40. Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Ezra

S hadow’s still dozing in bed when I get out of the shower. It’s early, and he doesn’t do early.

Even if he was usually up at this time, considering how late we went to bed last night, I wouldn’t expect him to be getting up for a while.

If he wants to sleep, I’ll let him sleep.

Pete can stay here with him until he’s ready to get out of bed.

I start to get dressed, putting on my underwear and hunting through my dresser for a plain white T-shirt to wear under my scrubs. I find one just when I’m about to give up and pick a blue one out instead.

I don’t need to worry about waking Shadow.

I could slam a door, and he wouldn’t stir.

Sitting on the edge of the bed to put on socks, I glance back at his peaceful sleeping face, and I can’t help but wonder how much everything is about to change for all of us.

Shadow’s been excitable about all of it.

Owen arrived in a mood last night, but he spent the night in Lana’s suite.

He must have some idea by now of what the rest of us know for sure.

I let out a breath.

I guess I’ll find out soon enough.

I put a fresh pair of scrubs on top of the dresser, and I step out of the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind me. It’ll be easy to slip back into the room in a bit to finish dressing once I’ve put breakfast on.

I’ll also find out if Shadow’s hunger is stronger than his need for sleep once the cooking starts.

He could ignore the sound of a bomb dropping, but if I start frying something he’ll snap awake in a heartbeat and be by my side before I can call out that breakfast’s on the way.

The TV’s still showing the feed from outside Lana’s door, but Pete isn’t on the sofa watching it like a hawk, so I’m guessing that means Lana already left the suite to go to her office.

If I stop and listen, I can hear water running in the second bathroom.

I breathe a sigh of relief that Pete hasn’t left to take over from Owen yet.

There’s plenty of time to make food before I head downstairs to work, so I open the fridge and start figuring out what to cook. We’re all used to taking turns prepping meals at home, and I’ve been careful to keep that habit up when I’m alone like I was for the last few weeks, so I don’t get lazy about it or fall out of practice.

It’s not my favorite thing to do for myself, but cooking for my mates makes all the difference.

I take the eggs and butter out of the fridge and set them down on the countertop.

The bread is still fresh, so I start putting slices in the toaster.

Pete appears from the second bedroom while I’m making coffee.

He’s wearing yesterday’s clothes, but his short, dark hair looks vaguely damp, the way it does for a few minutes after a shower before it dries off completely.

“Aren’t you working today?” he asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

Considering I’m milling around in the kitchen making food in my underwear and a T-shirt, I can see why he might be confused.

“I’ll put my scrubs on after breakfast,” I tell him. “I’m working, but I have time for food, and I’d like to be caught up on what happened after we went to bed last night.”

He pulls on a wry smile as he gets to the small breakfast table beside the kitchen area.

“Nothing happened. Lana and Owen left her suite just after eight a.m., so I stopped watching the feed to go grab a shower.”

It’s welcome news, of course, but it doesn’t mean the threat Pete identified is gone.

I pour him a coffee and set it down on the table for him as he pulls up a chair.

“Thanks,” he murmurs. “Shadow’s still sleeping?”

“I’m sure he’ll wake up once he smells breakfast cooking.”

He nods, before he wraps his hands around the cup.

I turn the toaster on for the first batch of toast, and then I start making the eggs.

“What’s the next part of the plan?” I ask as I cook.

I hear Pete sip his coffee before he answers.

“The next part of the plan? I thought that was obvious. You speak to Owen, and then you speak to Lana.”

He’s giving me a pointed look when I turn to glance at him.

I haven’t forgotten about that, much as I might like to.

It’s not that I don’t want to tell Lana.

She deserves to know, and I’m not worried about her reaction.

It’s Owen.

I don’t see him doing a one-eighty on his feelings for this city.

Not overnight, not even for the sake of our remarkable new fated mate.

Pete might think these are the last two things that need to happen to make Lana ours, but there’s no exact number of steps to winning her heart.

I give him a wry smile. “Actually, I was asking about the plan to keep Lana safe.”

“Hm,” he murmurs. “Well, she’s probably sick to death of Owen’s crappy attitude by now, so she’ll be relieved when I go down there to take over for the day. We’re still waiting on some security checks coming back, and I’m guessing Owen will do the risk assessment since he’s here. He should speak to you first. I plan to make sure he knows that.”

Of course he does. Pete’s always working at full speed. I don’t think he knows how to slow down. He’s impatient the same way Owen is moody.

I really hope Owen wasn’t in walking-raincloud mode all night. Figuring out who Lana is to us surely made him less prickly by the time they were alone together.

Fingers crossed.

I pour myself a cup of coffee, preparing myself for the worst.

I don’t really like the thought of having my workday interrupted to argue with one of my mates.

Kind of makes me wish I’d handled this whole situation differently, but it’s a little too late for regrets now.

The toast pops up and I put it on a plate, stirring the scrambled eggs before getting a knife and starting to butter the toast. As much as I’ve been keeping up the habit of cooking since I got here, it’s the first morning I’ve made food before work since I got here.

That makes me think about Lana, and how hard she’s been working, too.

She probably hasn’t eaten, unless Owen made a point of it, which he probably hasn’t, since he doesn’t seem to feel the need to eat or drink until noon every day.

“So, you’re planning on telling Lana as soon as you speak to Owen, right?” Pete asks.

I should have known he wouldn’t let the topic go.

Taking a sip of my coffee, I avoid answering that question straight away.

Once I put my mug back down, I put some of the scrambled eggs onto his plate and bring it over to him before I respond.

“After Owen and I have talked about it properly, I’ll be sure to speak to her.”

It’s as assuring as I can make it, but I can tell by the vaguely suspicious look in his eyes that he knows I’m giving him a non-answer.

I set his plate and silverware down in front of him.

“Fuck,” he curses, blowing out a heavy breath. “You don’t think he’s going to agree that she’s ours? Or you think he’ll refuse to consider the idea of moving out here? Which is it? Wait. It doesn’t matter because both of those options suck.”

“I’m not saying either,” I deny. “I’m saying I think Owen’s going to need some time to process everything, so you’re going to have to cool down a bit while he figures some shit out.”

“Goddamn it,” he mutters, picking up his fork.

“You know how much he hates this place. He’ll come around to the idea. It just probably …”

“Won’t be today, or tomorrow, or whatever,” Pete finishes for me, starting to eat his food with a defeated expression on his face.

He understands why Owen’s going to need time, but right now that’s not sitting well with his immediate need to be as honest about his feelings as possible.

I shrug as I make a second batch of toast to go with Shadow’s eggs.

If Pete stopped to think about it for more than a hot minute, he would have realized as well as I did that Owen was never going to be easy to talk around.

As far as Owen’s concerned, our home is in Platinum Valley.

Fate brought us to Lana out here in Cressidan City for a reason, and he’s not going to like what that means.

The second after his toast pops up, Shadow steps into the room, yawning loudly.

I glance over to see he’s up, but not dressed and showered.

All he’s wearing is a pair of my sleep shorts, and it looks like the smoothing products he uses on his bleached blond hair have rubbed out on my sheets because it’s a frizzy, tangled mess.

“Hey, do I smell breakfast?” he asks, scratching his flat stomach.

“It’s not ready yet,” Pete tells him, without turning around. “Go shower and put on some clothes.”

Shadow raises an eyebrow behind our blunt Beta’s back. “You’re seriously telling me to put clothes on ?”

I shake my head as I start making more eggs.

Pete sighs. “Lana’s waiting for us.”

“She is?” Shadow asks.

Clearly, he’s still half-asleep.

“She’s at work now, with Owen,” he goes on. “We need to go watch over her while Owen assesses the building.”

Shadow pulls a face. “Do you really need me for that?”

Sitting around in an office all day isn’t what he’s used to, that’s for sure.

I glance at Pete, but I don’t have to say anything.

He turns around to look at Shadow. “You can walk around with Owen, assessing the building, if you prefer.”

It’s not a much better option, but it’s obvious Shadow likes the fact that he’s being given a choice. I’m guessing he’ll stay with Pete considering how moody Owen’s still likely to be, but either option keeps him out of trouble which is fine by me.

“Okay, great,” Shadow says. “I’ll shower while breakfast is cooking.”

He slinks back into the bedroom.

“I don’t think he wants to be stuck in that office all day again,” Pete admits.

“I think it would be better if he stayed with you today.”

I can’t put my finger on why. I’m probably being paranoid.

Sure, Shadow slipped out of Platinum Valley with Pete, without Owen noticing, but that doesn’t mean I can’t trust Owen to look after our Omega anymore.

Shadow came out here because he was fated to.

It’s how things had to happen. I understand that.

“I don’t know,” Pete mutters, his mood still sour. “He was pretty bored yesterday. Lana does most of her work behind her desk. We’re not going to be wandering around all over the campus like Owen is. You know Shadow needs to be active.”

That’s all true, yet I can’t say I like the idea of Shadow staying with Owen today.

“Let’s just wait and see how Owen’s doing after I talk to him.”

Pete shrugs. He eats his breakfast in silence.

I eat mine by the side of the stove while I cook for Shadow and Lana.

I know it’s not fair to ask Pete to keep our Omega by his side all day, especially when Shadow might not want to be cooped up like that for another day, but I can’t shake the weird feeling I’m having that it would be better if he stayed with Pete.

“How busy are you at work?” Pete asks, as he puts his silverware down on his empty plate.

“Um, what?”

It takes me a second to register his question, so I guess I was a little distracted when he asked.

He clears his throat. “Can I tell Owen to come speak to you when I go take over from him, or will that be impossible?”

“He can wait for me in the staff break room. If he sends me a text, I’ll see it and meet him there to speak to him.”

“Great,” he murmurs.

I bite back the urge to warn him that it won’t be enough.

If it makes him feel a little better to know I’ve spoken to Owen at the start of the day rather than the end, I can do that. I just can’t promise it’ll make any difference to how our mate feels about the idea of moving out to the city because it’s clearly where Lana needs to be.

Shadow appears again when I’m putting food on a plate for him.

His hair is slicked back now, clearly still wet from being washed.

He’s wearing one of my T-shirts, the plain navy one, and a pair of my stonewashed jeans which are at least two sizes too big for his slender frame. His right hand is clutching the top of the jeans, keeping them up.

“I think I might need a belt,” he confesses.

Pete shakes his head. “Just wear yesterday’s clothes.”

“Ew, no,” Shadow complains, screwing up his nose. “That’s gross.”

Pete rolls his eyes. “I’ll remember that when you’re begging me for my cock later.”

Shadow looks him up and down. “You know I like yesterday’s clothes on you. I just can’t stand them on me.”

“There are belts in the bottom drawer of the dresser,” I tell them, before they can start something that might make me very late for work.

Shadow’s already looking at Pete like he’s getting some ideas.

I put Shadow’s plate down on the table across from Pete and I start to make toast for Lana.

“Cool …” Shadow starts, before his eyes light up. “Oh, wait. You know what would be even cooler?”

“No,” Pete cuts in with a groan. “We’re not going shopping.”

Oh, thank God. Shadow’s not thinking about sex. He’s thinking about clothes.

“But who knows how long we’ll be here without a plan?” Shadow argues. “I want to look good for Lana. This doesn’t look good.”

“You don’t need new clothes to look good for our girl,” Pete counters. “And I’m not wasting hours of my time trapsing around a million stores with you to find the perfect outfit while Lana needs as much protection as we can give her. It’s not happening.”

Shadow glances at me, and I shake my head.

“We’ll take you shopping some other time. Promise,” I add, intending to keep it.

He pulls a face before he heads back into the bedroom.

I pour him a glass of water and put it next to his plate.

Then, I finish preparing Lana’s plate, putting a bowl on top to cover the food afterward, and making sure the silverware handles aren’t sticking out too much.

I set it on the counter and Pete raises an eyebrow at me.

“What’s that?” he asks.

“I made extra in case Lana hasn’t eaten yet. You can bring it to her. And you’d better tell Owen to get something for himself before he starts assessing the building.”

“Okay,” Pete agrees. “I’ll tell him to do that after he’s spoken to you.”

Shadow comes back into the room, no longer holding the jeans closed. The shirt covers the top of them so no one’s going to think they don’t fit. He kind of looks like a skater boy.

He doesn’t look very happy about that, but he doesn’t make any more complaints.

“I have to get going,” I tell them, as I head back to the bedroom, where my scrubs and lab coat are waiting for me.

By the time I’m leaving, Shadow’s eating at the table and Pete’s cleaning up the kitchen area.

I’m going to be a few minutes late, but it shouldn’t be a big deal considering how easy-going and competent my co-workers are. We’re all here because we want to be, and that makes a huge difference to the atmosphere.

I only wish I could say the same thing about my mates.