6. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Owen

T he moment I’m conscious, the second before my eyes even open, I already know the day is going to be a shitshow. I can tell I’m alone in the bed, and I start to remember little things about my Omega’s behaviour last night that should have made it obvious he was ready to pull another Houdini.

To start with, he was complaining about missing our lead Alpha.

He always gets more vocal about Ezra always being gone before he acts out.

I should have noticed that.

And I definitely should have realized what he was up to once he made it his personal mission to wear me out. Unfortunately, the need to please him was all that was on my mind last night.

I get up and step out into the landing.

No one else is home.

I can practically feel the emptiness around me.

“He’d better be with Pete,” I mutter to myself as I head for the shower.

The only thing riskier than wandering around in public as an Omega who isn’t on suppressants, is walking around in public smelling like you’ve been bathed in an Omega’s perfume.

One little sniff can affect unattached Alphas in unpredictable ways.

I’d rather not take any chances while I’m hunting Shadow down.

After a hot wash with a lot of neutralising soap, I’m ready to locate my missing mates.

I don’t expect much when I pick my phone up and take it off the charger.

I’m not disappointed.

There’s no text message telling me they’ve just gone to the store.

I send them one, asking where they are.

Then, I get dressed and slip the phone into the back pocket of my jeans.

I do a cursory walk-through of the house, starting upstairs.

Pete’s bedroom is as eerily tidy as always.

It never looks like his bed has been slept in.

Shadow’s room is so chaotically messy that he and Pete could be buried under piles of clothes, and I’d never know until their bodies started to stink up the place.

I would have heard it if a murderer had invaded our house, so I don’t bother wading through the mess to check for bodies.

Ezra’s room looks like a shrine to a dead man.

It’s worse than Pete’s eerily tidy room, and Shadow’s grossly messy one.

Everything inside reminds me of him. It hurts that he isn’t here.

He should be. He promised he was taking a few months off.

It’s been “one last emergency” situation for who the hell knows how long anymore.

I close his door and head down the stairs.

There’s a half-filled coffee cup on the kitchen table.

Pete usually painstakingly cleans anything he’s used, but when Shadow’s right there, coercing him into something more fun, he’s quick to abandon his regular habits.

I see Shadow’s favorite sneakers are missing from the rack by the door, but I don’t find any clues about where they might have gone.

I try to remember if Shadow spoke about any fun stuff going on in town.

He usually mentions it if there’s something specific he’s interesting in going out to do.

I can’t think of anything, and when I head into the living room to check the morning’s security camera footage on my laptop, I come up empty.

They snuck out a fucking window so I wouldn’t know when they left.

I let out a frustrated growl as I pick up my headset and switch it on.

It syncs with my phone instantly, and I put a call through to Shadow.

Straight to voicemail. I hang up, and call Pete.

It rings out, never hitting his voicemail, just ringing on and on.

I start to feel like I want to smack my head off the wall.

How could I be so fucking dumb?

I should have seen this coming.

“Calm the fuck down,” I mutter as I hang up.

They’re together. They must be.

Pete would never let Shadow go out on his own.

He wouldn’t, and he didn’t finish his coffee this morning, so they’re definitely together.

I let out a breath, and force myself to take a few slow, deep breaths.

I’m feeling a little better, when my ass vibrates against the couch cushions.

Oh right. My phone is ringing.

It could be a client, or it could be my Omega.

Please, be Shadow.

I answer the call using my headset.

“Lennox Security Systems.”

“Owen? What’s wrong?”

Shit. I’m still being a dumbass.

This is why I shouldn’t answer calls without checking who they’re from.

Ezra, our absentee lead Alpha, is on the line.

A flurry of emotions come over me on hearing his voice.

I’ve missed him so much, and I’m so fucking mad at him.

This is his fault. He’s the reason Shadow’s unsettled.

“Who said anything was wrong?” I ask, somehow managing to keep my cool.

“You sound … tense,” Ezra replies.

“I haven’t had my second coffee hit yet. Why are you calling so early?”

I hold my breath, waiting to see if he’s going to make more out of it.

He sighs softly, and I know he’s not going to.

He called for a reason.

Checking to see how we are isn’t it.

“I need a favor. It’s a big one.”

“Huh,” I murmur.

It’s not like him to ask for anything, I mean besides making us agree to his lengthy absences for all the important work shit he feels he needs to do.

That’s a whole other story.

“I’ve got a lot to do today. What’s the favor?”

“I need a security team who can work at the Omega academy here in Cressidan City, starting tomorrow. No Alphas, and they need to be beyond reproach.”

“What’s the contract length? Is it short-term, like yours, or permanent?”

“Permanent. The place is running on a skeleton crew right now.”

“It’s a big ask,” I admit. “I don’t know if we’ve got anyone who’s willing to relocate, and I only know a couple guys in the city who might be interested in the work.”

“Well, we have a major issue with trust, so anyone you can personally vouch for would be better than the other options they have.”

“Mm hm,” I murmur, as I lean forward and access the phone tracking app on my laptop.

“Are you doing something right now?”

“What?” I ask, as I find out Shadow and Pete turned off their location while they were still right here in the house. “No, I’m just trying to think about who might want a job at Goldcrest.”

The damn tracking app has been useless since I installed it.

Shadow enjoys evading me too much, and Pete does whatever our Omega asks.

I lean back, trying to think about where they might have gone.

“I think you should come out here.”

“What was that?” I ask, certain he didn’t just say what he just said.

He clears his throat. “I said I think you should come out here.”

So, he did ask me to come out to the city I said I’d never set foot in ever again.

“Was that an order, or a request?”

“It’s a complex situation here, Owen. It would be better if you could come and do the risk assessment and make some recommendations about the current set up.”

Using the be a professional argument to twist my arm?

Dirty trick, Ezra. I didn’t think you were underhanded.

“That doesn’t mean I need to come out there. Pete can do risk assessments.”

He sighs and I try to dial down my irritation.

“You said no Alphas,” I remind him.

“I meant for their permanent staff. You know that.”

I do know that was what he meant. I’m being a dick because he’s trying to get me to do something I don’t want to do.

I really shouldn’t push my luck.

He might actually order me to come out to the city.

“Give me a couple hours, okay? I’ll see who might be interested in the work and I’ll call you back.”

And here’s hoping you don’t mention getting me to take charge of the damn job again.

“This is important.”

“I said I’d call you back, and I will.”

“You’re sure there’s nothing wrong?”

The Alpha intuition is strong with this one. Which only makes it more maddening that he ignored his instincts to go rushing off to “one more emergency”. He knows what Shadow’s like. He knows we were already sick of saying goodbyes and trying to arrange weekend visits.

If he’d been here like he should have been, I wouldn’t have to go out looking for our runaway Omega and his partner in crime.

I switch off my laptop and get to my feet.

“Stop worrying over nothing,” I tell him. “I’ll call you back.”

“As soon as you can,” he adds, piling on the pressure.

“Right. Hang up now, so I can call you back.”

Finally, he ends the call.

I keep the headset on so I can make calls while I’m driving around town looking for Shadow and Pete. I’ve got two problems to take care of, so I’d better damn well get started.