Omegas (Vanguards Book 1) Read online

  Omegas

  by

  Annie Nicholas

  Chapter One

  Eric strode into Sugar’s living room holding an envelope. “I found the solution to our problem.”

  Sugar uncurled her legs from under her and sat straighter as she watched Eric’s lanky form approach. They had both survived growing-up in the same low-income neighborhood. Friendship forged in such fires never died.

  He handed her a letter and joined the rest of his small, self-proclaimed werewolf pack lounging on her mismatched furniture.

  Sugar scanned the front then the back. “Pal Robi Incorporated.” She read the sender’s name out loud. “What’s this?”

  “It’s our salvation.” Eric gestured to pack mates and leaned forward in his seat. “Read it to everyone.”

  She glanced at him with a questioning look. What was he up to? Eric had been unusually quiet and reserved since he and other shifters had told her about their problem. Sliding her fingernail under the corner, she tore it open. The paper felt heavy and thick with a huge company emblem embossed at the top left-hand corner. Expensive. An errant blond curl slid in front of her eyes and she shoved it back behind her ear.

  To the Omega pack:

  I have reviewed the details of your plight. Pal Robi Incorporated deals mostly in security issues, but I find your problem worthy of my personal attention. Enclosed you will find a non-negotiable contract. Please review it closely, and have your signatures notarized. The return fax number is listed on the contract so proceedings can begin. Mail the original to the office. Thank you for your business.

  Sincerely,

  Daedalus Pal Robi

  “A contract? Don’t tell me you hired a hit man.” She wouldn’t put it past him. They were desperate and shifters followed the law of the wild, not the rules human authorities tried to shackle them with.

  The wolf shifters responded to her outburst with low growls directed at Eric.

  What had she gotten herself tangled in? She wasn’t pack. She was a plain vanilla human. No super strength or amazing healing abilities, just a woman with werewolves as neighbors and the inability to say no when they asked her for help. Maybe that was her super power? If it was, it sucked.

  “What kind of person do you think I am?” Eyes wide, Eric held his hands out in front of him. “Mr. Pal Robi is offering to teach us how to fight.”

  Sugar tilted her head as she surveyed her friend and sighed. This again. “Yeah, probably for a substantial fee. How can you afford this?” They barely made rent every month. Since becoming a shifter, Eric thought with his heart first, then his dick, and finally his brain. It kept getting him in trouble. Like this vampire and fighting thing.

  Eric looked at his pack. She used that term loosely because technically calling them a pack was what placed them in this situation in the first place. He pleaded with his eyes. “Before you make any judgments, let’s have Sugar read the contract out loud.”

  She held it in front of her and took a deep breath. Here went everything. “This is an agreement between Pal Robi Incorporated and Eric, Sam, Katrina, Tyler, and Robert, from here forward to be known as the Omegas.” She rolled her eyes. This so-called trainer gave them a name. She read the rest to them.

  Scope:

  1. Pal Robi Inc. will provide to the Omegas, training in defense, hand-to-hand combat and small weapons use.

  2. Training will take place for the duration of the period beginning with the trainer’s arrival until the challenge date.

  3. Combat training is inherently dangerous. Pal Robi Inc. is not responsible for injury or death sustained during such training.

  4. Trainer will not intentionally hurt and-or kill any Omega during the period of this agreement.

  Responsibilities of the Omegas:

  1. Omegas will provide trainer from Pal Robi with appropriate lodgings.

  2. Omegas will provide daylight security of said trainer.

  3. Omegas will submit to the direction of the trainer without question for the duration of the training.

  Fees:

  1. Omegas agree to pay Pal Robi Inc. the agreed upon fee in cash prior to the beginning of training.

  2. In addition, Omegas will provide the trainer with fresh, consumable blood upon request.

  She gave the contract a slow blink, then continued out of habit while her mind fought off denial and allowed that last bit to sink in.

  Penalties:

  1. Failure to provide payment renders this agreement null and void.

  2. Failure to abide by the terms specified represents a breach of contract which renders the agreement null and void.

  3. Breach of contract will result in an immediate investigation. Vengeance will be swift and unmerciful.

  Sugar reread the last line to herself then placed the contract on her lap. Huh. Blood and unmerciful vengeance. In a legal and binding contract? Cold claws of fear gripped her stomach. “You hired a vampire?” The soft question shattered the quiet weighing heavily on the room. How had Eric, an omega werewolf, made contact with a vampire? Better yet, why had Eric contacted a vampire? Her head pounded and she fought the urge to tear the letter into confetti.

  Eric stood and faced his pack mates, staring at each one in turn. “How can we not hire him? The Ayumu pack officially challenged us. One of us has to fight and beat one of their alphas in a month. There’s no other way.”

  Robert held up his hand to speak, like a kid in a classroom.

  She sighed. How could this pack of puppies fight a pack of wolves? “Robert, speak up. You don’t need to ask permission to talk anymore, remember?”

  He grinned sheepishly. “What do they mean ‘vengeance will be swift and unmerciful?’”

  They turned to Eric, but it was Tyler who answered. “It means if anything happens to the vamp, we can kiss our asses goodbye.”

  Sugar folded the letter closed. She agreed with Tyler. Vampires were bad news. Literally, all over the news swearing they had turned a new leaf and won’t hunt humans anymore. They accepted donors. Wouldn’t catch her volunteering any time soon.

  “We will be absorbed again,” Katrina whispered in her thick Asian accent, as she hugged her knees tight against her chest. Being a submissive female in a pack equated to being anyone’s meat. Sugar had tried to help Katrina come to terms with those old wounds, but they kept her captive.

  Tyler shuffled closer to Katrina, petting her long, black, silken tresses. She shrank from him, fear etched on her delicate features.

  He looked at Sugar and shrugged.

  She crumpled the letter in her hand. How did preying on weaker members of the pack equate to strength? She just couldn’t understand shifter culture.

  “You should run away.” The weight of Sugar’s words hung in the sudden silence.

  Eric crossed his arms. “There will always be another Ayumu pack wherever we go. We’re finally happy. We have jobs, friends, and a home. It’s all worth fighting for, right guys?”

  Sugar watched her friends’ expressions harden and her heart sank. So, it would be a fight.

  They nodded to each other, sealing their fates.

  There went their quiet life.

  Worst of all, a vampire would be moving in next door.

  Her neighbors called themselves omegas, which Eric had explained meant none of them cared to fight for dominance and position in their packs. Each of them runaways from their old and abusive packs.

  She and Eric had been friends since high school, when he’d helped her and her twin while they were trapped in a home of drug abuse. Eric had treated her like a little sister, advising her on life in general. When he survived his werewolf attack, both their worlds shattered and their roles reversed. Now, she had to b
e the strong one while he still adjusted to growing fur and claws.

  After escaping his pack, Eric had rented the apartment next to Sugar and had solicited her to help him search for others like himself. Werewolves with no attitude, geeks of the underworld, because being alone was killing Eric slowly. She knew firsthand what it felt like not to be wanted, to be considered weak, and used by those who should have taken care of her. Though not a werewolf, she fit right in with this group omegas.

  They found four other lost wolves to join him: Sam, Tyler, Katrina and Robert. No alphas ruled this pack. They leaned on each other and became a family. All five lived in Eric’s small apartment somehow.

  * * * *

  Daedalus Pal Robi strode across the foyer of his house and tossed his car keys to a passing vampire. “Can you park it in the garage for me? I’m done hunting for the night.” He pointed to a piece of wood protruding from his abdomen. That was a close call. He would let the others think the vampire-gone-bad he’d been hunting and finally killed had done this. In truth, a clumsy fall almost ended his long existence.

  The human police were discovering decapitated bodies in the river. They thought a serial killer responsible so far. Daedalus knew better, decapitation was an excellent way to hide bite marks, as well as burning the bodies or shredding the flesh to make it look like a shifter kill. As Nosferatu Prime of Northeastern America, it was his responsibility to take care of these issues before the humans did. Vampires didn’t need more bad publicity. History did that for them.

  Daedalus killed the lazy son-of-demon. It didn’t take much effort tracking and staking him. In his over-confidence, Daedalus had spun around to leave and tripped on a fucking extension cord. It sent him flying face forward onto an antique wood chair, hence the chair leg sticking out of his stomach. A little to the left and two inches higher and a pile of dust would be all that was left of him.

  His nest mate stared at the injury. “Do you need help, Master?”

  “Nah. Just a flesh wound. It won’t take long to heal.” He closed the door to his study behind him and crossed the room to the fireplace. Leaning against the mantle with one hand, he wrapped the other around the wood shaft. He took a deep breath and yanked the son of a bitch out.

  “Fuck.” Wood burned. It didn’t matter where in the body it stabbed him. He tossed the piece into the fire and rested his forehead against the mantle. Blood trickled from the wound in a steady thin stream. He’d have to feed to finish the healing process.

  He pressed his hand to the wound and retreated to his comfy chair close to the fireplace. That was too close. If he’d perished, how would people remember him? The Infernal Champion of the Brotherhood, Vile Butcher of Babylon, and Subjugator of the Accords, to name a few of his titles.

  For the last two hundred years he’d been trying to be good. Whatever that meant. It started out as an experiment but over the last century it had transformed into a true desire. After an age of depravity and lack of role models, he still wasn’t clear what he should and shouldn’t be doing.

  The Vampire Council ordered no killing of humans so he enforced that law to the best of his ability. If a few unsavory ones vanished in the night and nobody missed them then he turned the other way. Ridding the human race of evil doers seemed good.

  Someone knocked on the door.

  He jerked in his chair at the sharp noise and stifled a moan at the stabbing pain. Careless again. Too lost in his thoughts, he hadn’t heard the footsteps. He’d grown complacent in job surrounded by his loyal nest. “What?” Yanking his leather jacket closed, he hid his healing injury.

  The door cracked open and Clementine, his vampire secretary, stepped inside, her eyes downcast as always. She hurried across the room and handed him a large business envelope. “This arrived while you were gone, Master.”

  “Thank you.” He glanced at the return address, glimpsing the word Chicago, and fingered the edges of the seal. It wouldn’t behoove a Prime to tear it open like a boy on Christmas morning. “Could you call for a donor to attend me, Clementine? I feel like eating in tonight.”

  She bobbed her head and backed out of the room. One day she’d stop fearing him, he hoped.

  Ripping open the envelope, he saw what he’d been hoping for. The shifters signed the contract. He could afford to leave his nest for a few months and take this small side job. He grinned and buzzed his personal security team.

  “Yes, Master?”

  “We’re going to Chicago tomorrow night. Come by my study so we can make arrangements.” Training a few shifters to defend themselves seemed like a good thing to do.

  Chapter Two

  Two nights later Sugar heard struggling outside her apartment door. The book in her hand didn’t grab her attention like the racket in the hall. Standing, she left the book behind and tiptoed to the door. She cracked it open to peek outside. Eric, Tyler and Robert were carrying a large, black, shiny coffin past her apartment.

  Sugar sighed and rubbed her chin. Could she hide in her apartment for a month? It was silly to worry about this stranger, but he meant change and change meant conflict. She’d endured enough of that growing up. Life had finally become easy.

  Vampires had announced their existence years ago, becoming legal citizens. This one apparently ran his own business, which would help her friends. It wasn’t like he’d be something from the horror movies. Those had kept her awake with nightmares when she was a kid. Her twin sister used to curl up in bed with her when she’d wake up screaming. Their parents were far from consoling. Sugar squared her shoulders. Time, she faced her own demons and met this new neighbor.

  She padded down the carpeted hall barefoot, to where the boys were trying to wedge the coffin through their doorway. The thin shifters battled with the box, and she smiled. “I think you need to turn it sideways and slide it at an angle.” The coffin shone like glass. Temptation got the best of her, and she ran a finger along the surface. It felt cool. “Is he in there?”

  “No, he’s not.” A rich, masculine voice draped over her body as if embracing her.

  Sugar spun, sucked in a hard breath, and retreated against the cold surface of the coffin. Magazines ran pictures of mainstream vampires. TV even showed a few interviews with them, but nothing prepared her for this particular one.

  The deep blue color of his eyes reminded her of the sea. Well-defined cheekbones led to a strong jaw and a slight teasing smile on his full, sensual lips.

  A stirring began deep inside her. He wasn’t beautiful. He was sexier and…dangerous.

  Breathless, she suppressed an impulsive urge to ask him to rub the smooth, pale skin of his bald head all over her body. A heated hunger awoke, one she thought lay dormant or dead. It unfurled inside of her and wanted to do bad things.

  “You’re not wolf.” He loomed over her. A black tattoo on his well-developed chest peeked out from underneath his partially unbuttoned white dress shirt.

  Eric reached over her shoulder and tapped her chin with his finger, silently instructing her to close her mouth. “Sugar is our neighbor.” He gestured to the rakish vampire. “This is Mr. Pal Robi.”

  Heat crept up her cheeks. She stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

  His hand engulfed hers while he shook it tenderly. “Is that your real name?” He didn’t release his hold.

  A thrill ran through her. Her IQ seemed to be dropping fast and she tried to gather what was left of her wits before Mr. Pal Robi left her panting at his feet. “My parents have a poor sense of humor. I have a twin named Spice.”

  Amusement creased the skin around his eyes. “Sugar and spice, and everything nice.”

  The poem annoyed her more every time someone quoted it. “Yes, I’ve heard the rest and I’m not made of everything nice.” She withdrew her hand from his. Maybe the phenomenal packing was only skin deep.

  A carnal light sparked in his eyes. “I hope not. You may call me Daedalus.” His gaze traced her face and slipped lower, caressing the curves of her breasts, then down a
long her hips.

  Sugar gasped as this alarming man studied her. She could almost hear the Omegas leering at her response to Daedalus. “I’ll get out of your way.”

  He didn’t move as she pressed herself against the wall to squeeze by him. The tips of her breasts brushed his well-muscled arm. They pebbled, pushing through her blouse. Naughty images of him running those large palms over her nipples played in her mind.

  In a flash of desire her panties became wet. Damn him. She realized he’d wanted her to brush against him. He was such a cad, and it made her want him even more.

  * * * *

  Sugar’s heart-shaped ass wiggled down the hall toward what he assumed was her apartment. She was ravishing. He didn’t mix business with pleasure, but she didn’t belong to the pack, just a friendly human neighbor, and he was technically on vacation.

  Bonus.

  She reminded him of the 1950’s pin-up poster girls, pretty and full of luscious curves. He still kept those posters in storage somewhere. Would she taste as sweet as her name or as sharp as her tongue? He couldn’t wait to find out. It was like Christmas Eve and him anticipating unwrapping his gift.

  Sugar. He would ignite her sweetness into a passionate inferno. Maybe she’d play hard to get? He hoped so.

  Daedalus saw the flush of color bloom on her cheeks and felt the softness of her flesh through her sweater as she brushed against him. He wanted her to turn and look at him one more time before she disappeared behind a door.

  Come on, sweet thing. One more look.

  The Omegas began wrestling with his coffin again. “Can we call you Daedalus?” one of them piped up.

  Sugar glanced back at him.

  “No.” Daedalus gave her a shameless wink. Bingo.

  Chapter 3

  Sugar tiptoed along the hall toward the apartment next door silent as a doe in the woods. Quiet had dominated the shifter’s corner of the building since Mr. Pal Robi’s arrival last week. She’d barely seen her friends and her life seemed so empty now. Sometimes she’d get a glimpse of the omegas as they left in the evening to train as she entered the building from finishing her shift at the library. Yesterday, when she went out on her garden balcony to water the plants, she watched them jog by with their vampire trainer on the sidewalk. He ran, and they straggled behind. Other than that, nothing. No one came over to visit. Not even Katrina, who had become a permanent fixture in her home.