7. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Ezra

I slip the cell phone into the pocket of my lab coat, and I go back to pacing around in front of the door to room nine. For now, I’m stuck in this corridor, waiting for answers.

I’m not used to having so little to do.

Frustration bleeds out of me as I wait for Owen to call me back.

He was in the middle of something. I could tell from how distracted he sounded.

He’s not going to get back to me quickly.

I stop pacing to check through the glass panel in the door.

Jane Doe is still sleeping.

I lean against the wall opposite the door so I can keep an eye on her.

I’m about ready to start pacing again when my phone starts to vibrate.

My heart leaps into my throat as I grab the phone out of my pocket and answer the call.

“Owen? Did you find someone for the job?”

“Wrong mate but depending on the type of job you’re looking for, you could be in luck.”

Shadow’s amused tone makes me sigh.

“It’s not the kind of job you’re thinking about. We were talking about actual work.”

“Damn. It’s always work with you two.”

He sounds disappointed, but there’s a hint of excitement under the complaint that I can hear even over the phone. Omegas tend to find it difficult to hide their emotions, and Shadow’s always worn his on his sleeve. I can’t help wondering what he’s excited about.

“It’s not always work,” I protest, while I’m hit with a stab of guilt over how long it’s been since we had any real time together. Late night phone calls aside, it’s been three weeks since we were intimate, and even longer since we spent more than half a day together.

“So, you can have lunch with us then?”

I frown as I let his question sink in. “What?”

“I’m asking if you’re free for lunch, because guess who’s come to visit you in the city?”

“You’re here? Alone?”

“Calm down, I’m with Pete. We’re standing outside the gates of Goldcrest right now, in fact. The security guard is watching us like we might be here to steal your Omegas.”

Great. Now I know why Owen was so preoccupied when I called.

“Call Owen, now, and tell him you’re with me. I’ll have the guard let you in.”

“Oh, I don’t know if that’s a smart idea. I might be tempted to steal one of the Omegas. I heard the ones that go here are made of solid gold.”

I can hear Pete snorting with laughter in the background at Shadow’s joking attempt to get a rise out of the guard on the gates. They’re lucky the guards we have are reasonable.

Before Lana took over, I doubt they would have been allowed to stand out there joking about breaking into the academy. It’s more likely they would have been hauled into the building and interrogated on their intentions.

“Okay, fine,” Shadow agrees. “We’ll wait out here until this guy lets us in.”

He hangs up, and I resist the urge to call Owen.

I hesitate for a second over calling Lana.

I doubt she’d be happy to know I’m about to ask her to allow an ex-con into the academy, just because he’s part of my pack, but if I’m right about her, and she’s ours, then it can’t hurt to have them here where she might actually start to recognise us as her true mates.

I make the call to Lana’s extension.

She picks up within a few rings, and the sound of her voice short-circuits my brain for a second.

“Head of Administration Lana Cole speaking. How can I help you?”

“Hello?” she asks, when I don’t answer her first greeting. “Hello? Is someone there?”

“It’s Ez … I mean, it’s Dr. Clarke.”

“Oh, Dr. Clarke. Hi. Um, I arranged for cover for you starting at noon. Is that still okay?”

“It is,” I confirm, though I’d much rather be speaking to her in person right now. “And I’m waiting to find out the details on the security team for you, but I have another concern right now.”

“ Another concern?” She sounds wary, like she thinks I’m about to drop a problem in her lap.

I clear my throat. “This one is personal, I’m afraid. It seems my Omega and Beta got bored waiting for this emergency situation to clear up. They’ve come to visit me. In fact, they’re outside the academy’s gates right now.”

“Oh,” she murmurs. “Um … I can ask someone to relieve you now so you can meet them.”

“That won’t be necessary,” I reply, not willing to push my luck. “If they could be let in to wait in my room until I’m on a break, it would be appreciated. I’ll deal with getting them back home safely tonight, but for now it would be better if they weren’t wandering around the city. My Omega isn’t very aware of his effect on people. It’s a recipe for disaster.”

And considering neither of them can drive, they’ve already had more than enough fun on their way out here. I hate to think about the chaos they must have caused on whatever public transport they used to get to Cressidan City.

“Of course,” Lana says. “I’ll have to have them escorted to my office first, and they’ll need to log in and out of the guest book, but I can lead them to your suite once they get inside. Would you like to see them before they get taken up to your room?”

I think about it for a second, but I know it wouldn’t be smart to let my mates distract me while I’m trying to keep the patient in room nine safe. It’s too easy to forget the rest of the world when they’re around and considering how frequently I’ve been away from them recently, I know food will be the last thing on any of our minds once I leave my post for my lunchbreak.

“It would be better if they could be taken straight to my room to wait for me.”

“I’m on it,” she tells me, before she hangs up.

I lean back against the wall and take another glance at my sleeping patient before I check the time on the screen of my cell phone. It’s almost ten thirty, and all I can think about now is how my mates are going to react to Lana.

It feels like fate is starting to show her hand.

There’s no way Shadow will miss who she is to us.

And he never supresses his perfume.

It’s a sweet scent with a hint of spice that always reminds me of toasting marshmallows over an open fire and drinking pina colada cocktails on the beach after dark.

Just thinking about breathing it in makes my body react.

The mere memory of his perfume gets me hard in seconds.

And that’s nothing compared to how it feels when he’s right in front of me.

Lana will feel something when she meets him, for sure.

One breath, and she’ll have to admit she belongs with him.

Then, she’ll see she’s meant for all of us.

All that stands between us now is time.