Chapter 13

Thirteen

Symon walked the halls of the house, the need to make sure everyone was locked in safely strong. His alpha nature made him wish to protect everyone, even his brothers, though Quin was still out there looking for Carl’s accessory to crime, Henry Gaines.

He would bet almost anything that Quin would find the guy before the cops did.

Isaac, Cy, and Stan had gone to bed a while ago, and Adrian was still tapping away at his computer, so it was Rian who met him in the kitchen when he went to make hot chocolate. They had already eaten all the Insomnia cookies he’d ordered.

“Dad will be here in the late morning.”

“Oh, Lord. I forgot we called him.”

Rian chuckled, sitting on a stool and watching him heat up milk. “Yeah. He’s super curious to meet your mate.”

“Yay.” Symon wrinkled his nose. “Okay, that sounds bitchy. I need Dad to meet him anyway, right?”

“Yep. That’s the easy gateway into the pack.”

Chuckling, he waited for bubbles to form on top of the milk so he could stir in the white chocolate. They all tolerated that better than milk or dark. “You guys were his trial by fire.”

“True enough.” Rian tapped his fingers on the counter. “So how big of a problem do you think this app thing is actually going to be?”

“Well, I certainly never thought Shiftr was going to be more than a niche market. So maybe we need to look deeper at what the bunny was up to.”

“Okay, can you delve there? That way my fingers aren’t in it.”

“Sure. I’ll get Quin on it too. He can do in-person inquiries and I’ll make calls and do deep dives online. Did Adrian ever figure out what he saw?”

“No, and neither did Isaac, but it had to be important.”

“Hmm. Well, stay on it,” Rian told him.

“I will.” In fact, as soon as he made the hot cocoa he was going to take some to Adrian and shut him down for a while, most likely by loving him into a puddle.

They all deserved some downtime, and he knew Adrian’s nerves were shot.

Adrian had bags under his eyes big enough to pack enough to take a three-week-long trip, and he thought his mate didn’t even know he was crying, although tears streaked his cheeks.

Sweet baby.

He headed over and growled, “Hit save.”

“What? I don’t know what you mean.”

Symon looked at him, glared a little bit, and said, “You do too.”

His poor omega was at the end of his rope, and Symon understood that. He was feeling like he was clinging to the edges himself. Still, it was the alpha’s job.

To his credit, Adrian did hit save, right before Symon shut the cover of the laptop.

Then he just picked Adrian up and headed toward the bedroom. The crisis—this crisis—so far had been averted. And it was time to just be with his mate.

After all, his fucking father was going to be there in the morning.

Adrian wrapped both arms around his neck. “Today was the weirdest day of my life. And that is in a life of admittedly fucking odd days.”

“I know.” He did know. He’d dealt with corporate espionage before, but nothing like this.

“I know you know.” Adrian shook his head. “Still, I cannot believe this. This is stupid.” Adrian stared at Symon like he was trying to express an emotion that he didn’t even understand himself. “This code wasn’t worth that much, what he was willing to sell it for was not worth that much. You could hire someone or a bunch of someones, and it would take time sure, but—damn it. I don’t understand. Part of the—a big part of it—of this company’s value is in its reputation, not the code. Anybody can write code.”

“No. No that’s not entirely true, love.” He kissed Adrian’s neck. “You have a spark for it. You and your team. Even Helene says so. And I looked at half a dozen buy-out possibilities, but Shiftr was the best because it was so intuitive for the end user.”

Adrian blinked at him, wide-eyed. “I think that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me, ever since, like, the beginning of time.”

Symon wasn’t sure if that was the most adorable or the saddest thing he’d ever heard in his entire life. He was going to go with adorable, because he had said it, so he got the credit for it, but still. Damn.

“Well, it’s true.” He turned so Adrian could open the bedroom door for them. “And I thought that before I ever saw you.”

“Are you saying you wanted me for my code, Symon?”

“I did. And now I want you in all ways. As my mate.” He placed Adrian gently on the bed. No tossing today. It had already been jarring enough.

“And I want you to hold me. My head hurts.”

“Of course.” He stripped down, then crawled into bed and grabbed Adrian in his arms, pulling the blanket over them. “I’m right here.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m being a weenie, it’s just… He had a gun.” Adrian squeezed his eyes shut tight, snuggled in closer. “That was super scary. I was convinced he was going to shoot you, hurt you or one of your brothers. I just… I panicked.”

“If that was panic, go you.” Adrian had done well, even if he’d put himself in danger.

“I tried. But you had told me to stay in the car, and I was worried I’d make you mad, and then he was such a dick, and I was so scared for you…”

“And I lost a year off my life when he pointed the gun at you,” Symon said.

“I understand. I totally understand, but there wasn’t anything I could do. All I could think was that he had a gun and that you guys were going to get hurt. So I figured I’d just bluff my way out of it and try to distract him long enough to let you do what it was that you were there to do.” Adrian’s face burned where it touched Symon’s chest. “I mean, seriously. I didn’t even let myself think. If I had, I would have screwed it up. I know I would have, but all I could think was that my mate was out there, and I couldn’t just let things happen.”

Symon let that sink in a second.

He was the eldest child. He was the one in line to lead the pack once his father stepped down. He was the protector.

And while he knew that his brothers always had his back, unquestioningly, there was something amazing about the fact that he was someone’s first thought.

He just rumbled, letting Adrian hear it, hoping it would soothe him. There was something soul-satisfying about holding him, knowing Adrian needed him, that they needed each other.

Adrian immediately relaxed, easing into him with a sigh.

“That’s it, sweet. That’s perfect.” Symon let himself relax as well.

“It is perfect, you know.” He could feel Adrian melt and rest. Just let go and trust.

In him.

Not only was it an amazing feeling, but his wolf insisted.

This was right.