Cause Ωf Death (Femme Fatale Freakshow)

Chapter 12

I am going to be in so much trouble when I get home.

On the one hand, I’ve managed to keep Kieran Prince breathing, but he’s not looking that good. He has multiple open wounds littered over his hands and head. The glimpse I got of his back, as he stripped his hoodie only to offer it to me, makes me wonder if his adrenaline is running so high that he’s not actually feeling any pain. I honestly hope that’s what’s going on with him, because the very thought of him sustaining any nerve damage—no matter how temporary—makes me want to burn the world down.

Tweedle Dum had been about as much of a challenge to overcome as the other three sigmas. The most difficult part in subduing him was ensuring that I didn’t kill the asshole, because, as I told Kieran, I have questions.

Plus, I need the pass code to his phone. Fucker doesn’t have facial recognition, and uses an old-fashioned PIN instead.

With Kieran’s assistance, I soon have Tweedle Dum stripped of his wallet, phone, keys, the gun and knife he had tucked in his boots, and his boots as well. While his feet are several sizes larger than mine, they’re the smallest of all the sigmas. It’s getting dark, and cold, and I’m going to need to put something on my feet before too long. Wandering around an abandoned building in the dark—without anything to protect my feet—is idiotic in the extreme, and his boots are my best bet. I’m both physically and emotionally exhausted. Shifting multiple times a day—and holding partial shifts as well—is tiring, and I hadn’t prepared myself for this possible outcome.

My own fault, I suppose.

I turn to face Kieran, ready to give him directions on what I need him to do, but blink at the number of wallets and phones held in his outstretched palms.

“I don’t know what they did with my stuff, but I pulled these off the other bodies while you were dealing with Tweedle Dum over there.”

I glance down at the proffered bounty, then back up at the omega.

“Did you use any of their devices at all? Did you try calling or texting anyone about what happened?” I blurt out, biting back a curse at the possibility that I’ll soon have to deal with incoming security.

To my shock, Kieran shakes his head in the negative.

“No, I didn’t. I’d like to apologize for what I said earlier. Obviously, you know who I am as you used my name. You know who my father is, and who my family are. You know I’m someone who certain types of people find attractive as an easy opportunity to make some fast cash.” He rubs at the back of his neck, a dull red blush suffusing his skin.

“This isn’t the first kidnapping attempt I’ve endured, nor will it be the last. When I said that there’s a protocol in place, it’s more to do with the possible need for medical intervention on my behalf. You see, I have a condition?—”

“P.I.D.D.” I state, nodding as his eyes widen at my statement. “You have primary immunodeficiency disease, and as such, are extremely vulnerable to infections and diseases. The accident, subsequent abduction, and trauma your body has experienced in the aftermath of it all is probably going to tank your immune system until it crashes, so we’ll need to get you medical assistance as soon as possible. There’s just one problem with all that, Kieran.”

He stares at me, his eyes conveying so much emotion. Shock, fear, and curiosity are all there, but the most speaking one is the wariness creeping into his gaze. I nod.

“You see, I know a lot about you, Kieran Xavier Prince. I know your true date of birth. I know who your security team is. I know every appointment and entry on your daily schedule. I know what the inside of your home looks like. ”

Kieran gulps and sways on his feet, flinching away from me as I step forward to steady him. I halt, raising my hands in a gesture of peace, then indicate for him to sit against a wall. I remain where I’m standing, showing him with my actions that, despite my words, I’m no threat to him. Not now.

Not ever.

“I’m sure you’re wondering how and why I know all these things, Kieran. I’ll be honest with you, I was contracted to infiltrate your home and end your life. The only criteria I had to fulfill was to make it appear that you died from natural causes. Knowing your medical history as I now do, it wouldn’t have been that difficult a task to achieve.”

Kieran’s scent turns bitter with fear, the sweetness of the orange turning sour and acidic in my nose and on my tongue.

“There’s just one little problem with the contract I accepted. You see, I always do my own research on my targets, as I refuse to kill those who are innocent. It didn’t take much digging to discover that you were being set up, that you don’t deserve such a fate. So instead of eliminating you, I’ve decided that I’ll find the people truly responsible for the heinous acts you’re being accused of and end them instead. If that means I also have to protect you from their goons, then so be it.”

“Who are you?” Kieran whispers with dread-filled awe, and I smile wickedly.

“I’m your fucking fairy godmother, your guardian angel in disguise. But you can call me… Wisp. ”

My revelation has stunned Kieran so completely that he doesn’t even register when Tweedle Dum finally rouses. Unfortunately for the newly-conscious sigma, he won’t remain awake for long.

I squat over the sigma’s stomach like a malevolent little gargoyle, a deliberately unhinged grin splitting my face. My eyes light up with unholy delight as he blinks up at me, and I cackle with glee as he flinches away. But there’s no escape.

Not for him. Not from me.

“Well, hello there, Conroy Nolan,” I purr, having gleaned Tweedle Dum’s name from his driver’s license. “You seem to have been a very naughty boy, and I’m here to make sure you pay the piper for your actions. Now, we can either do this the easy way, or the hard way, but that decision is entirely. Up. To. You.”

I punctuate my last four words with a finger boop to the tip of his nose, each tap causing him to jerk at my touch and cringe as far away from me as he can.

Spoiler alert: it’s not that far.

“Wh… what do y… you want?” Conroy stammers out, and I wrinkle my nose as his already pungent scent becomes even more odoriferous.

“Information, Conroy. Information. I want to know everything . I want to know the name, address, and other contact details of your employer. I want bank transaction and account details. I want to know why you were sent after the princeling over there, and what your end game was. I don’t appreciate it when other people poach my targets, and unfortunately for you, an example needs to be made.”

Conroy gulps, his Adam’s apple bobbing convulsively as he swallows.

“Who… who are you? Why do you think Prince is yours?”

I lean down further, my voice soft and low, but still loud enough for Kieran to hear if he’s listening in.

“I’m the thing that goes bump in the night. I’m the monster of your nightmares, the blade in the shadows. I am the bitter end you never saw coming. I am death disguised as beauty and seduction, and I am sex personified. I’m known as The Wisp, and I’m an initiate of The Guild.”

The acrid stench of piss floods the air as Conroy loses control of his bladder. I lean back, my smirk even broader than before.

“Oh, you’ve heard of me then? Or if not me, then my organization? I’m afraid you’ve been duped, Conroy. Kieran Prince’s life is mine to take and should anyone else try to steal it away from me before I’m done with him, then it’ll be my blade at their throat. If they’re lucky.”

“A… and if they’re n… not?” Conroy stammers out, and my expression darkens with both threat and promise.

“If they’re not, then they’ll never see me coming. Just like you and your friends never saw me coming. I can face them, just like I’m facing you, and take their life without them knowing I’m there. So, knowing that your life will be ending today, do you want to see it coming, Conroy? Or do you want that uncertainty, the fear of the unknown to be the last thing you experience before you die? Choose wisely, because one will be granted with mercy, while the other will be laden with your suffering.”

Conroy chooses. Wisely.

Smart man.

Dead man.

I wipe the blade of Conroy’s knife, removing all traces of the sigma’s blood. It’s a shame, really, having to eliminate him. He proved to be very useful to me in the end, giving up more than I originally asked for, although that’s probably because some of his other information is sorely lacking. His cooperation ensures his death is instant and relatively painless as I sever his brain stem from his spinal cord with a single plunge of his blade.

With the plethora of phones on hand, I not only recorded my interrogation, but also made copious notes to provide Kimberly and Leslie with once we all catch up to each other. That’s the next step in this whole process.

I stand up and stretch, reaching my fingertips up toward the ceiling. My joints pop and crack as my spine realigns after spending so much time hunched over while questioning Conroy. I look over to where Kieran is huddled against the wall, and a twinge of pity as well as concern spears through me.

Have I scarred the handsome omega for life? Is he regretting putting his trust in me?

Does he think I’ll betray him as well?

“Kieran?” I quietly ask, a knot of tension unwinding as he immediately faces me, his expression open and calm.

“Are… have you finished with him, then? Can… can we leave now? I don’t want to stick around in a room with four dead bodies, even if they’re the villains of the piece.” Kieran replies, and I nod softly.

“Yeah, we can leave. I’ll make a call to my friends once we’re outside, have them come and collect us.” I pause for a moment, wondering if I should ask the question on the tip of my tongue. Kieran has an air of vulnerable fragility surrounding him, but I think he’s actually got a core stronger than steel. He’d have to, with the hand life has dealt him.

“Kieran, how much of my… conversation … with Conroy did you listen to?”

The omega snorts derisively, glaring down at the corpse of the sigma before shrugging.

“While I didn’t take detailed notes like you, I think I managed to get the gist of it. It appears that someone fairly high up either in the Royal Empire or my family—perhaps even both—has taken a hit out on me. They approached your organization first, but also wanted to hedge their bets, or perhaps recoup the cost of the hit. So, they put out another contract, a sales contract, this time to the person employing Conroy and his cronies. However, as far as he knew, neither Conroy nor his employer were aware that you had a prior contract out on me when I was sold to them. My seller also didn’t notify them of my condition, possibly in the hopes that I would obtain sufficient injuries during my abduction to completely fuck my immune system, and eventually kill me.” Kieran glares down at the pile of dead sigmas and kicks at one of them in frustration.

“Unfortunately, Conroy didn’t know the identity of the seller. He did have other details including offshore bank account numbers and a couple of IP addresses, but that doesn’t mean anything at the moment. As for the identity and motives of the buyer? Well, it doesn’t make sense. There are plenty of ways for a group of alphas to attract an omega legally, but there are no matchmaking agencies in the world that would stand for allowing one of their omegas to access the dark web, let alone be one of its stars.”

I cross the room and stop where he’s sitting, stretching out my hand in offering.

“Do you trust me, Kieran?” I ask, searching his gaze with my own. He looks up at me, searching my gaze in return before giving me a hesitant nod, placing his palm in my outstretched one.

“Good. Because right now, I’m wholly invested in keeping you hale and hearty so I can figure out who is fucking with us all.” I grip his hand firmly and haul him to his feet. “C’mon, princeling. Let’s get you out of here and into the fresh air. I’ll call my friends and see if I can patch you up somewhat while we wait for them to arrive.”

“What about my father? What about my security team? Can we at least let them know I’m okay?”

I pause for a moment, giving his request the consideration it deserves.

“Let’s get you somewhere safe and off the grid first. I won’t promise that you’ll be able to speak to your dad personally, but I’ll see if I can get a message through to him somehow.”

It’s the best I can offer him at this point in time, and I’m relieved when Kieran accepts it without argument.

I tap the flashlight icon on Conroy’s phone, the tiny light illuminating our surroundings well enough that we avoid tripping and falling over the debris and detritus littering the ground as we exit the ruined building. Enough time has passed that the sun has set, and only a few lighter streaks of blue and pink paint the horizon. I lead Kieran over to the crumbling outbuilding where Jekyll had stashed the van on Conroy’s orders. Using the keys Kieran pilfered from Jekyll’s body, I unlock the front of the van and get Kieran to sit on the bench seat. A quick search of the cab of the van proves futile, with not even a basic first-aid kit stored in the dash compartment.

Fuck.

I give the omega a brief once-over, ignoring the way his spiced orange scent has my mouth watering and grimace at the state of him.

“Right. For the moment, you’ll live, but we need to get you out of here and somewhere clean. I’ll be right back. Do not move from this spot, do you understand?” I order Kieran, and he nods. He slumps in the seat, his eyes dull with pain and exhaustion, a gray tinge bleeding into his skin and sending alarm bells clanging in my brain.

I briskly walk around to the rear of the van and use the code Conroy gave me to unlock his phone. I tap in a number I know by heart, one that will bounce from cell tower to cell tower, never stopping, never triangulating. It’s been well over eight hours since I left Leslie’s side, and I’m praying that they followed the protocols Henley set up when I first joined the Guild, and they’re back at home with Kimberly, awaiting my call.

“Speak!” Leslie barks down the line, and I shudder at the fury lacing their tone. I don’t think I’ve ever heard them this angry before, at least, not with me.

“L, it’s me. I need you and K to evac the following coordinates.” I rattle off Kieran’s and my geolocation, before dropping a coded bombshell.

“Code Orange. We have a fox in the hen house. I repeat, we have a fox in the hen house. I’ve secured our prized cock, but he’s missing a few feathers. We also disturbed a rat’s nest on our way out, but they’ve been dealt with.”

Silence echoes down the line before a spate of low cursing burns my ears.

“Roger that. ETA is two hours from now.”

The call abruptly disconnects in my ear, which is more telling than anything Leslie could have said to me. But at least they understood the message.

Shit has blown up, we have no idea who’s behind it all, and while I’ve got Kieran secured for the moment, he’s also injured. It’ll take Leslie and Kimmy a few minutes to collect our evac bags and med-kit from the closet, and then head to the storage unit on the other side of town to pick up supplies and the large, modified Suburban we store there in case we need to bug out at a moment’s notice. My main regret is that Henley and Steve are both still in transit somewhere between Las Vegas and Merced. Hopefully, Kimberly can get a message to them to meet us at whatever safe location Leslie has in mind.

Time is relative. Einstein said that. He wasn’t wrong.

The two hours it takes for Leslie and Kimberly to arrive at the abandoned ruins feels like an eternity. Without knowing whether or not Conroy’s boss decided to send backup, I remain on high alert. Every snap of a twig, every rustle of leaves in the trees or surrounding scrub, they all have me twitching and jerking. It doesn’t help things that I am surrounded by Kieran’s scent, which has the unforeseen result of sending my libido into outer space. My inner thighs are slick with arousal, and there is an unforgiving, incessant throbbing low in my belly following every beat of my heart. It’s distracting, and disturbing, and I don’t like it.

Not one bit.

Part of me is refusing to even contemplate the possibility that my heat is setting up to arrive early. However, the more responsible part of my subconscious willing to consider it is refusing to acknowledge or entertain the ideas that: a) another omega is influencing my heat cycles; b) we’re soon going to have an alpha on hand who is desperate to finally see me through a heat; or c) for the first time in my life I’m attracted to more than one alpha, and would happily present for either—or both—of them. Separately or together.

I don’t have the time or mental bandwidth to deal with my body’s idiosyncrasies right now, so I do what most adults do when faced with such a dilemma—I ignore it and hope it goes away.

Headlights cut through the gloom, slowly navigating their way along the derelict driveway until they light up what I’ve learned is an abandoned resort hotel. I detach from the shadows and slowly walk toward the vehicle, careful to remain out of sight until I’m certain of our newest visitors’ identity.

The vehicle comes to a halt, tires crunching on the gravel, the heat and stench of diesel exhaust washing over me as I approach from behind. I relax as a figure I know, trust, and dearly love exits from the driver’s door.

Henley turns and stares directly at me, even though I haven’t made a sound.

“Disa Mariah Aloft, give me one fucking reason why I shouldn’t put you over my knee and tan your ass until it glows,” he growls, and an excited thrill shivers through me at the thought of his hands on my bare skin. “You’re fucking lucky that Steve and I made good time and arrived before Les and Kimmy could leave without us. Now, where’s this hostage of yours? We need to get gone, and get gone yesterday. This place is being watched.”

Another shiver wracks my body, but this isn’t one of delicious anticipation. Fear bleeds through me—fear for my family, fear of ambush, but most of all, fear for the omega under my protection.

I jog back over to the van, slowing as I approach the open passenger door. Kieran is propped up against the B pillar, eyes closed as he drowses restlessly. His skin has turned ashen during our wait, with tiny beads of sweat breaking out over his forehead and above his lip. His T-shirt is damp, and when I brush my fingers over the skin of his throat, I grimace at the clammy feel of it over his thundering pulse.

“Kieran,” I murmur softly, gently shaking his shoulders to wake him from his doze. “Our ride is here, let’s get you into the car and next to a med-kit, yeah?”

Golden eyes blink groggily down at me. Kieran doesn’t say a word as he slips from the bench seat, the movement fluid but also lacking grace. He stumbles as his feet hit the ground, his knees buckling beneath his own weight. It’s only through my quick intervention that he doesn’t crumple to the ground completely, and I quickly shove my shoulder into his side, using myself as a brace to keep him steady.

“C’mon, princeling. One foot in front of the other, now. That’s it,” I croon, encouraging him to take baby steps toward the SUV where the rest of my family wait.

Steve is out of the vehicle and standing alongside Henley by the time we reach the car, the back passenger door already open and ready. Leslie and Kimberly are set up in the back with a caged Gizmo, and there’s an open med-kit sitting on the empty back seat.

Steve passes me a soft bundle and nods to it, then gently lifts Kieran into his arms and then into the car. Unrolling the bundle I find matching sports underwear, soft leggings, and an open-neck knit sweater, as well as a pair of ballet flats. I kick off Conroy’s boots and shimmy into the clean panties and leggings, then shrug off Kieran’s hoodie and pass it over to Steve. The pockets are full to bulging with the assortment of items we looted from the bodies, and I gesture to them as Steve takes possession of the bundle.

“The hoodie is Kieran’s. There’s a bunch of stuff that Les and Kimmy may find interesting or useful in the pockets,” I instruct before tucking myself into the sports bra and then the sweater. I brush the remaining loose dirt and grit from my feet before slipping them into the ballet flats. I start to climb into the back seat alongside Kieran, but Steve blocks my entry, shaking his head and pointing to the front passenger seat.

“You’re riding shotgun, short-stack. Don’t worry, I’ll look after your boy here. I’m pretty handy and know my way around a med-kit. You have some explaining to do, so hop in so we can get the fuck out of here.”

I grimace, but don’t argue. It’s pointless to do so, for one, and we don’t have the time to waste. Climbing into the front of the SUV, I ignore the angry stare of my hopeful alpha and simply buckle my seat belt. Steve firmly closes my door, the car rocking with the shifting weight of him sliding into the seat behind me and slamming his own door shut. The moment it does, Henley puts the pedal to the metal, gravel kicking out from beneath the tires as he accelerates away from the derelict building and the ghosts who now reside there.

“Talk, Disa. And don’t you dare think of leaving anything out. You’re in deep enough shit with me as it is,” Hen growls at me, and I sigh. I have no desire to omit any details, nor dig myself even deeper into the shit with Henley.

Not even if it means revealing my attraction to Adam and Kieran.

So, I talk.

And tell them everything .