Omega's Truth - Nora Phoenix Page 0,90

part of his life. He’d loved being a cop—at least as long as he’d been by Lidon’s side.

“Good point.” His voice was not as steady as he wanted. Felix shuffled closer and grabbed his hand. Sean laced their fingers together, drawing strength from his mate’s presence. “We need to know if they will intervene should we take a stand against Armitage. Everyone agreed?”

Nods and thumbs-up all around. He let go of Felix, and they all shifted, then set course for the police station. The parking lot behind the station was empty, which was odd. Usually, it was full of patrol cars and other police vehicles. Several windows were boarded up, but light spilled through the planks. It seemed like they’d had some trouble here as well.

Sean led them to the employee garage, which wasn’t wolf-proof at all. For a second, he was worried about the security cameras, but a quick check showed they were out of order. One had been set on fire, blackened and melted in places, and the other one dangled from a single electric wire. What the hell had happened here? Why hadn’t they fixed this?

From the garage, they trotted to the deserted loading dock, where they slipped inside. Where was everyone? It was after hours, but cops were never off. They had around-the-clock shifts. Voices drifted in from the large bullpen, and Sean guided his team up the stairs. None of the cameras was working. Why? It was to their benefit, but it still made him uneasy because he didn’t understand.

He gathered the team in a small office next to the bullpen, where they huddled between a water cooler, two copiers, and a big-ass laser printer, the smell of toner heavy in the air. The voices were much closer now and easy to pick up.

“What are we even still doing here?” The voice was rough and throaty as if stained by years of smoking. “We ain’t got nothing to do, and it’s been like this for weeks now. With the army controlling everything, no one needs cops anymore. We ain’t even gettin’ paid.”

“No one’s getting paid, but the general said we’d still get free food. Besides, what’s the alternative, sitting home all day?”

Sean froze. He knew that voice. Hell, he’d recognize that snappy, irritated tone anywhere. His brother, Jack, often nicknamed Jackass by rookies because he was the kind of cop that made their lives miserable, including Sean’s when he’d started. So Jack was still on the force?

“I’m not spending a minute longer at home than I have to, what with my wife doing nothing but bitch and complain.”

Yup, Jack was still as charming as ever. What about his father and his other brother, Dan? Were they still active as well?

“Maybe you shouldn’t have married her, then,” someone else commented, and Sean could barely breathe. “I tried to warn ya when you brought her home, but all you saw was someone willing to spread her legs for ya.”

His father. God, his father and brother were sitting right there, on the other side of the wall, sounding as bitter and angry as ever.

“I didn’t care about her spreading her legs. Hell, I’m still married to her, ain’t I, even though she let Igor fuck her? All I care about is her father’s money and connections. And don’t you tell me my priorities are off because without his connections, our lives would be shit right now.”

His father grunted. “Aye, true. And Igor got what was coming to him, fucking his best mate’s wife. There’s lines you don’t cross, and that’s one of ‘em.”

Apparently, Sean no longer had to worry about his former partner, Igor Babinsky, once Dan’s best friend. He’d never liked him, and that was putting it mildly, but the cold way his father and brother talked about him made him sick to his stomach.

“You’re pulling my leg. Igor fucked your wife?” That was the old smoker again.

“Yeah. Right in my bed too. Now Dan had fucked her first, but he’s my brother. That don’t count. Besides, I’d fucked his wife, so that made us even.”

If Sean hadn’t been in wolf form, he would’ve probably thrown up. Ashamed was too mild an expression for what he was feeling. How was he related to those men? By what sheer luck of genetics had he not inherited that same complete lack of class, of respect?

“Didn’t you have another son on the force?” Smoker Guy asked.

“Sean.” His father practically spat out his name. “We don’t talk about him no more.”

Felix