28. Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Owen

P ete smirks as he closes the door on our newest fated mate. He looks me over with a raised eyebrow, and he shakes his head slowly.

“I can’t believe you came.”

“Well, I had to, considering you lost your mind bringing Shadow out here on public transport.”

He rolls his eyes. “It’s not like we’ve never taken a bus before. I know how to get people to back off. It’s no big deal.”

“It’s reckless, and you should have told him no.”

“What, so he would sneak out without either of us to protect him? Don’t be a dick. You know I had to say yes to keep him safe.”

I let out a weary sigh. “You’ve got an answer for everything.”

“Quit complaining. You know why we had to come here now. And you know why you did, too.”

“Ezra admitted it to you?” I ask.

He snorts. “Fuck no. Not until we were here. Fate brought us to her. Like it did with you.”

I hate it when he makes this much sense.

Or maybe I hate it because fate brought me to this place I never wanted to see again.

“Why the fuck hasn’t he told her?”

Now, he looks impressed. “You know he hasn’t told her?”

“It was something she said.”

“He was waiting for you.” Pete shrugs. “Don’t shoot the messenger. That’s what he told me.”

Okay. That’s not a shock.

Of course he waited for us all to find her like he did.

The effect of meeting her would have been diluted if he’d told us.

I probably would have done something similar, had our places been reversed.

And now? Now we’re all together, where she is, and I don’t immediately feel the need to walk into that room and spill that information.

“I wanted to talk to you before you go speak with Ezra,” Pete says.

“Hm?” I murmur.

“Lana has been changing a lot of things at the academy,” he starts. “And someone in her security team planted a camera in the hallway that leads to her suite here. So, she needs to be guarded around the clock …”

“You’re telling me she’s in danger?”

“Someone also unscrewed the lightbulbs in that hallway. She’s got to be the target. The only other occupants on that floor work in the hospital. No one would have a solid reason to target any of them.”

“Did you fix the bulbs?”

He nods.

I think about what he’s told me.

“Why would someone take out the lights if they’ve been watching her?”

“They only unscrewed them. It’s possible that they planned to do that to lie in wait for her when they knew she’d be coming to bed. They could have planted the camera to get to know her schedule first.”

“It’s probably someone who hasn’t done something like this before.”

“Yeah, I thought that, too,” he agrees. “There’s this guy called Melvin on security staff. His initial checks came up clean, but he feels off. I don’t know. I don’t like the guy.”

Pete has good instincts for this stuff. I trust his judgement as if it’s my own.

I might have been mad at him for bringing Shadow out here, but he’s right, our Omega would have attempted to come out here alone if he’d refused to take him like I did.

He would never risk Shadow’s safety like that.

“If you don’t like him, we’ll keep an eye on him.”

He nods. “I plan to keep Lana safe tonight. She’s getting used to having me around, so she’ll accept it without too much fuss.”

“No,” I find myself saying, my mouth moving faster than my brain.

He blinks at me and then gives me an irate glower. “What was that?”

“I said no,” I confirm. “You’re getting more attached than you should be. She doesn’t even know she’s our mate yet. Ezra should be the one to tell her. Not you.”

And if I know Pete, it wouldn’t be a case of telling her with words alone.

He frowns at me. “I’ve been with her all day. She trusts me. It has to be me.”

“You’ve earned her trust that quickly?” I ask.

“Well, she can feel something,” he admits. “She’s good with her instincts, even if she doesn’t seem to be aware of it.”

“Then, if I take over, she’ll find it easy enough to put her trust in me.”

I don’t believe those words one little bit, even as I say them out loud.

It sounds like I do, and that’s enough.

He sighs. “Ezra better talk to her soon.”

“He will,” I assure him. “Tomorrow, when the threat has passed. Do you have keys for the entrance doors? We should make sure they’re locked up for the night.”

“Lana has one set. That guy I’m suspicious of? He has the other.”

“Good to know,” I murmur. “I’m supposed to sign in. You can lock up while I do that.”

“Wait,” he says, making me pause before I reach for the door.

“What stuff do you have in your car?”

“Stuff?” I ask, not understanding what he’s asking.

“Cameras, recording devices. Shit like that.”

“Oh. I don’t have any full kits, but I probably have a couple of tiny cameras that might be handy if we’re trying to catch out a creep.”

“I’ll grab them before I lock up,” he offers, hand out for my key.

The last time I gave him my keys, I had no idea he didn’t have a licence.

Not that he’s a bad driver, but letting an ex-con take the wheel when legally he shouldn’t, is the dumbest thing I ever did without knowing it.

It makes me hesitate, before I remind myself there’s no way he wants the key to drive the car tonight. He wants to be here, with our new true mate.

“I promise I won’t reverse into the forest accidentally-on-purpose.” He flashes his teeth in a deviant grin.

“That really makes me feel better,” I grumble as I hand them over.

“It should,” he tells me, as he opens the office door, and gestures for me to go inside first.

I take a deep breath before I step inside, to find Shadow showing Lana and Ezra a video on his phone where two annoyingly loud women are discussing Frank Palmer.

“Well, this isn’t exactly what I expected to find in here,” I admit out loud.

Shadow looks up and grins at me. “You came! I knew you’d come. This is awesome.”

Ezra doesn’t seem quite as pleased to see me.

The thought of talking to him right now makes me mad.

It feels like he might be having similar thoughts.

I clear my throat and look at Lana. “Can you give Pete the keys to lock up for the night while I do whatever administrative bullshit you need me to do?”

She raises an eyebrow at me. “My security staff will lock up in an hour after the final visitor of the night has been let in. So, there’s no need for you to borrow my keys.”

I look back at Pete and he nods before he leaves.

“What was that?” Lana asks.

“He’s just getting something from the car.”

She purses her lips as she gets up and goes over to the desk.

I’m not having much luck making people happy tonight, it seems.

Shadow’s still smiling at me as he turns the awful, noisy video off.

He never cares what mood I’m in. It’s an attitude that helps my anger to fade, usually.

Tonight, it’s nice, but I have too many things to think about that are pissing me off.

Watching over Lana will help me work some of it out.

“Sign in,” Lana tells me as she brings a leatherbound book toward me. It has a pen wedged in between the pages. I take it out of her hands, and she shivers slightly as my skin brushes hers.

Oh, she’s definitely feeling something.

Though, right now, I’d land on revulsion.

Some Betas love Alphas, no matter how they act or how they treat them.

She doesn’t seem like one of those girls.

I doubt she’d give me the time of day if I wasn’t attached to Ezra.

I know how I look. I know the assumptions people make about me.

Maybe some of them aren’t too far off the mark.

I wouldn’t call myself an Alpha-hole, but some would.

Honestly, they could be right. I’m not always super nice to anyone who’s not connected to me in a permanent bond. I love my mates, but the rest of the world might as well not exist.

If watching Shadow’s true crime shows have taught me anything, it’s that there’s a lot of evil shit out there in the big wide world, and that’s the stuff I’m here to protect my mates from.

Nothing else matters.

I open the book, and I fill out the same details Shadow and Pete filled out earlier today.

“I’m taking over from Pete,” I tell Lana as I hand her back the book.

She frowns as she takes it. “What do you mean?”

“I’ll be standing guard for the night, to keep you safe. Clearly, Pete needs to rest.”

I look at Ezra, and he nods slowly, giving me his silent agreement.

I doubt he even thought about how close Pete was getting to her.

It’s a good thing I’m here.

Lana looks like she wants to protest, but she doesn’t say a word.

She’s putting the guest book away when Pete steps into the room.

“Okay,” she says, clearly addressing all of us. “I have work to get back to, and you don’t all need to be here.”

Ezra gets to his feet. “Of course. We’ll get out of your hair.”

She smiles as Shadow mirrors Ezra’s movements.

Then she turns her gaze to me, and her expression goes from warm to cold.

“I got the camera,” Pete tells me.

“You should set it up outside Lana’s room. Keep the lights off when you go up there.”

He nods slowly, his stare fixed on her.

“Go,” I tell him. “Get it done quickly. Once it’s set up you can monitor the feed. Make sure the lights stay out in that hallway. Then you can help guide Ezra and Shadow to our room.”

He doesn’t look pleased, but he doesn’t question my orders.

When he leaves, I turn back to Ezra. “Give him a few minutes to get that done and wait near the hallway for him to come lead you in the dark.”

Ezra nods. “And you’ll be with Lana?”

“I’ll be with Lana,” I confirm.

She looks even less impressed than Pete did as she says, “He can keep watch from outside the room.”

I clear my throat. “No, I’ll be keeping you where I can see you.”

I hate to burst her bubble, but I’m not letting her out of my sight when I haven’t had a chance to get to know the building yet, or what her habits are.

There are too many variables. I can’t take that risk.

She’s not pleased. There’s nothing I can do about that.

Ezra doesn’t look sure about leaving us together, but his options are limited.

“You two should get moving,” I tell him. “We’ll see you in the morning.”

I hold my breath, waiting to see if our lead Alpha wants to override my orders.

He nods at me, and I nod back as I let out a relieved breath.

“We’ll see you in the morning,” he echoes softly before they leave.