42. Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-One

Pete

I let Shadow carry the breakfast plate since he’s already bored. It keeps his attention focused on not letting anything drop or spill while we walk down to Lana’s office. I know once we’re inside he’ll need to be kept occupied, but I’m hoping Lana’s presence will help with that.

Getting to the reception area and catching Owen stepping out of her office, I move a little faster to get to where he is before Shadow catches up.

“What’s happening?” I ask, glancing past him at her closed door.

“Nothing,” he says. “I heard you two coming, and I have a building to assess.”

This guy has the ears of a bat. That’s why Shadow’s extremely careful to make sure he only ever sneaks out when our security conscious Alpha is exhausted and in the deepest part of sleep.

“How’s Lana?”

“She doesn’t seem to think she needs bodyguards.”

“And?”

“And, clearly, she does.”

Fucking hell. He’s infuriating.

“Tell me you felt it.”

He rolls his eyes.

I wince at the sound of the plate and bowl clattering as Shadow comes to a stop at my side.

“Owen!” he greets our Alpha excitedly. “Can I come with you …”

“You’re staying with me,” I warn him. “Owen needs to speak to Ezra, first, remember, and he has a lot of boring security stuff to do.”

“I need to speak to Ezra?” Owen asks.

“Yeah, you do. Lana’s our mate, and the sooner we tell her that, the better. Ezra won’t do it until he knows how you feel about it. So, go and tell him now, or I’ll drag you there myself.”

“Dramatic much?” Shadow mumbles.

I glance at him. “You don’t want to tell Lana?”

He blinks. “What? Of course I want to tell her.”

Of course he does. He’s just bored right now.

And a bored Omega is an accident waiting to happen.

I raise my eyebrows at Owen. “Are you going, or …”

He holds up his hands. “No need to drag me. I’ll go. Where is he?”

“He’s working. He said you can wait in the staff break room and text him and he’ll come and speak to you. You’ll see the break room when you go back into that corridor. The door’s always open.”

“Can I go with him?” Shadow asks.

“It’s probably better if you don’t,” Owen says. “But I’ll come get you before I do the building assessment.”

“You will?” Shadow’s eyes light right up.

“Ezra thought it would be better …” I start, not wanting to upset Shadow, but knowing our lead Alpha would rather Shadow stick with me.

Owen looks at me with a blank expression on his face. “Ezra thought it would be better not to tell any of us that we have another true mate out here in the city. He’s been out here for three weeks, Pete. Three whole fucking weeks. He doesn’t get a vote in what Shadow does today.”

Shadow beams, clearly missing the fact that Owen’s seriously pissed off at Ezra.

“I promise to come back for you,” Owen murmurs, leaning in and using the excess material of Shadow’s borrowed T-shirt to pull Shadow closer.

I take the plates out of Shadow’s hands before he drops them, and Owen gives our Omega a kiss that’s slightly over the NSFW side of the PDA scale. Lucky for us, the only person around is the redhead in heels who’s currently making her way behind the reception desk.

She doesn’t seem to notice us until Owen lets go of Shadow.

The sudden burst of his perfume on the air probably caught her attention.

His scent is stronger than usual, more potent than I’ve ever smelled it.

I realize now I know why he wants to go with Owen so badly.

Being around a mate he can’t claim must be driving his sensitive body crazy.

Omegas feel things much more strongly than everyone else.

Yesterday must have been pure torture for him. I was fully aroused just being around Lana, and he was feeling that arousal on top of his own desire, as well as feeling what she was feeling.

Of course he wants to spend the day with one of our Alphas.

He’ll probably have Owen knot him in every dark corner of this building.

I’m a little jealous, now that I know what he’s thinking.

“Don’t take too long,” Shadow says as Owen leaves us.

“Can you open the door for me?” I ask, since I’m holding the food now.

Shadow nods and knocks before he opens it.

Lana’s standing behind her desk, and she doesn’t look amused.

I guess Owen’s mood didn’t improve while he was around her then.

“We thought you might want breakfast,” I offer, stepping into the room and bringing the covered plate to her desk.

She’s smiling by the time I set it down in front of her.

“You made me breakfast?”

“Ezra did,” I admit. “He didn’t think you would have had time to eat.”

“It’s good,” Shadow adds. “He makes the best scrambled eggs.”

“It might be starting to get cold, and we didn’t think about bringing you a drink …”

“I have water,” she says. “This is great, thanks.”

“No problem,” I murmur.

She sits down.

I go close the office door that Shadow left open.

He sits on the filing cabinet next to her desk.

“These aren’t my clothes,” he says, quickly. “I borrowed them from Ezra.”

She looks at him and then at me. “Um …”

“They’re not Shadow’s style,” I add. “But we didn’t think this would be an extended stay.”

Her dark eyes widen.

Damn. I guess I just spilled the beans.

“You’re planning on staying with Ezra? For how long?”

Shadow shrugs when she looks at him.

Her gaze gets a little unfocused, and that’s probably because his scent is so heavy right now.

I should have told him not to get so close to her. Too late now.

The desire to tell her the truth comes and goes. It’s not up to me to do that.

Owen and Ezra need to get on the same page and one of them need to do it.

“A few days, maybe more,” I answer, feeling like a prick for outright lying to our girl.

Owen can do whatever the fuck he needs to, but I’m going nowhere.

“Oh,” she murmurs, nodding.

She picks up the silverware and starts to eat.

Shadow glances at me. “Is Owen back yet?”

Clearly, he’s desperate for that alone time with our moody Alpha.

Hopefully his mood will improve once he’s knotted our Omega so much his dick stops working.

I give Shadow a wry smile. “I think it might be a minute.”