Omega's Savior (Omega Destiny, International Book 3)

by Kian Rhodes

  The knots of dread winding themselves into a ball as Paul’s sleepy voice came through the speaker.

  Sorry I missed seeing you this morning, Alpha. Paul’s voice was rough with sleep and sexy as hell. I found your message and I’ll be waiting for you at lunch time. In the background of the message, I heard the doorbell ring and my jaw clenched as the realization that I’d been sent on a wild goose chase to get me out of the way set in. On the message, Paul laughed, not realizing there was any risk. It sounds like another one of your deliveries is here, Sy, so I better go.

  The message switched to the automated operator and it was all I could do not to crush the phone as I waited for the timestamp. It had been nearly forty minutes since Paul had opened my front door to danger.

  I stabbed my finger on his name, praying to any God listening that I was overreacting and Paul was fine, only to growl in frustration when I was immediately dumped into voicemail.

  Son of a bitch!

  As I flew down the road, I tried desperately to think of anyone closer than me that I could call to check on Paul but kept coming up empty. Even the local police department would take more time to arrive for a simple welfare check than it was going to take me to make it home. And, if I was right and something was terribly wrong, having to answer a bunch of questions would only slow me from regaining my family and punishing the bastards that had dared to touch what was mine.

  The question of whether or not Paul had met with trouble was answered before I’d even exited my truck, the air was thick with the sour taste of fear more than an hour after that damned voicemail message had been left. Still, I made a cursory check of the house, crumpling up the obviously fake note saying Paul had simply chosen to move on and throwing it on the floor.

  As if.

  I began unbuttoning my shirt with one hand, tapping out a text to Chuck over at ODI with the other. My inner beast could track Paul more effectively than my human form, but we would need someone on standby to bring us home. Naked, I waited for his thumbs-up response before slipping my phone into the small, silk pouch that I’d owned for more years than I could even remember. Zipping it closed, I slid the long cord over my neck and stepped out onto the front porch.

  If I’d had any close neighbors, I imagine that it would have been disturbing for them to watch as my human body strained to stretch into the nearly fifty-foot reptilian form that I harbored on a daily basis. From high on my thick trunk protruded small arm-like appendages that were capped off with wickedly curved claws. Instead of the graceful head of a dragon, mine stretched into the wide, flat triangular skull of a constrictor while the fangs protruding announced that I hailed from a time before the species had split and specialized their chosen weapons.

  That I had all of those weapons and more, besides.

  That I was a monster most dangerous of a time long ago.

  When I shifted, my animal hindbrain took over. My long, forked tongue drawing in the air, tasting it, savoring it. Dissecting the various layers until I’d ingrained Paul’s scent in the Jacobsen’s organs in the roof of my mouth. Tasting the air again, I keyed in on the path that would lead me to my prey and in a silence that seemed implausible given the size of me, I slid off into the grass with the single-minded determination of a hunter who rarely failed.

  The hunt was on.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Paul

  “What?” I stared blankly at the hulking man standing on Sylas’s front porch holding a silver handgun instead of the surprise delivery that I’d anticipated when I opened the door.

  “I said get your twink ass out here now!” the man snapped, shaking the gun impatiently.

  I don’t know if it was the shock of having a gun pointed at me or the fact that I’d only had one sip of my coffee before the doorbell rang but I just shook my head. “You can’t be serious,” I huffed. “I don’t even have shoes on!”

  “Not my problem,” the intruder huffed back, waving the gun more menacingly. “I’m not going to ask you again, bitch!”

  “Bitch? Really?” I rolled my eyes, turning my back on him. “I’m not going anywhere barefoot.” I turned back into the house an instant before the back of my head exploded with pain and everything went dark. The next thing I remember was waking up in the backseat of a compact SUV, my wrists and ankles were bound and my head was pounding horribly.

  “Why the fuck did you hit him?” a sharp female voice sniped. “I told you no injuries!”

  “The little fag will be fine,” a male voice growled back, clearly annoyed at being questioned. “I didn’t hit him that hard. Besides, he tried to run.”

  As much as I wanted to call the dumbass out as a liar, I forced myself not to interrupt. No point in letting them know they had an audience.

  “Besides,” the man continued, “it’s not like it really matters. As soon as he signs the papers, we’re offing him anyhow. Dad doesn’t want to get caught with the evidence.”

  The woman snorted. “Like it matters. No one would take the word of a little whore over his.”

  “You didn’t see that dude that was shacking up with the kid,” the man disputed, the rise and fall of his voice making me think he was shaking his head. “He gave the cops a dirty look and they all but tripped over their feet to back off. It was weird.”

  “Whatever.” The woman had lost interest in the conversation. “Irregardless, don’t hit him again.”

  It was the man’s turn to snort. “You know that’s not really a word, right?”

  Between the thud of flesh on flesh, the grunt of pain, and the sudden swerve of the car, I was pretty sure Grammar Man’s lesson fell on deaf ears. It also seemed to be the end of the conversation as someone turned up the radio and we continued on to who-knew-where to the ramblings of a local country station.

  I swear we drove forever as I was bounced and jostled in the back of the SUV, each impact making the throbbing pain in my head worse until the car finally screeched to a stop, the action promptly being met with criticism.

  “Where the fuck did you learn how to drive?” the woman hissed. “Are you trying to draw attention to us?”

  “Jesus fuck,” the man snapped. “Is there anything you don’t bitch about?”

  Her response, if there was one was lost as the two doors opened and slammed shut a few second before the rear driver’s door was opened and I nearly fell out.

  “Good, you’re awake.” The man gave me a cold smile. He jerked me from the car, gripping my arm tightly when my legs threatened to give out. Looping a coat over my hands bound in front of me, he smirked. “Now, you’re going to walk nice and politely between us and not make any trouble, aren’t you, princess?”

  “Why would I do that?” I spat, baring my teeth.

  He laughed. “Because if you call any attention to us, I’d have to kill the other person and you don’t want that guilt on your shoulders, now, do you?”

  The fight leaked out of me immediately. Of course, I didn’t want to be responsible for that.

  “Good, let’s all go on in and get settled.” He shot me an evil grin. “You have a big day ahead of you.”

  The crap about not making a scene ended up being exactly that-crap-since it was immediately obvious that the motel was no longer a functioning business. There was nothing I could do to suppress the shiver that wracked my body at his words. From the conversation in the car, it was pretty clear that they didn’t expect me to live to see the sun set, and since Sylas had no way of knowing where I was, it looked like I was going to have to find a way to make a break for it. Which ended up being easier said than done.

  The motel was a single-story L-shaped brick building with private exterior entrances to each room. The walk from the parking lot to the room was short but it gave me enough time to glance around and realize that I had absolutely no idea where I was. Even worse, there didn’t seem to be anything in the immediate area- no fast-food restaurants, no shopping centers, not even a freaking gas station.

  Nothing.


  “I need to pee,” I announced as soon as the door to the motel room opened, hoping for a chance to squeeze out a window.

  “No,” The woman said from behind me.

  “I..what?” My jaw dropped. “I need to go!”

  “So, piss yourself,” she said as casually as if she was declining seconds at lunch. “Your father,” she spat the word, “should be here any minute. Either way, we won’t be cleaning the room so it’s not going to matter to us, is it, Sean?”

  The man shrugged. “Not to me.”

  “But…that’s just cruel!” I gasped in outrage.

  Neither of them answered. The man, Sean, closed and locked the door and then left me standing in the doorway and walked over to stretch out on one of the two double beds. I got my first look at the woman as she walked past me, spitting in my face on her way by.

  Mrs. Senator from Texas, Rosemary Davis. Also known as my stepmother.

  Fuck my life.

  Chapter Thirty

  Sylas

  Through the numerous decades I’d lived, I’d watched as warm-blooded humanoid shifters had slowly crept out of the shadows, taking their place as neighbors to the full humans, cautiously at first. Then, as the years passed, the guarded truce had progressed into a kind of hesitant acceptance, with shifters and humans finally merging into communities of sorts.

  The cold-blooded shifters, dragons and the like, had been left on the outside looking in. Partly due to a naturally standoffish nature that made those long-lived species less willing to forgive and forget the slights of the past and partly due to the humans’ inherent distrust of reptiles as a whole.

  In truth, if you walked up to a human and asked what types of cold-blooded shifters they knew, very few would come up with anything but a dragon, and the beast that I had just unleashed was thousands of times rarer than even a jeweled dragon, usually believed to be the rarest of the rare.

  So as I undulated through the weeds at the side of the highway, my forked tongue longer than a compact car as it flickered in and out of my snout, tasting the air as I navigated through senses most species had lost, I wasn’t surprised to hear vehicles screeching to a halt, some even crashing into the one in front of them as they stared at me instead of watching their progression. Yes, I heard all of it; the crunching of metal on metal, the screams layering upon themselves each time my overwhelming bulk glistened in the sunlight. Of course, I heard it, but that’s not to say I registered it.

  My entire focus was on locating the source of the desperate scream for help echoing inside my head, on finding the Omega crying out for his Alpha to rescue him from danger he should have never fallen into.

  On saving the husband and son of my heart.

  It’s true that the vehicle I had left behind could have traveled faster than the fifty or so miles per hour that I slid along the ground, but it couldn’t have done it as the crow flies -or, more accurately as the serpent slithers. I wound through abandoned buildings, over fences and across backyards dotted with children’s’ toys, shoving obstacles from my path or simply crushing them at will as I followed my tongue.

  The change in the air was gradual as I reached the city limits. The fuel emissions and other pollutants faded, bringing Paul’s scent higher in the atmospheric layer and making it easier for me to follow. Somewhere in the back of my mind it registered that I was back at the edge of the same abandoned industrial park that the fake text message had lured me to that morning.

  Sylas! Paul’s terrified voice was louder in my mind, verifying that I was close to finding him. I know you probably can’t hear me but I love you. I’m so sorry I was stupid enough to open that fucking door!

  My heart sped up at the fear bleeding through but I focused on sending comfort back to him. I do hear you, Tiger, and I’m coming. Just hang in there. And watch your language. I tacked the last bit on hoping it would help center him.

  Shock. Amazement. Relief. The emotions flooding into my mind nearly overwhelmed me. Sorry. I can’t believe that worked! Even as Paul was expressing his astonishment, I could also feel the niggling of doubt in the back of his mind that he was losing his sanity.

  I’d imagine that the sight of a serpent larger than a semi-truck chuckling as it raced across the abandoned roads would have been one for the news, but it wasn’t important.

  You’re not crazy, I tried to reassure him. I’m close but there are too many buildings to check. Do you know which one you’re in?

  Motel, Paul’s response was immediate. There’s electricity but I think it’s abandoned. There weren’t any other cars. They said my father is coming. He paused again. My stepmother is with the goon who grabbed me.

  Oh, fuck.

  Much like a freight train, it takes me several minutes to slow to a stop when I’m traveling at full speed and by the time I did, I was in an overgrown parking lot staring directly at a rundown motel with only one vehicle in the parking lot.

  I see you, I reassured him quickly. Did they say anything else?

  Just that my father has some business to discuss with me. I don’t think they’re going to do anything until he gets here.

  Good. I studied the building for a minute. Are you by the door? Or the window?

  The window, Paul responded immediately. The bi..woman is in the bathroom and the man is staring at me.

  I snorted. Good catch. Get as far from the door as you can and face out the window, okay?

  Slithering toward the building, I considered shifting before making my entrance but promptly decided against it. Without knowing if the bad guys were armed, I was better staying in the form that could take the most damage without needing back up.

  Besides, the look on that asshole’s face when he opened the door was going to be fun.

  Well, for me, anyway.

  At least, until Paul realized that I really was the monster that nightmares are made of but, even if I had to live without him, at least I’d know that he and Bun were safe.

  Scooping up a few rocks in my mouth, I spit them at the door and waited.

  “What the fuck…” The door jerked open and the man standing there shrieked, the gun in his fist clattering to the ground as his jaw began to tremble and he promptly went as white as a ghost. He took a step back, too bad for him that that meant he took a step toward the beast’s family.

  I narrowed my eyes, watching as the sickly white color of his skin was replaced by a line of gray just under his hairline that started moving lower, his eyes filling with horror as he realized he was no longer able to move.

  Glancing past the living statue in front of me, I saw that Paul had done as he was told and was staring out the window, but I could see him watching in the reflection on the glass. He gasped and spun around, his eyes threatening to swallow his entire face as he stared at the portion of my head -just my snout, really- that was able to poke into the room.

  I braced myself for his reaction, for the fearful screams that I knew were coming, but instead of backing away, my brave Omega raced toward me, wrapping his arms as far around my thick neck as he could, his tears hot against my scales.

  “Thank you,” Paul sobbed, pressing as close to me as he could get. “I can’t believe you found me.”

  “Step back,” I hissed gently. “Let me change. You might want to look away.”

  “Will it hurt me?” Paul’s question was valid as I’d just turned his kidnapper to stone with my gaze.

  “No, but it’s not pretty.”

  Shaking his head, Paul smiled through his tears and pressed a gentle kiss to my long neck. “You’re beautiful.”

  Well, crap. There went my heart again.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Paul

  Forcing my arms to release the serpent’s neck, I took a couple of small steps back into the motel room like Sylas asked, but I drew the line at averting my eyes to protect my oh-so-tender sensibilities. Honestly, with everything that he had done for me since we met, occasionally being a giant snake-thing wasn’t anywhere near enoug
h to scare me off.

  I watched in rapt fascination as the air around us seemed to thicken. The serpent’s silver-white scales shimmered, and the long, sinuous body shrunk in on itself, stretching into a sparkling star that solidified into the form of a kneeling humanoid. The entire experience was remarkable.

  Sylas’s back arched as he drew in several breaths. I was getting concerned when he finally rose to his feet, standing gloriously naked before me, a flush on his cheeks and his eyes trained on the dirty sidewalk before us.

  “You’re..are you okay?” I asked, taking one stumbling step forward before catching myself.

  “Me?” Sylas sounded incredulous. “I’m fine. You’re the one who’s been kidnapped and then..this,” he waved his hand dismissively down the length of his chest.

  “This?” I repeated, unable to stop a laugh as I took another step forward, sighing when I found myself pressed to his naked body, a soft fabric bag caught between us. “You mean how you’re not exactly a dragon?” I teased, wrapping my arms around his waist and holding him tight. “I’ve never seen anything like your animal form.”

  Sylas drew in a deep breath but surprised me by snickering. “Not too many people have.” Before he could continue, a thud from the bathroom reminded me that we weren’t alone. Sylas glanced behind me, his tone hardening. “Mommy dearest?”

  I nodded. “They said we’re waiting for my father. Something about him finally manning up to do what he should have done years ago. And she muttered something about the money better be worth the headache.” I hesitated. “Kind of weird that she didn’t come out when he yelled,” I observed, jerking my thumb in the direction of the kidnapper frozen in place.

  Sylas caught my hand, leading me into the room. When we passed the goon frozen in the doorway, Sylas squeezed my hand. “He’s not dead,” he said reassuringly.

  I snorted. “Too bad.”

  Sylas cocked a brow at me but didn’t respond, instead leading me over to the small table crammed into the corner of the motel room. He nodded to the chair against the wall. “Why don’t you have a seat while I take care of a few things?”