The Omega and the Assassin (3 page)

“You can be a real bitch sometimes. You know that right?”

“I learned it all from you. After all, you are the older one.”

“By five minutes. That doesn’t even really count.”

Kevin took a drink of soda then said, “It does in my book.”

Finn turned around and glanced at Simon. Simon was now looking at his table companions, and they were all eating. Finn wondered what an assassin ate for dinner. Raw meat? Road kill? Who knew with them? There were always crazy rumors flying around in regards to the assassins. At least half of which Finn knew weren’t true.

He felt another shiver go over his body. He would be working with Simon for God knew how long. While the guy might be a jerk, Finn had to admit he was good looking. Oh, well, at least he would have a nice view to enjoy while he was on this crazy mission. That was the one and only plus of the job.

The next morning when Simon went to the common area, he found Finn already there waiting for him. Good, it looked like the punk learned his lesson from the day before. Which meant he was trainable, so maybe all wasn’t lost as far as the Omega went.

Finn wore earbuds and was listening to music, but he seemed to immediately sense Simon’s presence. Finn pulled the listening devices out of his ears and tucked away his
iPhone,
then stood. A small blush broke out over his slightly rounded cheeks, and damn if it didn’t make him adorable.

Simon shook his head. Now where in the hell had that thought come from? He hated Wolves. He sure as hell didn’t think they were cute. Even if they had a fresh-out-of-bed look about them. It also didn’t hurt that Finn was a damn ruthless killer. That had always been a turn-on for Simon. He liked a man who wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty when it came to a good fight.

“I see that you remembered to charge your phone this time,” Simon said by way of greeting.

Finn flashed a grin that was way too sexy. “I usually only make the same mistake once. I try to learn from my errors.”

If that was actually true, then Simon couldn’t help but admire that trait about Finn. But, then again, he’d only known the Omega one day, so he could be pulling his leg for all Simon knew.

“Who was that guy you were sitting with at dinner with last night?” Simon asked.

Not that he cared—honestly. He had no intention of ever getting involved with Finn, so Simon wasn’t the least bit jealous. He was just merely curious was all.
Yeah, right, you little liar,
a voice mocked in his head.

“That was my twin brother, Kline.”

“You two don’t look anything alike.”

“We’re fraternal twins,” Finn explained.

“Why was he wearing sunglasses?”

“Because, like I have enhanced smell, he has enhanced vision. While it may sound cool at first, it actually sucks. It makes him really sensitive to light. He can’t even go outside during the day.”

“It’s really that bad?” Simon asked.

Boy, wasn’t he just full of the questions this morning. He was beginning to feel like a toddler that was always going
why? Why? Why? Why?

Finn nodded. “Yeah, it sucks to be him sometimes.”

“I would guess so. Is it better when he shifts?”

“No, it’s actually worse. He can only run at night. So he has to spend most of his time in our living quarters. He gets really lonely sometimes.”

“So is that the reason why I’ve never seen you two at the cafeteria until last night?”

Finn hedged. He didn’t want to come off as too weak in Simon’s eyes. “Well, that and it’s a little bit because if me. You know how I have an amped up sense of smell?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, it’s hard for me to be around so many emotions at once. It kind of overloads me at times.”

Simon couldn’t help but feel sympathy for Finn. “That must suck.”

“You have no idea. It’s like having a panic attack, only not. If that makes any sense.”

“Yeah, in a strange way, it does.”

Finn hooked a thumb towards the door. “You ready to get going? The sooner we get out there and kill those stupid Spiders, the sooner this mission will be over with.”

Simon didn’t know whether to feel insulted or not. “Are you that eager to get rid of me?”

Finn blushed again. “No, I just assumed that you would be. I don’t know that many assassins that would consider it fun to hang out with an Omega for hours at a time.”

“You’re not that bad,” Simon conceded.

Finn tilted his head to the side. “Thanks…I think.”

They walked out and got into the car. Like the day before, Finn had little to say. He just kept his gaze focused on the passing scenery and kept his mouth closed. Finally when Simon couldn’t take it anymore he asked, “What are you doing?”

“What do you mean?” Finn asked.

“You keep looking outside like you’ve never seen it before.”

“It’s because I haven’t.”

Confused, Simon pressed, “What do you mean?”

“Well, since my parents were rogue, we never got out much, and after Kline’s gifts developed, I stayed in with him. The only times I ever get out is when I go on tracking missions. So I haven’t seen a lot of these places before. Do you know that I’ve never eaten in a real restaurant before? How sad is that?”

Simon could relate to that in more ways than one. Since birth up until recently, he was kept imprisoned by a cruel master. As a slave, Simon was only allowed to go out on missions. It wasn’t until he and his fellow group of assassins had escaped that they had known any kind of freedom.

“Don’t feel too bad. I just ate at my first one not too long ago,” Simon assured Finn.

“So, you don’t think I’m a loser?”

“No, not at all. We’ve all had our own weird pasts. Trust me.”

“You’ll have to tell me your story sometime,” Finn said.

“I would, but I don’t want to give you nightmares.”

Finn stared at him, but instead of a look of pity crossing his face, Simon was shocked to see a flash of anger go through the Omega’s eyes. “Did somebody hurt you?”

“Yeah, he did…a lot,” Simon admitted.

“I hope you made him pay for it.”

Simon was taken aback by Finn’s brutal comment. Omegas were usually the peacekeepers of the pack. But then again, Simon should be getting used to such surprising actions from Finn.

“You sure as hell don’t act like any Omega I’ve ever met,” Simon said.

“Not all of us like to be led around on a leash,” Finn retorted.

“I never said that Omegas do. They’re just usually more docile than you.”

“Yeah, well they haven’t been through what I’ve been.”

“And what exactly is that?” Simon asked.

Finn stared at him a few minutes before saying, “We really should be concentrating on the mission instead of each other’s past.”

Ooooookay, it looked like Finn wasn’t in the sharing mood. Which wasn’t fair at all because Simon had just shared some of his dirty little secrets. But Simon was willing to let it drop for the moment. He had plenty of time to get Finn’s backstory. Now that he was being so elusive about it, he’d just made Simon all the more curious.

They arrived at the park. Since it had been closed off to the public for obvious reasons, it was easy to find a place to park. The Betas were already there. They were getting their gear out of the back of their SUV and strapping it on.

Finn slid out of the passenger seat almost before Simon had the vehicle turned off. Finn was being so standoffish that Simon was tempted to sniff himself just to make sure he didn’t stink or something. What had he done to make Finn so prickly?

Simon got out and joined Finn at the back. Since Simon already had most of his weapons on him, he only needed to add a few guns here and there. Once they were all suited up, Finn separated himself from the rest of the group and began to do his thing.

Simon couldn’t help but be in awe as he watched Finn work. His face tilted up into the wind, he sniffed in hopes of getting a scent of the Spiders. He even leaned down and ran his fingers over the sand again.

“They went this way. There’s five of them, and they’re bigger than the other ones,” Finn finally announced.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” a Beta said.

“Why not?” Simon asked.

Yesterday they were all about not doubting Finn, and here they were…well, doubting him. Simon wanted to yell at them to make up their damn minds already.

“Because that path leads to one of the lakes. Why would they go there?” the Beta asked.

Simon went over and looked for himself. He was a damn good tracker himself. In fact, he was the best in his assassin group, which was why he got stuck with this assignment. Even if Spiders did give him the heebie-jeebies. He looked at the brush and could instantly tell that Finn was correct. The Spiders had been through there.

“He’s right. The Spiders came through here and it wasn’t too long ago. These breaks in the tree branches are fresh,” Simon said.

“But, that still doesn’t explain why they would go to a lake,” the Beta continued to argue.

“Maybe they got thirsty,” Simon said. “Now let’s go.”

They huffed their way, following Simon along the trail, Finn close at his heels. Once they got within sight of the lake, Simon held up a hand to stop them. At the bank were three Spiders.

“What are you doing? Aren’t we going to engage them?” one of the Beta’s demanded.”

Simon turned on him. “What’s your name?”

“Avan, sir.”

“Well, Avan,” Simon replied, putting great emphasis on the Wolf’s name. “Soon you’ll learn not to question me. Just like you don’t question the little Omega, here.”

“Hey! I’m not that little,” Finn protested.

“You’re not exactly small enough to put in coveralls and drag around in a red wagon, but you’re pretty damn close,” Simon said, as he pulled out his sniper rifle and took aim at the Spiders.

They were still far away, and there weren’t many who could hit a target at that distance, but Simon wasn’t just anybody. While his old master might have been a bastard, he’d been good at the things he’d done and one of them had been marksmanship, a skill he’d passed down to Toby and Simon. Or rather, literally beat into them.

Simon carefully squeezed off three shots, and the Spiders fell down in quick succession. As Simon lowered the rifle, he had to resist the urge to stick his tongue out at Avan. Ha! That would teach the bastard to question him again.

They all walked down to examine the Spiders and to make sure that they were really dead and not wounded.

“But…” Finn said.

“See, I told you I had it handled,” Simon said to Avan.

“But…” Finn tried again.

Avan held up his hands. “Fine, I won’t question you again. God, you assassins and your egos.”

“But…” Finn raised his voice this time.

“What about our egos?” Simon demanded.

“But…” Finn persisted.”

“I think Finn is trying to say something,” another Beta said.

“What’s your name?” Simon asked the Beta.

“Culver.”

“Don’t interrupt me when I’m arguing, Culver. Got it?” Simon snapped.

“Yes, sir,” Culver said before swallowing hard.

Finn finally got between Avan and Simon. “We have a problem.”

“What’s that?” Simon said, glaring down at the Omega.

“There were five Spiders.” Fine held up five fingers. “You only killed three. So, where are the other two?”

Oh, shit! The little shit was right. Which meant they were all in deep shit.

Simon and the others began to frantically look around for the other two Spiders, but there was no sign of them anywhere. All he saw was the beach, a now empty concession stand, and the surrounding woods.

This…was…not…good…at…all.

A Spider swooped out of nowhere, landed on Finn’s back, and knocked the Omega into the lake. They were at a side where there was a deep drop off, so Finn immediately went under the murky depths.

Simon yelled out Finn’s name as the Omega disappeared from view. Going down onto his stomach, Simon reached an arm into the water in hopes of coming into contact with some part of Finn. All his hand found was water.

Damn it all! He was going to have to get wet. There was just no way around it. Quickly whipping off his cloak and most of his weapons, Simon took a dagger, clenched it tight in his hand then dove into the water.

Oh, it was cold. Way too cold for the end of summer. But Simon braced himself and pushed himself deeper down into the water. He kept looking for signs of Finn and wasn’t seeing them. He was just about to give up all hope when he saw a flurry of movement.

Finn and the Spider were thrashing around and it looked like Finn was losing strength quickly. Whoever had taught the Omega to fight obviously hadn’t taught the Wolf shit about how to swim. Finn was flailing about, his kicks uncoordinated at best. At least the Spider wasn’t much better. It looked like it was panicking, and that was the only thing that had saved Finn from being bit so far. But its pinchers were getting damn close a few times, and it was only a matter of time before they found home if Simon didn’t get there soon.

Simon kicked his way toward the pair. Unlike them, he was an excellent swimmer. He reached them quickly. While part of him wanted to take Finn to the top immediately, Simon knew he had to eliminate the Spider first. Good thing he was an assassin and knew how to kill quickly.

It only took a few slices with his blade, and the Spider was dead, its carcass floating to the bottom of the lake. By that point Finn had stopped struggling and had gone limp. Simon let out a grunt. There was no way in hell that he was going to let the Omega die. Not after all the trouble he’d gone through saving his sorry hide.

Simon scooped his arm around Finn’s waist and hauled him to the surface. Once they crested the surface, Simon took in a gasping breath of fresh air. Avan grabbed Finn from Simon and laid him on the nearby sand.

Simon climbed out of the water and knelt by Finn. When he noted that Finn wasn’t breathing, Simon let out a curse. Finn would have to make this difficult. Leaning down, Simon pressed his lips against Finn’s, noting how cold they were, then breathed into Finn’s mouth. He did this a few times until Finn let out a cough and began to gurgle. Simon rolled him to the side, just in time for Finn to vomit up a bunch of water.