75. Chapter Seventy-Four

Chapter Seventy-Four

Lana

W atching a psychic Omega at work is completely engrossing. One by one, each Omega sits down next to him, and he takes their hands in his. Every time, he’s able to pick up on who the clients are. Brooke writes the names down next to the names of our Omegas on a slip of paper.

When it’s over, Rob seems tired.

The day is practically over, and we spent all of it discovering awful truths.

Damian got enough decoding done to give us back up for the names we uncovered with Rob.

“It all matches up,” I tell Brooke, before I pass her the slip of paper Damian handed me.

“This is great,” she says. “I mean … It’s fucking awful, but we can crush these bastards now.”

“All except the last one,” I remind her.

“The last one?” Damian asks. “The one that we couldn’t figure out, right?”

“Did you find something?” Brooke asks eagerly.

“It kind of looks like that was a personal project.”

“A personal project?” I ask. “Like as in he was brainwashing someone to use personally?”

“Yeah,” Damian confirms. “I’m not totally sure, but I’d say that’s what it is.”

“Can you do anything to try and make sure?”

“Yeah. Tomorrow. I’m wiped and I need to take Rob home.”

“Okay, sure,” I tell him.

“The ninth one is a Beta,” Rob says suddenly.

“How do you know that?” I ask.

“If he’s brainwashing someone to use personally, then he’s using staff, not an Omega who would eventually leave.”

“Oh my God,” I murmur, trying to think.

“I bet anything it’s Melvin,” Pete mutters.

It could be. He has a two-syllable name.

No, don’t jump to conclusions, Lana.

Plenty of people on staff have two-syllable names.

“We need to check the phone records,” Pete says. “Incoming calls. He uses words to trigger the people he brainwashes, right?”

“I’m the one who’s been answering most of the calls,” I remind him. “I haven’t taken any from prison.”

“Right,” he murmurs. “He probably wouldn’t call here directly.”

“Everyone has a cell phone,” Brooke adds. “He’d use that.”

“He probably got someone to install that camera,” I realize.

Pete nods. “That would make sense. You’ve been so sure no one who works here would hurt you. It would make sense for him to use that against you.”

It makes me shiver. “We can figure this out in the morning. It’s late. We all need rest.”

Everyone agrees.

Damian and Rob sign out with the guest book, and they leave the premises, promising to return in the morning, to continue helping decode the files. I make the call to alert the guard on the gates that they’re leaving. After I hang up the call, I switch the phone back to answering machine mode, and I turn off my PC.

Brooke gets to her feet. “Well, I think we have enough info to call the cops. Should we do that now, or do we wait for the final name?”

She’s right. We have information. It’s probably enough to give the cops a starting point for an investigation. I let out a sigh. The thought of dealing with cops tonight makes me wearier than I already am.

“I think we can do that tomorrow. Give Damian a bit more time before they potentially take the work out of his hands. He’s done well with this stuff.”

“Rob too,” she says, shaking her head. “I had no idea Zeta’s were real.”

“I think a lot of people would say that.”

It was kind of crazy how detailed he got. He definitely nailed every last client and their motives, and he was able to do it from seeing them through their intended victim’s eyes.

The craziest part was how much better it made everyone feel to know the truth.

I’m not sure it would make me feel better to know why some creep decided he wanted to buy me, but I guess at least knowing who he was would make it a little less scary.

A monster with a face is a bit easier to deal with than one that’s lurking in the dark.

I move out from behind the desk, and Kellan’s favor pops back into my head.

Brooke’s biting her lip. She glances at Pete.

He clears his throat. “I’ll give you two a minute.”

He steps out of the room and Brooke smiles.

“So, I’m not going to keep asking if you’ll date me,” she starts, taking me by surprise.

She gazes at my marks, and I realize this is it.

She’s letting me go.

I hesitated for too long. I doubted her at every step, not believing she could ever really want someone like me. I told myself we missed our shot. I told myself she had her mates.

None of that was honest. It was all mired in fear.

I was afraid she didn’t really want me.

I was scared to say yes and have something go wrong.

“I’ll always wonder what we could have had,” Brooke says. “But I respect your choice. It’s not a typical situation. It was never going to be easy.”

She takes my hands in hers. “Will you let me kiss you goodbye?”

I nod slowly, still trying to find the right words.

She moves closer and rests her forehead against mine.

We stand there for a few minutes, silent and solemn.

Then, she tilts her head and presses her lips to mine.

The soaring feeling I get when she kisses me is undeniable.

I kiss back, wrapping my arms around her with the intention to never let go.

It feels so right. She feels like she’s mine. Like we belong together.

We both have mates, but they seem okay with this.

I’m the only one who hasn’t been certain.

And that’s only because it feels impossible to have everything I could ever want.

But it’s not. That’s a roadblock I put in my own path.

Anything is possible. Everything is possible.

She breaks away, breathing heavy.

Her statement lipstick is still in place.

Of course it is, she always looks perfect.

“I want to be with you,” I admit. “I was just … It didn’t seem real.”

She blinks at me. “Are you telling me, all I had to do, all this time, was kiss you?”

I laugh. “Probably.”

When I breathe in again, I catch a soft, sweet scent of cherries on the air.

She smiles, pressing her lips together.

“Is that … Did you just perfume, for me?”

“I took suppressants to come out here. They don’t work around Kellan because he’s my mate, but I knew I’d be around a bunch of other people, too. Only true mates can make me perfume when I’m trying to supress it.”

“You’re my true mate,” I murmur, remembering hearing it from Rob in the hallway before.

He knew before we did. Or before I did, at least.

“I am,” Brooke agrees. “Are you mine?”

“I’m yours.”

This time, when we kiss, I know everything is going to be fine.

The bond between us is real, and it’s separate from our mates and our packs.

We were always meant to be together, and now we’re both ready to make it official.