea of going. At least I got to one-up Diana Stone. Some dreams do come true.

  5

  I stared at the clock and listened to the tick as seconds counted down until the next minute. It’d been fifteen minutes of me sitting here while Dr. Jones sat across from me and observed. Briggs’ called me screaming about missing my therapy session, so I had to haul ass to make my new appointment.

  I’d been trying to figure out if my therapist was human or not—I assumed she wasn’t due to the nature of my work, but I didn’t smell anything to say otherwise.

  “You’re confused…why?” Dr. Jones tilted her head. She was a petite black woman, her glasses perched at the bridge of her nose like a librarian.

  “I didn’t say anything.”

  “You don’t have to. I’m an Empath, I feel what you feel,” she said. “Want to tell me what confuses you?”

  I’d never heard of an Empath before, but her profession made sense.

  “I’m not confused anymore,” I answered. “How long do I have to be here?”

  “Your sessions are an hour long, Ms. Grey,” she said. “Don’t worry about the time, lets talk about why you’re here.”

  I snorted. “If I want to keep my job, then I have to see you. Simple.”

  “It can’t be that simple. What made Lieutenant Briggs send you to me?”

  I ran a hand through my bed hair. “I’m moon-bound.”

  “Which means?”

  I sighed. “It means I’m useless. My wolf is tied to the moon so I can only shift during the full moons. It makes me weak the rest of the time.”

  “Why are you moon-bound?” She asked.

  That was the million dollar question everyone wanted the answer to.

  “It’s painful,” I relented. “After all of the mistakes I’ve made, I deserve this.”

  She eyed me. “You believe you need to be punished. I sense guilt. Why do you feel that way?”

  Where to begin with that question? I couldn’t look her in the eyes so my gaze wandered around her. Typical therapist’s office. Natural light filtered in, plants littered the area giving the room fresh oxygen. Her desk was off to the side while we sat in a living room. She settled on a recliner of sorts, with her notebook and pen at the ready. She was poised to perfection as she stared across to me lounging on her sofa like I didn’t have a care in the world.

  “Ms. Grey?” She interrupted my thoughts.

  I cleared my throat. “Yeah?”

  “Why do you feel so guilty?” She said, soft-spoken.

  My jaw clenched, but the words came out before I could stop myself.

  “Because all I do is bring death.”

  “Do you consider yourself a killer?”

  “I’m a wolf. What do you think? I’m a natural born predator. I ruin everything I touch and if you’re smart, you’d stay away from me too.”

  Her face remained neutral and her body gave away nothing. There was no knee-jerk reaction to what I’d said and I didn’t know how I felt about that.

  “It’s deeper than that, Ms. Grey. How did you come to this conclusion?”

  I could feel the frog that was stuck in my throat as I attempted to answer her. “I’m alone.”

  She watched me closely, as she took in my emotions. “Is that by choice?”

  “It’s for everyone’s own good,” I growled. She didn’t flinch.

  “You feel qualified to make that decision for everyone?”

  “I know where you’re going with this, Doc,” I rolled my eyes. Cutting ties was a decision I made for everyone else, I knew that. Everyone except Amy. She’d made that decision herself when I took away her choice. She’d made it very clear she never wanted to see me again.

  “What was that?” Dr. Jones inquired. “You felt sorrow.”

  “Well, damn,” I scoffed. “Will you feel when I have to take a shit too?”

  “You’re sarcastic. That says a lot about you.”

  I smirked. “I’m sure it does. Humor me.”

  She straightened and it was the first movement she’d made in a while. “You hide behind your jokes and sarcasm to avoid showing any emotion. You deflect unwanted attention, or in this case, a particular subject. Because of this, you have bouts of impulsivity that make you immature or careless. All of this bottled up emotion eventually bursts, and the rage can be so consuming, it frightens you,” she paused. “Have I humored you yet?”

  “Lucky guess,” I chuckled.

  “Ms. Grey,” she raised an eyebrow. “Are you ready to start your sessi
on now?”

  My stomach churned as I realized there was no way around this. Either I sucked it up and talked to this lady, or I might as well hand over my badge to Briggs.

  I sighed and laid horizontally on the sofa with my arm over my face so I wouldn’t look at her.

  “Fine. What do you want to know?”

  I couldn’t see Dr. Jones, but I felt her smiling.

  “Tell me about your first kill.”

  I got comfortable and gave in.

  “It was three years ago. His name was Caleb and he was a Skinwalker…”

  If I had to look at one more Excel spreadsheet, I was going to lose my mind. My eyes were going crosseyed. I kept trying to take a peek at the conference room where the unit was meeting about the serial killer case. I should be there. Of course I get sidelined at a time like this. Relegated to seeing a shrink and doing paperwork than actual detective work.

  “Grey!” Briggs yelled as he exited the conference room and walked to his office.

  “Yes?” I followed behind him.

  “Your session, how was it?” He demanded.

  I shrugged. “I talked about my feelings. Can I get back on the case?”

  “No,” he barked. “You’re a loose canon, Grey. You’re off the case indefinitely.”

  “Hell no!” I shrieked. “I’m doing everything you ask, I need to be working.”

  “Working, eh? Like when you nearly killed a witch in Spanish Harlem the other day? You and Michaels thought you were slick and wouldn’t get caught but I have eyes and ears everywhere!”

  How much did Briggs know? Michaels wouldn’t stab me in the back, that much I knew. Either another SIU detective was in the area, or Briggs had a Criminal Informant in the streets. Shit, I needed to be more careful.

  “I’m not a secretary, Briggs,” I said. “I need to be out on the streets.”

  He watched me, leaning back on his chair—the joints creaked with every movement he made. “You want to be out in the field that bad?” He raised a bushy brow.

  “Yes!”

  Briggs reached for his desk phone and pressed a button. “Bring him in,” he said and hung up.

  A few moments later, Cassidy Chang stepped into the office and shut the door behind him. I began shaking my head because I already knew where this conversation was headed and I was not okay with it.

  “No. I’m putting my foot down, Briggs. There is no way I’m working with him.”

  “You can put your foot up your own ass for all I care, Grey,” Briggs yelled. “You want out of that desk, then I’m putting you on an assignment with Chang. Since you love the witches, you’ll enjoy this.”

  My blood froze at his insinuation. Did Briggs know what I was doing with the witches? My paranoia went up a million notches and I decided to keep my trap shut before I got myself into more trouble.

  “The two of you will be investigating Bobby Wu, a warlock out of Chinatown who is rumored to be dealing in the human black market. If this is the case, he is a threat in exposing our world.”

  “We’re investigating based on rumors?” I laughed. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I have a CI in the black market and he has seen Bobby around there more times than I feel comfortable with. If you have an issue with my decision, you have an alternative, Grey,” Briggs eyes fell on the badge clipped to my hip. Damn it.

  “No issues at all, Boss,” I grumbled.

  “Good,” he huffed. “I have my CI’s out in the streets searching for him. The minute we have his location, I want you both flying out of here like bats out of hell. Understood?”

  “Yes sir,” Chang and I responded.

  “Dismissed,” he shooed us out of his office and I felt like a child who’d just been reprimanded.

  I stomped over to my desk and turned on my laptop with unnecessary force. The last thing I wanted to do was spend time with another wolf. A reminder of Bash and Jonah. It was stupid, I knew that, but I couldn’t help how I felt—how they made me feel.

  “I’m not trying to screw you over, Mackenzie. I want to help—no ulterior motives,” Chang followed me.

  “I hear that a lot,” I said without looking up at him. I was too busy trying to remember my log-in password. I was so flustered, I kept typing in the wrong information.

  “When did you get so jaded…” he whispered mainly to himself as he was turning away from me.

  My face flamed but I bit my lip. I wanted to burst out and yell, when my life went to shit! In response to his silent question, but I didn’t need the SIU to know my business. It would only give Briggs more of an excuse for me to see a therapist.

  The last few hours I’d spent finishing up my reports and getting bits and pieces of the serial killer case from Finn. I wasn’t allowed to get involved, but it didn’t mean I couldn’t follow along. If I found something, I could tell Finn or Michaels and they’d report it. Chang was sitting at his desk working on god-knows-what, and would occasionally look up from his computer to stare at me.

  I’d just been about to tell him to take a picture it would last longer, like a teenager, but Briggs barged into the squad room.

  “Chang! Grey! Wu has been spotted. I’m sending you his location, now get out!” He yelled. It’s like he didn’t have another voice level than screaming. You could see the veins pulsing in his neck from the force. If he wasn’t supernatural, I’d be concerned of a potential heart attack.

  I tossed Chang the keys to the unmarked police car because I didn’t have the patience to drive today. I pulled up Briggs text message and all it said was “The Fortune Cookie.”

  “Uh…hold on a sec,” I said before he pulled out onto the street. “His text message doesn’t make sense,” I showed him what Briggs wrote.

  Chang chuckled. “I know where that is.”

  6

  The neighborhood was alive and vibrant as dusk settled in and people hustled around after a day’s work. We’d been sitting in the car for the last three hours outside The Fortune Cookie restaurant. Bobby Wu had been spotted there and our source said it was his home base. Traffic from Manhattan to Queens was heavy, we’d missed him when we arrived. Now we waited for the warlock to return.

  A knock on my window jerked me away from Bobby’s file I’d been reading, and I shook my head at the man trying to sell me street food. “One dolla, one dolla!” He insisted.

  Chang lowered my window and reached over to flash his badge. “She said no, now beat it.” The man ran off in a dash before he got arrested.

  “Thanks,” I muttered as I raised my window.

  “Don’t mention it,” he said.

  “Not like I couldn’t have handled that on my own though…”

  Chang chortled. “You can never say thank you, can you?”

  “I did.”

  “With a stipulation. Yes, Grey, I know you could have handled yourself just fine. I was only trying to be a gentleman.”

  I rolled my eyes. “That was corny. What next? You going to open my door for me?”

  He smiled. “I’ll also hold it for you too.”

  I attempted to stay serious, but it was futile. I snorted in an attempt not to laugh, which only made us laugh further.

  “So you don’t just have resting bitch face,” he commented and I glared. “I’m just saying, Mackenzie.”

  “Don’t take it personal. I just don’t want you here.”

  “You don’t want me here, or another wolf?”

  Well, wasn’t he Mr. Perceptive.

  “Another wolf. I don’t want anything to do with the Lycan, which means I need you away from me.”

  His eyebrows scrunched inward and he scratched his chin. “But you’re Lycan…and our Princess. You have everything to do with the Lycan.”

  I sighed. “It’s a long story.”

  Chang looked over at the restaurant and then at me. “It looks like Wu isn’t going to get here anytime soon.”

  “It’s none of your business. I have my own reasons. When the time comes I’ll take
my place in the system, but until then I want no part of it.”

  “Fair enough,” he shrugged. “I have to admit though, it is an honor to be in your presence. No one ever gets close to royalty unless they travel to Sheunta Village. The King makes trips to North America, but we’ll be lucky to get a glimpse of him in passing.”

  I held back a chuckle. Alexander was a diva—I’d have to remember to mention it the next time we spoke.

  “You’re not missing much,” I said and continued to watch The Fortune Cookie. “What’s your deal, Chang. Why the SIU?”

  “First, call me Cas, and second, I like helping people. Isn’t that why most people enter law enforcement?”

  “I don’t know how much Finn likes to help people, but I guess you’re right.”

  He chuckled. “I was recruited into the SIU by Briggs. They wanted someone with ties in Chinatown.”

  That made me quirk a brow. “Why Chinatown?”

  Cas paused, eyeing me as if he wasn’t sure he could trust me. “If you read the file then you know Bobby Wu is a notorious warlock who has been on the SIU’s radar for quite some time. We know he has illegal dealings, but we’re never able to catch him or find anything to implicate him.”

  “Screw it, we don’t need to follow human laws. Why don’t we just lock him up?”

  He shook his head. “It’s not that easy, Mackenzie. We’d have an uprising if we did that. Innocent until proven guilty is what we live by—human or not.”

  Made sense, but if this guy was threatening our existence, he needed to be stopped.

  “So you’re from here?”

  Cas nodded. “Born and raised. I come from an A-typical family—both parents are Lycan and I was brought up in the Queens Pack. I have a little brother who is about to go through his first change and will be going on his first vision quest.”

  “That’s pretty exciting,” I said. It seemed like my new partner had the Leave it to Beaver life—Lycan edition.

  He smiled. “Yeah, I’m looking forward to training him.”

  I nudged Cas. “Don’t get soft on me.”

  We laughed until I saw someone enter The Fortune Cookie. “Someone just went in.”