OMEGA: A New Adult Urban Fantasy (Mackenzie Grey Book 4) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Afterword

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Karina’s Kick-Ass Reads

  The Last Valkyrie

  Also by Karina Espinosa

  OMEGA

  Mackenzie Grey #4

  Karina Espinosa

  Copyright © 2017 by Karina Espinosa

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover design by © Laura Hidalgo

  Edited by Daniella Brooks

  Copyright 2017 by Karina Espinosa

  ISBN-13: 978-1973787013

  ISBN-10: 1973787016

  ASIN: B074BWL958

  To my readers,

  This one is for you.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Afterword

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Karina’s Kick-Ass Reads

  The Last Valkyrie

  The Last Valkyrie

  Also by Karina Espinosa

  1

  The rules of engagement were simple: be loud, never back down, and always have the last word. That’s shop talk in the SIU squad room when you’re the only female on the team. Women were treated as the weakest links, but I, on the other hand, was on top of the food chain. I guessed there were some advantages to being a Lycan—a princess no less, but no one had it harder than my partner, Garrett Michaels. He was the only human detective in the Supernatural Investigative Unit and the guys never let him forget it.

  “What did that vamp do again?”

  “He flashed his fangs at him,” Liam smirked. “Humans are such cowards.”

  “And vampires are smarmy rat-dwellers who hide in the shadows. Think you’re any better?” I chimed in.

  Liam pushed off his desk, tipping his chair over. “No one was talking to you.”

  “Does it look like I care?”

  “Grey,” Michaels called out. Per his request, I was no longer allowed to defend him. According to my partner, I’d been degrading him as a man. I understood, but this was different. He wasn’t defending himself against just anyone—he stood against supernaturals. Although he did it on a daily basis in the streets, it’s different with your colleagues.

  Finn and Liam were partners in the SIU, a reaper and a vampire—go figure. One collected souls, the other didn’t have one.

  “I’m shutting up,” I raised my hands in surrender.

  Finn chuckled, “Grey to the rescue. She won’t always be here, Michaels. Be a man.”

  I snorted. “Give it a rest, Finn. Who hid when we chased that shifting gargoyle?”

  The squad room burst into laughter.

  “Oh man, I remember that!” Liam exclaimed. “We found you in some bushes in Prospect Park. Good times.”

  The reaper rolled his eyes. “Ha-ha, very funny. You got me, Grey.”

  I winked.

  While everyone returned to their work, Michaels snuck out of the squad room without saying a word. I already knew he was in his feelings and I needed to set things right. I hustled out to the hallway where he was waiting for the elevator. He was loosening the top button of his blue button down when I approached. Garrett Michaels might be the only male in my life who wasn’t trying to control my every move. We’d originally been partners when I’d been an intern at 1PP—One Police Plaza—but once I divulged my secret, it was easy for him to get in with the SIU. They were desperate for detectives to join the squad, so they didn’t look twice at the fact that Michaels was human.

  “Save your breath, Grey,” he grumbled as he pushed the elevator button with irritation.

  “I know I should have kept my trap shut, but you can’t expect me—”

  “I’m not an imbecile!” he exclaimed. “If the guys are ever going to treat me like an equal, then I can’t have you running to my rescue all the time. It’s just trash talk, Grey, that’s all they’re doing.”

  He was right. Michaels had fifteen years in the force under his belt, he could deal with some locker room trash talk, but I couldn’t resist the urge to protect him.

  “You know you want to be the Whitney Houston to my Kevin Costner,” I nudged him.

  He sighed. “Do you want to grab lunch?”

  “Gray’s Papaya?” I perked up.

  “Why am I not surprised.”

  “Let me grab my jacket and—”

  “Grey! Michaels!” Liam yelled from the squad room. Without hesitation, we ran back in to find uproar. SIU officers were getting geared up, while our team prepped themselves.

  “Hey!” I grabbed Finn as he jogged to the weapons cage. “Where?”

  “They found another body,” he huffed. “Upper East Side.”

  “Drained of blood again?”

  He nodded. “We leave in two minutes.”

  When I returned from Scotland I wasn’t in the most positive state of mind. I spent some time in Los Angeles before I returned home, and for the first time in a while, I was on my own. The only thing I found solace in was work. Rejoining the New York City division of the SIU was the best decision I made. It took my mind off the revolution and everything I had lost and pushed away in the process—my whole Pack. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the crazy to start. For the past few months we’d been dealing with a vampire serial killer. The victims ranged from human to supernatural, no particular pattern, and they were left—drained of their blood—in random parts of the city. We hadn’t been able to pin-point the next victim’s location, the only thing we knew was that it happened every Sunday like clockwork.

  The
drive to the Upper East Side was fast and bumpy. We sat in the back of an armored truck, following a police car escort to the crime scene. The sirens blared as we blazed through the city. I was perched at the back of the vehicle with Finn in front of me, while Michaels and Liam sat further in the truck.

  “You know I was just messing with him, right?” Finn whispered.

  “You might be, but Liam isn’t. I don’t trust him with Michaels,” I said. The other officer’s voices muffled ours.

  “I wouldn’t stress over Liam. He’s harmless. Especially with you watching over the human like a hawk,” he chuckled.

  “Just lay off him, Finn. He doesn’t need to distrust his own team.”

  “He shouldn’t be on the team, Grey. We spend more time looking out for him than anything else. He’s fragile.”

  “Don’t underestimate Michaels.”

  There was a silence between us as I stared into the reapers pitch-black eyes. He nodded but didn’t say anything else for the rest of the ride.

  The back doors to the truck ripped open and we ran out like SWAT into a closed off street in Carnegie Hill—an upscale neighborhood in the Upper East Side. A massive metallic tent covered the crime scene to keep onlookers, both civilian and human officers, from taking a peek. My team of four burst into the tent to find a pale white body, its eyes sunken and wide open, lying on the ground. Our supernatural CSI was already there collecting evidence and taking pictures.

  “Anything, Tom?” Michaels asked one of the investigators.

  “Same as always. No DNA or shred of viable evidence,” Tom said as he squatted by the body and tipped the victim’s chin with his pen. “Just these two puncture wounds on the neck and its body drained of blood.”

  “What is he?” I mumbled.

  “The victim,” Tom started. “He’s human.”

  “That muzzle of yours not working, Princess?” Liam came up from behind me.

  I reached over and grabbed the vampire by the front of his shirt. “How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me princess? You’re asking for a beating,” I growled.

  He laughed. “You? Give me a beat-down? You guys hear this?” Liam pushed me away. “You can barely swat a fly, Grey. That’s what happens when you’re moon-bound.” The vampire chuckled and walked around me to speak with one of the crime scene investigators.

  I stood stock still as I processed what he’d said. It couldn’t have been that obvious. I hadn’t told anyone that I’d stopped shifting, that my wolf now relied on the full moon. How did Liam know?

  My gaze wandered around the enclosed area and everyone stared like I was a ticking time-bomb ready to explode—like they knew my secret.

  “Grey,” Michaels muttered. “Let’s get back to work.”

  I straightened my back and lifted my chin. It didn’t matter if they knew I was moon-bound. It was none of their business.

  “This asshole is going to strike next Sunday if we don’t find something soon!” I barked. “Someone give me something!”

  Wide eyes stared at me before I flashed my silvers and they snapped out of their daze. Officers shuffled and tossed around theories.

  “We know it’s a vampire.”

  “Why don’t we go to the Head Vampire of New York City?”

  “No DNA is left. Do we know for sure it’s a vamp?”

  “It could also be ghouls or any other blood consuming species.”

  “Don’t be stupid. It’s definitely a blood-suck—”

  The ground shook and the sound of crumpling foil boomed as the tent began to collapse. We paused when we heard gunshots and screaming outside.

  “Stop where you are!” someone yelled. “Put your hands up!”

  Another round of gunshots were fired until someone screamed, “Run!” That was our cue to get out of the collapsed tent and find out what the hell was going on.

  “Finn, Liam, go out through the back. Michaels, watch my six,” I yelled and pulled out my firearm from my gun holster.

  We ducked out of the tent to find piles of injured or dead SIU personnel lying on the concrete. I sucked in a breath and inhaled the metallic scent of blood.

  “Holy shit…” I murmured.

  “Grey! Look out!” Michaels yelled and he shot his gun. I dropped to the ground and watched as his bullets went toward someone in a black and red cloak, standing in the middle of the road with their hands outstretched in front of them. The hood was over its face so we couldn't see if it was a man or woman. That didn't matter because I watched Michaels’ bullets hit some invisible shield and then drop to the ground. The mystery person dropped his hands beside him and began walking toward us.

  “Go back in the tent,” I said to Michaels.

  “No,” he started, but then the mystery person flung his hand to the side and Michaels went flying across the street and I heard the sound of a windshield crack.

  I wanted to scream after him, but that was pointless. I only prayed my partner was still breathing.

  “Fuck this,” I muttered and holstered my gun. I flicked my hands and extended my claws. I stretched my neck from side to side and let the wolf come out. It'd been a while since I'd attempted a half-shift and the sharp pain stabbed me as my bones snapped and rearranged themselves.

  “You’re no match for me, Mackenzie Grey,” the hooded figure snarled and it was definitely a man—or a woman with a deep voice. Whatever. This guy could fry me like bacon if I didn’t figure something out quick. He strode closer and I moved my right leg behind me in a defensive stance. C’mon, Kenz…think.

  Before one of us could attack, Liam and Finn emerged from behind the hooded figure—having went around, using the parked street cars as cover. Finn was the first to raise his hand toward the mystery guy’s chest. As a reaper, Finn could seize his soul to weaken him for us to go in for the final blow.

  I’d breathed a sigh of relief too soon because Finn’s face went from victorious to confused in a millisecond. The hooded figure backhanded the reaper who landed on top of a car a block away from us.

  Liam reacted going straight for his neck, but the cloaked figure was faster than the vampire—and that scared me. The man whirled around, a wooden stake in hand, and struck Liam’s heart.

  “NO!” I heard myself scream as Liam’s eyes widened in horror. He dropped to the ground like stone and then shattered into dust. The slight breeze in the air blew the remnants of the vampire and I was frozen in place, watching it happen in slow motion. I was screwed—royally screwed—no pun intended.

  With Finn and Michaels out of commission, there was nothing I could do but fight my way out and hope that I’d live to see another day. I charged toward the mystery villain, but when I reached him, the air whirled into a small tornado and I was caught in the middle. I felt a slash on my cheek, as the wind was so strong it cut my skin, and then he disappeared. I came to a crashing halt right before reaching Liam's ashes, swaying as I attempted to catch my balance. My hand went up to my face and I felt the trickle of blood. Wide eyed, I stood in the middle of the street confused by why I was spared.

  One thing was for sure. The serial killer was no vampire.

  2

  Lieutenant Owen Briggs was a ball of fury as we stood in the squad room, beaten up and disheveled. Everyone quieted as we waited for our boss to say something—anything. He was a short bald man, and we had no idea what his species was. He kept that secret close to his chest. His reddened face looked near to exploding as his eyes pinned each and every person that stared at him. About a dozen of us stood around waiting. We’d lost a team member—Liam. Whatever we were facing was serious, and none of us was safe.

  “How did this happen?” Briggs demanded. “How the fuck did this happen!” He slammed his fist onto the nearest desk, breaking it in half.

  I cleared my throat. “It’s not a vampire. Whoever the killer is, he’s much faster than a vamp. Nothing could touch him. It was like he had an invisible shield around him,” I said.

  “And he obviously knew
you,” Finn sneered.

  “No he didn’t!”

  “He knew your name, Grey!”

  “So does a lot of people!”

  “You let him get away—”

  “That’s enough!” Briggs yelled before spinning on his heels, marching into his office, and slamming the door. The glass window that looked into his office rattled from the force. He pulled the shade down for a semblance of privacy and everyone released a breath—except me. I didn’t like Finn’s insinuation. I was as clueless about the serial killer as he was. There was nothing I could have done for his partner.

  Liam might have been a dick, but he didn’t deserve to go out that way. A stake to the heart was brutal and he was a member of our team. Now more than ever, we had motivation to find the bastard that was killing us off, and the last thing we needed was to turn on one another.

  “Grey! My office, now!” Briggs called out from his office. I could feel the unit’s eyes on me as I made my way to the Lieutenant.

  “Lieutenant?” I knocked on the door frame before entering.

  “Shut the door and sit down,” he said.

  That made me nervous. I’d already had my ass whooped, I didn’t need a verbal beating from him too. It just wasn’t my day.

  “Yes, sir?”

  “What happened today is unacceptable! I’ve put up with a lot of your shit, Grey, but to get one of your own killed? I want your badge on my desk. Now!”

  “No!” I blurted. “Today was not my fault! I didn’t—”