Blood Promise (A SkinWalker Novel #4) (A DarkWorld SkinWalker Novel) (35 page)

"Okay," I said. "Let's assume you're right and Omega isn't involved. Then what about Blake? Why did he attack me? Who is he working for?"

Logan shrugged. "How would I know?"

It wasn't mature to punch someone for being an asshole. "You said you knew him."
 

"Knew. Past tense." Logan sighed, a deep exhalation that sounded like he'd been holding it for weeks. "A long time ago. His name isn't Blake. It's Brett Nevins. He's an air mage."

At last. Something concrete. "An air mage. That makes sense. Daniel--Daniel Chou, the agent you shot Cicero, remember?--said things got a little cold when Blake got angry."

Logan rubbed his chin. "I haven't seen him in years. He probably doesn't work for Omega anymore."

Why was I always the bearer of bad news? "Yes, he does."

"Who says?" His voice was hard, as if he was straining against the need to scream.

"Agent Chou."
 

Logan nodded, his eyes bleak.
 

"He insisted that Blake--Nevins worked for Omega, and that Chou's superior, Jones, thought Nevins was a loose cannon. The 'big-guy' mastermind wasn't happy with his performance and said so when he visited the site after we left."

Logan tightened his jaw, the action visible beneath under his unshaven cheek.

I sighed. "Forget it. If you don't want to investigate, I'll find another way. But I promise you I'll find the truth and hold the people responsible accountable for their actions."

Logan continued to stare at the wood floor, his jaw muscle ticking.

Screw maturity. "Look at me, Logan." I waited until he did so and then stared him straight in the eye. An alpha stare. "I don't care how you know him. Nobody will care. But your reactions are making me wonder why
you
do. It's not like you to be so protective of Omega, especially when they've had a big fat question mark hanging over their heads since the debacle with Mom. How can I ignore that?"

He blinked but didn't speak. Then he turned his back on me to look out the window. "You're right."

About time.
I folded my arms and waited.

"Your family needs you."

Right.
 

"I think it's best we take a break from each other."

That's--
What?

He swung back to face me, eyes cool, jaw hard. "I've complicated your life for long enough."

I should have been shocked and upset but all I felt was a simmering anger. Logan had never backed away from me. Not once. That he would do it now, when all hell was breaking loose, meant one thing.

Somehow he'd found out about a certain marriage proposal.
 

"How long have you known?" I asked, my lips tight.

He didn't answer that question. "We got the message within hours of the meeting. I didn't want to talk about it because clearly it wasn't something you were prepared to discuss. But ... Justin Lake would be much better for you."

"Is that so?" What was is about men that made you want to bash some sense into them?

I watched him, knowing he'd never struck me as the jealous type. And even if Omega knew so much about me that they had files on how in love I'd once been with Justin Lake, it didn't matter.

Logan took a step back and lowered himself onto the windowsill, then spread his hands out in front of him, as if the action was his apology.
 

"The ruling isn't a small thing," he said. "The high council is playing games with your families, but those games could have permanent consequences for your future."

I wanted to rant and rave but I tightened my fist, clamped my own jaw shut.
 

If I'd ever thought I could live the rest of my life without being an alpha I'd been kidding myself. It was who I was. Who I'd always been. Yes, I'd fought against what I'd once seen as a burden but it had only taken the experiences of the last few months to force me to wise up.

Heat flared in my cheeks and I took a shallow breath.

Control
.

"You're wrong." The air vibrated with the emotion in those two words and I tightened my fists. Control. "I don't
need
to be an alpha. I
am
an alpha. There isn't a distinction."

He tilted his head, obviously waiting for me to continue. The look on his face telling me what he expected me to say. That I
needed
him. Well, I wasn't going to. I refused to use the word
need
with reference to Logan. Not when he sat there cold and hard without a sliver of his own heart showing.

Maybe it was pride. I didn't care. How had this meeting degraded from heartfelt reunion to ice-cold goodbye?

I let the silence stretch. Thin.
 

Logan moved, restless. "Yes. You're an alpha and I'm human. Whatever our personal difference of opinion, I'll still do what I can to figure out what Omega has to do with this situation."

Generous of him, I thought and then chastised myself for being bitchy.

I refused to deal with his emotional baggage right now. Or mine. There were more important issues.

"Then you can start by finding us a mage with memory skills."

He nodded, obviously relieved I was being reasonable. "What type of memory skills?"

"The ability to find missing memories. The ability to remove memories from a person's mind." I scowled at the possibility. "The ability to tell us if such a thing is possible and, if so, what the process is."

"And what type of person would have that particular type of ability?"
 

I thought of Storm.

"Exactly." I nodded, then said, "Oh, and I may want to take them with me to the Graylands."

"What for?" He didn't ask how I'd carry off such a crazy plan.

"It's probably the best way the mage will have of accessing the minds of the agent--Daniel Chou--and the two kids. The kids were both pretty sure something had happened to their memories." My fingers curled into fists at my side. "Whatever it takes, I'm damn well going to do it."

Logan made a soft grunting sound which I took as his agreement. "Just know that it will take a little while to get the right person on board."

My brow furrowed. "Why?"

Logan cleared his throat. "My security clearance has been downgraded. I don't have the access I did. I think it's best we move covertly so we don't alert the wrong people at Omega."

"Shit." How could I have forgotten Daniel's warning?

"What's wrong?" Logan was frowning.

"I'm not used to this level of intelligence gathering," I said, my tone angry, both at myself and Omega. "They have their eyes on all of us. Be careful at your apartment too."

"Why?"

"Chou said we're all being watched, and he mentioned your name. You have agents watching you. Probably listening too."

"Great." Logan scratched his head. "I'll sweep for bugs when I get home." He looked around the apartment, raising a questioning eyebrow. When I nodded he began to do a sweep.

I followed slowly.

Whatever we'd said up to this point was incriminating enough that I didn't care what else they hear. Our personal dramas had no impact of the greater scheme of things.

"We still have unfinished business between us." I spoke softly, but with a rock-hard firmness "I'm putting it on the back burner for now but we
will
revisit it."
 

He merely raised an eyebrow and continued his scan of an air vent.
 

"And," I continued, "When this is over, even if you don't want me in your life anymore, I plan to help you find the truth behind your dreams."

He didn't respond just headed into Grams bedroom, his expression bland.
 

Another few minutes and he returned with a handful of listening devices.

Crap
.

Well, it wasn't as if they hadn't already heard everything else that had gone on in our apartment.

And how the hell had they managed to install them without leaving a trace of their own scent behind? I sighed silently. This was Omega we were playing with. I wouldn't put it past them to come in wearing hazmat suits.

Logan put a finger to his lips and went to the kitchen. In a cupboard beneath the counter he found an empty canning jar and placed the devices inside it. Then he put the whole thing inside Grams' glass cookie jar, and dusted off his hands.

"That should dull the sounds," he said, "but still make them think the devices are functioning."

And that, apparently, was the end of the our conversation because he dug into his pocket for his phone and began to make a flurry of calls.

While I listened in I made coffee and then sliced some apple and cinnamon cake I found in the fridge. Caffeine and carbs. They weren't a cure for frustration but they made it possible to handle in the short term.

Logan's calls consisted mostly of requests for an 'Eraser'. When he mentioned a Darcy Graham who contracted to both Omega and Sentinel I felt a jolt of relief.

He ended his call and I pushed the plate of cake and a mug of steaming coffee towards him.

He keyed in another number as he took a seat, and as soon as someone answered he asked for Darcy's assistance at an external location. I mouthed
Dad's
and he nodded before he made arrangements for Saleem to bring the mind mage to the
location
. Perhaps he thought Dad's place should remain secure, but I didn't ask.

No doubt Omega had cameras on all their agents.

My cheeks went hot at the thought. I'd visited Logan at his hotel room a couple times already so our personal relationship was probably general knowledge at Omega. But I hoped our physical activities weren't.

When he ended the call Logan inhaled his cake, slugged back his coffee in a gulp, and shoved to his feet.

"Come on. Saleem will get Darcy and be there before we do." He fished inside a pocket for his keys. "Sometimes I hate being plain old human."

I snickered as I headed out the door.
 

Outside, Logan swung a leg over the seat of his motorbike and gunned the engine.

"Don't have a spare helmet so you'll have to use mine."
 

He handed it to me and I took it without argument. I'd survive a crash on this machine easier than he would, but there wasn't any sense wasting time in an argument.

I jammed the helmet on my head and swung up behind him, feeling the vibration of the bike beneath me as we started into the quiet street.

With the landscape of concrete and steel fast turning into trees and grass, we headed into the hills.
 

The ride was a too-brief respite from the turmoil of our world. But however brief it was, I savored every second.

W
HEN
WE
REACHED
T
UKATS
AND
entered Dad's house, the place was quiet so early in the morning. Not unusual in a building in which both Dad and Iain worked. Add the goblin kid to the mix, and it should be filled with noise.

I blinked, scrunching up my eyes. I hadn't had any sleep since I'd returned from the Graylands and it was bound to catch up on me soon.

I walked into the front room. My father crouched in front of the fireplace striking a match and watching the flame burn. He touched the match to the paper protruding between the lower logs, then looked up with a smile.

I rubbed my arms as I went to him, and was glad for his hug, however brief it was. My father had been slowly learning how to deal with the physical affection side of our relationship when Greer died, and for a while he'd retreated into his shell as he dealt with her loss.

With Mom back he seemed to be shedding more layers. It was all I could ask for.

I stepped out of his embrace and shivered. "It's cold here."

"Hence the fire," he said.

I rolled my eyes and spun on my heel leaving the Dad and Logan to their awkward greetings while I rummaged in the hall closet for one of Dad's old cardigans.