The Omni-Wolf’s Choice novel Chapter 49

Chapter 49 Dancing continues…

Connor’s POV

Get 10:

Manu

The first thing that hits me is the stench-like someone bottled rot and lit it on fire. If hell has a signature scent, this is probably close.

We slip in through the rear, straight into some half-assed storage space off the back porch. Meat hangs from hooks like a grim decoration, and most of it has gone bad. Yeah, we’re wolves. No, we don’t want our food spoiled.

Rotting flesh mixed with dust and stale dirt, trapped in a windowless room that feels like it hasn’t seen

sunlight in a decade. We can see fine in the dark, but that doesn’t make it less disgusting.

And because this place can’t just be normal, there are rocking chairs out on the wooden porch-

moving on their own, slow and steady. Of course they are. Why not complete the whole “witchy

nightmare” checklist while we’re here?

We move toward the only door that gives us any hint of life, a thin blade of light bleeding from beneath

1. Kitchen, most likely.

Violet stays tucked behind me. T Chapter Unlocked, Enjoy Reading! the two steps to the door. The glass panel is blacked out, like someone didn’t want anything looking in-or out.

I test the knob. Locked.

I extend a claw. Drake helps me cut through the glass just wide enough for my hand. I reach in, pop

the lock, and ease the door open. It complains with a long creak.

The kitchen is dim, but I catch the outline of a vintage stove with a candle burning on top. To the left:

an old farmhouse sink and a stretch of counters.

The counters are spotless. Bare. Clean enough to feel wrong.

I gesture the team in and pull the door nearly shut behind us. We need Ingrid. We get her, and we get

out.

We start toward the hallway-

Ryder’s voice cuts in through the mind-link.

‘Connor. Take downstairs. We’ll clear upstairs.’

‘Copy, Alpha,’ I send back, eyes tracking corners.

The others file past me, and that’s when I see movement from the direction where a butler’s pantry

42.98

< Chapter 49 Dancing continues

should be.

A man steps into view-tall, lanky, too smooth in the way he carries himself.

Vampire.

“Well, well,” he growls, staring like he owns the air in the room.

I lift my hands, palms out, not because I’m scared-because I want him confident.

“Looks like a thief,” he adds, voice thick with contempt. “You here to steal my meat?”

“Oh, absolutely not,” I say. “I’ve gone vegan.

He makes an annoyed sound and draws a knife from his hip.

Then another.

And another.

Gel 10 >

Mariu

He starts flinging them at me like I’m some target in a circus show. I twist, duck, shift-blades

whistling past.

“Where the hell are you pulling all these knives from?” I snap.

“From yo momma!” he yells, hurling more.

“Yeah-no.”

I drop low and slide under the kitchen table, shooting out the other side right between his legs. I drive my foot up hard.

Future kids? Not happening.

He folds with a strangled noise. I surge up, slam him bodily into the table, and he goes limp.

My chest is heaving when Violet rushes in-and her face drains as she spots the knife buried in my

side.

Adrenaline has me numb. I can’t even feel it yet.

“Damn blood sucker,” I mutter.

Violet murmurs a quick healing spell. I yank the knife free, step in, and bury it straight into his heart.

He disintegrates instantly-ash drifting down like dirty snow.

I press a hand to my side as the wound closes, then push forward down the hall.

10

42 394

< Chapter 49 Dancing continues

The stairwell is what we came for. We reach it and begin descending.

Cement steps. Torches spaced along the walls. The light flickers, turning every shadow into some thing that could move.

We take it slow, hugging the outer edge and checking for traps. Too quiet. Too easy.

We reach the bottom without incident.

That’s what scares me.

We turn the corner, and the floor is littered with ash piles-several of them.

When you kill a vampire, the ones they turned go with them. Looks like we just wiped out more than

one.

A soft sound carries through the dark.

Crying.

Another vampire is kneeling nearby, shoulders shaking. Male. He looks up, and his eyes glow red.

Oh shit.

“Which one of you killed my mate!” he roars.

We don’t even get the chance to answer.

He blurs forward with vampire speed and slams into us. Teeth clamp onto Rhett’s neck.

Rhett’s body jerks.

Violet screams and starts chanting, voice sharp and urgent.\

I launch onto the vampire’s back and wrench his head up, my claws driving into his skull.

“I’m the one you want,” I whisper, close to his ear.

With my other hand, I tear into his side.

He howls and loses his grip on Rhett.

Blood pours from Rhett’s neck in thick pulses. Violet is already there, hands pressed hard, still chanting—working to purge toxins and keep him stable.

But the bleeding won’t stop.

The vampire is up again in a blink, trying to come for me.

< Chapter 49 Dancing continues…

Get 10

3 Menu

I slip his first strike, then twist into him, hooking my legs around his neck. I catch one arm and pull it back slowly, steadily-past the point he can tolerate.

Then I finish it.

His arm tears free from the socket.

He screams, staggering, spraying blood.

I shove him down, straddle his torso, and hammer his face with my fists.

I’m about to reach in and rip his heart out when a gunshot cracks through the basement.

My head snaps toward the sound.

Rocco is on the floor.

The other warrior is down too-bleeding out.

And standing over them is a woman holding a pistol like she was born with it in her hand.

Ingrid.

“That’s enough,” she says coldly, lifting the gun higher. “Stop. I want to end this properly.”

She tilts it, almost admiring it.

“Silver rounds. Exactly what I need to put you down.” Her gaze locks on me. “Not yet, though. Not you.

I’ve got something special planned for you.”

“Let me help him,” I demand, eyes flicking to the wounded warrior fighting to stay alive. I can feel

Violet straining to help from where she is.

Ingrid’s face twists. “Like you care about anyone but yourself. No. You don’t get to play hero.”

She jabs the gun in my direction, furious.

“You’re the reason this happened! This is your fault!”

My brow furrows. Confusion hits hard.

“What do you think I did that makes you believe I deserve this?”

She sneers like I’m filth on her shoes. “Of course. You’ve hurt so many people you can’t even remember them all.”

She steps closer, weapon still trained on me.

< Chapter 49 Dancing continues…

Get 10

Menu

This isn’t about a clean kill. She wants it slow. She wants me aware.

“Ingrid… please.” My voice comes out rough. “Tell me. What did I do? Who did I hurt?”

She comes in another step. Her thumb flicks the safety off.

She raises the barrel toward my face.

And then the ceiling tears open.

It’s sudden-wood and debris exploding downward-and bodies drop like the floor above just gave up

on physics.

Ryder. Montgomery. Noelle. Merrick.

They crash down right onto Ingrid, taking her out in one brutal slam.

And-because apparently tonight is a comedy-some random witch tumbles down with them.

I stare for half a beat, then exhale.

“Man, I love your timing,” I tell Ryder.

His hand is locked around Ingrid’s throat. He doesn’t loosen for a second.

“Happy to assist,” he says, like we just arrived at a party on schedule.

“Rocco needs help,” I bark. “Now. She shot him.”

I force myself up and move to Noelle as she starts working magic to extract the bullet. I brace Rocco’s body, keeping him steady.

Montgomery has Ingrid cuffed already. Violet layers on a binding spell, tight enough to choke off her

magic.

“We move,” Ryder orders. “Stabilize them and get to the jet.”

Nobody argues. Pain doesn’t matter. Not when the whole town could be on its way.

Ryder scans the wounded. “How bad?”

“Alpha,” Violet answers, breath tight, “both are critical. But we move them anyway. If we stay, we die.”

Ryder throws a mind-link out so loud it feels like a shout inside my skull.

‘Porter. Adrienne. Get the vehicle as close to the back door as possible. We load and go. Now.’

“On our way, Alpha,” Porter replies.

42856

<Chapter 49 Dancing continues.

A moment later, an engine growls outside.

Get 10

Menu

We haul up the stairs, cut through the kitchen, and the stink of spoiled meat reaches up like it wants to cling to my lungs.

Outside, the vehicle is waiting.

I keep one hand on my side and help shove Rocco into the back seat next to Rhett. Ingrid is chained

into the second row, wedged between Montgomery and Ryder. The sorcerers ride with the injured to

keep them from crashing.

Nash whips around from the front seat. ‘We just got word from allies in town-more witches are heading this way. We need to move!’

Ryder doesn’t hesitate. “Go. Now.”

We peel away from the witch’s house and don’t look back.

About an hour later, we have boarded the jet and it is lifting into the sky. Ingrid has been sedated for

the flight.

Rhett and Rocco are still critical, but stable enough that they’re not slipping away.

We don’t have options. Salt Lake is no longer safe.

Violet has already stitched me up the right way. She said I should heal fast on my own, but it still

aches like hell. I’m wrapped up and pacing the cabin anyway.

Ryder comes out freshly showered and offers me a whiskey.

I take it, and we sit across from each other in two cabin chairs.

“So,” he says, watching me over the rim of his glass, “did Ingrid say anything useful? Any hint what her endgame was?”

“She didn’t get to finish,” I tell him. “But she said she wanted to hurt me. Said I’m part of this

somehow. I asked what she meant and it only set her off more. I don’t get it.”

I shake my head. “I’ve never met her. I’ve never slept with her. I honestly have no idea what she thinks I

did.”

Ryder leans back, thinking. “Could be a straight shot at me. You said she was about to kill you-she knows you’re my best friend. She went after Evelyn. She almost took you out. Maybe you were the

fastest way to hit me where it counts.”

He pauses. “For the record, I’ve never slept with her either. But she’s clearly decided one of us is the

42.97%

< Chapter 49 Dancing continues…

villain in her story.”

I stare into my drink.

“Yeah,” I say quietly. “Now we just have to figure out which one-and why.”

Get TO

Menu

<The Omni Wolf’s Choice