The Omni-Wolf’s Choice novel Chapter 19

Chapter 19 A visitor…

Ryder’s POV

Montgomery didn’t show up with a friendly update. If he had information, then the odds were high my mate had just been painted as someone’s prize.

He and I had trained side by side, bled in the same fights. Other than my own pack, there weren’t many

I trusted the way I trusted him.

Connor and Montgomery were already waiting when I step into my office.

“Montgomery. Always good to see you,” I tell him as I move behind my desk. “What’s brought you

here?”

They take the seats across from me.

I’m seven foot one. Connor’s six foot eleven, built like a wall, just as broad as me. Montgomery matches my height, but he’s almost twice as wide-bear and wolf packed into one massive frame. He is the kind of beast you should never miss in a crowd, and yet he crosses the world like a shadow.

“I’m sorry to come this late,” he says, eyes on mine. “Thank you for seeing me.”

Then his voice shifts-without sound.

‘Is the room secured?’

The mind-link hits clean and sharp. Montgomery can communicate in nearly any form with nearly anyone. In another life, I would have dragged him into my pack and never let him leave.

I trigger the soundproofing, sealing the office away from every ear beyond the doors.

“You can speak freely.”

“There’s power here,” Montgomery says. “Word is your pack is sheltering it. And no one wants to gamble their entire pack trying to reach it.”

Connor’s mouth tightens. “Good. Let them stay afraid.”

It was his pack too-ours, bound by bloodlines and duty meant to protect what comes after us. Connor took that responsibility with the same hard seriousness I did.

Montgomery doesn’t smile. “But there’s an issue. A vampire group is hunting the missing piece. If they get it… they’ll be unstoppable.”

My pulse surges hot, anger loading my veins like poison. Talon surges with it, both of us tasting

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violence.

“How did you learn this?” I demand. “Where do I find them?”

* Gett

Meny

“I was passing through a bar in Oregon,” Montgomery says. “A vampire’s apprentice talked too loud- trying to impress a girl. The place was packed with powerful species. Everyone heard. He tried to pull her aside, but I still caught it. He said they’re leaving in about a fortnight. Heading for the source.”

“They won’t lay a hand on what’s mine,” Talon snarls through my mouth.

Connor leans forward. “We need everything we can get on that vampire. Where’s the apprentice now?”

We’d need Lucas and Pierce on this immediately.

Montgomery’s tone stays matter-of-fact. “Unconscious. In a chest I carried with me. He’s on my jet at

the landing strip. His people started searching for him, and I was certain they meant to silence him. I

caused a diversion and brought him here. Figured you’d enjoy extracting what you need.”

I nod once. “Connor-take guards. Bring him in. Put him in the cells for questioning.”

My voice goes colder. “He is not leaving here alive.”

“Yes, Alpha,” Connor answers. “I’ll have Lucas and Pierce meet us down there.”

He’s out of the office a heartbeat later.

Silence returns, and with it, my thoughts snap toward Bridget. I needed to see her-now.

Montgomery watches my face like he’s reading a report. Then his grin breaks wide. “So my gut was

right. She’s your mate.”

“Yes,” I admit. “And we’re keeping it tight for a reason. She’ll be introduced at the ball the day after

tomorrow.”

He strides in and crushes me in a bear hug, laughing loud enough to shake the room.

“Congratulations, brother. The Moon Goddess would have had to craft someone extraordinary for

you.”

I laugh too, because the sound in his chest is contagious.

A voice cuts in from the doorway. “Am I walking in on something?”

Evelyn.

Montgomery whirls like a happy storm. “Little Evie! Is that you?”

“Monty!” Evelyn laughs-and then squeaks as he wraps her up and lifts her like she weighs nothing.

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“What are you doing here? Did you come for my party?”

“Montgomery,” I warn, still laughing, “don’t break my little sister.

He sets her down carefully, though his grin stays feral. “Just passing through on business.”

AG

Evelyn’s eyes brighten with immediate intent. “Then the twins have to see you. And you’re staying for my eighteenth birthday ball. You’ll meet my mate… hopefully.”

She lets that last word hang, and her gaze flicks to me.

“Sorry, Evie,” Montgomery says. “I’m not planning to be here that long.”

Evelyn plants her feet. “Montgomery Alexander Rutherford. You are not leaving. Not while I’m here, and

not while my mother would agree with me. Your suite will be made ready. End of discussion.”

The force of her certainty is pure Mother.

I exhale through my nose. “Evie, can you make sure his room gets arranged?”

Her expression shifts, worry sliding in. “Is everything okay? Is Bridget-” She stops, unsure what

Montgomery already knows.

“Montgomery brought intel,” I tell her. “He’ll meet Bridget tomorrow. Connor and I need to head to the

cells. Talon’s… eager.”

Evelyn nods, understanding exactly what that means. She turns to go deal with staff, leaving

Montgomery and me to move.

We head down.

At the cellar doors, the guards bow. I key in the code, then the finger scan, then the eye scan.

As we enter the long corridor, I glance back at Montgomery. “Did you get anything out of him on the

way here?”

“Nothing useful,” he says. “I did check him for internal magic and devices. He’s clean.”

The tunnel walls are smooth metal plated with the same silver meant to weaken any vampire foolish

enough to threaten us.

By the time we reach the interrogation door, screaming leaks from behind it anyway-muffled, but un

mistakable.

Two more warriors stand watch. They nod. The door swings open.

A vampire is strapped into a torture chair-high-backed wood studded with thin silver spikes. A silver

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collar clamps his throat, cuffs lock his wrists, and a crank system anchors everything to the frame. Tighten it, and the silver bites deeper. Loosen it, and the pain breathes.

Connor is driving fists into the vampire’s stomach while the creature begs.

Mercy.

He doesn’t understand what that word will cost him once I begin.

I raise a hand, and the room freezes as if someone cut the power. I drag a chair forward and set it

directly in front of the vampire.

He looks like he’d been turned in his forties. Blood masks half his face as he tries to focus through

swollen eyes. Natural light exposure has already worked him over-burns stripe his arms, legs, and

cheekbones.

“I am Alpha Ryder of the Blackwood River Pack,” I say quietly. “You’re going to tell me what your coven

is planning.”

His lips peel back. “I’m not telling you anything.”

The crank tightens.

He jerks and screams as silver teeth sink deeper.

I keep my voice flat. “Don’t talk. Talk. Either way, you die.”

His breathing turns ragged. “I have to be freed. Our leader promised whoever finds the entity gets to

mate them. After him, of course.”

My hand moves to the tool table-silver instruments laid out like a surgeon’s tray. I choose a pair of

rusty silver shears.

I drive them into his kneecap.

I don’t stop until I feel the wood under him, proof the blades have punched through.

His scream is a ripped-open thing. Talon savors it.

“Once more,” I say, calm as stone. I settle back into my chair while he hisses and trembles. “What are

they planning? And what is his name?”

I don’t look at anyone when I ask.

“Amos, Alpha,” Lucas answers, fingers flying across his computer.

“Amos,” I repeat. “Good. Where is your coven located?”

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Amos spits what blood he can manage. “I won’t tell you pathetic mutts anything. You’re beneath us.

When we come into power, you’ll be lucky if we let you scrub the bottoms of our shoes.”

Pierce moves so fast Amos doesn’t even track it-hand around his throat, pushing the collar until it

cuts. Blood streams down his neck.

I lean forward just enough for Amos to see my eyes. “Amos… you need to understand what room

you’re in. You are not walking out of here.”

His bravado wavers. “I refuse. I serve my coven. Our leader-St. Vincent…”

He stops dead, realizing he’s said too much.

He still doesn’t know the silver’s been treated-witch-crafted, drugged, pulling truth to the surface. It takes time to bite, and he’s fought it longer than most.

“St. Vincent,” I say, tired creeping in at the edges of my patience. “I’ve heard the name. What does he want with the entity?”

Amos sweats, jaw clenched, trying to claw his way back behind lies.

I nod once at Pierce.

Pierce sinks a needle into Amos’s neck. The drug burns. Amos screams.

“Okay-okay!” he pants. “He had a vision. He saw a woman. She has power. He plans to take her as

his mate, build an army with her, and wipe out every other being until this land belongs to us!”

“Where are they now?” Talon growls, the sound vibrating through my bones.

“I… I don’t know. I mean-”

The lie doesn’t finish.

I’m moving before thought catches up. I snatch an old gut hook and swipe with a speed that doesn’t

feel like mine. I split his thigh open from one knee toward the other in one brutal pull.

My men stare.

So do I, somewhere inside. I have never moved like that.

The mate bond. Bridget in this building. Power answering power.

Amos howls, his thigh peeled open, muscle exposed.

“Please-spare me!” he chokes. “I can tell you. Where they are. When they’re coming. Please!”

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I lift an old blade, letting him watch the edge catch the light. “Amos, have you ever seen your femoral artery? It’s a major vessel. I can end you quick… or I can open you like a pig and let you watch me pull out your intestines. I can keep you alive long enough to remove your heart and make you eat it.”

His eyes go wild.

“I-I-” His words tumble out. “They’re in the Grimstvale caves. Just west of the state line.”

The blade rests near the artery, close enough for him to understand.

“Thank you,” I say softly.

Then I let Talon step forward.

My claws extend.

And I sit back, watching as Amos is torn apart.

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